Friends, as it's difficult for me to maintain so many channels for CAT related discussion, I will be henceforth posting all related stuff on this blog and NOT on catmeifyoucan.blogspot.com . I reposting this article from the "catmeifyoucan" blog here.
Questions and Answers:Following are answers to some of the queries I received from readers of my website and blogs. I will keep adding to this list as I get more mails. Please go through the answers thorougly before asking any question. Your concern might have aleady been answered!
Q. Which books to refer?
A. There is an overwhelming number of books available in the market that try to teach you everything from logical reasoning to reading comprehension. From quantitative skills to GD/PI. Would it help to get hold of a book?Well, may and may not. If you think you lack the bare minimums in a particular area, say in Quantitative ability or in Logical Reasoning questions, you might look for a book. But honestly, in my opinion, that is not necessary.I prepared off IMS materials and I didn't feel the need for buying any other book to help me in my preparation. What was given in the IMS materials were more than enough. CAT is not exactly predictable and what you really need to crack CAT is an experience in solving a variety of questions. You can do that by solving all the questions handed out to you by your coaching institute. You might also want to solve previous years' CAT papers. I have found that to be helpful. There are publishers who publish last 10 years' CAT papers. Solve them if you find time.Books wouldn't teach you anything out of the world. Ultimately the basics you need to crack the CAT Quantitative section are the 10th standard maths with some +2 level stuff such as logs thrown in. The coaching classes cover in just sufficient details these aspects of CAT and I never had any problems getting back to the basics. I thought I would buy a Reading Comprehension book, but abandoned that thought later. I didn't see any value add. RC is all about how fast you read and understand a passage. I thought that would come more from my regular reading habits, a conscious effort to increase speed, clear focus everytime I read and repeated practice, rather than some bookish gyaan. I think I took the right decision.In my opinion, don't bother about books before you even start preparation. Take a coaching class stuff, read and solve the questions and test papers. If you think you seriously lack an ability that is not duly fulfilled by the coaching material, consider buying books.
Q. Only 5 months are left. Is it too late?
A. The best answer to this question is of course 'It depends'. But I know that won't serve your purpose; especially for those of you who want to know if they can hope to crack CAT in such a little time. Well, I think 5 months is not that small for preparation. All you need to aggression in preparation. If you good at Quants, you can easily brush up your skills in 5 months. However, Verbal ability wouldn't be easy to refine. Logical reasoning doesn't take a long time to be a master at. It depends only your reasoning and thinking ability - how clear, concise and systematic you think. I think logical reasoning is more of a gifted skill rather thancultivated. However, as I already have told you in my cat blog entry 'CATbolism', one can improve his/her speed by adopting certain structured ways of LR solving.So the bottomline is, if you think you are good and just need to brush up things and get upto speed, 5 months could be just right with a little bit of extra effort. However, if you are not confident of your abilities vis-a-vis CAT, you might need more than 5 months.
Q. I am thirty. Would I have problems in getting a placement in investment banks? I only have experience in IT.
A. I don't think that should be a problem. But you still might have a question in your mind, 'Why would i-banks take me in the first place?' Well, if that is the question you have in your mind, let me tell you that i-banks prefer people who are good at numbers and have good analytical ability. If you CV or your Grade point/marks prove this to them, you might be on board!
Q. Is reading newspapers, articles from magazines sufficient for English?
A. IIMs don't need future Bookers prize winners. You don't have to be a literature genious. Nobody expects you to be. What CAT looks for is people who have a good sense of English with a decent vocabulary and knowledge of English grammar so that when you write company reports, you don't embarass your alma mater. That's it.Someone who already has a good reading habit would already know the basic grammar rules and would instantly know if a sentence is correct or wrong. Or whether a sentence would precede or follow another. If you didn't have such a habit, there is nothing to worry. I didn't have a great reading habit. I used to read only Page 3 out of Times of India, and never the editorial. However, I started reading magazines and newspaper editorials when I started preparing. My grammar was never a problem and reading helped me refine those skills.So start reading newspapers and magazines. Any reputed one that you can lay your hands on. For grammar, if you wish, you can buy a grammar book..but that way you would waste time on things that might never be tested. I would suggest working out the GMAT grammar instead. That was really helpful.
Q. Do I need a coaching?
A. Yes you do, in most cases. Even if you are super genious, to channelize your skills to CAT type questions and to practice the 2 hours of gruelling test, you must join a coaching, correspondence or classroom. I have found classroom coaching to be helpful when you are not able to squeeze out time out of your busy schedule to devote to CAT preparation. Once you join a classroom coaching, you must attend the class and you must spend say 1 hour at preparation. It falls into a routine and you don't skip or postpone your preparation. But don't expect to get god-level gyaan from the coaching institute instructors.How many hours of study when only five months are left?I think it's difficult to prepare for more than 3 hours a day when you have other obligations/engagements. For some people even three hours a day could be a luxury. Those guys should start early preparation...say right after CAT is over (not the CAT you want to appear :P ). I don't have much patience. Even if I were absolutely free, I couldn't have prepared for more than three hours because of fatigue. And normally, preparing for more than 3 hours is not required.Avoid taking CAT preparation as a crash course. Build up skills slowly over a period of time. Start early so that you don't have to devote more than 2 hours a day. But yes, in weekends, you need to spend more time. As CAT approaches, those 2 hours can stretch a 'little' longer. But for heaven's sake, don't burn yourself in days leading up to the CAT.
