We have some exciting news for you. We have tied up with Oliveboard.com, a leading test-prep website, and will bring to you a special series of blogs run by Oliveboard. The folks at Oliveboard are taking up this great initiative to help out you guys, so make sure you read these blogs on a regular basis. Visit Oliveboard here.

15 Weeks for CAT-2016: What should you be doing for CAT?

With 15 weeks for CAT-2016, you enter a crucial phase of your preparation. It is extremely important that you maintain your focus in this crucial phase and maximize your learning. Remember, your effort over the next 16 weeks is going to decide the fate of all the sweat and hard-work you have put in for the exam till date.

Now how do you make sure your preparation is on the right track? Well, let’s have a look at the three sections and try to analyze what you should be doing for each.

Section 1: Quantitative Aptitude

In order to do well in Quantitative Aptitude, make sure you know your strengths and weaknesses in this section. How do you do that? Well, you need to carry out one simple activity: list down all quantitative topics and understand your proficiency levels in each. Based on this analysis, divide the topics into three broad areas: strong, weak and intermediate.

Your first target should be the intermediate areas and you should try to convert them into strengths. Next, pick one weak topic and one strong topic side by side. Make sure you work on both concurrently. This way, you will be able to build on your strengths and reduce your weaknesses. Successful test prep is all about maximizing these two things.

Also, make sure you have a list of material that you wish to complete for QA. Stick to this list; do not chase new material till you are done with your basic set.

This technique is known as SWOT Analysis. You can read a full post about it here.

Section 2: Logical Reasoning and Data Interpretation

This section is about two broad considerations:

  • Going through the basic types and varieties of sets that appear in this section. For examples: tables, bar-graphs, column charts, paths and routes, seating arrangements, games and tournaments, etc.
  • Exposing yourself to as many sets as possible. You will realize that tough sets are generally based on more than one topic and use a combination of data types. You need exposure to these sets (as many as possible) in order to master these.

In order to master this area and exposing yourself to quality data, you can do the following three things:

  1. Solve all past year CAT sets. These will help you understand the variety of questions asked in CAT.
  2. Solve as many mock LR and DI sections as possible. Mocks offer the best variety of sets and pose the kind of challenge your require to prepare this section.
  3. You can use the book ‘The Pearson Guide to LR and DI for the CAT by Nishit K Sinha’ for more practice sets and material.

Section 3: Verbal Ability

This section is the Achilles heel for many of you, isn’t it? Also, the change in CAT pattern must have through a spanner in the works for many of you: you can no longer depend on logical reasoning to the clear the cut-off for the section.

Considering there are only 15 weeks for the exam, what is it that needs to be done in order to make sure you clear the Verbal cut-off? Here are some recommendations for you:

  1. Read at least for 30 to 60 minutes from quality resources.

These include websites such as:

  • The Guardian
  • The New York Times
  • Project Syndicate
  • Slate
  • The New Yorker
  • The Economist
  • The Economic Times
  • Scientific American
  • Psychology Today

In these sources, focus on opinion articles and editorials. Also, for topics such as psychology, philosophy, sociology, run a quick Google search of top blogs for these topics and explore them.

Remember, READING is still the best way for acing your RC prep.

  1. Solve at least 2 RCs a day

Whatever may happen in the world, you need to solve 2 RCs every day. Where would you get these RCs from? Here are some resources:

  • Solve previous year CAT RCs.
  • Just like LR-DI, solve RCs from as many mocks as possible. Mocks are the best resource for RC practice.

3.Learn and revise a couple of Grammar and Verbal Ability topics every week

Make sure you learn and revise a couple of Grammar topics every week. For Grammar, make a cheat-sheet of all the rules you learn.

For Verbal Ability topics such as Para-jumbles, Para-completion, Summary Writing, etc. make sure you solve a sufficient number of questions. Bulk practicing 100 to 150 problems in one area is actually a good approach for these topics.

This completes the list of some of the things you should be doing for CAT 2015. Remember, this is just a summary of things you should be doing for CAT. There is a lot more to prep than this and we at Oliveboard, will be bringing out a full series of articles on Wordpandit that will help you prepare better for the exam.

Visit Oliveboard here to discover more such awesome stuff.

Get Posts Like This Sent to your Email
Updates for Free Live sessions and offers are sent on mail. Don't worry: we do not send too many emails..:)
Get Posts Like This Sent to your Email
Updates for Free Live sessions and offers are sent on mail. Don't worry: we do not send too many emails..:)
Join Our Newsletter
Get the latest updates from our side, including offers and free live updates, on email.
Join Our Newsletter
Leverage agile frameworks to provide a robust synopsis for high level overviews.
Join our Free TELEGRAM GROUP for exclusive content and updates
Join our Free TELEGRAM GROUP for exclusive content and updates