Delivering on our promise of creating more value for our mentees at every stage, following are some pointers from our mentor—Arnav Sinha

Before any of you get all worked up because of the change in format of CAT to an online one from this year, please realize that the fundamental areas that CAT has been testing applicants in would not change. The candidates will still have to prove their aptitude in mathematics, English language and reasoning and data-interpretation. If you understand that, you’d realize that the pattern of preparation really does not change too much.

Basic Preparation Tips for the next 3-4 months:

RC

- 1. Speed-read through moderately long passages on a variety of topics (including ones that you don’t find interesting) and evaluate how much you are able to retain at the end. Try to improve on it everyday.
2. Reading through online editions of magazines like Economist or Time would help in terms of developing comfort with reading text on the screen.

VA

- 1. Do not waste time mugging up the GRE word-list.
2. Converse in English as much as possible, maybe start writing a blog regularly on topics you find worth talking about, avoid use of SMS-English while writing – essentially develop familiarity with the language.

QA

- 1. If you haven’t done it till now, do cover the entire mathematics syllabus from the course material provided by any of the standard coaching classes. You could also spend some time with the relevant textbooks from school, if there’s any area you are finding particularly difficult.
2. While analyzing a test paper always try to think of a shorter method to solve every question, even the ones you got right in a few seconds.

DI/Reasoning

- 1. Get comfortable with a variety of ways to portray complicated data. If you keep yourself from getting intimidated with some weird looking chart or table in the paper, you would realize that in most cases the scarier the data looks, the easier the questions are.
2. Even for genuinely difficult case-lets, try to identify one or two of the easier questions, which can earn you some valuable marks.

a. For all these sections, practice using sectional tests, rather than solving the entire paper all the time.

b. Do not take more than 3-4 tests in a week. It’s important that you don’t get bored with the process.

c. Join at least one (and one is generally enough) of the national-level test series that are held simultaneously across India every weekend. The rest of the tests during the week can be old papers that you can get from a senior, buy from a coaching class or anywhere else in the market.

d. Analyse. Analyse. Analyse. Spend at least 4 hours or so, preferably on the same day, analysing a 2 hour paper. Mark all the careless mistakes you made and lost marks pointlessly in (including not attempting a question just because it looked difficult or was from an area you are scared of). Find shorter methods of solving questions. Ensure your mistakes aren’t repeated the next time.

e. As far as reading material is concerned, the stuff given by any standard coaching class is good enough.

f. Finally, enjoy the process. Treat a test paper as an extended form of a puzzle – a crossword or a sudoku – that you would solve for leisure while reading a newspaper.

And, goes without saying, please feel free to get in touch with me or other mentors available at Mentorpolis for any clarifications or help.