Why I take CAT every year? - article by Rajesh Balasubramanian

I have been asked this question many times in many fora and I had always provided a 'fudged' answer. So, I thought I could have some fun thinking about the real answer. Ergo, this post.

I completed my Post Graduate Diploma in Management more than a decade ago. And like most of my classmates, I graduated with the feeling that I had already completed one MBA too many. Why then do I take the CAT every year?

There are two reasons for this. The first is the ‘professional’ reason. I run 2IIM, an online education Company that focuses on CAT preparation. I spend gazillion hours teaching students and creating content and so it helps to have a sense of what the exam is all about.

The second, personal reason is probably more interesting. I like the challenge of taking an exam where one has to reactivate the grey cells for three hours. If you have ever sat down to try a crossword, math puzzle or good old Sudoku, you will have a sense of what I am talking about here. 

The CAT provides more context so test-taking is far more than being merely a fun exercise of the brain. The exam setting creates an intensity that is absent elsewhere and this adds to the thrill.

In one sense, the exam is also my own way of saying I can compete with the youngsters today. Of  striking a blow against the ageists, and telling myself that the intermediary years spent on the drudgery of stock-peddling have not (yet) dulled my senses.

The obvious question here is whether there might not be far better avenues of challenging myself. There probably are. But they all probably involve lot more practice and training. For instance, running marathons needs six months of training and the very thought of consuming long miles with just myself for company leaves me with dread. So, I want something that can push me over a few short hours, preferably only once every twelve months or so. Ergo, CAT. Besides, I have saved up long-distance running for the mid-life crisis.

Contrary to popular perception, the CAT is actually a high quality exam. Any testing mechanism can commit two kinds of errors - It can let in undeserving candidates, or it can miss out on deserving candidates. The better exams do a good job on both counts. The CAT is very well designed for limiting one kind of error - anyone who does well in the exam has to be reasonably sharp; while the converse is not true. It is society that perversely assumes the converse and therefore ends up placing enormous pressure on candidates. Standardized tests cannot be created to cater to all types of intelligences. We should be mature enough to accept that.

As a potential candidate, you are probably thinking – I have read this piece about the motivations of a 35-year old ex-banker whose idea of a good time is to take exams. What am I going to get out of this?

My experience as a test-taker has placed me in a unique position of being able to view the exam not only as an involved participant, but also as someone who is pressure-free as far as the wider consequences are concerned. The one input I would give all aspirants is to have a sense of joie-de-vivre while approaching the exam. Try to retain a sense of wonder about the idea of solving problems or cracking puzzles. To cite a sports parallel, football can be associated with either catenaccio or Joga Bonito. As far as CAT goes, Joga Bonito (play beautifully).

Best wishes for the CAT.

An excerpt from this piece appeared in the India Today Aspire issue that can be found here.

The author, Rajesh Balasubramanian is an alumnus from IIMB (2003) who runs 2IIM Online CAT Coaching company. The author takes CAT every year and has the distinction of having scored 100^th percentile in CAT 2011, 2012 and CAT 2014.

GMAT or CAT: I am planning to go for GMAT instead of CAT because I have heard GMAT is easier, is that wise?

Very frequently, I see students opting for GMAT purely because they think CAT is tough. The reasoning goes like this - CAT is too competitive. With GMAT, I can get into a college with any score. This whole line of reasoning usually reminds me of the old Birbal story where Akbar sends Birbal on a trip to find the 10 biggest fools in the kingdom. A part of the story goes thus -

Birbal was coming back to the palace in the dark. He saw a man searching for something under a street lamp, and stopped to help him. 
'What have you lost?' asked Birbal.
'A ring from my finger.'
As they could find nothing, Birbal naturally asked: 'Are you sure you dropped it here?'
'No,' was the answer. 'I dropped it over there, but it's dark there and light here. I am searching where I can see.' 

Many students' most preferred reason for taking GMAT is the fact that they think it is easier than CAT. To put it bluntly, this is daft. This piece of daftness has been built on 3 wonderful myths.

Myth 1: Indian students totally crack GMAT and are among the best students in top global B-schools
The GMAT exam is not that easy. It is a myth that Indian students totally 'crack' the GMAT. Importantly, beyond getting a good GMAT score, one needs to write essays, and have a solid profile to have a crack at the best colleges,Graduating from one of the top 20 in the US is excellent, but there is no great honour in graduating from the 75th ranked school in the US. Because of law of large numbers, some of the best Indian students join the best B-schools in the US and do well there as well. These are the guys who score 750 in GMAT and are generally among the ones good enough to score 99.5 percentile in CAT as well.

Myth 2: With even a just-about-decent GMAT score, I can get into a good college
Think about this, is it going to be easier to get into the top 20 colleges in the US, than into the top 20 in India? Lot of people spend time and effort, get a middling 670 score and go nowhere with this. Unless you are a rockstar, a 670 is unlikely to secure a great admit. 670 pegs you at around the 83rd percentile. One-sixth of the total 2.4 lakh or so applicants have scored more than you. All other things being equal, you can hope to join a college that a student ranked 40,000th in the world can get into. Sorry to be blunt about this, but this is what the numbers say.

Myth 3: If I am taking the GMAT, I must be really ambitious (and cool). 
Cracking the GMAT suggests ambition, merely taking it, or worse just preparing for it conveys no such thing. Very often, students want to feed into the I-am-built-for-bigger-things story by joining some middling college with the ok-ish score they have.

For a large number (unfortunately very large number), merely planning to take the GMAT slakes a big part of their ambition. So, once this is I-am-going-to-try-for-an-MBA gig is done, they continue with their lives. In many ways, this is probably the lesser to the two evils.

Do the research
Now, I am not suggesting that people who take the GMAT do not know what they are doing. About 60% of the test-takers are serious, prepare well, plan well, know their chances, know the costs of doing an MBA in the US and generally go about this entire process with a level of seriousness. Be clear about why you are taking the GMAT and do sufficient research for this. Do not take the exam merely because it is easier than CAT.

Do not invite hubris
In many ways, the GMAT is far better structured to test what it aims to test than the CAT. The quality of questions (not the difficulty level), the adaptive engine, the level of feedback provided, the ability to distinguish between conceptual clarity and drill - in all these aspects the GMAT is head and shoulders above the CAT. I am a big fan of the GMAT exam and am often disappointed with how the CAT is conducted in our Country.

Merely designating GMAT as "easier than CAT" does a disservice to the exam, This attitude makes aspirants complacent even before they begin preparation and invites hubris.

Things to keep in mind while choosing between GMAT and CAT
There are many factors to consider while choosing between GMAT and CAT. The top few are given below - Click on this article to get more info

As far as India is concerned, the biggest fish is CAT
Give or take 90 out of the top 100 select based on CAT, with quite of a few of these selecting based only on CAT. This includes the IIMs (13 of these, soon to be 18), IITs, SP Jain, FMS, Bajaj, NITIE, MDI, IMT, among a great many others

For international MBAs, it is GMAT
Almost all universities in the US, UK, Australia, Singapore, Europe select based on GMAT. In India ISB and Great Lakes select based on GMAT. All the IIMs (+ MDI, XLRI etc) use the GMAT score for admissions into their executive MBA programs.

CAT or GMAT, which one should I take?
There are two simple rules
1. If you want to do in India, take CAT. If you want to go abroad, take GMAT.
2. If you are a fresher, take CAT. If you have more than 8 years of experience, give preference to GMAT

If you have 2-4 years of experience, and not sure whether you want to do MBA in India or abroad, then the decision is even simpler. Take both....

