Well,so another season of mocks is around the corner.Aspirants have started enroling for the mocks of TIME,IMS and what not!
This post is meant for first-timers who are going to attempt the mocks & get a taste of CAT for the first time,others would already know what they have in store.
Ten Tips to get the maximum out of Mocks
1.Don't start attempting mocks unless you have atleast covered some part of the syllabus.This is especially important for QA where there is an unofficial syllabus that have been followed over the years.
2.Don't fret over your mock scores for the initial 3-4 mocks.You'll take time to Adjust to the pace as well as UI of the exam.
3.Every mock is a new battle,don't let the bad performance in your previous mock affect your current one
4.Ergonomics matters a lot.Try to attempt the mocks in a test-day like environment away from disturbances.Most importantly,finish the mock in one go or else it is a waste of a mock.
5.Optimize the number of mocks you take.Just because a 100 mocks are availabe to you doesn't mean you take all those.Ideally around 30-40 mocks will be fine.But this is something that varies and only you will be able to know how many you should attempt.
6.Subscribe to mocks from multiple institutes.Doing so will help you experience different question types and different scenarios that might pop up on D-day.A combination of IMS + TIME/CL will be good enough to give you varied exposure.
7.Document and follow your mock scores over the season.You can do this in an Excel.So you'll be able to see the improvement in your performance from Day 1. It's best to plot your ranks in different sections and overall along with your marks.This'll also help to remind you that you are competing with yourselves.
8.After you have reached a particular stage,you might experience plateauing of your mock scores.Then you should look into the questions that you have been avoiding for all the previous mocks and do something to adress them.Even a minor tweak here or there can help a lot in certain cases.
9.You should be able to finalize a strategy to attempt the exam on D-day through mocks.For eg-If you realize that your accuracy in RCs is consistently low,you may consider attempting the Parajumbles and the VA part at the beginning and RCs towards the end of the first hour.
10.Lastly and most importantly,don't let your mock scores get into your head.There are plenty who have done bad the whole mock season and gave their best performance on D-day.Also there were other consistent 99%ilers who tanked on D-day.No matter how many mocks you take,everything depends on keeping your nerves on the exam day.
So enjoy the mock season and may CAT 2021 be your best mock !