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How to prepare for CAT 2024 - How to prepare for CAT is one of the most commonly asked questions by fresh graduates or working professionals. CAT is one of the toughest MBA entrance exams in which few students are able to make their way through IIMs. To ace this CAT 2024 for MBA admission, Careers360 brings you the CAT preparation tips for beginners. All CAT aspirants must run through these CAT 2024 preparation tips for beginners to crack CAT exam with an excellent percentile.
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For beginners preparing for the CAT, start by understanding the exam pattern and syllabus thoroughly. Focus on building a strong foundation in all sections: Verbal Ability, Data Interpretation, Logical Reasoning , and Quantitative Ability. Create a consistent study schedule, dedicating specific time slots for each section. Let us understand a few CAT preparation tips for beginners.
Understand the exam format: Familiarize yourself with the structure, sections, and types of questions asked in the CAT exam. Knowing the format will help you tailor your preparation effectively.
Plan your CAT exam preparation: Create a detailed study plan that covers all sections of the exam. Allocate sufficient time for learning concepts, practising problems, and revising regularly.
Regular practice is necessary: Consistent practice is crucial for mastering the concepts and improving your problem-solving speed and accuracy. Solve a variety of questions and take regular mock tests to track your progress.
Effective time management is crucial: Develop strategies to manage your time efficiently during the exam. Practice solving questions within a set time limit to enhance your time management skills.
Work on weak areas: Identify your weak areas and focus on improving them. Spend extra time understanding and practising topics that you find challenging.
Stay healthy and positive: Maintaining good physical and mental health is important during your preparation. Take breaks, eat healthily, exercise regularly, and stay positive to keep your mind sharp and focused.
Effective study techniques for CAT exam preparation include several key strategies. First, break down the syllabus into manageable parts and create a detailed study schedule, dedicating specific time slots for each section. Focus on understanding the fundamental concepts before moving on to advanced topics, ensuring a strong foundation. Let us discuss all the effective study techniques for CAT preparation.
Create a Study Schedule: Break down the syllabus into small parts and plan your study time. Dedicate specific hours for each section, ensuring you cover all topics without feeling overwhelmed.
Understand Basic Concepts: Focus on learning the fundamental ideas of each topic before moving on to harder problems. A strong foundation helps you solve advanced questions more easily.
Regular Practice: Solve previous years' papers and take mock tests frequently. This helps you get used to the exam pattern and improves your speed and accuracy.
Analyze Performance: After taking mock tests, review your answers to find out where you went wrong. Work on these weak areas to avoid making the same mistakes again.
Use Active Learning: Engage with the material by summarising what you learn in your own words, teaching concepts to someone else, or using flashcards for quick review. This makes the information stick better.
Take Short Breaks: Include short breaks in your study routine to rest your mind. This helps you stay focused and prevents burnout.
Stay Consistent and Positive: Keep a regular study routine and stay motivated. A positive attitude helps you tackle challenges more effectively and keeps you going during tough times.
Students must note that completing the syllabus of the CAT is not sufficient to bell the CAT exam, it also requires a versatile approach and incorporating changes in the study plan. The CAT exam pattern consists of three sections with a sectional limit of 40 minutes. CAT will be conducted in online mode.
It is advisable to begin CAT exam preparation early. One of the tips for CAT preparation by toppers is one cannot improve verbal ability in a month or so as it requires continuous practice and attention. Students must know that the formation of a reading habit takes time, hence one should start early to have good reading skills. As per the experts starting preparation nine months before the examination is the ideal time.
One of the important and foremost things to do is to know the CAT syllabus. Many students spend time on obscure concepts, for example, students might know that reading comprehension is a major component of verbal ability, hence practising vaguely without knowing the topics from which reading comprehension is given is a waste of time. Students must make a list of topics that are covered under each section and know the percentage of each question asked.
Not having a plan of action is similar to walking through a maze. If you learn something and don’t put it into practice then it is a sheer waste of time. Also, avoid practising questions from one skill set. Remember if you can’t solve basic questions while practicing then surely there is an error in strategy. Make sure to have a weekly schedule on how many questions you will practice and the mocks you will give. As the syllabus of CAT is vast, cover the topics by setting weekly goals and learning formulas to build confidence.
It is always easy to solve questions from the areas you are strong in, however, one of the important CAT preparation tips for beginners is not to focus on the short term but rather focus on long-term goals by building the foundation and working on the areas you are weak in. Take ample time to understand the topic you are weak in before jumping to another topic.