India or abroad, Fresher or Experienced candidate - these are the two relevant factors to consider while choosing between GMAT and CAT. Easy or difficult is a far less important criterion.

Apologies if I have been harsh on this blog post. Best wishes for your entrance exam preparations - be it for GMAT or CAT.

CAT Preparation for verbal - What should one read?

The most important component for cracking the verbal section in CAT is reading ability, this much is obvious. Swaminathan does a fine point in driving it home in this piece giving an outline for the prep plan for the verbal section.

This takes us on to the next question - What should one read?

The simple answer is "anything works". Fiction or non-fiction, humour or thriller, newspapers or magazine, short articles or long pieces, it does not matter that much (anything better than Chennai Times or Mumbai times is useful). If you do not have the reading habit, you need to pick that habit up immediately. In the initial phases, read stuff that is easy to read. Read from topics that you like reading about, and read material that is not too tough to 'get'. We can expand the range of reading slowly. It is absolutely vital to build the habit in the first place. If you pick something too hi-funda to begin with, then there is a chance that you will be put off from reading.

I am going to give a simple reading list here - broken into two parts; for beginners and then for students who already have the reading habit. For beginners, the stress will be more on the "unputdownability" (if that is not a word, they should include it) of the book. For more seasoned readers, it will be based on the need to pick up a wider range of ideas to read from.

Beginners list
Magazines and Newspapers: The Open Magazine, The Hindu editorials, Times of India center page articles. Blogs from Swaminomics, (here and here). Cricinfo has excellent reading material as well.

Novels: Dan Brown is brilliant - "Angels and Demons", "Da Vinci Code" are tough to put down. Sidney Sheldon's "If tomorrow comes", "Rage of Angels", etc are good. Jeffrey Archer's "Kane and Abel" and "Shall we tell the president" are good. Books by Alistair Maclean also move at lightning speed. These are readable books, with decent writing. More importantly, they are gripping. In many of these books, the story unfolds at a reasonable clip and should set the pace well.

List for someone who has the reading habit
Magazines: Economist, NYtimes, NewYorker, Guardian (select articles). Hindu Opinion articles, Blogs from Ramachandra Guha, MJ Akbar, Slate is also considered good.

Novels: Anything written by PG Wodehouse. You can expand and read more stuff from books written by Jeffrey Archer, Sidney Sheldon, John Grisham, etc. Among Indian authors, Aravind Adiga and Ashish Taseer are good.

You do not need to read the classics. As you get more comfortable with reading, consistently look to expand the variety.

As a way of preparing for the interviews as well, you can read "India after Gandhi". You can read stuff from the Economics Times and Business Line as well.

CAT Preparation - What do teachers expect from students?

As a teacher, I meet gazillion students every year, and am often amazed at how confident they are now compared to how we guys were 15 years ago. Having said that, going hand in hand with this confidence is a feeling of entitlement that is as puzzling as it is unwarranted. Students these days believe things have to be laid out for them on a platter and that they have to be "inspired" and "guided" to do even the bare minimum.

During this time, we have also seen reams and reams in print on how the education system should change to help students. In all this while, I think we have not clearly articulated what the students are expected to do. Ergo, this post.

Do the drill. 
This "replace hard work with smart work" management-speak has taken students to a point where they do not appreciate the old-fashioned drill. Doing 150 questions on quadratic equations creates links in your brain that are worth their weight in gold when you are practicing for a competitive exam. It is not just the speed that you gain, it is the role played by the automaticity that is priceless. You save energy on the regular stuff and this blesses you with more bandwidth for the trickier bits.

I hate to be this old man narrating his experiences, but I think my experience might be relevant here. A group of my friends and I were preparing for CAT in 2000. We had all cleared JEE barely three years before that (back when JEE was a tough exam) and dealt with Fourier and Laplace transformations as part of our course curriculum. A bunch of the guys had done well in assorted Olympiads and as a group, we were ultra comfortable with math,

Largely because our seniors had given us some material for CAT preparation, we started with some speed-test book. We started with percentages and within 5-6 questions realized that the material was largely BS packaged as genius content (a tactic still followed by the industry) . We still powered through and did all 50 questions in that topic and knocked off topic by topic over the next 2 weeks, practically just for the heck of it. The material did not really push us, but we gave it a go chiefly for the sake of "completion". Now, 15 years later, if you ask me to find 42% of 707, I would think of it as slightly less than 3/7th of the number and guess in the ball park of 300. All because I did gazillion questions rather unscientifically 15 years ago.

Powering through is very instructive. Do not underestimate this. I hate it when students say they get "tired" after doing 4 sets of Data Interpretation. That is just nonsense. The idea of finishing something off, solving ALL possible questions, etc have become old-fashioned notions. Getting questions under the belt can change the dynamic in unforeseen ways.

Retain humility (for some students this should read as "acquire humility")
A simple requirement for learning anything new is to have some humility towards what you are learning. These days I see some students get so cocky by the time they reach level of difficulty of 7 that the brain shuts down for levels of difficulty 8, 9 and 10. Respecting the content also might enable to get some joie de vivre during the preparation process. This again is vital for competitive exams; else the pressure will drag you down.

My colleague, K.S. Baskar has been training students for nearly 20 years and took his CAT nearly 25 years ago. If you handed an interesting question to him today that left him stumped, it would immediately put a smile on his face. Purely out of the joy of having learnt something new. Its a shame that many students do not even get to see this feeling of joy.

Note that I asked for students to respect the content, and not necessarily the teacher. Contrary to popular perception, teachers do not yearn for gratitude or thirst for approval from students. If you learn well and have a great learning attitude most teachers wont care whether you are grateful to them. Or whether you hold them in high esteem.

Dont fret about the imponderables
I am going to start this bit with a personal warning. The next student who asks me "I have scored 75% in 10th, 62% in 12th standard and 65% in undergraduation, what are my chances of getting into IIM-A?" risks serious physical injury.

To get into IIMA is incredibly difficult. Someone who has been mediocre throughout has even less chance than someone who has been exceptional so far. So, if you have a middling record, your chances are low. It is understandable that you think you are way more capable than what your past record suggests. It is also unlikely that IIMA will share this blinkered view. The simplest and most fool-proof way to bring them around is to get a good CAT score. So, work on that.

So, if your track record is sad, you should have a simple rule - Start waffling after getting a decent CAT score.

I had a rather unremarkable CGPA in my undergraduation. Unremarkable enough for me to fret about admissions into the IIMs. I felt so apologetic about this that I avoided mentioning this. I was so afraid of defending my poor record that I dreaded going to the interviews because of this. These days, students talk about a poor record as if they had nothing to do with it.

The poor marks in 10th standard and 12th standard are because you goofed off. Not because of anything else. Dont expect someone to say "You are good in spite of this". You might be. If you want the world  to believe it, prove it.

Dont sit around waiting for a great preparation plan, or worse, for inspiration.
Before you think about having a grand preparation plan that is a ten-step ride through to IIM-dom, actually consider some preparation. Print the following statement and stick it on your bedroom

"An hour of preparation is worth 12 hours of preparation planning". 

Too many students waffle about having a grand plan and start dreaming too early about going places. If half the time spent on early-stage planning were replaced with actual preparation, it would be brilliant. You should not require someone to say "There is a genius waiting inside you" to solve 25 questions in algebra.

