How To Prepare For CAT Exam 2022 ? CAT Preparation Plan will help to make a strategy for succeeding in the Common Aptitude Test. CAT is an all India level examination for admission to the postgraduate management programs in the coveted IIMs and other registered B-Schools located throughout India. At present, there are 20 Indian Institute of Management situated in the country.
The CAT examination is held once a year across 354 centers located in 99 different cities. With the advent of time, many of the other reputed management institutes have started taking admission through the CAT score. A candidate interested in pursuing a lucrative career in the discipline of management needs to go through a coveted management institute. For that, qualifying the CAT examination with a high scorecard is necessary.
The candidate should remember that a graduate of any discipline can apply for this examination; hence he/she is going to face tough competition from all spheres. To help the candidate in one of the toughest examinations in the country, we have given the aspirants a perfect strategy to ace the exam and fulfill their dreams.
- Know the CAT Pattern & Syllabus
- Accuracy & Speed
- Study Material
- Test Series
- Time Management
- Choose Right Questions to Attempt
- Discuss & Practice
- Basic Math’s & Diversity
- Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension Strategy
- Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning Strategy
- Quantitative Ability Strategy
CAT Preparation Strategy 2022
Know The CAT Exam Pattern & Syllabus
The first and foremost step towards clearing the examination is to know the details of the exam, such as pattern, syllabus, important topics related to the exam, etc. The CAT examination is a computer-based examination of 3 hours. The paper is divided into three sections, namely,
- Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension
- Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning
- Quantitative Ability
Each section will have an hour. A total of 100 questions are given in the paper, where 75 questions will be of multiple-choice questions. The candidate must select the most appropriate answer from the given options. In this section, there will be negative marking, that is for every wrong answer the candidate will lose one mark.
Rest 25 questions will be TITA (Non-MCQs), and the candidate must explain the answers briefly. There will be no negative marking for Non-MCQs.
The candidate should remember that for every right answer, the candidate will be awarded 3 marks.
| Total Duration | 3 Hours |
|---|---|
| Time Allotted to Each Section | 1 Hour |
| Total Number of Sections | 3 |
| Total Number of Questions | 100 |
| Number of MCQ’s | 75 |
| Number of Non-MCQ’s | 25 |
| Mode of Examination | Online |
| Marks Awarded for Correct Answer | +3 |
| Marks Awarded for the Wrong Answer | -1 |
Accuracy & Speed
The examination requires the candidate’s accuracy and speed, the main factors to succeed in the exam, which could be achieved through the right practice approach only.
Study Material
The candidate should have standard study material. Various coaching institutes provide study material on a payment basis that includes practice books, study books, reading material related to different events, etc. If the candidate is interested in buying study material, then he/she can do the same from any of the reputed institutes.
Resources on the Internet
Candidate should make use of resources on the internet that contains various papers free of cost with decent quality.
Test Series
The candidate should follow the CAT test series divided on a sectional, subsectional, and full-length basis. The test series should be online mode only. Remember that the examination is conducted online, and practicing offline tests alone will not be advised.
Time Management
The candidate should also attempt each question with a watch near him/her for the average time spent on each question. At a later stage of preparation, the candidate should have an approximate idea of the time spent on each section of the paper.
Choose Right Questions to Attempt
Choose the right questions in the examination paper. The candidate should select those questions, which will take less time, and the candidate has a higher accuracy rate in that type of question.
Discuss & Practice
If the candidate is interested, then he/she can make a small group of aspirants who are preparing for the CAT examination and discuss as well as practice the relevant topics. The candidate should remember that time is less, and the level of the competition is remarkably high; hence, frankly speaking, the candidate has no time to lose. The candidate should focus on specifically each section first and then focus overall on the last month before the day of examination.
Basic Math’s & Diversity
The candidate should always forget the use of a calculator and should remember the basics of class IX and X. A little bit of Vedic mathematics will also help the candidate. The candidate should remember that instead of following ten questions of one kind, the candidate should focus on ten questions of a different kind.
Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension Strategy
As such, the Indian Institute of Management does not prescribe any specific syllabus for this section but from the previous year pattern, here is an overview of the relevant topics:
- Grammar and Usage
- Critical Reasoning
- Word Usage
- Sentence Correction
- Para Jumble
- Fill in the blanks
- Idioms
- Para summary
- Para completion
The candidate should practice as much reading as possible because, in this section, the candidate’s speed of reading and understanding will play a vital role. The candidate should make cue cards daily regarding the unfamiliar words that the candidate comes across. The candidate should religiously follow one reputed national newspaper such as The Hindu, The Indian Express, and The Economic Times, etc.
Candidates are also advised to follow YouTube channels for this section. The candidate should revise the words frequently to remember them clearly. For this, the candidate should buy a decent book. If the candidate goes into the open market and asks for the book in this section, the list is endless. Buy one book and practice it twice, go for Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension for CAT by Arun Sharma & Meenakshi Upadhyay”.
The book has a detailed analysis of the section with proper practice material. The candidate should practice the section and then, without wasting any time, should give the online test. The candidate should try to jumble different sections together and work accordingly, which will increase the level of the candidate and his/her confidence to excel in the examination.
Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning Strategy
This is a tricky section for most of the candidates as the candidate must use the best of his/her capabilities of understanding and reasoning. As you are aware, there is no prescribed syllabus by the Indian Institute of management, but through our research of the previous year’s question paper, some important topics have been chalked out, which are as follows.
- Venn Diagrams
- Arrangements
- Network and Routes
- Basic Set Theory
- Ordering and Selection
- Tables
- Graphs
- Combination
- Data Sufficiency
- Data Interpretation Based Reasoning
- Games and Tournaments
- Charts
- Caselets
To ace this section, the candidate must primarily have an open mind. The candidate should readily accept the conditions given in the question, even if they are not universally true. The next thing is that the candidate should have good imagination power. This means that the candidate should visualize the contents of the question. This will provide an edge to the candidate as it will take less time for the candidate to solve it.
The candidate will have an hour to answer the question, and there could be more than 32 questions present. The candidate, while reading only, should eliminate the question, which would take more time than the rest of the question. Moreover, the candidate should select those questions only, which the candidate feels have a high rate of accuracy, according to him/her.
There could be questions that require some basic math skills such as BODMAS, addition, subtraction, and many others. The candidate should practice such types of questions, which will boost the confidence of the candidate as they have a very straight answer.
Again, here the candidate’s sectional tests will play a huge role. The candidate, after covering the topic, should immediately give the test. This will enable the candidate to progress in his/her approach towards the examination.
I would like to suggest a book for the practice purpose “How to Prepare for Data Interpretation for CAT – by Arun Sharma (Published by McGraw Hill).” The book is good enough, and together with the mock tests, the candidate will find more than enough for the examination.
Through the above practice, the candidate shall now be able to recognize the question, which would take less time, and which would take more time. The selection of the question will play a very crucial role in this section as the candidate will have an interrelated question, so by solving one main question, the candidate can answer three to four adjacent questions.
Quantitative Ability Strategy
This section is quite easy for engineering and science graduates, but other than these candidates find a lot of difficulties. As described earlier there is no specific syllabus, hence a list of important topics from the previous year pattern is being presented over here:
- Number System
- Percentages
- Averages
- Simple Interest and Compound Interest
- Profit, Loss, and Discount
- Time and Work
- Time, Speed, and Distance
- Ratio and Proportion
- Mixture and Allegation
- Quadratic Equation
- Linear Equation
- Progression
- Logarithm
- Permutation and Combination
- Surds and Indices
- Functions
- Probability
- Coordinate Geometry
- Basics of Geometry
- Mensuration
Those candidates who have learned the basics of Vedic mathematics will find an edge over the other candidates at this stage. The questions will be asked directly without much manipulation, and the answer would be a basic number. In this section, the engineering and science graduates score high marks, but this should not be disheartening for the other graduates as they can also succeed in this.
The candidates should first learn basic multiplication tables with the square and cubes of numbers till 30. The candidate will find that most of the questions will be getting solved in this range only, but those questions which are asked beyond this range should have help from Vedic mathematics.
Candidates should clearly know which type of question to be answered and which type of question one should leave. The candidate will either get the right answer or won’t be getting the answer. The section consists of numbers so that the candidate’s answer would be a definite number.
The market will have many books for this course; even standard books are not that relevant for the candidate for the CAT examination. The related book suggested for the candidates is “How to Prepare for Quantitative Aptitude for CAT by Arun Sharma.”
The candidate should use this section very cautiously as it can be quite scoring. The candidate will be quite sure of the answer he/she is getting; hence the confidence of the candidate would increase with it. The test and the practice book will be enough for the candidate. Moreover, the candidate will have the right to check at the level of his/her preparation with this approach.
Previous Year CAT Exam Analysis
The year 2018 had a bit of a difficult paper in both the slots. Well prepared candidates find it moderate, while those candidates who had a slight apprehension found it challenging. The section from which tough questions come remained the same with a slight increase in the difficulty level. Candidates were happy to see questions directly asked in both slots. It can be rightly said that the paper was easier than the previous year’s question papers, but because of this, the cut-offs skyrocketed.
Here is a tabular representation of the slot one question paper in general
| Name of section | Number of questions | Level of section |
|---|---|---|
| Verbal Ability and Reasoning Comprehension | 34 | Moderate |
| Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning | 32 | Difficult |
| Quantitative Ability | 34 | Moderate |
The tabular representation of the slot two question paper in general
| Name of section | Number of questions | Level of section |
|---|---|---|
| Verbal Ability and Reasoning Comprehension | 34 | Moderate |
| Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning | 32 | Difficult |
| Quantitative Ability | 34 | Moderate plus |
Conclusion
- The examination is difficult, and preparation is a lengthy process; the candidate always must keep himself/herself motivated. I recommend the candidate to look for any motivational video or any success videos on YouTube only for some time.
- The candidate should use the internet wisely as it is not only a source of knowledge but also a source of entertainment.
- The candidate should remember that only by practice, the candidate can ace the examination hence practice till the last moment.
- The candidate should attend the test series as per schedule, and in the last month of the examination must give the full-length test and analyze it.