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2MonthstoCAT2016SectionwisePreparationStrategy

CAT2016isscheduledtobeconductedonDecember4,2016,intwoslotsacrosscentres.Accordingto
theCATexampattern,CAThasasectionaltimelimit,youcannotplanwhichsectiontoattemptfirst.
Moreover,withthesectionalcutoffacrossthe3sectionsofthetest,henceyoumaynotbeabletoleave
outcertaintopicsorareas.Nowthebigquestionishowtobuckupwiththepreparationswithinthe60
dayperiod.SandeepManudhane,Chairman,PTEducationmakesavalidpointwhenhesays,Makea
microplansplittingyoureffortintoweeksanddays.Writedownthatplan,andsticktoitreligiously.
Rememberthataweeklyrevisionacrosstestareasmustbeakeypartoftheplan.Donotworkonany
onetestareafortoolongastretch.Rotateacrossareas.Itwillkeepyouenergised,interestedand
alive!

Likelastyear,youwillnotbegiventhelibertytochoosetheorderofthesection.Theorderofthe
sectiontobefollowedwhileattemptingthetestisgivenbelow:

SectionI:VerbalAbilityandReadingComprehension
SectionII:DataInterpretationandLogicalReasoning
SectionIII:QuantitativeAbility

LetushavealookatthesectionwisestrategytobefollowedinthecrucialtwomonthsofCAT2016.

SectionIVerbalAbility/VerbalandReadingComprehension

Thissectionisoftenconsideredastheweakestareaformanyaspirantswhoareconfidentenough
tosolvingtoughQuantproblemsbutgetpetrifiedinreadingapassageof300wordsandfindingout
thequestionsfollowingit.Butirrespectiveofyourcomfortlevelwiththesection,youhavetoprepare
foritandthefollowingpointswillgiveyouthepreparationstrategyforVerbalandReading
Comprehension.Thiswouldbethethirdandlastsectionoftheexam.

ReadalotReadingisthebeststrategyfordealingwithVerbalAbility&LogicalReasoningSection.
Itwillnotonlyimproveyourvocabularybutalsoyourabilitytounderstandandcomprehendalot
faster.Focusmoreonreadingnewspapers(theHinduandET),articles(businessrelated,artsand
Economy)andbusinessmagazines,saysGagandeep,asecondyearIIMRohtakstudent.Abhishake
shares,InVerbal,RCsisthemostimportantsection.Withthechangedformat,theremightbe
around35RCandthereisnoescapingthem.IspentalotoftimereadingworkinginRCs.

EnrichyourvocabularyVocabularyisanimportantaspectoftheVerbalAbilitysection.Owing
tothedifficultyleveloftheexam,itcanbeverywellexpectedthatthewordswillnotbelongtothe
categoryofregularconversation.Followthetriedandtestedmethodsofvocabularylearninginclude
bookssuchasWordPower,Barronsetc.Writingdownwordsandtheirmeaningandutilizingthemin
sentences.UsingFlashCardsforlearningnewwordsarealsohelpful.IhadtoworkalotontheVA

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2MonthstoCAT2016SectionwisePreparationStrategy

sectionbecauseitwasaweakareaforme.FirsttaskwastoimprovemyvocabularywhichIdid
throughreadingnewspapersandfollowingNormanLewissWordPowerMadeEasy,statesSurbhi.

FocusongrammarGrammarisadefaulttopicintheVerbalAbilitysection.Ifyouarearegular
victimofgrammar,itistimeforyoutogobacktobasicsandfacetheproblem.Wren&Martinisthe
bestwaytostartwithgrammarbasics.Takehelpfromyourmentorsorseniorswhereveryouare
gettingstuck.

PracticeTheresnobetterwaytogainagoodgripoveranareaotherthanpractice.PracticeRC
passagesandotherEnglishUsagequestionslikeFillintheblanks,ParaJumble,SentenceCompletion
etc.Takesectionalmockteststogetanoverallpracticeregularly.IwasweakinVerbalAbilitypart
becauseofnotbeingawellreadpersonatall.ThenIdecidedtofocusonlyonthosequestiontypes
wherecomprehendingthecontentwascorerequirementlikeParajumbles,RCsetc.,mentions
Balkesh.

SectionIIDataInterpretation&LogicalReasoning

DataInterpretation&LogicalReasoningwouldbethesecondsectiontoappearintheCAT2016exam.
Itisexpectedthattherewillbearound16questionseachinDataInterpretationandLogical
Reasoningareas.

BefamiliarwithcaseletsBefamiliarwiththetopicsandtypesofquestionstoexpectinthis
section.Thequestionswillbeintheformofcaselets,whereeachcasewillbefollowedby3to4
questions.ForDI,thequestionswillbeintheformoflineandbargraphs,piechartsetc.TheLR
questionswillbemainlyonarrangements,bloodrelations,familytree,venndiagramsetc.Ifocused
themostonbeingfamiliarwithversatileformsofdatarepresentationlikepiechart,barchart,line
graph,piledbarchart,spiderchartandcomplexcombinationsofthese.Therearecertainproblem
typeswhichrequirepriorexposurebecausetheyinvolveacertainalgorithmforsolvingwhichistime
consumingtodecodeonthespot.Practiceforsuchproblemtypesismust,saysBalkeshNarang,IIM
Udaipurstudent.

