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Monday, Nov 13, 2006
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Strategies to tame the CAT

Manish Narang

Questions in CAT are designed to be ambiguous

Just less than a week to go for the Common Admission Test (CAT) — one of the toughest entrance tests whose scores are used for admission to the top B-schools in the country. Aspiring management graduates would be dreaming big about entering these top schools, which are turning out to be recruiters' favourite hunting grounds. Here are the strategies:

Revise your fundamentals

By now you must be sure of your strengths and weaknesses.

In the days ahead, just revise the basics and focus on fine-tuning your skills. It is important to stay focussed and improve your concentration for the big test.

End of experimentation

Now is the time to keep your cool and concentrate on your strengths. Do not fiddle around with your test-taking strategy at this stage.

As long as you know that the strategy you are using is giving you rewards, do not change it. Just stick to whatever works best for you.

Analyse what mistakes you have committed and how you will rectify them.

The most objective analysis of your performance is to judge it with respect to that of other students. The second step is to set a benchmark against how you actually fared in the tests that you have taken. Ideally, if you retain your old scores even if the test is getting tougher, it means that you are improving.

Finishing touches

Do away with your urge to cover the complete syllabus. Instead, revise or analyse all the mock tests you have taken till date. Besides spending time on why some answers went wrong, concentrate on why some of them were correct.

Find out if there is any better way of attempting those questions. Go through the questions that you did not opt for and see if you made a mistake by leaving those out and attempting the ones you did.

Prioritise

Start with the shorter questions. The advantage with short questions is not that they are easier, but that it will take you less time to identify whether you can answer them correctly or not.

Be decisive. Decide in two readings whether you are going to attempt a particular question or not. While reading any question, your attitude should be, ``Let me give it everything I have.'' Another sound approach is to begin a section by answering questions you feel comfortable with.

Risk taking

Broadly speaking, 1/3rd of a mark is deducted if you get an answer wrong. Since you do not lose a mark if you leave a question, one should avoid wild guesses. Which brings us to a controversial area: What should you do when you know that the two choices are wrong and that the correct answer is among the other two? You could mark one of the two as the answer. But if you do not have the appetite to take that small risk, leave it. But also remember that intelligent guessing is a part of the game.

Expect surprises

Questions in CAT are designed to be ambiguous. This is because ambiguity is a part and parcel of the managerial life and the IIMs are very clear; they are looking for only the best managers in the making.

Ease up

Learn to relax. Many a time, students with very high potential have not made it to the IIMs because they could not handle the pressure. So unwind, go for movies, do things that help you relax, go for walks, meditate... do all that it takes to keep your head clear.

All the best for CAT.

The author can be reached at manish.narang@

careerlauncher.com

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