CAT for newbies
December 26, 2007
Where to start
Before starting the preparation for CAT one must know why CAT? Why nothing else. If you are sure that you ll prepare for CAT then the big question arises- how?So many coaching centers, so many web sites, so many yahoo groups – which one to follow and which one not to. The Best idea is to listen to all and do what you think is the best method for your CAT preparation. Never compare any coaching center, their materials or mock questions – all are good in some way or the other. The best thing that one should do is to try collecting questions and notes from all the coaching centers.
Developing the Right Attitude
Once the importance of the CAT has clearly dawned on you, you can approach it with the right amount of determination and discipline. It helps to face the CAT as a challenge – a challenge that should get your adrenaline flowing, and bring out the best in you. To succeed, you need to have a focused and concerted approach towards the preparation; given the nature of the test, regular practice along with expert guidance can work wonders for your final score report.
How much time do you need to prepare?
To a large extent, this is a function of your initial state of readiness. The CAT requires primarily two kinds of theoretical inputs: basic math (comparable to Grade 10 syllabus, but subject to severe pressures of time) and grammatically correct English. Both of these are skills acquired over many years of schooling, and the stronger your foundations in these subjects are, the easier it is for you to prepare. Typically, I recommend that you start preparing at least 3-4 months before your test date. During this time period, your preparation will be divided into two parts – the initial 1½-2 months when you concentrate on strengthening your foundations by delving into the topics of the CAT syllabus, and the final two months or so when you will focus on sample CAT tests that give you a feel of the actual computer adaptive CAT.
The Preparation Process
Analyze your position: Before you proceed with the actual preparation, you need to know where exactly you stand and how much ground you need to cover. It helps to assess your strengths and weaknesses through a good quality test, one that is comparable to the actual CAT in both the quality of its questions and its scoring. Here, it is very important that you do not attach too much significance to your score on this test – the test has to be purely of an indiive nature. Do not get disheartened with a low score, nor get complacent with a high score, for it can all change – for better or worse – by the time you take the actual test.
Strengthening the Foundations: As mentioned earlier, the CAT requires you to have strong fundamentals in Math and English grammar. Once you have an idea of which areas you need to work harder through the diagnostic test, you can accordingly streamline your efforts. A good way is to review the textbooks of the school level, without going into too much detail. Both grammar and math work on the basis of a fairly well-defined set of rules : it’s important to be familiar with these rules. Work on the basics for a couple of months – get the concepts right, clarify all your doubts, work through solved and unsolved examples – before you attempt full length practice tests.
Practice Tests: It is important that the practice tests that you attempt have been prepared by some authority, and that they reflect actual test questions and scores. Try taking the tests under simulated conditions with utmost concentration. The complete test is of nearly two hours’ duration – a period long enough for our concentration to flag. It will take a couple of tests before you develop the rhythm for taking these tests. Also, it is imperative that you get a good feedback on your performance in these tests – so that you can learn from your mistakes and make sure you do not repeat them. A mistake on the practice test must be looked upon as a learning opportunity, and not as something to fret about. Once you have practiced 4-5 tests, your scores are bound to improve, given that the level of the questions does not vary too much.
one last advice
DO AS MANY PRACTICE QUESTIONS & TESTS AS POSSIBLE. THE MORE YOU PRACTICE, THE BETTER YOU WILL
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