BereadyforcalculationintensivequestionsTheDIquestionsforCATareknownforbeing
calculationintensive.Utilizetheonscreencalculatortothefullestinthissection.Theintroductionof
thecalculatorwilldefinitelyhelpstudentswhileperformingcalculationsinData
Interpretationquestions,mentionsVinayakKudva,ProductHead,IMS.Knowingthefastcalculation
tricksisanotherstrategyforsolvingthequestionsaccuratelywithoutmakingitmuchtime
consuming.SurbhiSinghal,99.42percentilerinCAT2014andIIMLucknowstudentsuggests,
ThoughIknewabouttheDItypeofquestions,themaintaskwastoincreasethespeedofcalculations
astheyaretimeconsuming.Forthat,IlearntsomeVedicmathtricksonline.
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2MonthstoCAT2016SectionwisePreparationStrategy

SolvepreviousyearsquestionpapersPriorto2011,DataInterpretation&LogicalReasoningusedto
beasinglesectionintheCATpaper.Ifyouwanttobefamiliarwiththesectionsandtheoverallfeelof
thepaper,solvetheCATquestionpapersofpast10years.AsGautamPuri,ViceChairman,Career
Launchersuggests,IfonelooksattheCAT19992008papers,mostofwhichweresimilartoCAT
2016patternandIexpectthesimilarquestionswouldbeaskedinCAT2016also.

PracticeThemoreyoupracticethequestionsfromDI&LR,betterwillyouperform.Sincethereis
notheoreticalaspectinthissection,youcanonlypracticetoexceltheareas.ForLRandDI,Iusedto
practicesolvingatleast34setswithatimelimiteveryday.Thishelpedmegetexposuretoadiverse
setofproblemsinbothLRandDIareas.,saysIshaanAnaokar,CAT2014
99.39percentilerandSPJIMRMumbaistudent.

Solvepuzzles,riddlesandplaymentalgamestocrackLRLogicalReasoningisallabout
understandingthetrickhiddeninthequestion.Solvecrosswordpuzzles,Sudoku,riddlesonblood
relations,familytreeetc.Ihavealwaysbeeninvolvedinsomebrainstormingactivitieslikeplaying
chess,minesweeper,Sudokuetc.Apartfromthese,Ididnotputanyspecificeffortstoimprove
thissection,saysBalkesh.

SectionIIIQuantitativeAbility
QuantitativeAbilityor(QA)isthecompulsoryfirstsectiontobeattemptedinCAT2016.The
followingpointswillhelpyoupreparebetterinthedaysleftforyourCAT2016testday.

Knowtheareaswell:Asthefirststepofanypreparationistoknowthebasics.Gothroughthepast
yearsanalysisandquestiontypestoknowwhicharetheareasandtopicswithmajorweights.Ifyou
arenottoostrongwiththosetopics,startwiththebasics.Donthesitatetogobacktoyouroldschool
orcollegebookstolearnthebasics.Toknowthequestiontypes,solvingthepreviousyearsquestion
papersisthebestsolution.SarthakNayak,99.87percentilerinCATandanSJMSOMIIT
Bombaystudentsuggests,MystrategyforQuantitativeAbilitywastolearnconcepts,understandand
workoutonsimpleexamples,thenattemptdifficultquestions.Bylearningconceptsand
understandingthemthroughexamples,itwaseasytounderstandandattemptdifficultquestions.

Donotleaveoutimportanttopics:Althoughitisnotpossibletoprepareforeachandeverytopic
thathasappearedintheCATpaperovertheyears,ensurethatyoudonotleaveouttheimportant
areasorchaptersfromyourschemeofthings.AbhishakeKoul,99.29percentilerinCAT2014andIIM
Lucknowstudentexplains,ForQuant,don'tleaveanytopicuncovered.Ontheexamday,itmightso
occurthatthedifficulttopicyouhavelefthasmoreweightagecomparedtothoseyouhavecovered.
Thisaffectssectionalscores,resultingindecreasedpercentage.IfollowedArunSharmaadditionally
forpractice.

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2MonthstoCAT2016SectionwisePreparationStrategy

However,therewouldbesomeareas,whichbynowyouhaverealisedisnotyourcupoftea.Inthat
case,focusonyourstrengthareasandleaveouttheothers.SohiniDeb,anIIMKozhikodestudents
strategywillgiveyouanideaonthis.AsmyDataInterpretationscoreswerenotuptothemark,I
madeupastrategytoattendonlyoneDIquestionandotherquestionsfromquantsection,says
Sohini.SincethisyearDIisnotclubbedwithQA,butwithLogicalReasoning,youhavetoplan
accordingly.

Focusonimportantchapters:Asmentionedabove,therearecertainimportantareasinthe
QuantitativeAbilitysection,whichyoumustnotleaveout.Butyoumustalsotakecarethatthose
areasorchaptersgettoomuchfocusduringpreparation.Dontbereluctantwhilepreparingfor
importanttopicslikeNumberSystem,Arithmetic,ModernMathorGeometry.Prepareinsuchaway
thatnomatterhowtrickythequestionis,youcancrackthesolvingprocesswithinfewminutes.
Sharingherstrategy,RubalBagdeofIIMTrichysays,Workthemostonyourstrongtopicsandknow
theapproachesfortheweaktopics.Ifocusedonthetopicsofspeedtimedistance,timeandwork,
numbersystemsandprobability.

Practice:Practiceistheuniversalpreparationstrategyirrespectiveofsections.Thereisnosubstitute
forregularpractice,whichincludestakingmocktestsandsolvingpastyearspapers.Thishelpyouace
yourweakerareasandmaketheareasofstrengthevenstronger.Takeregularmocktests,whetherfull
lengthorsectionaldependingonyourstageofpreparation.ForQA,solvingandpracticingmore
sumshelpedmeindiscoveringnewandfasterwaystoapproachproblems.Onecantheneasilytell
whichsumsareeasiertosolve,andfocusonthoseduringthepaper.Itisimportant,however,to
practicesolvingharderquestionsaswellsothatonecanincreasethenumberofquestionshe/shecan
answerduringtheexam,suggestsRoshniSwhoobtained98.4percentileinCAT.

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