The Common Admission Test (CAT) for admission to IIMs and other management institutes has been announced. In this section we cover some frequently answered questions as to how students should prepare for the exam. This section will be helpful to students who wish to appear in CAT and other management entrance exams.
a) Pattern of the tests
Management entrance tests traditionally have three sections:
Maths, English, and Reasoning.
There are 75 questions with 25 questions in each section. The test is of two and a half hours duration. As nobody can do all the questions in this time, the candidate must have the ability to pick and choose the questions that must be done. You get 4 marks for every correct answer and –1 for every wrong answer, so avoid guesses.
b) When to start?
Start preparation as early as possible. Use your summer vacations to cover up your basics. A high level of logic and reasoning skills must be developed as the questions are not straightforward, at least in CAT. Each question requires some thought, and what may appear to be answer initially, may usually be wrong.
An important thing to keep in mind is the fact that the student must exhibit proficiency in all sections of the paper. This means that all sections must be attempted. Usually students make the mistake of attempting only those areas in which they are good. For example, engineering students would like to attempt all the questions in maths section and will not touch verbal, while an arts student may like to attempt only English and avoid maths. This is not the road to success.
c) Changes in test pattern
IIMs are at liberty to change or modify the test. This is done perhaps to separate the student who rely on mugging up from those who approach the test with an open mind. Hence, no fixed pattern works. In the ultimate analysis, the student who is able to adjust himself to changed time, or number of questions, or any other difference in pattern, will survive. If you have been depending on "magic formulae" as many coaching institutes provide, or are good at mugging up things, chances are that you will be baffled if you see any change in the pattern of the test.
Approach the paper with an open mind and do not get confused with any new element. After all, a manager has to deal with different situations and this test simply puts forth real life situations in a microcosm.
HOW TO PREPARE FIRST STEP:
Do your basics in Maths, English Grammar and Vocabulary, and understand how reasoning sums are to be done. This can be done from class 10 books or from study material or correspondence course of a coaching institute. Do not worry about speed at this stage.
Maths—Must do topics
—Number Systems, Factors,
HCF, LCM, Change of base
—Percentages, Profit and Loss,
Time and Speed, Ratios
—Geometry, Areas and Volumes,
Trigonometry
—Algebra, Quadratic Equations,
Logs, Functions, Graphs,
Series, Inequalities, Venn diagrams
—Less frequently asked or
fewer questions
—Probability, Permutations
and Combinations, Binomial expansion
—Calendars, Clocks, Races,
Stocks, Simple and Compound
Interest
Learn tables by heart. Things like fractions and percentages must also be learnt by heart. For instance, if you are to find 37.5% of 88,000 do not do 88000 × 375/1000, which will undoubtedly take a long time. Instead remember that 37.5% is equivalent to 3/8 so the sum boils down to multiplying 88,000 by 3/8, which is mental, and the answer should be 33,000.
Also look for shorter cuts in doing sums. If the sum is a lengthy like: where a person comes and takes 1/3rd sweets from a bowl and another takes 1/4th of the remainder and still another takes ½ of the rest, then how many sweets did we start out with? The shorter way to arrive at answer in such question would be to see the choices and find which of the choices is divided by 3 and 4; the answer will be a multiple of 12. By doing sums like this, a student can arrive at the answers faster than by doing them in the conventional way. In above case it will become a complicated equation if we take x and subtract the sweets taken at each stage.
MANAGEMENT
DI Section
Data Interpretation requires an understanding of graphs and charts. Puzzles are also frequently asked in this section as also a good amount of reasoning. To prepare for this section, one must be competent in the following areas:
1. Graphs and charts
2. Analytical Reasoning
3. Different reasoning questions,
coding-decoding, series, sets,
and so on.
4. Data Sufficiency
5. Puzzles
English Section
Verbal Ability has always been an integral part of MBA exams. For many people Verbal Ability is a bugbear because long lists of words have to be learnt and then long aragraphs have to be unjumbled. Moreover, the choices are often quite close and one is never sure of the answer. Coaching centres typically do not teach English properly, so one must work on one's own. Attempts must be made to understand each kind of question that is asked. The broad categories of different questions asked are: (a) Vocabulary, (b) Jumbled Paragraphs,
(c) Fill in the blanks, (d) Sentence Improvement, (e) Syllogisms, (f) Paragraph Completion (g) Critical Reasoning and (h) English Usage. Of course, this is not an exhaustive list, because the examiner is free to include different questions every year. In the first step, get familiar with the different types of questions.
SECOND STEP:
The second step involves developing speed and familiarity. You must do a large number of section tests now.
A section test consists of 25-30 questions on Maths, English or Reasoning. Each test must be done in 50 minutes exactly, so time yourself. Do at least three section tests every day, one of each. After the test, look up the answers and explanations and learn where you made the mistake. The test and the analysis should take you two hours each. Note down the points in a diary. New words you come across should also be written down. A minimum of 10 section tests in each area must be attempted. The more you do, the more speed and understanding you will develop.
THIRD STEP:
In the third step, you must do a number of Mock-Tests. Such tests should have all the three sections with varying number of questions. Do the tests in the requisite time of 2 ½ hours, making sure that all the sections are attempted. Look for tests that change the pattern, so that you are not taken by surprise in the final exam. After each test, analyze it by going over the answers and explanations. Make notes of where you get stuck. Also keep a record of your scores as you appear in various tests.
Start by doing one Mock-Test every week, increasing it to two tests every week. In November, do one test everyday till November 16th and supplement it with section tests in areas where you are lagging.
Which coaching institute?
Students are often confused as to which institute they should join. High powered advertising and all kinds of claims of coaching institutes tend to confuse the youngster. Do not believe all that you see in newspapers or on television. Coaching institutes make tall claims and many students are disappointed after paying the fees. For example, choose an institute if you are comfortable with the teachers, not on the basis of claims. Also, take sure that the institute is near your home, otherwise you will waste a lot of time commuting. It is not necessary to join one, if you can study on your own. You can buy the study material and practice on your own.
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