CAT 2020 – Preparation Strategy and Study Plan By Prof (Dr.) Sanjiv Marwah, Director, JK Business School
CAT (Common Admission Test) is one of the most popular exams among PGDM aspirants who want to get coveted seats in top B-Schools of the country. The level of competition is quite fierce with more than 1.5 lakh candidates competing for the best institute. However, battling with lakhs of students from various streams like Commerce, Medical, Non-Medical, Humanities, etc, and achieving success in it is a tough drill but not impossible. With almost a week left for the CAT 2020 exam, some modifications to your daily habits and preparation patterns will play a big role in eventually leading you to success. In a CAT Exam students are majorly judged on the basis of their Quantitative Aptitude (QA), Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC) as well as their Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR) skills. Thus, focusing on all the pointers carefully will eventually lead you to cracking the exam easily. Read the full article written by By Prof (Dr.) Sanjiv Marwah, Director, JK Business School to know the tips that need to be followed during the fag end of prepration of the CAT exam.

Understand CAT 2020 Exam Pattern & Syllabus
The first and foremost thing every CAT aspirant must keep in mind before starting their preparation, is to understand the CAT exam pattern. As per the revised CAT pattern, the CAT exam 2020 will consist of 3 sections i.e. VARC, DILR, and QA. This year the exam duration has been changed to 2 hours from earlier 3 hours. Students will be allotted 40 Minutes to attempt each section instead of earlier 60 minutes. Students will not be allowed to move to other section until the time limit for the present section you are attempting is over. This year the CAT exam will have a reduced number of questions which will be divided into MCQs and Non-MCQ type questions. Thus, it is very important for students to plan out the time frame so that he/she can complete the paper in the given time limit.
Practice 3 Reading Comprehension’s (RC’s) Daily
With CAT Exam approaching in another 15 days, it is very important for all the aspirants to solve at least 3 RC’s daily. Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC) is one of the most important parts of the CAT examination. It is not only the most important part but also the most time-consuming. Thus, getting hands-on with the RCs is very important if you want to qualify CAT. While solving the RCs, it is vital to understand the catch the flow of the Comprehensions. The trick is comprehension and not only the speed, so understand what is being conveyed, you will automatically complete in the given time-frame. Many aspirants start reading the passage but due to lack of concentration and poor vocabulary are unable to retain what they have read and have to re-read it. So, what you need to master by solving three RCs daily is reading without losing concentration and mark the important words and understand all their possible meaning in different aspects.
Daily Practicing 3 Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR) Problems
One of the 3 sections of the CAT examinations is Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR) skills. It is one of the trickiest sections of the paper. With even the smallest negligence you will lose out on the mask. Thus, it is mandatory to practice at least 3 problems of Data Interpretation and Logical reasoning everyday respectively in order to build a strong foundation. This section involves lots of calculations as it consists of problems with data, diagrams, puzzles, etc. Thus, make sure you read the question carefully and notice the units used. If this section is attempted well, it can increase your chance by 30% to clear the examination.
Daily focus on the Quantitative Ability
This section f Quantitative ability consists of questions from Number System, Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry & Mensuration as well as Modern Maths. Make sure that you devote at least 2-3 hours daily practicing Quantitative Ability so that when you are setting for the exam you will able to solve the problem in under 2-2.5 minutes each. This section is quite time-consuming many candidates are not able to complete the section in the given time limit. Make sure you are always working on faster ways to solve the Quantitative Ability questions and evolving your approach.
Enhance your vocabulary
Get in the habit to read at least two newspapers daily as this will help you in enhancing your vocabulary which will eventually help you in solving RCs faster. Reading the newspaper is also helpful for the Group Discussions stage of the CAT exam and the General Knowledge sections of some other management entrance exams. So, make it a habit to reading newspaper daily and jotting the important news and pointers and make a cheat sheet which you revise every day.
Solve last year papers -CAT exam pattern is changed every year to ensure that the exam is not predictable. However, solving previous year papers along with sample papers and mock tests helps. It is very important for the candidates to solve CAT question papers of at least the last five years to get practice. This will not only give them an idea of exam, the difficulty level of questions, types of questions but also the topic-wise break-up of questions
Apart from the above-mentioned pointers, it is advisable to join various groups on social media and online test preparation websites and get on discussion with other aspirants. Also, as the paper is a fortnight it is advised to focus and improve your strong areas and practice as much as you can.