Q. What are the usual cutoffs?
A. This is a gray area that no one has a clear idea about. I would be wrong if I say anything about cutoffs. The reason is simple. Questions change every year, the difficultly levels change and your peer group (I mean other fellow aspirants) changes. Cutoffs are a function of all of these. Better the crop and easier the questions, higher would be the cutoff. Keep track of all cutoffs that various coaching centre guys give out and try to match them and draw a realistic target yourself. But worry about cutoffs only after you have appeared CAT. Until CAT, the last thing you need to worry about is cutoffs. I am sure you don't wanna clear just the cutoffs. Do you? If you do, you are never going to clear to CAT anyway. So why bother? :)
Q. How should I start? When should I start?
A. Pretty global question. I have already answered the when part, more or less. About 'how' part, well read up my post 'CATabolism' and you would get some ideas. Start by visiting various coaching centres, bring their prospectus down and see what you like most in terms of hours of contact, mock test papers etc. Take feedback from any local fellow aspirant/MBA student who has already gone through the same thing. If you are planning to take a correspondence course, visit the coaching centre websites and find out about them. I don't want to suggest joining any particular institute for the simple reason that I haven't got a chance to compare institutes.So my suggestion would have no meaning. Start reading magazines and calculating without the help of a calculator. Mug up tables and use them while solving questions. Follow a strict routine and solve the coaching class stuff in time. Don't postpone things. Stay passionate and have confidence. The moment you lose confidence, you would want to drop out. Say to yourself, 'CAT is not that difficult afterall'. All the best :)
posted by Ashutosh Kar at 6:55 AM on Jun 26, 2006
Bharat Jhurani said...
Yeah!! CAT is not tht difficult afterall.... Jus around 40 dayz 2 go....
8:31 AM
rocky said...
Hey dude....wanna link exchange wid b-schools.blogspot.comIf yes just comment on any of the post.i'l link u up.
11:57 AM
manzu said...
hi.. this is to Ashutosh ... i joined the classes for catbut could attend due to heavy schedule of my job..but now i have resigned and planning to spend my time in preparation.. verbal i finished doing ..but reading i have not spent much time. can u suggest me how to prepare for the remaining days.........
Questions and Answers:Following are answers to some of the queries I received from readers of my website and blogs. I will keep adding to this list as I get more mails. Please go through the answers thorougly before asking any question. Your concern might have aleady been answered!
Q. Which books to refer?
A. There is an overwhelming number of books available in the market that try to teach you everything from logical reasoning to reading comprehension. From quantitative skills to GD/PI. Would it help to get hold of a book?Well, may and may not. If you think you lack the bare minimums in a particular area, say in Quantitative ability or in Logical Reasoning questions, you might look for a book. But honestly, in my opinion, that is not necessary.I prepared off IMS materials and I didn't feel the need for buying any other book to help me in my preparation. What was given in the IMS materials were more than enough. CAT is not exactly predictable and what you really need to crack CAT is an experience in solving a variety of questions. You can do that by solving all the questions handed out to you by your coaching institute. You might also want to solve previous years' CAT papers. I have found that to be helpful. There are publishers who publish last 10 years' CAT papers. Solve them if you find time.Books wouldn't teach you anything out of the world. Ultimately the basics you need to crack the CAT Quantitative section are the 10th standard maths with some +2 level stuff such as logs thrown in. The coaching classes cover in just sufficient details these aspects of CAT and I never had any problems getting back to the basics. I thought I would buy a Reading Comprehension book, but abandoned that thought later. I didn't see any value add. RC is all about how fast you read and understand a passage. I thought that would come more from my regular reading habits, a conscious effort to increase speed, clear focus everytime I read and repeated practice, rather than some bookish gyaan. I think I took the right decision.In my opinion, don't bother about books before you even start preparation. Take a coaching class stuff, read and solve the questions and test papers. If you think you seriously lack an ability that is not duly fulfilled by the coaching material, consider buying books.
Q. Only 5 months are left. Is it too late?
A. The best answer to this question is of course 'It depends'. But I know that won't serve your purpose; especially for those of you who want to know if they can hope to crack CAT in such a little time. Well, I think 5 months is not that small for preparation. All you need to aggression in preparation. If you good at Quants, you can easily brush up your skills in 5 months. However, Verbal ability wouldn't be easy to refine. Logical reasoning doesn't take a long time to be a master at. It depends only your reasoning and thinking ability - how clear, concise and systematic you think. I think logical reasoning is more of a gifted skill rather thancultivated. However, as I already have told you in my cat blog entry 'CATbolism', one can improve his/her speed by adopting certain structured ways of LR solving.So the bottomline is, if you think you are good and just need to brush up things and get upto speed, 5 months could be just right with a little bit of extra effort. However, if you are not confident of your abilities vis-a-vis CAT, you might need more than 5 months.
