Q: CAT 2012 is less than a month away. How do I strategize my preparation?

• Focus on the theory and concepts of only those chapters where either you are conceptually strong but slow at solving CAT level questions or where you are quick but go wrong because you have either not understood the application of the concepts or the interpretation of the question or have made a silly error.
   
• Clearly identify those areas that are definite strengths. Practically, for any given chapter, if you can solve 7/8 questions out of 10 in 3 - 3.5 minutes each, then that chapter is a definite strength. Practice a few questions from such chapters every day.
   
• If there is a chapter or concept where you are still going wrong, you may now not have enough time to significantly strengthen your concepts and then solve enough questions to become adept at them. It may be best to ignore such a concept, unless it is a concept as critical as say, Reading Comprehension or Numbers.
   
• Quality is always better than quantity! Do not try and solve 50 or 100 questions everyday in the hope that repetitive practice will make your CAT 2012 preparation better. The more focused your practice is, the better your chances are at CAT.
   
• Make hand written notes – one of the oldest yet one of the most effective ways of preparing at the very last minute. For every chapter that you read, make YOUR OWN NOTES. These could be anything – formulae, properties, some time saving tips that you follow, some elimination technique - whatever else comes to your mind! This will help you prepare effectively in the last 2-3 days when you will have close to 100 chapters to go through and less than 100 hours at hand.

Q: How many mock CATs do I take now and how do I analyze them?

• Keep in mind the number of days you are left with after removing the last 2 days before the date of your examination. There is no fixed number of mock CAT tests that you should take now. This number has to be decided by you keeping in mind your comfort level and preparation level. Also, if possible, try and attempt these mocks at the same time at which your actual CAT is scheduled and without taking any breaks.
   
• Do not attempt so few mocks or do not keep such a big gap between mocks so as to break your rhythm. If your rhythm does break at this stage, then it may affect your scores and your confidence as well.
   
• At the same time, do not attempt so many mocks so as to make test-taking a routine and mundane exercise. Specially, never attempt more than one mock a day. Doing so will not only give you insufficient time for analysis but also affect your concentration levels during the second mock.
   
• At this stage, your analysis should be focused more on attempt strategy rather than individual details. Have a look again at the analysis of previous mocks and try to correlate your number of attempts per area (QA, VA and DI/LR) versus the overall accuracy and attempts and see what attempt strategy suits you best. While it is not preferable to have an iron clad strategy for the exam, it is always better to have some idea as to how you are going to approach the actual exam.
   
• Do not try to over analyze the mock tests. There is often a temptation to analyze a test using every single parameter i.e. speed, accuracy, attempts, time per attempt, attemptable questions etc. There is a phrase – “paralysis of analysis” which means that even great analysis becomes meaningless if it does not lead to decision making and remedial action. And if you have spent too much only on analyzing the same data on various parameters, then you will not get any time to work on remedial action.

Author: Harpreet Singh, President JRE Group of Institutions

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