Few tips for CAT aspirants as they gear up for the most coveted exam nowadays:

When you are not able to answer a question in quant or DI, think like when you were in 10^th standard. Because CAT paper is made for people who can do basic maths and have a sound logic. So its not that the engineers would have an edge in the exam. Believe me, it works. I have used this despite being an engineer and it worked for me.

For DI, you must have identified the kind of sets you can solve. If you see the previous years’ papers and the model papers or practice questions that are available on the net nowadays, there is a lot of similarity in the questions. And I am not talking about the questions that come on the net after the exam. The reason for the similarity is that paper setters are generally trying to check certain basic skills which can be checked in a particular set of questions. Though that set of questions can be large, but the questions come from there only. So practice and practice.

With just one week remaining, give many mocks and get the feel of the exam before the exam. Give the mocks with utmost seriousness and then analyse them. Analyse your time patterns and the sections you think you are strong in.

For getting into IIMs, you need to score more than 99%ile in two sections and above 92%ile in one section, and you can get through. This strategy is for a person who thinks that he can’t get more than 96%ile in the third section. Otherwise, aim for 99%ile in one section and above 97%ile in other two.

Last but not the least, be calm while writing the paper. If you are not able to solve the questions, think that most of the people would be facing the same problem. So move on and try other questions. Solve them, gain confidence and come back to solve the left out questions.

Also, maximise your attempt as much as possible. But do not push for it if you are not sure of the answers.

All the best!

CAT 2008:

Overall: 99.75%

Quant: 99.85%, DI: 99.23%, VA: 93.2%

Converts: IIMK, MDI