Q. I am thirty. Would I have problems in getting a placement in investment banks? I only have experience in IT.
A. I don't think that should be a problem. But you still might have a question in your mind, 'Why would i-banks take me in the first place?' Well, if that is the question you have in your mind, let me tell you that i-banks prefer people who are good at numbers and have good analytical ability. If you CV or your Grade point/marks prove this to them, you might be on board!
Q. Is reading newspapers, articles from magazines sufficient for English?
A. IIMs don't need future Bookers prize winners. You don't have to be a literature genious. Nobody expects you to be. What CAT looks for is people who have a good sense of English with a decent vocabulary and knowledge of English grammar so that when you write company reports, you don't embarass your alma mater. That's it.Someone who already has a good reading habit would already know the basic grammar rules and would instantly know if a sentence is correct or wrong. Or whether a sentence would precede or follow another. If you didn't have such a habit, there is nothing to worry. I didn't have a great reading habit. I used to read only Page 3 out of Times of India, and never the editorial. However, I started reading magazines and newspaper editorials when I started preparing. My grammar was never a problem and reading helped me refine those skills.So start reading newspapers and magazines. Any reputed one that you can lay your hands on. For grammar, if you wish, you can buy a grammar book..but that way you would waste time on things that might never be tested. I would suggest working out the GMAT grammar instead. That was really helpful.
Q. Do I need a coaching?
A. Yes you do, in most cases. Even if you are super genious, to channelize your skills to CAT type questions and to practice the 2 hours of gruelling test, you must join a coaching, correspondence or classroom. I have found classroom coaching to be helpful when you are not able to squeeze out time out of your busy schedule to devote to CAT preparation. Once you join a classroom coaching, you must attend the class and you must spend say 1 hour at preparation. It falls into a routine and you don't skip or postpone your preparation. But don't expect to get god-level gyaan from the coaching institute instructors.How many hours of study when only five months are left?I think it's difficult to prepare for more than 3 hours a day when you have other obligations/engagements. For some people even three hours a day could be a luxury. Those guys should start early preparation...say right after CAT is over (not the CAT you want to appear :P ). I don't have much patience. Even if I were absolutely free, I couldn't have prepared for more than three hours because of fatigue. And normally, preparing for more than 3 hours is not required.Avoid taking CAT preparation as a crash course. Build up skills slowly over a period of time. Start early so that you don't have to devote more than 2 hours a day. But yes, in weekends, you need to spend more time. As CAT approaches, those 2 hours can stretch a 'little' longer. But for heaven's sake, don't burn yourself in days leading up to the CAT.
Q. What are the usual cutoffs?
A. This is a gray area that no one has a clear idea about. I would be wrong if I say anything about cutoffs. The reason is simple. Questions change every year, the difficultly levels change and your peer group (I mean other fellow aspirants) changes. Cutoffs are a function of all of these. Better the crop and easier the questions, higher would be the cutoff. Keep track of all cutoffs that various coaching centre guys give out and try to match them and draw a realistic target yourself. But worry about cutoffs only after you have appeared CAT. Until CAT, the last thing you need to worry about is cutoffs. I am sure you don't wanna clear just the cutoffs. Do you? If you do, you are never going to clear to CAT anyway. So why bother? :)
Q. How should I start? When should I start?
A. Pretty global question. I have already answered the when part, more or less. About 'how' part, well read up my post 'CATabolism' and you would get some ideas. Start by visiting various coaching centres, bring their prospectus down and see what you like most in terms of hours of contact, mock test papers etc. Take feedback from any local fellow aspirant/MBA student who has already gone through the same thing. If you are planning to take a correspondence course, visit the coaching centre websites and find out about them. I don't want to suggest joining any particular institute for the simple reason that I haven't got a chance to compare institutes.So my suggestion would have no meaning. Start reading magazines and calculating without the help of a calculator. Mug up tables and use them while solving questions. Follow a strict routine and solve the coaching class stuff in time. Don't postpone things. Stay passionate and have confidence. The moment you lose confidence, you would want to drop out. Say to yourself, 'CAT is not that difficult afterall'. All the best :)
posted by Ashutosh Kar at 6:55 AM on Jun 26, 2006
Bharat Jhurani said...
Yeah!! CAT is not tht difficult afterall.... Jus around 40 dayz 2 go....
8:31 AM
rocky said...
Hey dude....wanna link exchange wid b-schools.blogspot.comIf yes just comment on any of the post.i'l link u up.
11:57 AM
manzu said...
hi.. this is to Ashutosh ... i joined the classes for catbut could attend due to heavy schedule of my job..but now i have resigned and planning to spend my time in preparation.. verbal i finished doing ..but reading i have not spent much time. can u suggest me how to prepare for the remaining days.........
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