CAT stands for Computer Admission Test .CAT is conducted every year by the IIM’S (Indian Institutes of Management) for the admission into their master’s programs in Business Administration.CAT examination is considered as the basic and mandatory eligibility criteria for admission in various renowned business schools of India.
CAT examination is held in the ending days of the month of November and the result of the same is declared in the second week ofJanuary every year.TheIIM’S declare the separate cut off lists to shortlist the candidates for the subsequent modes of selection which typically include Writing ability, Group Discussion and Personal Interview.
There is no specific list of Institutes that participate in CAT. However, almost every top Business School accepts the scores obtained by the candidate in CAT examination.19 IIM ‘S, 118 B-schools along with top B-Schools like Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), FMS, SP Jain, MDI, etc. Participate in the CAT examination.
The cut-off for the IIM’S is very high ranging generally in the bracket of 90-99 percentiles.
What is the basic eligibility criteria for CAT?
The Candidates of any age group having hold of bachelor’s degree with minimum 50% marks in any stream from any recognized university are eligible for CAT 2017.
Know the syllabus
In order to score well in the CAT, the candidates have to be well versed in the Quantitative Ability, Data Interpretation, and Verbal Ability & Logical Reasoning. The questions will be mostly in MCQ pattern. However, some of the questions will be subjective.
The concepts used in CAT examination are of class 10 level. However, the questions are quite twisted and little bit tricky to solve. Candidate needs to practice well to overcome such issues in the examination.
Begin thepreparation with full determination
Start the exam preparation with proper dedication and determination. Avoid all the demotivating activities and focus on your study schedule. March to April is a good time tothe start preparation for the CAT exam which will be held in the month of November.
Decide about joining a coaching centre
Most of the candidates take some coaching for the preparation of the Entrance Examination. Candidates should take a good and reliable coaching for CAT entrance examination from a reputed Institute with the qualified and experienced faculty members.
Joining a coaching centreis based on a lot of things.If you have a lot of preparation time, you can join some good coaching centre. However, if you get very little time to study, you can opt for self study.
Books and material
Get theCAT preparation material of some good coaching institute.
For the Quantitative analysis, there are two good books by Arun Sharma and Sarvesh Varma. You can refer to any of these. Both the books are quitegood. But don’t buy both.
There is no special book for the concepts of Data Interpretation, Logical Reasoning and Verbal Ability. Only the coaching material for all the concepts can be relied. You can solve all the practice questions.
Forthe verbalsection, you can consult “Word Power made Easy” by Norman Lewis. The book is very good book and helps in increasingthe vocabulary. It is distributed into 45 to 47 sessions which are meant to be read one at a time. It is a must-read book and youshould completeit within two months of starting your preparation.
Also, read a few good story books.
Make Reading your habit
A large number of students particularly engineers are already verygood at quant but they do not perform well in verbal. In the earlier CAT papers vocabulary and grammar concepts were the base of most of the questions. But nowadays, it is more of a general English exam. Theexam tests one’s hold over Englishlanguage in common usage. Thus you should be very much familiar with the English.
The best way to improve your verbal score is to read a lot of good books written in Standard English. You can read fiction, non-fiction or anything as per your interest (just written in good English). Reading at least 4 to 6 books during your preparation time would increase your familiarity with the English and you can easily score well.
Test Series
Several online /offline mock drills/ test series are available in which the candidate can appear. These mock drills help the candidate to know about his/her preparation status. Solving the mock test series ensures time-management in the exam and helps in the confidence boosting to crack the exam.
Fix a day of the week and fix a time and give the test every week at the same time. Sit in a proper position while attempting the mock test drill and tell all your roommates/ family members not to disturb you at that time.
Try at least 15-20 such tests and CAT will no longer be an alien to you.
