How to increase Accuracy in CAT
With the changed structure of CAT, it becomes all the more crucial for all aspirants to focus on accuracy while balancing it with speed. There was availability of more time and fewer questions till CAT 2013 and in CAT 2014 there was no sectional time constraint that enabled you to attempt any question from any part.
CAT aspirants now need to improve the pace of preparation keeping in mind the following 3 things that can help them ace the exam.
- Faster speed
- High Accuracy level
- Management of time
Aspirants now have to score high in all the 3 sections. Since you have equal time to solve each of the 3 sections, you have to focus only that section which you are going through and maximize your score in it.
Reading, understanding and solving are the three integral steps to attempting a question. Being able to read a question faster will be able to save time for solving and help avoid silly mistakes which students might commit while hurrying to solve a question.
The general strategy for all candidates while attempting CAT should be as below
Attempt all easy questions in the section first. Come back for the difficult questions later if you have time.
If after one minute of trying a question you are unable to make headway with a question, leave it and move on to the next question. This will help save time for easier question.
Try and attempt all non-MCQs since there is no negative marking for such questions.
Do not attempt MCQ questions in which you are not sure of the answer even after elimination techniques. A single mark lost can greatly affect your percentile.
Attempt at least 18+ correct questions in each section and you should be good to go.
Use the given calculator judiciously avoiding it for simple calculations.
Increasing accuracy in QA
Read the question completely. Do not miss out on any details given in the question.
Do not attempt questions of topics you are unfamiliar with.
Attempt questions which have lesser data first, then move on to lengthier questions.
Attempt this section in multiple rounds. Keep about 30 minutes to attempt it the first time around, attempting only easy questions in this round. Move on to the medium questions in the second round spending 20-25 minutes on the same. In the third round come back to any question which you were half way through before giving up on it and try attempting the same.
Increasing accuracy in VA
Reading fast while retaining the content in your memory should be what you should be practicing for this section.
For RCs, read the questions before reading the passage, this will help you in analyzing the passage in terms of the questions while reading it.
Identify 2-3 passages which you find easy to read and understand and attempt those first.
Try and avoid tricky questions like FIJs altogether unless you are completely confident about them.
The verbal section is very tempting in terms of marking the answer for all questions. But the simple strategy for this section should be “When in doubt, leave it out”.
Increasing Accuracy in DILR
There will always be at least 2 DI sets and 2 LR sets which will be really easy to attempt. Identify and attempt these questions first.
Try to read through the data in the questions as quickly as possible keeping more time in hand to solve the question.
Write down all the data given in LR sets in an easy understandable format (preferably tabular) and solve the set as a whole and then look at the questions. This will help in saving much needed time.
Read the entire series by IIM Raipur on CAT - Last Minute Prep
here