Friday, September 15, 2006

Tips on English Section

CAT Papers     BSchools

English Section

The english section mainly comprises of Vocabulary i.e Synonyms, Antonyms, Analogies, Fill in the Blanks, Critical Reasoning, Jumbled Paragraph,Spell Checking, Syllogs, Reading comprehension.
In this very section u need to get 20+ score. A good score will be somewhere between 26- 30. For this u need to attempt minimum 35 + questions in 40 mins with an accuracy above 80%. Usually there are 4 -5 Reading Comprehensions out of which 2 are speed breakers. You should develop skills to identify those speed breaker passages, avoid solving those and devote more time to other questions.There are some questions in reading comprehnsions for which u dont need togo through the passages. If you are running out of time in this section, then dont miss attempting these questions.

The way to tackle the reading comprehension section is to first have a look at the questions of the passages. Read the passage once and try to associate thequestions with the appropriate paragraphs. It isnt wise to attempt the questionswhen you are not 100% sure of the answer. Its advisable not to attempt the questionwhich asks for suitable title for the paragraph. 80 out of 100 times u are goingto get it wrong. Because all the title seems to be equally expedient to the passage.

Itz advisable to read Magazines, Newspaper quiodantly so that you get accustomed to reading passages.

Coming on to Vocabulary part, itz either u know it or u dont. Itz one of your innate skills.Dont try to ponder too much on Vocab if you arent good in it.
It will really be too much for the asking. Yes you can improve your vocab by reading newsapaper and magazines and you should have the curiosity in yourselfto find the meanings of the word you arent familiar with. Synonyms, Antonyms,Ananlogy is easy nut to crack if your vocab is strong.

Moving on to Jumbled Paragraph, the best way to tackle is to first identify the premise of the sentence. and then decipher the other statements order accordingly.Other way round is to go by option, and check which combination best forms coherent paragraph. This is the easiest part of the section and can beattempted with 100% accuracy.

Devote Minimum 45 mins for this section, 22+ is an ideal score. Perform SWOT analysis and appropriately plan your course of action.



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Tips and Strategies

This year the CAT paper has been changed to a 150 - minutes test. In order to Crack CAT efficiently you need not only have the ability to solve questions quickly but accurately and efficiently. The questions although not that difficult bearing some few exceptions but there is always an exceptionally high emphasis on the speed and accuracy required to solve the questions in the paper.

CAT urges that the MBA Aspirant perform equally well in all the sections of the test. It is not enough to secure a good score in the test as a whole - the candidate has to score equally good in all the three sections name RC/VA, DI/LR and Quant. When we are talking of performing equally well, we are considering those lakhs of students who will be taking CAT this year. You need to stand out amongst those. We need to look at this in more relative terms. Hence you need to achieve that minimum cut off score in order to qualify for the further selection process i.e the Group Discussion and Interview Stage. It takes lot from you to actually get a call from IIM's unless and untill u are born intelligent.

The parameters that IIMs or other Institutes uses for selection are:

  • CAT Exam
  • Group Discussion
  • Interview
  • Work Experience
  • Academic Record (Class 10 class, Class 12, Graduation)

If you dont plan properly and devote unequal time for each of the section than you might get a very high score but will fail to get a call from top tier institutes for failing to clear the sectional cut offs. There are cases where candidate with 99.10 percentile got a call from IIM's but candidate with 99.5 failed to get a call. It also depends on your work experience and academic records. The basic funda of CAT is - do reasonably well in every section rather than concentrating on and doing extremely well in one/ two sections. Getting a very high score in one or two sections at the expense of the others will lead you nowhere and will eventually destroy the very purpose of answering CAT!

The key to crack the CAT exam is to keep your cool and maintain your composure during the entire length of the test. This may sound deceptively simple but is easier said than done. The pressure levels would be high, yes, but you have to use your adrenaline to work faster and smarter. There is no point getting bogged down at any point in the paper. CAT does not expect you to attempt all or even nearly all the questions. It is test of speed, Accuracy, Mental Toughness, Ability to Optimize Decision Making and much more!


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