How to score 99 percentile in CAT
The Common Admission Test is an online examination for admission in Management courses in various institutions in India, including the coveted IIMs. With almost 2 lakh aspirants taking the exam every year, the significance of this aptitude examination has only increased over the years. This is why students need to understand the level of competition that awaits them if they are targeting the premium MBA institutes in India such as IIMs, ISB and so on. With the cut off consistently between 99 and 100 percentiles over the past few years, what a student must understand is the importance of planned and strategic preparation for the CAT. Here are a few ways to ensure meticulous preparation and consequently a 99 percentile in the test:
1. Set a Goal
Before beginning with preparation, a student must define a set goal or objective to be achieved i.e., of course, in terms of scores in this case. While it is important to have in mind a percentile that you wish to target, it is also important to remember that determining a target percentile is not sufficient. There is a CAT score that you set for yourself which is the exact score obtained in the examination whereas percentile is the rank secured by a candidate out of all the candidates who appeared for the exam.
Having a target score and preparing and taking mock tests keeping this target in mind will help you track your performance exactly in terms of question-attempting, number of correct questions and number of incorrect questions. Hence, your CAT score will depend solely on your effort and hard work whereas your CAT percentile will depend on your performance, relative to that of all other aspirants.
2. A balance between all four sections
As Quantitative and Verbal Ability sections have a defined syllabus that students can stick to whereas the syllabus for Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning is not as well-defined, it is a common tendency for aspirants to devote more time towards preparing the former two sections. This strategy doesn’t help in preparing all sections well and to secure a high score, it is important to balance between all the sections.
Yes, it is important to assign 65-70% of your preparation time to QA and VARC, you must also keep 25-30% of your prep time exclusively for DI and LR. A book that will be helpful for is “How to prepare for Quantitative Aptitude for CAT”. Updated as per the latest exam trends, the book is a training ground to practice real-time higher-end problem solving and analytical thinking. “How to prepare for Data Interpretation for CAT” is another book that you use to strengthen your DI section.
3. Mock Tests & Revision
Mock tests are the key to analyzing your performance and preparation level. This is where you understand which part needs more attention going forward. Based on the analysis, you keep going back to the Question types and keep working on them till you gain the speed and accuracy required in each of the question types. One of the most common mistakes people make is to take mock tests for less time than actually required. To ensure you have sufficient mock tests to take, you can also refer to the books, How to prepare for Quantitative Aptitude for CAT, How to prepare for Logical Reasoning for CAT and How to prepare for Data Interpretation for CAT where you get previous years solved and unsolved question papers along with online tests. These additional online tests are given solely for practice and are available on the exam preparatory platform, Pull Marks. You can access the tests by scanning the QR code given on the cover of the latest editions of QA, DI and LR books from McGraw Hill.
4. Time Management
Selective study can be quite detrimental to your performance in the exam. Given the syllabus and coverage in examination, QA section is quite unpredictable, and it is advised that you cover everything within this section. Omitting any chapter can affect your overall score. For instance, imagine 3 questions appearing from an uncovered chapter & if you are planning on attempting 18 questions out of 26, you would need to be attempting 18 out of 23. You would have used up almost half the choice you had at the start of the paper – just because you did not manage your preparation timelines well.
You can, however, choose a few topics that you will pay less attention to and other topics which will take more of your time. But ensure that you touch upon every chapter that is part of the syllabus.
Once you have devised your preparation plan, you can begin studying. It is also important that you follow the plan religiously. Also, make sure that you have sufficient time left for revision as well as mock tests as this is where you will get to work on your speed and accuracy before the D-Day arrives.
All the Best and do well!