7 Facts on How to Crack CAT Exam

Millions of MBA aspirants appear for MBA entrance exams every year with a dream to get admission in top B-school. Among all such entrance exams CAT (Common Admission Test) is the most crucial and most attempted one test. Although Syllabus of CAT is aimed for students seeking admission in IIMs, its result is accepted by 150 other Indian B-schools. You may think that cracking CAT is most difficult task that needs lots of hardwork, but here smart work is needed. Ideally CAT is getting held every year in the month of October-November. Entire test pattern is divided into 2 sections: Qualitative Aptitude and Verbal Ability and Logical Reasoning. Before starting to prepare for CAT you should have detailed information about it. It is a 2 hours 20 minutes exam and its application is filled online. Every year in the month of July the advertisement for its application is released and the registration closes by September end.

Eligibility Criteria: Eligibility to appear for CAT is candidate must have graduate degree from a government recognized university with minimum of 50% marks. Results are declared in the month of January.

Here are some sure-shot and practical tips to crack CAT Exam:

1. Read More : Cultivate the habit of reading and continue it till your last day of exam. Locate the areas where you lack behind or have short knowledge. Concentrate reading in those areas. It would be a helpful tool to prepare for CAT. This would also be useful for comprehension reading, theme based questions and paragraph formation questions. Make your grammar strong. Your focus should be to strengthen your vocabulary. As an added tip you can always carry a small dictionary with you.

2. Making Mathematics Strong : As a syllabus of CAT, make your mathematics stronger. Take every opportunity to do calculations with numbers and multiplication. For the Quantitative part the focus should be on Number systems and Geometry. Work to make the mental mathematics skills stronger. Teach yourself to do calculations mentally and remember the standardized formulas.

3. Last 7 Days : Utilize the last 7 days before exam to take maximum benefit from the hard work that you have put in.

4. Time Management : Abide strictly to the time schedule. If you are appearing for a 2 hour test, then make it a point to complete it in 2 hours. During practice session of CAT, strictly follow the time and refrain from every disturbance.

5. Preparing for CAT Mentally : Study hard to prepare for CAT is important, but take out at least an hour or half for yourself. Practice yoga, meditation or exercise to keep your body and mind fit. Breathing exercises or pranayam are helpful to relieve stress. Eat good and right while exam preparation. Intake more of fresh fruits and vegetables and limit intake of fried and fatty food items.

6. Mock CAT Tests : Attempt the mock CAT tests as much as you can, at least 30-40 mocks in 3 months is an ideal count.

7. Self Analysis : Keep a track record of the accuracy and speed of all sections separately. Try to achieve a stable figure. If you notice sudden change in those figures, identify the reasons and carry out steps to make it stable.

These were simple yet effective tips to crack CAT entrance exams, you can refer to past CAT toppers experience and stories to take referred tips on this subject.

Clearing MAT with a good score is all about time management

The Centre for Management Services, a unit of the All India Management Association (AIMA) conducts the Management Aptitude Test, commonly known as MAT, four times annually. The results of this state-level test are considered for admission in various B-schools across India for management courses.

The AIMA is an apex body formed in league with the local management associations and in support from the industry and the Indian government. The very purpose of the body is to develop and facilitate management as a profession in the country.

Conducted by the All-India Management Association (AIMA) four times a year – February, May, September, and December, the Management Aptitude Test (MAT) is one of the major MBA entrance tests for Indian students. The next MAT is on September 6, 2015 (offline) and September 12 onwards (online). Till May 2009, MAT was only conducted offline. However, since September 2009, it has been conducted in both the online and offline versions. This test has five different test areas – language comprehension, mathematical skills, data analysis and sufficiency, intelligence and critical reasoning, Indian and global environment.

More than 150 institutes use the MAT score as a part of their selection process. The test comprises 200 questions with 40 questions in each section to be solved in 150 minutes. Language comprehension has a good mix of about 20 questions from reading comprehension and about 20 questions from verbal ability. A good time allocation strategy would be to spend around 30-35 minutes on this section.

The mathematical skills section predominantly has questions from the arithmetic areas like percentage, profit and loss, time and work, geometry, time and distance and averages. Most of the questions involve only the basics and those who would have done adequate practice of basic concepts find the questions quite easy. The success in this particular test area depends on one’s basic conceptual skills, and calculation skills. Students must spend around 35-40 minutes in this section.

The section on data analysis and sufficiency comprises DI (data interpretation), DS (data sufficiency) and data comparison, with DI generally accounting for 30 out of 40 questions while DS and data comparison put together accounting for the remaining 10 questions. The questions in DI are of standard types based on observation, calculations like comparison of fractions, computing the average, percentage based calculations etc. A good time allocation strategy would be to spend around 35-40 minutes.

Intelligence and critical reasoning is a mix of analytical reasoning (about 28 questions) and critical reasoning (12 questions). Questions in the area of Indian and global environment are from business, current affairs etc.

Smart Tips to Crack CAT Exam in 2 Months

Some people plan to prepare for the CAT exam years ahead of taking it. They enroll themselves in CAT preparation courses through face to face coaching or online. So, you may be asking if, with all the pressures of managing day to day life, including perhaps a full time work load, it be possible to prepare for the CAT exam in two months?