And lastly, own your preparation.
Have a simple preparation plan, and execute this well. Do not outsource your preparation entirely. See where you stand periodically, and set ambitious targets for the amount of effort you put in. The result will follow (it always does).

I realize that I risk coming off as a cantankerous old man hankering after good-ol' times. If it were not already clear, we teachers do not really care that much about what students think of us. I think I speak for all teachers when I say "We are here to put hajaar fight for you. But as the old saying goes, one can only take the horse to the pond."

CAT Interview Preparation: de-jargonising Economics - GDP

In this series of videos, we hope to simplify some ideas on key topics on Economics. The focus is to explain the terminology and lay down the framework for further reading. Note that we may have erred on the side of oversimplification on some of these ideas. So, kindly do more reading than this in order to get ready for the interviews. Since most of the interviews happen during budget season, these terms are "in the air", so be well prepared for them.

In this particular video, we are going to learn about definition of GDP, key components of GDP, difference between GDP and GNP, difference between real growth and nominal growth, meaning of purchasing power parity and other related terms.

Why did I score less in CAT even after religiously preparing?

The Quora page answering this same question offers wonderful answers to this question. In many ways, this article is going to be a rehash of the bunch of things already mentioned there (and the Quora page is much better at answering that question)

The suggestions/posts fall broadly under three categories

Randomness plays a huge role in the CAT score. 
This is probably the most infuriating. Quite a few guys who scored 99.5 percentile will tell you that they thought they had done the previous year also decently well and scored only 94th percentile. Throw in different sessions, the way the IIMs treat incorrect answers, normalization, there are quite a few random variables into the mix. So, do not over-analyze the score.

Till last year (particularly last year, CAT 2013) the scores gave us the feeling that they punished inaccuracy harshly. In CAT 2014, they appear to have reversed the trend and gone in with a plain vanilla +3/-1 and encouraged calculated chance-taking. God knows what  they have in mind for next year.

It is not such a big deal
Most successful business in our Country (in fact worldwide) were started and run by non MBAs. The CAT is something that you will most likely forget about in 2-3 years time (whether you crack it or not). The score is not a reflection of how capable you are or how well you can do in life. As one of the posters in the forum said "I'm not familiar with that particular exam, but IMHO the ONLY thing that such standardized tests measure is how well you take tests."

CAT tests pretty much how well you can take CAT, and then we take this as a proxy for something else. You might be better at getting to that something else without having the ability to crack CAT. Go for it. God knows our Country needs more entrepreneurs.

Have another go, make some changes
Be less vulnerable to luck, cover all bases. Read a lot; prepare from basics. Do an enormous amount of drill. Catch a break and launch yourself into the preparation

What I would add
Be less vested in the result, and enjoy the preparation process more, I know this is tough to pull off; but the guys who crack this exam are the ones who take up the preparation process as a joyful exercise rather than a fearful one. 

Mock CATs, Mock CAT percentiles, predictions etc

I am going to start with a series of quotes.

There are two ways of lying. One, not telling the truth; the other, making up Statistics. 

There are lies, damn lies, and statistics.

Statistics are used much like a drunk uses a lamppost: for support, not illumination.

Replace Statistics with Percentile analytics and this would fit in perfectly in the context of CAT. No matter how many fancy charts are shown, it is the responsibility of the students to not over-interpret the results. When you take a mock CAT, the review happens on three planks -

1) Learn better methods by looking at the solutions
2) Think about how you could have improved your attempts by selecting better questions.
3) Evaluate your percentile.

Of the three, the least useful is no 3 (probably also the most harmful). Because it is the least reliable. Almost all mock CAT providers use look-up tables to give percentile scores. Gone are the days where a mock CAT provider could get 10,000 people to beat themselves into a frenzy on a given Sunday to take a mock CAT at 100 god-forsaken locations in the Country.

These days, proctored CATs probably have a sample size in the range of 1% of CAT takers. These are likely to be the most serious, most experienced, most-driven of the CAT takers. So, the test providers "adjust" the look-up table to factor this in. In layman terms, this boils down to - they look at the actual numbers, feed in some other numbers, and pat themselves on the back.

So, the percentiles are fairly unpredictable. And contrary to what all the service providers claim, there is no way to back-verify that database. The only ones who will call a coaching institute and tell them that they scored a decent percentile are the ones who got a decent percentile. So, the reverse-verification process is bogus. So, no one actually knows whether any percentile number has a serious correlation with the actual numbers. There is way more anecdotal evidence to say that the percentile numbers are erratic, than to say that they are accurate.

I recently heard that there was a percentile predictor that predicts percentiles based on numbers you feed in based on the scores you have got on other exams (some of my students called me to give me an update on their predicted results.). I almost fell from my chair laughing. Students who believe that there is a scientific basis for this kind of predictor should re-examine their brains. This level of gullibility cannot be good for the body.

The thought process behind the predictor is as follows - Take three not scientifically proven indicators with no established proof from back-verification, define arbitrary weightages based on your genius to these, come up with a fourth metric and call it a prediction. And supposedly students are flocking to this predictor engine. No wonder soothsaying, tarot card reading are all flourishing industries in our Country. If smart, ambitious people can be made to believe there is such a thing called a percentile predictor, god save the masses.

Anxiety does strange things to the mind. Fretting and fuming about this exam makes you do all kinds of over-analysis. The mind needs something to cling on to, to feel that you are on the right track. Ergo, predictor.

Think of all the guys who have completed their MBAs from IIM A, B, C and think about how each of them would react if you said "percentile predictor" in their midst. I will give you a hint. I spoke to a bunch of them and the only common factor was laughter.

So, what should we do?

I am going to say something that is difficult to implement. The last 2-3 weeks, you must focus on three things

1. Chuck the percentiles. Seriously, chuck them. Forget about them. Banish them.

2. Focus on still being curious and not getting sucked into this pressure vortex. The first 2-3 mocks that you would have taken, you would have enjoyed grappling with the questions. Slowly, the pressure takes over and you stop having fun in the mocks. You are too worried about the score (and that damned percentile). The ones who crack this exam are the ones who are likely to look at a question and go "Wow. Super question. I think I will enjoy solving this". If that joie de vivre is gone, you should rekindle it.

3. Mentally prepare for a paper that is far simpler than your mocks. In our Country, the service providers have a feeling that to create a great mock CAT, you must make it very tough. So, they create phantom tough questions. CAT does not do that. Lot of students panic in a paper because it is way easier than all the mocks they have done. They have difficulty adjusting to the fact that they can attempt 34 questions in Quant in CAT, whereas they never managed more than 22 in any mock. Finding a paper that is easier than mocks can disorient you. You end up shooting for too less, end up adjusting too late, and end up with a just-miss scoreline.

We at 2IIM have resisted every urge to make our mocks tougher and fought tooth-and-nail to keep it representative. This is why good students can sometimes attempt 75-80 questions in our mocks. Remember, the very best ones can and will attempt that many in actual CAT. So, it is very important to keep in mind that the level of difficulty will not be outlandish. If you are really good, but have never attempted more than 60 questions overall in a CAT paper, how will you adjust on the day of the exam to have a crack at 84 questions?

Try your best to have some fun in the paper. be very zen and forget the percentile, and go in thinking "this exam is going to be easy". Best wishes for CAT.

