Live Chat: Accuracy Better Than Speed, Advises Iim Student

How should I prepare for CAT 2010? How can I improve my Quant, VA and DI LR? These are some of the questions that rock the mind of MBA aspirants. To help all CAT 2010ers, MBAUniverse.com had launched its special series of Live Expert Chats last month under the topic of 'Strategy to crack CAT 2010'.
The fifth chat of the CAT 2010 live chat series took place on Wednesday, September 22, 2010. The expert of the Live Chat was Amit Chhabra, MBA Student, IIM Indore.
Amit Chhabra is a second year student of IIM Indore. Chhabra took CAT in 2008 and scored 99.81 percentile. He did his graduation in business studies from Shaheed Sukhdev College, University of Delhi. He has also worked for a year with Tyroo Media, a Yahoo! company into online advertising as Manager, Strategic Partnerships.
The Live Expert Chat received immense response from the CAT 2010irants who directed their queries to Amit. Amit answered all the queries and shared his experience of cracking the CAT exam and getting through one of the most sought after MBA institutes.
Following are the excerpts of the Live Expert Chat:
Q: Sameer Gupta: I'm preparing for CAT 2010. My weak point is Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning. Please tell me how can I manage the section within a month? I have taken an early slot to avoid tension.
A: Hi Sameer! The key to cracking the Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning is proper selection of questions to attempt. You must take time to go through the questions in the section and then decide which type you are comfortable with. Try and select the one with lesser values are more logic as time would be factor considering you might have to copy data to paper from screen. To improve upon the area you need to keep practicing and try to find out if there is one type of questions you tend to get wrong. Then practice those types of questions more.
Q: Mohini: How can I solve the DA and VA section quickly but with concentration?
A: Hi Mohini! Even though the stress is on doing the questions fast, but I should advise you to concentrate more on accuracy. Rather than trying to solve these sections quickly, you are better off selecting the right questions to solve and then solving them with complete concentration to prevent any silly mistake. Both the sections are tricky. Try to relax before the paper to be able to concentrate well in the exam. However, a lot of time must not be spent on each question. If you think, a question is taking or going to take more time than is appropriate, skip it.
Q: Abid: How shall I prepare everyday so that all the sections are equally covered?
A: Hi Abid! The key is to take one to two mock tests everyday and then analyze them to improve upon your weak areas. If there is a particular weak section or concept, try to focus more on it till a week before the date of exam. Best of Luck!
Q: Narayanan: Hi Amit! What was your strategy in last 30 days to CAT? I am not taking any coaching classes. Is it really essential to join?
A: Hi Narayanan! The strategy usually is more individual-specific. I had some weak areas a month before the exam and was trying to improve upon them. The best way is to first concentrate on weak sections and then to focus on mocks. Try and take a mock test daily. Best of Luck!
Q: Rohit: Please give some tips for scoring in Verbal Ability. I get close to the answer but sometimes get confused with similar options. How to overcome it? Moreover, some tips in Quantitative Ability section too?
A: Hi Rohit! The strategy for both the sections is practice only. Practice questions without time limit and ones for which you have detailed solutions as well. If you get stuck at any point and are not able to solve even after long, then look up the solutions and try to understand the approach. If problem is with time constraint, then I can only suggest practice. For Quantitative Ability, concepts should be clear and calculation must be fast.
Q: Sayak: Is it possible to crack CAT exam without taking coaching? Since I'm working I couldn't join any coaching class. Please give me some suggestions.
A: Hi Sayak! It is definitely possible to clear CAT exam without any coaching. However, it would depend on your comfort level with the sort of questions asked in CAT exam. If you are weak in any area, focus on it, practice more questions. If there is a point which you cannot understand, take some help. Other than that, I advise you to take mock tests. Almost all are available on weekends in various slots. They are immensely helpful in training you to solve questions in a time constrained environment.
Q: Vishal: You are from non engineering background. As it is said, most of the CAT crackers are engineers. Is it true? How was your experience?
A: Hi Vishal! It does not matter at all! In fact, all are equal after admission and non engineers are at an advantage to some extent. However, CAT tests you on speed, calculations and analysis to a huge extent. Since engineers have a more analytical bent of mind and better calculation speed, they are at an advantage in CAT exam. Best of Luck!
Q: Dharmesh: In a paper of 60 questions, how many minimum questions shall I attempt to get the required cut off?
A: Hi Dharmesh! There is no magic number of questions which I can tell you as it varies each year with the difficulty level of the paper and performance of you and fellow candidates. It is important to score almost equally in each section up to your comfort level. You can maximize your score in your strong section to increase your score. However, do not ignore any section. Best of Luck!
Q: Mayank: What strategy to be followed while attempting English section, especially for me because I m not a very good reader.
A: Hi Mayank! The key is to read with maximum concentration and attempt questions with maximum accuracy, especially if you do not read very fast. Try and go through the follow up questions to gauge if you should attempt a particular question and then keep underlining or making some marks to signal the answers to those questions which would help you to pick the correct answer later. Best of Luck!
Q: Rani Kumari: Is it advisable to leave out Geometry as I'm very weak in it and not able to improve even after spending lot of time on it.
A: Hi Rani! It is not advisable but since you have put in your efforts and are not able to improve upon it, you must compensate for that in the form of algebra and other questions in the Quantitative Ability section. You have to attempt the rest of the questions with max accuracy. Geometry should not be evaluated separately but you should clear the cut-off to get a call. Best of Luck!
NEXT LIVE EXPERT CHAT: SEPTEMBER 25, 12 NOON ONWARDS
Next Live Expert Chat will be held on Saturday, September 25, 12 noon onwards with Vivek Gupta, CAT expert, author and IIM Bangalore alumnus.
EXCERPTS FROM PREVIOUS MBAUNIVERSE.COM LIVE EXPERT CHATS
To read the excerpts from previous MBAUniverse.com Live Expert Chats, click on the following links:
http://www.mbauniverse.com/mba-syllabus-papers/mba-questions/article.php?id=3611&y=chat2010
http://www.mbauniverse.com/mba-syllabus-papers/mba-questions/article.php?id=3546&y=chat2010
http://www.mbauniverse.com/mba-syllabus-papers/mba-questions/article.php?id=3560&y=chat2010
http://www.mbauniverse.com/mba-syllabus-papers/mba-questions/article.php?id=3578&y=chat2010
Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more on Live Expert Chat!