Three mistakes to avoid

A few points to remember when tackling the CAT 2014.

Learn what to avoid to maximise your chances. Photo: Mohammed Yousuf

When developing a strategy to tackle CAT 2014, it is wise to avoid some common mistakes that candidates tend to commit. Here, we look at three common mistakes and how to handle them.

Time overrun in one of the sections

Now that the sectional time limit has been taken away in the Common Admission Test 2014, candidates need to be very careful not to overspend their most precious resource —time — in a section of “their” choice. Please keep in mind that your favourite section exists as a notion only in your mind. CAT treats all sections equally. The revised pattern has shifted the responsibility of managing time across sections, and, therefore, across a variety of questions to the test-taker. This can be seen as an advantage if you master the pattern by taking up a good number of mock exams during the remaining weeks.

Going in with predetermined idea about the number of attempts

The increase in the number of questions to 100 in the CAT gives a much larger bandwidth for candidates to perform. Ideally, you would have taken several mock tests to familiarise yourself with the new time-question combination. At the same time, keep in mind that the mock tests just give you an opportunity to feel the game and play a few strokes — if we may use the language of cricket. The actual scenario, in terms of the level of difficulty of questions and the relative distribution across different test areas, will unfold only on the examination day. The idea is to be prepared to extract the best out of the situation. So again, using the language of cricket — do not play premeditated shots. Understand the overall tone of the paper and answer questions based on the merits of each question.

Marking off too many to return to later

One luxury the new format offers is the additional time and, the resulting flexibility to see more questions, but this can turn into a quagmire if you mark off many questions to get back to later. While there is technically nothing wrong in this approach, the more the number of these questions, the more work you will need to put in to each question to get to some comfort level. Do not assume that you can get back to the same level of understanding the “marked off” questions as soon as you decide to look them up again. So use this option exactly as it needs to be used — as an option, not as a routine.

The writer is the Director, T.I.M.E., Chennai