CAT Preparation - Handling Pressure

CAT is a high pressure exam for many, and how to cope is probably a key determinant for cracking this exam. For a lucky few there is no great pressure and this is just another exam to have a go at. If you are one of that brigade, you should probably even skip this article and stay in that carefree bubble. No point thinking and reading about pressure and panic, and planting seeds into the brain.

Quite a few students freeze during the exam, a select few even entertain thoughts of not taking the exam at all. And a great many become slightly fearful and lose some of the 'josh' that needs to be present.

I am not an expert at handling pressure and am not going to give much by the way of prescription here. I want to showcase three well-written  articles on pressure - well, two on pressure and one on 'josh'.

As one of the pieces states "We live in an age obsessed with success, with documenting the myriad ways by which talented people overcome challenges and obstacles. There is as much to be learned, though, from documenting the myriad ways in which talented people sometimes fail."

All three are based on sports and are wonderful articles to help us understand what pressure does to people. Sportsmen need to do their bit in the presence of gazillions and which is why their chokes always provide us the backdrop for us to understand pressure.

The Art of Failure - Gladwell.com

This wonderful piece focuses on Jana Novotna's implosion at Wimbleson. Quite a long piece but totally worth reading. The author distinguishes between choking and panicking, and from a student perspective, choking is probably a bigger threat than panicking in CAT.

Some interesting extracts are given below - But I would recommend that you read the entire piece.

She was crumbling under pressure, but exactly why was as baffling to her as it was to all those looking on. Isn’t pressure supposed to bring out the best in us? We try harder. We concentrate harder. We get a boost of adrenaline. We care more about how well we perform. So what was happening to her?....

Panic, in this sense, is the opposite of choking. Choking is about thinking too much. Panic is about thinking too little. Choking is about loss of instinct. Panic is reversion to instinct.....

Given below is the probably the most important insight. "I hope I dont mess this up" -  is not a good mindset to take into an exam.

What is it we tell underperforming athletes and students? The same thing we tell novice pilots or scuba divers: to work harder, to buckle down, to take the tests of their ability more seriously. But Steele says that when you look at the way black or female students perform under stereotype threat you don’t see the wild guessing of a panicked test taker. “What you tend to see is carefulness and second-guessing,” he explains. “When you go and interview them, you have the sense that when they are in the stereotype-threat condition they say to themselves, ‘Look, I’m going to be careful here. I’m not going to mess things up.’ Then, after having decided to take that strategy, they calm down and go through the test. But that’s not the way to succeed on a standardized test. The more you do that, the more you will get away from the intuitions that help you, the quick processing. They think they did well, and they are trying to do well. But they are not.”......

They failed because they were good at what they did: only those who care about how well they perform ever feel the pressure of stereotype threat. The usual prescription for failure–to work harder and take the test more seriously–would only make their problems worse..... (Dear students, take 3 days off if you are continuously agonizing about the exam).

That is a hard lesson to grasp, but harder still is the fact that choking requires us to concern ourselves less with the performer and more with the situation in which the performance occurs........ (Go in to have fun with the paper. Dont worry about letting down your Dad)....

The second article is also interesting because it is a team sport and relates to cricket.

Why the Proteas Choke at the Cricket World Cup 

South Africa choked in the most important cricket match since their return to cricket in the 90's, the semi-final of the 1999 world cup.

Again, some simple extracts

It is obvious that Klusener was so locked into the idea of winning the match for South Africa that he was unable to step out of himself.....

What they needed when the scores were equal was clear-headedness and the presence of mind to coolly look at where they were and what had to be done......

The Haal Of Pakistan

Having seen two long articles on pressure, let us go through one on adrenaline. This is a fabulous article on the Pakistan cricket team from one of my favourite writers. This one is about 'josh' or 'haal' as the writer calls it. One should prepare to reach this level where the senses are heightened before the exam,

Again, some extracts

And then there is total frenzy, so overwhelming and real you can almost hold it in your hands. Such is its force that it can be deeply moving even through the sensory dilution and sanitisation of TV, even on ball-by-ball commentary online...

Fielders start hitting the stumps and taking catches which, in other situations, we can easily imagine them dropping.....

Please try to go into the exam by telling yourself this

“And it is a tamasha. I swear to God, we used to say it, we used to talk about it like this. Chal para kaam, chaloji, pakro [‘It’s begun, come, grab on to it’], that kind of language in the middle.”....

Suddenly, jaan aajati he......

“You could say denial if the outcome ended in failure; but here the outcome is success. Most times that self-belief is latent, but it gets triggered by some unexpected circumstance. And once triggered, it feeds on itself and explodes. I guess another way of seeing it is that this self-belief has an activation threshold, and once the threshold is met, there’s no stopping it and it goes all the way......

All three are long(-ish) articles, but interesting ones to understand pressure and josh. Before a critical exam, all of us have anxiety and adrenaline. Figure out ways to tone down one, and kick in the other. and that alone is worth 200 hours of preparation. Truth is, we do not really know how to do this. Otherwise, sportsmen with their infinite array of analysts would not choke. But, set aside some time to think about this.

Best wishes for CAT.

CAT - New Format: How does this affect preparation?

A video on how to plan for the CAT in its new avatar of 100 questions in 170 minutes.

CAT 2014 Notification: What does this mean?

CAT 2014 notification is out .

First up, let us review the facts

Time duration: 170 minutes instead of 140 minutes
Number of questions: 50 per section, instead of 30 per section previously
Dates: Nov 16th and Nov 22nd, two sessions per day, instead of 40 sessions in the previous avatar
Change in pattern: Candidates can shift from one section to another, the time limit is 170 minutes for the overall paper. Previously, we used to have 70 minutes per section. Now, the time limits are not in silos and one can choose to spend unequal amounts of time on each section.

Thankfully, the IIMs have chosen to clarify why they are doing these changes. All these changes have been done to make the exam "aspirant-friendly". They might have changed the format dramatically, it is reassuring to know that the IIMs have at least retained their sense of humour.

How does this change preparation strategy for individual sections?
The study plan remains the same. The syllabus, framework remain the same. Practice the basics, build intensity and take lot of tests in the end. Do not pontificate too much on why these changes have been made. Be happy that the test has been made more aspirant-friendly, and continue preparation with the warm glow that comes from knowing someone is looking out for you.

How does it change the plan for CAT?
1. Stamina matters: Taking an exam for 170 minutes is tough. This is not a college exam that can be taken even with "day-dream spells" in the middle. This is an intense exam. The extra half hour can be sapping. I have been taking CAT in the past few years purely for the experience (the implication being that the pressure is less). I get drained out completely by the end of the 140 minutes. I am so tired that I can barely drive back home. An extra 30 minutes is going to kill applicants who do not have stamina. So, start building intensity and stamina from now on.

2. Time management needs to be better: Given the freedom to shift from one section to another, students might flit from one section to another too many times and kill momentum in both. Have a plan that broadly allocates time across the two sections, and have one buffer for going for playing it safe in case you are worrying about section cut-off. Do not plan to shift from section I to II once every 10 minutes. Just because the freedom has been given , it does not mean one has to use it. Till 2009, CAT gave students the freedom of shifting from one section to another. Those of us who have taken CATs in both forms will tell you that this freedom of shifting from one section to another is a double-edged sword. I used to consistently "steal"  a few minutes from quant and use this for verbal. This did not help my overall performance much. My best results came when this freedom was taken away from students. The pressure of worrying about section cut-offs sometime takes something away from the performance. So, be careful with this new found time-management freedom.