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Questions related to CAT
CAT score : 95.34 Acads: 10th : 85.5 12th: 88.2 B tech: 84 and 2.5 years of experience. please suggest the best colleges I can get to pursue MBA
Hi
Getting a call from a B- School depends upon a number of factors like your percentile score in CAT and academic profile i. e.percentage of marks obtained by you in class 10th, 12th and graduation, work experience. Your academic profile is good and work experience is also decent.
With your overall 95.34 percentile in CAT you have chances in following B schools which are listed below :-
*IIM Shillong
*IIM Kozhikode
*IIM Rohtak
*IIM Ranchi
*IIM Trichy
*IIM Raipur
*VGSoM, IIT Kharagpur
*IIM Bodh Gaya
*IIM Udaipur
*DoMS, IIT Madras
*IIM Kashipur
And more
For details you can checkout our page, the link for the same is provided below.
After getting a call , one has to go through WAT/GD/PI , and then he/she is finally selected for admission on the basis of performance in these rounds , percentile score in CAT, academic profile and work experience.
To get the list of colleges that you can get call from for your MBA, you can use CAT call predictor, the link for the same is provided below
https://bschool.careers360.com/pathfinder/cat
It will let you know the colleges from which you have chance to get a call for PGDM or MBA based on your category, your percentile score in CAT examination and your academic profile .
If you have any other doubt then feel free to ask them :) we are always here to help you out and guide you
Thank you
Can an indian black cat commando quit his job at age 30??
I hope my answer helps. All the very best for your future endeavors!
Will Delhi University be taking admission via merit this year along with the common aptitude test?
Hello,
Delhi University Admission 2021 will start in the month of March 2021. An entrance exam known as DUET is organised by NTA (National Testing Agency) to offer admission in various UG and PG programmes in the University.
Application form will be available from first week of March 2021 for UG courses (entrance based) and from third week of May 2021 for UG courses (merit based).
Delhi University Syllabus will be released by the authorities through online mode on the website. Syllabus will be different as per the courses.
Merit based admission fees is
- For general/ OBC category candidatesRs. 250
- For SC/ ST/ PWD candidatesRs. 100
Entrance based admission fees is
- For general/ OBC category candidatesRs. 750
- For SC/ST/ PWD candidatesRs. 300
https://www.careers360.com/university/university-of-delhi-delhi
You can refer to this link for more information.
Hope this helps!!!
I got 83.56 in cat 2020 (di 86 Qa 84 Va 64.25) and NC OBC and acads 10th 95 12th 75.2 grad 71. Got a letter from iim ranchi about Mba HR programmme. 2000 fees Is it worth filling the form???
Hello aspirant!
IIM Ranchi HR program is one of the best in the country and you should not miss the chance if you have got the opportunity. The placement report of the college is stellar (see link below)
https://iimranchi.ac.in/uploads/fp18-20.pdf
You have decent academics and should not face any issue in getting shortlisted for companies. Do not make the decision solely based on the fees or the ROI ratio. The main purpose of doing an MBA from a reputed college is to get a headstart in your career and start your career in management from a top tier company. It will be your launchpad into the corporate world and then you are free to explore on your own.
The post pandemic scenario should not haunt us for too long and the industry will be on its feet in no time. I would urge you to consider this as a good opportunity and consider admission this year only.
All the best!
i got 89.78 overall percentile in cat 10-82% 12-82% grad-70% gem is there ang chance of getting call?
Hi
Getting a call from a B- School depends upon a number of factors like your percentile score in CAT and academic profile i. e.percentage of marks obtained by you in class 10th, 12th and graduation, work experience. Your academic profile is average
With your overall 89.78 percentile in CAT you have chances in following B schools which are listed below :-
*TAPMI, Manipal
*Institute of Management Studies, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi
* Indian Institute of Financial Management and Research, Changambakkam
*SP Jain Institute of Management and Research, Mumbai
*Xavier Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship, Bangalore
*Prin. L N Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research, Mumbai
*Sydenham Institute of Management Studies, Research and Entrepreneurship Education, Mumbai
*Bharathidasan Institute of Management, Trichy
*FORE School of Management, New Delhi
*University Business School, Panjab University, Chandigarh
For details you can checkout our page, the link for the same is provided below.
After getting a call , one has to go through WAT/GD/PI , and then he/she is finally selected for admission on the basis of performance in these rounds , percentile score in CAT, academic profile and work experience.
To get the list of colleges that you can get call from for your MBA, you can use CAT call predictor, the link for the same is provided below
https://bschool.careers360.com/pathfinder/cat
It will let you know the colleges from which you have chance to get a call for PGDM or MBA based on your category, your percentile score in CAT examination and your academic profile .
If you have any other doubt then feel free to ask them :) we are always here to help you out and guide you
Thank you