Remarkable Resources And Strategies For CAT | Shubhi Shaily

CAT2020 is around the corner and it is time to pull up your socks.This article covers the various resources and strategies that you can utilise for your preparation. VA&RC Vocabulary While Vocabulary accounts for lesser weightage than RC in the exam, a thorough knowledge of vocabulary is of paramount importance to perform well in not only the vocabulary section but in RC as well.

1. Vocabulary.com  Learning the meaning of words and vocabulary can be humdrum (synonym of boring) task. But this website makes this ho-hum (another synonym of boring) activity into a fun game where earn points and rewards on answering correctly. One might even say, it is the Duolingo of learning vocabulary. On top of that, the website works smoothly on both desktops and phones. The other two apps that are useful in learning vocabulary are CAT GRE SAT Vocab Flashcards by Wordpandit and GRE Vocabulary flashcards by Magoosh. Both of these apps are available on Google Playstore.
2. Mnemonic Dictionary  We all know those few words that no matter how hard you try to remember the meaning of, you just can’t. Well, this website is here to make your life a lot easier. The website has a dictionary that provides the meaning, example sentences, and synonyms of words. But the best part about the website is the various mnemonics and memory aids that it gives to remember the meaning of the words.
3. Anki App You can custom create your flashcards which come in handy for the particular words that you need to keep revising. You can add text, photo, and even sounds to the flashcard. It has both a desktop version and an app, which automatically does the backup and syncs it all your devices via the cloud.

  Reading Comprehension RC is one of the most widely dreaded section of the CAT Exam. As the topic of an RC can be anything from Science and Technology to Philosophy, aspirants from every walk of lives have a hard time with this section. The only way to get comfortable with this section is through extensive reading of the topics you are most uncomfortable in. Here is a topic-wise list to various RC resources that will help you to target your weakness

1. For Science & Technology related articles: Scientific American
2. For Art Culture & Literature related articles: Arts & Letters Daily
3. For Economics & Business related articles: The New York Times (Paul Krugman Articles)
4. For Philosophy related articles: The Philosopher's Beard

You can find a more exhaustive list of online reading resources for CAT here

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DI & LR This section tests the reasoning and interpretation skills of the aspirant, and unlike the other two sections, this section does not have a set of topics or prototype questions that you can study from to perform well. One should we adept in using logic and analytical skills to perform well in this section. But how do you do that? Well, one way to do that could be by solving puzzles and riddles to develop the required skills. Few resources where you can solve various types of puzzles are:

1. https://www.popularmechanics.com/riddles-logic-puzzles/
2. https://www.facebook.com/DailyLogicQuestions/
3. https://brilliant.org/

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QA The internet is filled with resources on various topics to cover in the quantitative aptitude section, and there’s nothing more I can add to that, that hasn’t been said before. But while mastering the concepts is important, it is equally vital to work on your speed and accuracy of calculations. Its time to bring out your inner Shakuntala Devi to save a few seconds in this time-critical exam which will give you an edge over the other aspirants. Here is a link to a YouTube playlist that teaches Vedic Maths to help you become more competent in doing mathematical calculations.

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MOCKS Mocks are not optional, they are obligatory; they are not a result of your preparation, but a part of it. It is imperative not only to take but to take them the correct way. All the hard work goes to waste if one does not practice with mocks.

1. Take mock at the time of the day when you are going to take your actual CAT Exam. This will make you comfortable with sitting for three-hours and will also make your brain to be in a habit of being active during this time of the day.
2. This is your chance to experiment with different strategies. For e.g.: In RCs you can read the passage thoroughly once and then answer the questions or read the questions first and then the passage or even read the first and last line of the first and last paragraph to get a sense of the passage and then read the questions. You can try as many strategies as possible and figure out what works out best for you, just make sure that you follow one strategy throughout a given mock.Here are few links to get you started: https://www.indiaeducation.net/management/cat/how-to-attempt-the-cat-paper.html https://byjus.com/free-cat-prep/question-selection-for-cat-preparation/

   https://www.collegedekho.com/articles/how-to-approach-cat-question-paper/

3. Analysing the mock paper is the most crucial part of taking a mock. You should devout as much time and seriousness to analysing a mock as you do in taking one. Making an excel document of your performance in various tests can be useful to track and gauge your performance.

1. 1. Check if you allotted time to each section.
   2. Take note of all the questions that took the most time.
   3. Try to solve the questions you couldn’t attempt.
   4. Categorise all the questions on the basis of difficulty and time taken.
   5. Lookup for the solutions to the questions you got wrong.
   6. Look for the best strategy to solve the questions you got right.
   7. Analyse the effectiveness of the strategy followed in the mock test.

  Good luck :) May the puss (the cat) be in your boots!