Students should learn to make a difference between passive learning and active learning. Passive learning is understanding the concept through lectures and videos and not implementing it in practice. Whereas, active learning is understanding the concept and practicing a number of questions related to that topic. Therefore, students should not presume that they have understood the topic without practicing at least 5-10 questions from each set.
Many beginners fixate on the target of achieving the 99 percentile rather than focusing on preparation. It is always advised to focus on your preparation and accuracy to answer questions over the percentage you desire to achieve. Despite you have scored less in class 12th or graduation, always focus on the future on how to get an additional 1 percent through preparation.
In order to crack the CAT 2024, it is crucial to have a well-structured plan in place. The main components of CAT exam preparation include maintaining consistency, making a schedule and dedicated hard work. These tips will help you in your section-wise CAT preparation:
Quantitative Ability questions cover a wide range of topics including averages, percentages, compound interests and more. It requires quantitative skills and logical and analytical skills required for banking jobs, civil service posts, management projects and so on. Here, we provide you with consistent quality Numerical Aptitude Questions for Engineering, Law, Accounting, Finance, Marketing, Banking, SSC, UPSC etc.
The syllabus of CAT quantitative ability is generally covered from class 10th, 11th, and 12th level which includes common topics likeArithmetic Progression Time, Speed and Distance Time and Work and so forth. While practising the questions from the topics above, note down the time you take to solve questions from a topic. You know how much time you need to devote to a particular section to manage time effectively.
When you decide to appear for CAT 2024, you don’t know what might appear on your plate. On the other hand, you know the topics from which questions are likely to be asked, hence prepare your strategy accordingly on how to tackle the questions with accuracy.
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Once you know the topics, the next step is to work on speed and accuracy. A sectional limit of 40 minutes is given for each section, hence for each question, we have less than 1.5 minutes. Make sure you practice each unsolved/ wrongly marked question a minimum of three times so that they become a part of your subconscious knowledge.
Also, while you read the question paper be selective on which questions you can attempt correctly and leave the difficult questions for later. Also, improve your calculation speed by learning the tables, square roots, and fractions every night before sleeping. Deduce your calculation with the help of the options that will be provided.
Know more preparation tips on CAT Quantitative Ability
CAT DILR questions often spoil the mood. If you don't get them right, you can get into trouble. Here at Careers360, check complete study materials for data interpretation and logical reasoning. Check them out to clear your ideas.
Data Interpretation evaluates the candidate’s ability to solve the questions. DI questions usually involve a lot of calculations, hence Vedic math helps to solve questions quickly and with accuracy.
Logical reasoning questions are set-based hence before selecting the answer, read the question properly and collect the facts shared in the question.
Always read the question properly, and don’t take a shot in the dark. Stay alert with keywords like, ‘none’, ‘some’, ‘all’, ‘unless’, and so forth.
Learn in-depth material on CAT DILR Preparation
Verbal ability makes up one-third of the CAT question paper along with reading comprehension. It usually consists of para jumbles and odd sentences. Verbal ability is central to all other competitive exams. Verbal Ability includes three components – vocabulary, English grammar, and verbal reasoning. Let's understand the verbal ability part of MBA entrance exams and preparation strategy.
Reading is one of the important ways to improve your vocabulary. Always read from different genres and step out of your comfort zone. By reading from different genres you will run into new words. Make sure you take note of the new words and definitions.
Promise yourself to learn a new word each day from the text you read. What about downloading the mobile application and making it a piece of cake? Applications such as Vocabulary.com, Magoosh Vocabulary Builder, Word to Word, and much more help you learn new words and their usage in a sentence.
Now that you are learning a new word each day, try to use that word in your daily life. Also, if you hear any new expression, idiom or phrase try to inculcate them in sentences while talking to friends or family. It becomes easy to remember the more often you use it.
Assess your current reading by noting the time you take to read a passage. To know your capability pick a passage from any magazine, book, newspaper, or novel and note the instances where you lag, for example, difficulty in understanding a few words. If you take time to understand a few words, focus on improving your vocabulary by creating flashcards of the words you were not able to relate to. Write the definition of the difficult words and twice or thrice take a quiz of yourself from the vocabulary you have written on your flashcard.
Know the preparation tips for the CAT VARC
Practising CAT model papers should be one of the main tasks in the exam preparation plan. Solving the CAT sample paper is helpful for high-weight candidates to understand the paper pattern and topics before taking the final exam.
