Ten tips for cracking CAT exam

New Delhi: The Common Admission Test is a crucial entrance examination taken by lakhs of management aspirants across India.Cracking the Common Admissions Test (CAT) or for that matter any other top B School Entrance Test is not as much a function of hard work as it is a function of smart work.The CAT exam normally takes place during October-November every year.The CAT exam pattern is divided into two sections. One Qualtitative Aptitude and other Verbal Ability and Logical ReasoningStudents are given a total time of 2 hours and 20 minutes to complete the exam.Application for the CAT are filled online. The advertisement for the application are released in the month of July every year and registration gets closed by the end of September.In order to apply for the CAT student need to be a graduate from a government recognized university with minimum 50% of aggregate though SC/ST candidates are given relaxation as per government rules.Results for the same are declared in the month of January.Here are ten tips to crack this exam:Continue reading till the last day. Identify specific areas of discomfort and try to read as much in those diversified areas. This will help in Reading Comprehension; Theme based questions and Para formation questions. Focus on Grammar. The weight-age for the same is increasing day by day. Focus on vocabulary development and always carry a small dictionary with you.Multiply numbers whenever you see them. Make it a habit to do various calculations with the numbers on number plates of vehicles. In Quantitative Areas – focus on Geometry and Number systems. Number Systems have always been an important chapter from the point of view of CAT and Geometry has gained a lot over the last 2 years. Work on your mental mathematics. Learn to do calculations mentally. Memorize standardized formulae and try to use shortcuts wherever possible.The last 7 days must be utilized judiciously to gain maximum advantage from your hard work and efforts.Stick to time. If you are taking a 2 hour test, take it for 2 hrs only. Be merciless, especially if you are taking them in your room/home. Don't let anything disturb you in those 2 hrs.Try to read as many as possible and decide what to solve quickly. This knack for identifying so called sitters comes from taking 30-40 mocks in a span of 3 months.Always calculate accuracy/speed figures for individual sections and net. And try to maintain a stable figure of speed and accuracy. If there is an abrupt change in those figures, try to investigate and find out the reasons. Ideally 60% speed with 80% + accuracy will help you in getting good scores. But speed sometimes varies with easiness of the paper. Identifying the trends of speed/accuracy in aug/sept will help you to fine tune your strategy before the day.Before starting the first mock, try to complete as many fundamentals as possible on QA topics. Use a note to jot down the unknown formulae/shortcuts.While analyzing the QA Section, try to find out the sitters/easy ones you have missed out during taking the mock. And try to reason out.Devote equal Time to each section. Devote more time to subject/topic you are weak in (remember most of us tend to devote more time on areas we are strong & often shy away from our weakness). Make sure that you do not ignore any section & allocate adequate time to each section.It has been observed that most of the students loose 15-20% of their marks not because they do not know the subject but because they fail to apply the basic concepts correctly. This is basically due to examination fear & pressure. These marks that a student looses because of silly mistakes (calculation errors, confusion, fail to apply the right concepts, solving the problem by long method) can be reduced if a student regularly participates in test series based on the pattern & level of CAT exams.