3. Students with one strong suit and one weak suit will have a small advantage: A student who is frightfully good in quant and just about average in verbal can now spend 95 minutes on verbal and 75 on quant and "balance" things out. Because this option is now available, students with sharp variance between the two sections can now plan with this in mind. Just a word of caution though, trying to be too cute can come back to bite you in this exam. Plan to have mild tweaks, avoid major overhauls.

Obviously, you will have to take a few mock CATs to get used to the new pattern. As always, the best place for getting the newer version of mock CATs is 2IIM.

Best wishes for CAT 2014.

CAT FAQ : I have started preparing for CAT only in June. Is there enough time to prepare ?

CAT FAQ :

I have started preparing for CAT only in June. Is there enough time to prepare ?

Three step process for CAT Quant preparation

The below is an extract from the article published on MBA Universe that can be found here

For each topic in Quant section, you must break the process into three steps - 

 1. Learn the theory from first principles: Make a conscious effort to learn theory from basic ideas. We have a tendency to ‘jump’ steps when we get familiar with a topic. Resist the temptation to use plug-and-play formulae and learn the theory with an open mind. Let me illustrate this with a simple example – 

Consider a class of 40 students with an average score of 60 marks. Two students leave this class and the average mark increases by ‘x’. If no student can take a negative mark, and x is a positive integer, how many values can the average of the two students take? One can write equations and solve this. However, someone who has learnt from basic ideas will follow a more intuitive approach.

Let us look at this approach. Let us start with a simple case where the average does not change when these two students leave the class. In this case, the two students should have scored 120 marks overall (average of 60). Now, since the average has increased, these two together should have scored less than 120.

If the average increases by 1, then they should have scored 38 marks less than 120. If average increases by 1, total should have increased by 38, or the two that left the class should have ‘taken out’ 38 less than 120. So, if they had scored 120 – 38 = 82, the average would have fallen by 1.

If they had scored 120 - 38 x 2 = 44, average would fall by 2. If they had scored 120 – 38 x 3 = 6, average would have fallen by 3. Three different possibilities exist. The intuitive method scores over the formulaic method in questions like these. It is very important to retain the more intuitive approach and not get consumed by the algebra .........more

Common traps to avoid in the Quant section

For most candidates, Quantitative Aptitude is probably the most challenging section to crack in the CAT.  During your preparation, or at least during your full length test-practise stage, you would have developed an idea of what your strongest and weakest areas are (if you haven't, do it at the earliest! It is important to know your strengths as well as your weaknesses.).

The reasons why Quant can be the toughest nut to crack are varied. Most students have a sufficiently good grasp of fundamentals. But, when a challenging question presents itself, they are all at sea. Most students also have a problem with time management. Some would have lost touch with Quant basics after high school. Some don't have the raw speed of formulation and calculation that most “math whizzes” take for granted. Whatever be your tale of woe, remember that that whole point of the CAT preparation exercise is to understand what your weakness is, and work towards improving it.

In the following pages, a few common traps and pitfalls are detailed. Beware of these on the day of the exam. But don't fall into the trap of assuming that these tips have only to be glanced over once before exam day. You may need to go through these in the test practise stage (and possibly even during the preparation stage), so that you can identify and rectify your “favourite” mistake area.

Common pitfalls in the Quant section

1. Problem vs You

The test makers of CAT are experienced in the art of mixing up easy and difficult questions. When you take the CAT, you will find that there are a few absolutely easy questions that you could have solved when you were in 7^th standard. You will also find questions that are extremely tough. This is not done to identify and select the math majors! The reason there is a mixture of questions of varying levels of difficulty is that it reflects real life situations. But, given that you have a deadline, you have to pick and target the lowest hanging fruits.

The CAT will definitely contain difficult problems, and there are good chances that you might start solving them and get stuck somewhere, only to realise eight minutes or so later that you aren't making any headway. So what should you do? Leave it right there and move on to the next question. But what do you do instead? Spend another three minutes just to try to solve the problem and show it who the boss is!

This is probably the most common trap – getting into a literal “fight” with the problem, where solving one problem becomes more important than getting a good sectional score overall. This is a definite way of losing good time that can be employed productively elsewhere.

So how do you avoid this trap? First of all, be aware of it when it happens. When you realise that you have spent more than reasonable time on a question and you are still nowhere close to finding an answer, it is time to consider moving on. How do you know that you are falling into this trap? 

Here are some indicators that might help you decide:

• Your equations begin to get bigger and uglier
• You have filled up half the rough-sheet and have made no real progress
• None of the answer substitution or elimination tricks appears to work
• You go back to reading the question several times
• You see the clock ticking, and you realise that you still haven't even attempted a majority of the section.
• Most of all, you have spent five minutes on this question already and you are still where you started.

What do you do in such a situation? Do you panic and give up? Doing so is going to give you a sense of failure, which will not only affect the rest of your Quant section, but also likely spill over into the Verbal section. At the same time, you can't continue spending time on the same question.

The best way to deal with this situation is to not let it arise in the first place. Make sure that you pick the easy questions first and dispatch them. Then, move on to the marked questions which you think can be solved with some effort. Finally, only when every easy or medium-difficult question is attempted, should you even consider taking up questions from areas you are not comfortable with. 

Remain calm throughout the section.

If you do find yourself in such a situation, identify early when to give up and move on to the next question. Your ego might hurt a bit, but it is definitely not worse than leaving questions unattempted towards the end.

2. Knowing a formula is not the same as Understanding a concept

A lot of students, especially in the later stages of preparation, say that they know all concepts very well, but when it comes to solving problems, they get stuck in the question interpretation or the formulation stage. For example, you “know” what the modulus of a number is. You have read and memorised all the definitions, and you even remember the textbook example well. You also know how to solve each equation type, and yet when you see an equation such as the following one, you get stumped:

|2x – 5| > 2

Now, ask yourself this: If you know all the formulae, theorems and definitions in a particular topic, does it mean that you really “understand” the topic? “Understanding” doesn't mean being able to reproduce or replicate a stated theorem or a solved example. You understand a concept when you are able to visualise it and, and then use your creativity to formulate and obtain a non-mathematical model of something as “dry” as a modulus equation, for example. In this instant case,  |a – b| would mean the distance from the point “a” to the point “b” on the number line. So the distance from the point “2x” and the point “5” is more than 2 units. Or, “2x” is either greater than 7, or less than 3. Aim to achieve a good visual parallel for as many concepts as possible. This not only saves time in solutions, but also gives you clarity of thought.

This is a trap students often fall into. Math problems on the CAT test more than your memory. They test how well you can adapt to situations, and apply simple concepts in complex problems. Be aware of this from an early stage in preparation. Spend more time on the basics. If you have trouble understanding a concept at first, reflect on it till it makes sense. This is more important than solving a dozen questions based just on formula application.

3. Poor time management

Another trap that most test takers fall into is lack of proper time management. Given that there are only 30 questions in a section, and more than two lakh students write the CAT, the difference between an extremely high and a low percentile could be a matter of just one question. You need to make sure that you have at least seen and attempted all the questions in each section, lest you should leave out easy questions towards the end. This calls for a lot of practise. Do as many full length practise tests as possible, and get used to the rigour of a full-length test. You need to sustain your concentration for the entire duration of the test, and you need to have the endurance to finish the test with almost the same energy and alertness as when you started.

Do not leave too many questions to the end. Doing so will only make you more nervous, and you may lose out on some really easy questions.