In the last two months you need to focus on two things topic wise revision and Mock tests. With planning, preparation, and the right strategy, you can crack the CAT exam in two months.

Preparation process is to sit down and with a focused and methodical approach, start with an honest analysis of yourself first. What are your strengths? Where are you good at? What are your areas of improvement? Where do you need more time to practice? This analysis can be done by taking up a CAT mock test. Take the test as though you were answering the real one. Take it seriously. And then, when you are done, see the patterns of your results. What key points come up? Are you weak in vocabulary? Do you take more time in reading comprehension? Do you have mastery of quantitative fundamentals? Are you able to complete the mock test by the required time? Do you blank out and get nervous?

Knowing where you stand is a great ground work to knowing how to prepare and be ready in two months. So, you have two months, where do you begin?

You begin with the knowledge that you have on your strong points and weak area. Chart out your performance in each section, into four main quadrants:

1. Good Speed, Good Accuracy. Strategy: Lesser focus. You are already good.
2. Good Speed, Bad Accuracy. Strategy: Look at your practice answers. Where is the mistake happening? Is there a pattern? Assess and improve.
3. Bad Speed, Bad Accuracy. Strategy: Put in the most focus into this section. Work by researching on easy tips and techniques to improve the speed and accuracy for these types of questions.
4. Bad Speed, Good Accuracy. Strategy: Practice. Practice hard. Practice more. Practice will improve speed. Get easy strategies on improving and keeping the momentum that are available online.

Be prepared for anything and everything

The uncertainty of pattern is weaking havoc among CAT aspirants. But look at it this way, you are all in the same boat. So rather than preparing based on pattern, prepare for topics. There could be an imbalance in number of questions being divided among sections. But as long as you are equally good in all, it will not make a differnce.

Divide your time among the two major sections and four sub sections wisely. If you are exceptionally good in one, give it a littile lesser time and try to improve the areas you are not so good at. You do not want to lose precious marks in any section.

Go back to the basics

The USp of CAT or any MBA entrance exam is that it does not involve rocket science. The topics are of basic mathematics and aptitude. Aim of any management entrance exam is to test a candidate's aptitude and problem solving ability.

Preparing for basic English questions in CAT

To justly increase number of questions and to let students solve them in lesser time, there could be rise in questions on basic English. This could include more speech, tense, word formations, phrasal verbs.

Speed and accuracy  - That is all you need to get the perfect score in CAT !

·         Solve questions quickly and correctly.

·         Rather than trying to learn concepts, you can start doing questions from the beginning.

·         Do not spend a long time in just knowing a concept. start practicing its approach in questions.

·         Two months before appearing for CAT exam, you must know which are your weak and strong areas.

·         If you are yet unable to understand the weak topics, do not spend a very long time on them.

·         Start further strengthening your strong areas. Try to solve those questions in lesser time.

Things to Do after MBA Entrance Exam

Students preparing for MBA should know that entrance test is just the first layer of evaluation and there are many more hurdles like GD and PI.Once the written test is done you should start preparing for the next level of challenges. Different B-schools have different layers of tests; some of these will conduct only GD or PI or essay and there are some which will conduct any two of these rounds and some even take all of the above. Though taking the MBA entrance exam will push you forward by many miles but the game is not yet over and students should strictly adhere to the following:

Self-introspection: Right after your test you need to sit and understand certain things. Finding out the performance in each section is a must to do as this will reveal you which one of your preparation strategies worked well and which are the areas of improvement. Once you find your weaknesses and strengths it becomes easier for you to estimate section wise scoring more accurately.

You might also record which time management strategies worked best while you were busy taking the test. Implement these techniques in your broader educational endeavours.

Engage in extra-curricular activities: Many students scale back on extracurricular involvements while preparing for MBA entrance exam. Now that you have time to pursue your passions again, make it a priority to do so.

Whether you enjoy campus leadership, community service, fine arts, sports or other activities, ensure you pick up where you left off before your test preparation. Not only will extracurricular help you lead a more balanced life, but they will also prove that you are well rounded fora top-ranked B-school admission committees.

After announcement of the test scores: Once the test scores are out, you need to focus on selecting the right B-school. Selecting a B-school is a huge task that needs proper strategy and information. Taking the help of a career counsellor is a good option. It is also important to understand that you need to take your test score, career objective, placement records and area of interest into account while selecting a B-school. Create a list of your target and programs in-demand that you might want to apply to. Then, explore each school’s website to determine which programs are ideal in terms of geographic and academic qualities. It is also helpful to discuss ways to boost your interview chances with your academic advisers and mentors.

Group Discussion and Personal Interview: After having made your choice, you should focus on the next two big stages-Group Discussion (GD) and Personal Interviews (PI).

Every candidate must be aware that group discussions are exercise through which you will be evaluated by the panel members. Make meaningful contributions and be the one to initiate the discussion and if possible also the one to conclude.

Personal interview is all about telling the panel why you deserve the chance to study in their reputed institution. Be confident, answer only what is asked and be to the point.

Seeking a part-time job: Once your MBA entrance exam is doneyou should think of taking up a part time job as per your area of interest. This will not show relevance during your application, but will also ensure your seriousness and preparedness for the programs you intend to enrol. Admission committees would like to see applications with work exposure. This will also help you understand the dynamics of a real-time work ambience.