‘Balance it’ for CAT 2009

CAT 2009 is approaching. And as the suspense over the new computer based pattern gets thicker, there is a lot of apprehension among students. Whatever be the new pattern, one thing is clear, one needs to clear the cutoff in every section to assure GD/PI call from any of the IIMs.

CAT is an exam, which tests not only the brilliance but also a lot of other traits of a student’s personality. We have found many students lament over cutoff. Though they manage to get a good percentile, they fail to cross the cutoff score for all the sections.Let’s see what exactly this cutoff is: Similar to the passing marks in any board exams or school exams, IIMs also keep a minimum score for each section, which one must cross to get through. While in school, how many of us find it difficult to pass in each subject? I guess not many.

Now, what is so different about CAT that people find it difficult to cross the sectional cutoff score?

The answer is simple; students need to strike a balance.

Now what do you mean by balance in preparation?

When you start preparing for an exam and start enjoying a particular subject, you start focusing on it. Say for CAT, I like solving Quant problems and I keep on solving problems from different sources. So am I increasing my chances of selection by doing so?

The answer is a big “No”. Because it’s not the subject which you are strong at will stop you from getting selected rather the subject in which you are weak will.

Now, how to achieve balance in preparation?

Its not just the number of hours spent and the number of problems you solve but also how you approach the exam. First let’s start with preparation and proceed till the exam day. If you are weak in a particular section then you need to prepare hard for it to clear the cutoff for that particular section. Now while taking the mock tests, don’t just focus on the score. Each test paper that you take, analyze it thoroughly. How much time do you spend on each section? What is your accuracy? It is this analysis that will give you an edge in the actual exam.

If your analysis is correct, after taking 5 to 8 tests, you will come to know your average speed and accuracy. Here is a simple formula to calculate one’s accuracy.

Accuracy (%) = (Number of questions correct / Number of Questions attempted) x 100.

Now how will this analysis help me while taking CAT?

Let’s try to answer this question taking the CAT 2008 pattern as a reference.CAT 2008 had 40 questions in Verbal Ability (VA), 25 in Data Interpretation/Data Sufficiency (DI/DS), and 25 in Quantitative (QA). Now if I know that my accuracy is 80% and the cutoff will be approximately 10 questions, then I can easily find out how many questions I need to solve in that particular section, and how much time I need to spend on it.

Now let’s say for crossing the cutoff I need 10 questions in QA, 10 questions in DI/DS and 12 questions in VA. So I divide my 2 hours of time in such a way that I should be able to solve 12 questions in QA, 12 questions in DI/DS and 15 questions in VA, considering my accuracy to be 80%. What I have achieved is trying to cross the cutoff in the first two hours of the exam. Now I am still left with 30 minutes of my time which I can spend wisely to improve my score further. For example, I can choose to pick the questions from my strongest section and try to score as much as possible or choose the section which according to me is the easiest.

Now what if I am not able to achieve it in 2 hours?

You have roughly 40 questions and 120 minutes to solve them. i.e. you need to spend on an average 3 minutes on each question, which is fair enough to solve the question if you have chosen the questions correctly. Oh just now another term “choice” has popped up. So, the key lies in choosing the right questions that can be easily answered in around 3 minutes. Now, it has become even more interesting that you need to solve 40 easy questions and you have got 3 minutes for each question. Sounds very simple right? But it’s not always the case. The question that you might think easy may turn out to be difficult and consume more time. But you still have those extra 30 minutes to cover any such corner cases.

What if CAT pattern changes altogether?

This could be a possibility. Given that the test itself will be now computer based, it is highly likely that a few changes in the pattern might happen. But still one has to clear the cut off no matter what. The number of verbal questions might be increased or the difficulty level might increase. Or the overall time allotted might be increased. One can never predict. But if you take a lot of mock CATs and sharpen your test taking skills, you will know how much time you take for each question, and hence you can allot appropriate time at the time of the test. This way you can definitely excel in any format the CAT may present you with.

So the key here is to analyze your mock CATs deeply, and keep a note of the time, along with the accuracy in each test. Measure you accuracy test by test and try to keep the “balance” in preparation.