4. Improper reading of the question

Sometimes you solve an entire question correctly only to find out that you had made a mistake in reading the question. Even though you did everything right, your answer was wrong. Such errors in reading or interpretation show a lack of focus in the early part of solution.

• You may have to slow down while reading the question, and maybe even read it twice to understand it completely. Do not try to save time in this stage!
• Pay special attention to words and phrases in the question whose incorrect interpretation may change the answer drastically. Some examples of such words are:

◦     Distinct, Integer, Positive / Negative / Non-negative, At least / At most, Odds in favour / Odds against, Some / All, And / Or, Not less than / Never greater than

• Also after solving the question, you can verify your answer by re-checking it with the scenario presented in the question. You may not always have time during the test to double-check every solution, but if you have a serious doubt, you can always exercise this option.
• After getting the answer, read the question again because it may ask you to process the solution before arriving at the answer. For example, you may have solved an equation for x, but the question may ask you to find the value of x + 10. Re-read the question to be sure.

6. Silly errors

This is probably the most frustrating of them all. Everything about your solution was correct, except  that you made a silly addition mistake in the final step, and you lost everything because of that. Errors in calculation or solution happen to the best of us, and it is never good when it happens.

Can you improve your accuracy and reduce the number of silly mistakes? Absolutely, yes. Just slow down while solving equations, or be a bit more careful with calculations. Also, practise a lot. Learn the multiplication tables and ratio charts. Do the grind. All that is good enough preparation. But will that help you completely eliminate calculation errors? Unlikely.

Humans are prone to making errors in calculations. You cannot completely eliminate calculation or solution errors. But you can definitely improve your accuracy and reduce the time you take for calculations.

Here is what you can do:

• Find out your strongest and weakest areas. Figure out where you need improvement the most? Is it multiplication tables? Is it quadratic equation solutions?
• Work hard on improving your speed and accuracy in those areas. Keep working on it on a daily basis. You will definitely see an improvement in performance.
• Practise, Practise, Practise.
• On the day of the test, accept that you may still make mistakes. Allow for a margin of error, but be extra careful in areas where you know that you have a proven weakness. If possible, double-check your answers by working backwards from the answer options.

All these things are easier said than done, and it is always easier to rely on hindsight and compile a list than it is to log your errors and rigorously practise on a daily basis. But do remember that whatever your starting point is, you can always, always improve. And whatever be your level of preparation, a bit of caution on the day of the test will definitely pay large dividends.

7.  Build your Eye for detail

Relentlessly train yourself to pick anomalies. If you did not notice, we have jumped from point 4 to point 6 on this list! Every time you let something like this pass you by, make a mental note to look or detail. Just becoming more ‘switched on’ makes a big difference and can be built with practise.

The above article was contributed by Vimal Gopinath, an XIM Bhubaneshwar alumnus who runs 2IIM Bengaluru. The article also features in the CAT Quant book authored by Rajesh Balasubramanian.   

Under what circumstances is it a good idea to quit your job and prepare for CAT?

Under what circumstances is it a good idea to quit your job and prepare for CAT?

NONE!

This is one of those essay topics that can ideally feature in competitions seeking ultra-short contributions. The one-word response would be, ‘None’!  However, having told my boss that I definitely want to comment on this topic, I cannot get away with the ultra-short version. So, here goes.

Thanks to my earlier avatar as an investment research analyst, I have acquired this habit of getting my disclaimers in early. I am not going to sit on the fence. It is NEVER a good idea to quit your job. So, if you are among the group of people that has decided to quit and you do not want to hear anything against that decision, skip this article and move ahead to the next one.

Every week, I get at least two enquiries from students who are keen to take a step up by focusing exclusively on the CAT preparation. This roughly translates to, “I hate my job.  I want to have a decent-sounding reason to quit”. Beware! there are two major pitfalls in quitting a job to prepare for CAT.

1. The personal interview phase becomes trickier: You will lose scores for work experience, and might face uncomfortable questions in the interview. Sample this
1. “Quitting a job at an MNC to prepare for CAT makes me doubt your ability to weigh risk-reward.  I think I would be fueling your foolhardy decision-making if I gave you a seat here.  What are your thoughts on this?”
2. “I met eight candidates before you, all of whom have managed busy work schedules and squeezed in CAT preparation while you have focused exclusively on CAT. All other things being equal, why should I select you over them?”
3. “So, you cannot hold a job and prepare for a competitive exam at the same time?  After MBA, you will have to multitask at an even greater level.  You are basically telling me you are not equipped to handle that.  Thoughts?”

Do not think that it is a smart idea to say that you have not quit your job but taken a break to pursue your passion of working in industry X and therefore joined your cousin.

As a general rule, professors do not think it is a great idea to take a break for the sake of CAT preparation and will interpret any shift to a ‘small company in a preferred industry’ on your resume as a proxy for this.

2. Pressure increases: Bear in mind that if you take a break in June, you do not take a six-month break for CAT preparation, but rather a nearly 12-month break.  CAT is not an exam that one needs to prepare for 50 hours a week; it calls for intensity over two-three hours a day.  A longer preparation time could easily lead to a plateau in results performance.  A large number of candidates run out of practice material that really tests them but can never cross 90^th percentile. This is essentially because the intensity disappears from preparation.  If you set yourself a target of preparing for eight hours a day for 180 days, you are creating a recipe for losing intensity within weeks.  All these factors will intensify the pressure on the day of the exam.  Importantly, this plays a role in affecting decision-making after CAT as well.  If you do not have a viable plan B, the temptation to join a college ranked 60^th (because this is the only decent admit) will be high. The assurance that comes with having a viable plan B is vital for cracking this exam.

There are many other reasons for not taking this decision, but the two mentioned above are the most important.

Compared to 10 years ago, the admission processes for the IIMs have changed dramatically. When I took my CAT in 2000, the admission process was extremely CAT score oriented. If you had a decent CAT score, all else was pretty much forgotten (particularly true for IIMC).  In the current era, the CAT score is taken as but one metric in a broad basket of input variables. Ten years ago, it might have been a decent (if still risky) idea to trade 2 percentile points for one year of work experience.  In the current era, the trade-off is not even worth the discussion.

Do not try to use CAT as an excuse for getting out of a taxing/boring job.  Even after your MBA, odds are that you will go through a few bad jobs (and bosses!)  If you must quit, do so in August, have a job in hand that you plan to join by Nov 1^st.  Take a six-to-eight-week break, have a go at CAT in this time window and hope for the best. 

Get, set, go - From "The Hindu"

This is an article from "The Hindu" contributed by the director at 2iim, Rajesh Balasubramanian

 CAT 2012 will be conducted from October 11 to November 6 this year. A number of candidates will be fine-tuning their preparation right now, while others will be looking to somehow kicking the inertia out of the system and starting their preparations in right earnest. We provide a plan of action for the latter group.

Do not tell yourself it is too late to start now. Do not listen to anyone who says that there isn’t enough time for preparation. Till about 10 years ago, students used to start their CAT preparation only in August (very reluctantly, I must add). The basic syllabus for this exam roughly corresponds to Maths and English taught in class VI- IX. So, if the fundamentals are reasonably strong, a student should require only 200-300 hours of preparation for this exam.

What should be the plan of action? With the Olympic spirit in mind, let us think of this preparation as a parallel to an athlete preparing for the Olympics. Divide your preparation into three phases.

