Being a commerce student, quants was my weakest point. I started my preparation in August 1st week and I had almost 4 months to prepare for CAT but since I was working, I had just weekends and the spare, 2 or 3 hours after working for 10-11 hours in the office. If you guys think that in mocks, your percentile is lower and when will it actually go up, just to give you a startling fact, I was getting around 49%ile in August, 60%ile till September. Then, around 80% till October Mid. It was only by November 1st week, that I started getting around 90%ile by November. So, how did I do it?
The basic strategy was, focus on your strengths and work on your weaknesses. But analyse, what is important from CAT and what is less important. Then, focussing first on, what was important and was my strength. Moved on to what was important and was my weaknesses. Then, moved to what was less important parts.
Simply put, Arithmetic is one thing which for sure is going to be there, sitting and covering most of the area of Quants. And it was surely one thing which I was good at. So, what I did was I took the time material and solved exercises of the Arithmetic chapters. As soon as I completed one chapter, I started giving the sectional tests. I personally liked the TIME sectional tests, but other sources can also be tried. I focussed first on accuracy because accuracy is one thing that will give us high marks even if you attempt fewer questions Then, I moved on to time-bound question solving, focussing on both, accuracy and time.
The next thing I picked up was Geometry because the Geometry questions count has always been quite high, and if you know it, it is very easy for you to solve. The best part about Geometry is to get the concepts very right, and then it just drops down to formulas. I referred to the Takzshila videos on YouTube and for Geometry, personally liked it and would highly recommend it to anyone who wants an in-depth understanding of Geometry.
Next, I picked up other areas. I completed my Quants syllabus till October mid, which was quite late but since, it was my weakest part, I had to put in extra efforts.
What is the trick which will do wonders?
Magic is not going to happen overnight. CAT requires consistency and efforts. You will have to study every day and put in those extra hours to overcome your weakest sections and weakest parts. But before that, it is very important to understand what exactly are your strengths and weaknesses.
Even if my quants syllabus was not complete, yet I used to give 1 mock per week till September and increased it to 2 mocks per week in October and 3 mocks per week in November.
What is the most important part of preparation?
Analysis of mocks. You have to analyse each and every mock before you move forward to giving another mock. I made a list of mistakes that I had committed in the first mock and made sure to not repeat them and make new mistakes. Get used to the pattern of CAT and for Quants,
it is all about concepts. Get it right and there is nothing, which can stop you!
All the best!!
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