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!

Free feel to reach me at raikar.raviraj@gmail.com if you have any queries or suggestions.