Do the grind

In phase I, cover the basics for all the topics in quant. Solve as many questions as possible. This is the phase where one builds on first principles and gets the mind ready for the tougher battles ahead. For the verbal section, set aside two hours every day to reading. Read lots of stuff and with as much variety as possible.

The topic, style, subject and size do not matter (Fiction, non-fiction, sports, politics, economics, science, anything goes). Just build the reading habit and get the mind ready to receive written content. This phase is similar to an Olympic wrestler/badminton player spending hours in the gym. This phase should go on for about six weeks.

Build intensity

Start building intensity. Take section-wise tests, set yourself targets for sets of 15, 20 or 30 minutes. Start practicing for Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning. Increase the intensity steadily by mixing up topics and setting varying time targets. This is the phase where you should select one DI bunch, one LR puzzle, two passages in RC, eight questions in Number Theory and set yourself 50 minutes of high intensity preparation. This is akin to an athlete training muscle by muscle and play-by-play. This is probably the part of CAT preparation that is heavily underestimated. People who are used to spending 10 hours in office or eight hours in college think that writing a 2 hour 20 minute-exam cannot be that taxing. Taking a test for 140 minutes without concentration “drops” is challenging and will not come without getting the mind ready for it. The better you do this the less tired you will get handling regular questions in CAT and more energy you will have for handling tougher ones. This should go on for about four weeks.

Fine tune your preparation

Phase III is simple. Take mock exams. Analyze them vigorously. Plug whatever gaps you find by revisiting phase I or phase II. And when you analyze a paper, you should focus on what kind of questions you have gotten wrong, which ones you should have attempted but have skipped, which ones took time without giving you much in return, which questions should you have skipped straightaway, etc. Do not waste time on studying percentile patterns and such. Most mock CAT percentile scores are nothing more than a distraction. This should ideally go on for about five weeks. This is the phase where the athlete simulates match conditions, studies opponents, figures out the draw, etc.

Phase I, II and III could overlap. If you plan well and are willing to throw in lots of time toward preparation, this can be done in 10 weeks. The students with intense shorter-term preparation have seen better results than those who enroll into long-term courses but do not do justice to them.

For those who have been preparing for a while, the strategy is simple. Skip Phase I. Kick start your preparation now and focus on building intensity. Best wishes for CAT 2012.

The author, a B-school trainer, is one of the CAT toppers last year with 100 percentile. He takes CAT every year to understand the pattern and help his students better.

CAT is going to become an on-the-fly testing exam - What does this mean and what are the implications?

CAT has seen quite a few changes recently. It turned online in 2009, it turned online without glitches in 2010 (could not resist the dig even though I think the CAT is a great exam), became a partial linear on-the-fly exam in 2011 and could soon become a round-the-year exam. Now, what does all this mean, and what are the implications?

What does this mean? 

A fixed form method of testing is a method of testing where all applicants write the same exam, get to see the same set of questions and are given percentile-based scores after the scores are computed. An on-the-fly exam is a paper where different candidates are given different questions but overall percentiles are calculated post normalizing the scores for varying levels of difficulty (on a per-question basis). A completely on-the-fly exam would probably be one where questions are dynamically selected from a database based on some dynamically changing parameter(s). This changing parameter is usually the candidate's performance in the exam up to that point. This is popularly known as the adaptive testing model.

Why this shift from fixed-form testing to on-the-fly testing?

To start with, the fixed form testing is simpler. One paper for all applicants ensures fair testing, removes randomness, and provides an ideal benchmark. But it has certain constraints - two very important ones stand out.

1. The most important is the fact that it is difficult to design an exam that tests the varying levels of capability of a large applicant pool. Because it is a single instance exam, it can become too tough for a section of the audience so there is no real metric to distinguish between 60th percentile and 20th percentile. On the other hand, it might be too easy for the top quartile, so there is not much to choose between someone who scored 90th percentile and 99th percentile barring a few details here and there. Now, CAT is under pressure to make a distinction between top 0.1 percent and top 1 percent, top 1 percent and top 3 percent, top 3 percent and top 10 percent and so on. A single instance exam can never give you that kind of fine-tuning.

2. The exam happens only once a year. The logistical challenge is significant. More importantly, students find it difficult to take/prepare for this exam.

The on-the-fly test removes both these constraints (at least partly). 

Sod all this technical discussion, what does this do to my preparation?

This is the key factor. This change in testing algorithm alters a few key aspects of preparation, especially practice test-taking. Some conventional ideas get turned on their head.

1. Selecting the easy questions and getting them might not take you all the way: One needs to select the easy questions and get them right, there is no doubt about this. But, very often you will find that this alone is not enough (especially to step up from the 96-97th percentile range). Questions from any CAT paper can be broken into three bunches -

Easy - About 12-14 questions from each section
Do-able but not bleeding obvious - 8-10 from each section
Tough ones, either conceptually or because they are time consuming - 6-8 ones

Because of the differential marking built into the system, any student is going to get rewarded more for getting a few of the tougher ones correct. So, every easy question needs to be nailed. But beyond this, students need to get a majority of the middling ones and at least 2 of the tough ones. Otherwise you will be knocking on the neither-here-nor-there 96th percentile range. It is important to learn the tougher topics from first principles. So, one needs to be either conceptually sound so that you can hit the tricky ones, or frightfully quick so that you can hit the time-consuming ones. Just skimming and doing all simple questions well will just take you close (but no cigar)

2. Need to focus on how well you are selecting questions in your mock CAT series. However, as a candidate you must not only focus on how many easy ones you missed, but also think about how many of the trickier ones you should equip yourself to tackle.

Your score is going to depend not only on how many questions you attempted, but also how you did on the tougher ones. Simply skipping the tough questions in each topic will make sure that you never cross a certain threshold as far as your score goes.

What should one do?

Preparation plan does not change much. Take many mock CATs. Whenever you are analyzing a mock CAT, see if there are some questions that you should have attempted but could not. Revisit the theory to re-equip yourself. Post every mock CAT, you should revisit the topics to plug the gaps.


What should one not do?

Please do not take mock CAT scores seriously. Mock CAT percentiles are one of the most misleading statistics in all of CAT preparation. Take plenty of mock CATs to get a feel for the exam. But please do not take the percentiles seriously. There are too many students who consistently score 99th percentile in one or the other mock CAT series, but end up with a 95th percentile in the overall scheme of things. There is no great mock CAT series provider out there in the market who has managed to capture all the moving parts. Take mock CATs from more than one provider. Get the experience. But do not take the scores seriously.

Product plug alert!!. You can get details of the mock CAT series of 2iim here.

Most people would be starting their CAT preparation at about this time. We often get asked whether the time is sufficient. I will give a further blog post on this, but the short answer is "Yes". Most definitely Yes. 
 

CAT Aspirants from IITs - What should be the plan?

Had been to a panel discussion on "cracking CAT" held at IIT Madras. Some interesting points were discussed. Just thought it would be a good idea to share those. Lot of the stuff pertains to an IIT audience; hence the title. Having said that most of what we discussed would apply to anyone who is strong in quants and is slightly worried about verbal.

For IIT-ians it is probably a better idea to NOT enroll into a course 15-months before CAT

Till 2000 (the year I took CAT), preparation for CAT used to start at the beginning of the 7th semester, roughly 4 months before CAT (back then CAT used to be held in Dec). Then the CAT training industry happened and preparation cycles expanded - slowly inexorably, painfully to 15-months. This kind of preparation cycle kills momentum - especially for IIT-ians.

