One of the toughest exams for getting admissions into Indian B-schools is CAT. However tough it is, it is still not impossible to crack the exam. Anyone with a focused approach, understanding of the exam pattern and most importantly, the will to succeed, can ace the exam.
Practice mock tests
When you get a basic grip of the exam pattern, start taking the mock tests to gauge your preparation status and analyze your scores while aiming at successive improvement by filtering out the lagging areas and topics. Make sure to handle the tests within the time limit as losing track of the same makes students panic during the actual examination. Focus on turning your weaknesses into your strengths by staying motivated and learning from your mistakes.
Also, make sure you get plenty of rest before the D-Day. This way, your mind will be alert and you will be able to answer the questions in a composed manner.
Exam pattern
- The examination pattern changed in 2015 to make it easier for the students from diverse streams to crack the exam as more quantitative ability(QA) and data- interpretation(DI) questions gave the upper hand to the engineers till the previous years.
- The new pattern splits the exam into three sections- section one consists of QA, section two comprises DI and logical reasoning(LR) and section three includes verbal and reading comprehension(VRC).
- QA and VRC will have 34 questions each while LRDI will have 32 questions combined. Along with the pattern change, the duration of the exam has been increased from 170 minutes to 180 minutes.
- Candidates will be allotted 60 minutes for each section without being allowed to change sections while answering questions.
- There are some descriptive questions as well which require the answer to be typed on the computer screen. After the completion of one hour, the exam paper will automatically switch over to the next section.