I interacted with many past CAT takers who were earlier scoring excellent scores in the mocks but failed to score a great percentile in the CAT exam. Even if they somehow managed to score well but couldn't deliver their hundred percent on the day of the CAT exam. In CAT, even a single correct or wrong question can change the whole game for you. So, what might be the issue? Any guesses??? After interacting with them and listening to their stories, I can conclude and present to you that they made some silly or common mistakes on the day of the CAT exam, which cost them their golden opportunity.
So here are some common mistakes that you can avoid during the CAT exam:
- Important Documents: Sometimes, aspirants forget to bring important documents with them, which are explicitly mentioned on the admit card. This creates panic in the aspirant's mind and becomes the reason for distraction, further impacting the performance. So, do carry all the documents.
- Dress Code: Another common mistake they make is that they do not follow the dress code mentioned on the admit card. There are some strict policies regarding the clothes that the candidate has to follow. These things are very small in nature but can have a significant impact on your performance. This time because of covid, there are certain additions to the dress code like a mask, hand sanitizer, gloves, pens, and water in a transparent bottle. So, do follow the dress code mentioned.
- Curiosity killed the CAT: Please don't show your curiosity what others know and don't know. You might lose confidence when you see that others are studying so hard or have a list of formulas in their notebook that you don't know about, and then you try to cram that formula. Avoid such kind of mistake at the last moment. Also, don't try looking into your neighbouring test-takers' screens because you will often feel like your neighbouring test taker knows more than you, and that's why he/she is answering all the questions. Because of that, you will either start attempting more questions unnecessarily or lose confidence in between. So, be confident and have faith in your preparation.
- Stuck in the tricky jam: CAT is one of India's toughest entrances and is known for having tricky questions. Sometimes candidates give more values to these questions because they feel they know all the questions related to that particular concept and get stuck on these questions, which cost them a precious amount of time, which can be used for other simple questions. Please don't get too much attached to any concept or question. If you know the question then it's good, try solving it for a maximum of 1.5 minutes, and if you are still not able to solve it, then move to other questions.
- Overwhelmed by the length of question: Sometimes, the length of Reading comprehension or Logical Reasoning & Data Interpretation set may be very large, but that doesn't mean it is a waste of time to attempt such lengthy questions. Many candidates fell into this trap and avoid attempting these kinds of questions. These lengthy sets may be very easy or direct, so it is advisable to skim through the set and check whether the questions are direct or not; it will help you save a lot of time.
Aspirants do avoid such mistakes in CAT or any other such type of entrances. Any mistake might cost you your months of hard work that went into preparing for that exam.
Best of Luck!!!