Most CAT courses focus on quant preparation. So, if it is a 180-hour classroom program, then 120+ hours will be on quants. The quant-level tested in CAT corresponds to syllabus from standard VI to IX. So, your teacher will be discussing profit&loss and linear equation for most parts - several notches below JEE preparation. Odds are that you will enrol for the course in a bout of enthu and start skipping classes from month 2 onwards, and completely forget about the course by month 4. Empirical data suggests that this is what 90% of IIT junta do. Whats the point?

IIT-ians quant level will be higher. You will not get much value from sitting in a class that teaches basics. You need good-quality practice and may be some discussion with a teacher who can push you that little bit further. Cracking CAT is about momentum, intensity, sharpness. Many graduates across the country need help with geometry, number theory or permutation & combinations. But if one has cleared JEE, one should have little trouble navigating quants.

The second section is a verbal section, not an English section

Among IIT-ians, the general feeling of unease regarding this 'second section' is very high. English is not a comfort-zone area for a lot of "quants" guys. Bear in mind that this section is a verbal section, not an English knowledge section. This is just another framework to test how sharp you are. That you are strong in a quantitative framework need not imply that you should be at a disadvantage when it comes to non-quantitative framework.

Worldwide, examinations are designed with a simple quant + simple verbal framework only because this is considered a good proxy to test intelligence. This is why the tests focus on averages,percentages and the like (rather than differential calculus and vector algebgra). Correspondingly, for the verbal section the focus is on reading comprehension and basic reasoning, and not on identifying past-participle and gerund.

The JEE is a good exam only because it is a great signal of intelligence. If you have cleared it, then you should tell yourself "If I am good enough to have the smarts to clear a very tough quant-framework exam, I should be good enough to clear a far-simple non-quant framework exam".

Looking at it another way - one-third of verbal is Logical Reasoning, which should be straightforward. One-third is stuff like Sentence Rearrangement, Paragraph Completion and the like - for which there should be no particular advantage to any group of students. And the final third is reading comprehension - which does not require specific English knowledge as all questions are going to be based on the passage itself.

So, IIT-ians do not need to enrol in a course, need not bother with excessive quants preparation, the verbal section is also easy - so, does it mean they just cool their heels and go for the CAT exam?

Of course not. Just have a different schedule for preparation. Make sure bulk of preparation is based on tests for the quantitative subjects and not based on a classroom course pegged at a very mild benchmark. As for the verbal section goes, there is ONLY ONE THING that IIT-ians need to do (for that matter, anyone needs to do) - Read. Students' ability to get the crux of a 300-word editorial is fairly poor. And this is an essential skill-set. This does not get built with so called RC practice. Comfort level with comprehension is built by reading, and pretty much nothing else. Read lots, read lots of different stuff. Read from magazines, websites, sports sites, newspapers, fiction, non-fiction, editorials. It does not matter what you read, or from where you read.

Beyond this, take practice exams, fill the gaps in quant, DI and LR. Work on intensity and stamina. Do not fall into the guilt-trap and enrol yourself into a course 15-months ahead of the exam and kid yourself saying you are preparing for CAT.

CAT 2011 - Verbal

This post focuses on how the verbal section of CAT might be structured. To get our thoughts on the quants section, and on caveats, check out this post .

We break-down the verbal section also into 3 segments

Reading Comprehension - 9-12 questions: This section's importance should go up slightly in the newer format. Usually, we see 9-10 questions, this could creep up to 12 questions in some papers.

Sentence Correction, Sentence Rearrangement, Sentence Completion: 9-10 questions: Traditional verbal sections. These can be done reasonably quickly, but error rate could be higher. Pick the best ones and have a go. The crucial take-away here is - Do NOT be in a mad rush to run through your RC passages. Take time over RC. This is not a speed-reading exam.

Newer type questions: They are saying Logical Reasoning, we think it is more likely to be what is termed as critical reasoning or analytical reasoning: First up, let us clarify the definitions.

An LR question will usually be of the type - 4 houses - blue, red, green, yellow with four residents - engineer, doctor, teacher, painter, with 4 cars - Santro, Innova, i10, BMW. The engineer does not drive a santro and does not stay next to the doctor etc

The critical reasoning question will be usually a mini-case study with an inference-type question at the end of it. Example
Sachin Tendulkar's test average in matches India loses is 15 runs lower than when India wins a match. This clearly demonstrates that Sachin's performance clearly drives India's performance. Which of the following, if true could undermine above argument

A. Average of most batsmen is lower in losing causes than winning causes
B. India has won most of its matches at home
C. India wins only high-scoring matches, etc

These used to be called Analytical Reasoning questions and were fairly common in the CAT exams of late 90's early 00's.

The big difference of the change in format could be the fact that these kind of questions make a comeback.

The final 9-10 questions could easily be 3-4 LR, 3-4 CR, 1-2 Fact, Inference, Judgement type questions.

So, while preparing for this section, focus on sentence construction and error-types, get some practice for analytical reasoning questions and remember to read slowly.

CAT 2011 - Preparation plan

With only around two months to go, it is a good time to think about the overall paper. We also need to keep in mind the changes in format. So, have given below our ideas of how the paper might be structured.

Caveat alert: This is our view of how they might structure CAT and might have absolutely no link with how CATIIM is thinking about it (Always good to get the disclaimers in early. This is the one thing they drill into investment bankers). With that out of the way, let us get to the sections.

This post focuses on quants. Will follow up with a verbal specific post

Quants
We would look at this as three segments, of about 10 questions each

Segment I: This is going to be the section that covers simple quant topics - Averages, Percentages, Profit & Loss, Pipes Cisterns, Simple Interest -Compound Interests, Shares, Progressions, Ratio-Proportion, Speed-Time, Races, Mixtures, etc. There should be around 10 questions in this segment. Almost all questions in this section will be do-able but time-consuming. Student should shoot to get 8-9 of these in about 30-33 minutes. Even if it takes more than 3 minutes per question, it could be worth it.

Take your time but get it correct

Segment 2: This is the set of concept-heavy questions - Number Theory, Geometry, Permutation-Combinations, Inequalities and perhaps a bit of Set Theory. These will be slightly non-formulaic questions. But these will help you save time in case you have the fundas right. Should shoot to attempt 6-7 of these in about 13-15 minutes.

Pick the correct questions and solve them really quickly

Segment 3: 3-4 questions of pure DI, 2-3 questions of DI presented in unconventional format, 3-4 of Data Sufficiency etc. Attempt 7-8 of these in about 22-25 minutes. In this segment DI will be time-consuming, DS will be hit or miss.

Overall, shoot to try 22-23 questions. This number should be good enough to hit 99th percentile +. There are two big mistakes that one should avoid.

1. Getting lots of practice for simpler topics, ignoring No.theory+Geometry: This is absurd. Get problems under the belt for the simpler topics, study from first principles for No. Theory and Geometry. One should know the basis for each formula, not just the formula. You should know how to solve problems like the ones seen here . And be clear on concepts in geometry

2. Skipping simple-topic questions because they take more than 3 minutes to solve: 3 minutes per question is good speed. If you understand a question based on Speed-Time and can definitely get it right in even 3.5 minutes, go for it. The concept-heavy topics are the ones where you should shoot to save time. Do not be in a mad rush for speed in the questions from the simpler topics. You HAVE TO get these correct. So, no point making some silly error here.