What difference does having a 95%ile make vs having a 99%ile? To be very honest, it can not only make you move from the New IIMs to the Old IIMs but also alter your B-School experience to an altogether different level. So let’s get straight to the point. What should be the strategy to bell the CAT if you are already 95% there? I am going to break this down separately for quant, verbal and LR-DI.
Firstly, for quant solve as much as you can. Then go back to the mistakes you have made after every 10 section tests and make sure you do not repeat them again. It’s ok to make mistakes, but not Okay to keep repeating the same ones again and again. Further, try to target the questions that belong to your preferred areas when you solve tests. This will make sure that the questions that you answer are near-perfect. Further, solve questions in rounds. In round1, target the sitters. In any past CAT papers, there are at least 10 to 12 sitters. These should not be missed in round 1. Also, try to solve them accurately so that you have gained enough confidence in the first 20 mins. Further, target the little more difficult questions in round 2. You can take some more time for these questions than the round 1 questions, and then leave the long-to-read, difficult to comprehend, time-consuming questions for the third round. This will help you solve selectively and maximize your score.
Now coming to the verbal section. First and the most important thing for RC questions is to read the questions before reading the passage. When you have had a look at the keywords in the question, it becomes easier to find them and remember in which section they are, so solving the databased questions becomes easy. For the main theme and inference questions, understanding of the entire passage is a must. In this case, concentrate more on the first, penultimate and the last paragraphs. Many times, the answer will depend heavily on these paragraphs. Target to complete the grammar questions first and then move to the RCs. This will leave you with fewer questions unattempted. Please make sure that you have enough time for the RCs, they are the make or break parts for the verbal section.
For LR-DI, solving the caselets from the past year’s papers is enough. Target to crack the logic and methodology for caselets in the first 5 mins and then target to complete the remaining questions. Leave out the tricky questions in a passage and attempt the simple questions. Attempting all the questions in a caselet is not advisable as this will invite negative marking. Heavy LR-DI caselets have been a pattern since the last two CAT exams, hence be prepared with extremely difficult questions and target to solve at least 2-3 caselets correctly. Take two test series (TIME, IMS, Byjus, CL, etc.) and give at least 25-30 mocks before “The Day”. Critically analyze your mistakes and create an error log wherein you jot down all the areas where you tend to go wrong. Read this thoroughly before the exam.
Some important tips before appearing for the exam:
Do not consider this as a do or die game. Doing so will get you unnecessarily tensed about it and you will get under pressure easily.
Be updated with the pattern changes and give a few mocks with the updated pattern. These changes are typically announced at a later date and missing out on them can put you at a disadvantage as opposed to others.
Stay calm and maintain good mental as well as physical health in the last week. Put yourself away from anything that creates pressure and distracts you from performing to your fullest potential in the last few days. ALL THE BEST GUYS. Hope you reach that coveted 99 percentile mark. Cheers!