CAT Sample Paper PDF Download
Candidates can check the CAT sample paper with Solutions here.
CAT Question Paper Year | CAT Sample Paper Download Link |
---|---|
2023 | CAT 2023 question paper pdf |
2022 | CAT previous year question paper pdf |
2021 | CAT practice papers slot-wise |
2020 | CAT sample papers with solution |
2019 | CAT question paper with answer |
2018 | CAT exam question paper pdf |
2017 | CAT question paper with solution |
Therefore, candidates are advised to solve more and more sample CAT questions and previous years' solved questions. There are many advantages to solving the CAT exam sample question paper. For exams, it allows candidates to gain more knowledge about the CAT syllabus and topics. Candidates who are going to study for CAT 2024 are advised to take as many CAT mock tests as possible. Or they should take at least two or more CAT sample papers in a week.
Yes, the CUSAT CAT exam is held online. It is what is called a computer-based test, where candidates respond to questions on the computer screen.
It covers Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics topics. The questions are multiple choice.
For information regarding the most accurate details and up-to-date information available on CUSAT CAT, including format, eligibility criteria, and important dates, visit the official website for Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) or refer to the official notification released by the university.
https://www.careers360.com/exams/cusat-cat
Hello aspirant,
As the score is accepted by 21 IIMs, other prestigious B-schools, and 1,300 MBA colleges in India, CAT 2025, a business aptitude test that evaluates candidates on quantitative aptitude, data interpretation, logical reasoning, verbal ability, and reading comprehension, will most likely take place on November 30, 2025, with an official announcement making the announcement by July 30, 2025.
For more information, you can visit our site through the following link:
https://bschool.careers360.com/articles/cat-2025
Thank you
Hope it helps you
The student cannot join the postgraduate MA program directly in the second year of the MA after completing the MBA.
Universities generally expect students to begin the first year of a masters' program even though they had qualifications at the level of a bachelor's degree. The university's curriculum along with the courses are planned to give an in-depth knowledge of the subjects.
But you could opt for:
Postgraduate Studies:
Research Career: In case research interests you, then you can pursue a Ph.D. in your specific interest.
Specialized Master's Programs: Find any specific master's course that supports the career goal.
Professional Certifications:
Make a professional certification in CFA, CA, or FRM to enhance the professional skills and better opportunities in the career field.
Job Entry via MBA
After gaining an MBA from a renowned institution, it's possible to get entry into the corporate world where the diversity in the career field is assured.
In the end, it would depend on what you would like and what you are particularly interested in. It will be better if you take a suggestion from your academic advisor or career counselor.
Hello Pratik,
If your family income exceeds 8 LPA, it will affect your eligibility for the NC-OBC category under the CAT reservation rules. The NC-OBC category requires that the family income should be below 8 LPA to qualify. If you anticipate that your income will exceed this threshold, you should update your status and notify the CAT authorities .
Here's what you can do:
Email the CAT authorities
: Inform them about the potential change in your income status and request to be considered under the
General
category, if applicable. You should do this before the examination or any further processing, as your eligibility for the OBC category depends on the income criteria.
Documents and Proof
: Make sure you have a valid
OBC certificate
and any relevant documentation regarding your family income, in case they require verification. Also, be aware that if your income exceeds 8 LPA, you might need to apply under the
General
category, as the OBC-NC reservation is no longer applicable.
General Category Consideration : If your application is accepted as General, you will be evaluated based on the General category criteria, including cutoffs and ranking.
To summarize, notifying the CAT authorities is the correct approach to avoid discrepancies later, and if your income is above the threshold, you will be treated as a General candidate for the admissions process.
For more details about CAT exam you can check out an article by Careers360 whose link is given below:
Link: https://bschool.careers360.com/exams/cat
I hope this answer helps you. If you have more queries then feel free to share your questions with us we will be happy to assist you.
Thank you and wishing you all the best for your bright future.
Hi Shreya ,
Having a tattoo on your wrist should not create a problem during the CAT exam as long as it does not contain any content that violates exam rules , such as communication-related symbols , unauthorised messages or any text resembling formulas or answers .
For a safe side , it is recommended :
1. Inform the Invigilators : Let them know about your tattoo during the identification check , so there are no misunderstandings .
2. Follow the Guidelines : Ensure you follow all instructions regarding permissible items and dress code on the exam day .
Hope this helps you .
ALL THE BEST .
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