ACE CAT
Come November and students are frenzied lot! After days or even months of constant burning of the light lamp, it is time to fight the ferocious CAT. Anxiety pangs are a frequent phenomenon. But is CAT really as tough as it is perceived to be? Many a times the not – so - intelligent lot of students are able to crack CAT while the consistent high scorers come out of the examination hall broken – hearted. The truth lies in the unseen. Unlike other entrance test, like JEE for engineering or medical entrance test, CAT does not test your mettle in math formulae or your prowess in Queen’s English. Instead, Common Admission Test or CAT is essentially a race against time – a race which you can win.
Given below are a few tips which can turn you into Formula 1 racer for CAT!
Analytical skill: Being an application – driven test, CAT would test your analytical skills. It is mandatory to develop strong problem – solving skill rather than memorising the age – old math formulae and grasping the theories. Instead, you should grab hold of a good CAT preparation book and start practicing with the unsolved questions. Follow the 48-hours to analyse it. You are free to seek outside help during this time. If you are still confused then only see the answer. The most common mistake students can make is to look at the solved answer as soon as they realise that they are unable to work out a question. This hampers the building up of their analytical power. It is necessary the building up of their analytical power. It is necessary that you strain your brain to solve a question. As a result you would be able to understand the concept in – depth as well as develop sound problem solving skills.
Think long – term: Our brain functions like a computer’s memory. Whatever we learn either gets stored in the short – term or long term memory. One critical mistake which most students make is that whatever they learn gets stored in their short – term memory. This is why students forget about the concepts and principals which they have learned before the exam. To tackle this problem, follow the ‘Times 3 principal’. According to this principal, practice every concept/question three times. First is an attempt, then a solution and finally the last one makes for revision. Revision is an integral part of any preparation. You must not take this lightly.
Start speeding up: As mentioned earlier, speed is a major factor while appearing for CAT. You will not be able to suddenly start solving questions quickly at the time of the examination. Once you are through with the entire course, start giving mock entrance tests. The higher the number of tests. The better it is. However, do not err by thinking that this solely would increase your speed. Rather, you need to analyse every mock examination that you take to ensure that you don’t end up making the same mistakes again. Keep a note of time that you take to solve the paper and the marks that you attain in every mock test. A better option would be to track your rank at a national level.
Work smart: Good decision – making skills go a long way in helping you crack CAT. It would be a better idea to deal with simple and less time – consuming questions. Once you have attempted the easier ones, your nervousness would take a back seat and you would be geared up to handle the difficult questions. This in turn would also increase the probability of getting the right answers for such problems. With the CAT exam going online, the test pattern might change considerably. Hopefully, it would follow the structure of GMAT and GRE entrance examinations. It is thus critical to familiarize yourself with the computer and internet as the test is conducted online. For this, you should take numerous CAT mock tests which are easily available on the Internet. please visit http://www.quantaptitude.com/ for some os these.
Note: This article was published in the Educations Special Megazine of Mail Today, An India Today group newspaper.