Appearing for a CAT Mock & Analysis (Last 2 weeks Final Strategy) :
In last 2 weeks it’s important you do exactly what you need to be doing on 24th. Replicate your environment everyday like your CAT Day. Take at least 3-4 Mocks Per week from now if aiming for a 99+%le.
Process of taking CAT Mock :
- Take a Mock
- Analyse and note down where you got stuck
- Practice 30-50 questions on it
- Take a topic wise test or a sectional
- Analyse and down where you got stuck
- Revise those topics again
- Take the Next Mock
- REPEAT MODE ON till you achieve 90% accuracy
CAT 2024 Last Mile Marathon Sessions
iQuanta is conducting the last mile marathon sessions where you’ll get to practice exact CAT level questions by our 100%iler faculty.
Mindset :
Get in a disturbance-free environment and appear in the 2-hour mock CAT test with the seriousness of a real exam without any breaks. But don’t take unnecessary tough mocks.
You may prefer to take the mock at the time zone of your CAT slots.
During Mock : Mock Taking Strategy : Quant
Round 1: Go through all the questions and Solve the easiest questions (sitters) there itself, the ones for which you know the solution. Mark for review the questions that you know how to solve, but might take some time or you have an idea about the concept behind it.
Round 2: Attempt the Marked for review questions.
Round 3: (If at all you get to this part) Attempt the unmarked questions
STEP 3: ANALYSE YOUR SCORE –
The most important step is to analyse your score. Merely appearing for the mocks will not improve your performance until you don’t analyze your strengths and weaknesses. Spend a DAY and analyze your result section-wise.
Note the time spent on every question, the topics and types of questions that are you’re good at and the one’s where you can improve.
Then, once the solutions are released, analyze each section of the paper. Try to solve every question first by yourself as the time pressure is not there.
Then, irrespective that solve the question or not, look at the solution and analyze every question.
READING COMPREHENSION AND VERBAL ABILITY
Solve 3-4 RCs a day for the next 2 weeks, utilise iQuanta Dashboard Specially Engineers VARC Module, Classes, Past CAT Papers, Practice sessions. For iQuanta students I have given 10 VARC Sectionals as Gift which are of exact CAT Level. Try here : https://www.iquanta.in/cat-mock-test
The important thing here is to develop your thought process for attempting RCs, hence you must check every answer and its explanations even if you get the answer right. For every wrong answer, give yourself reasons as to why that should not have been the answer.
For Verbal Ability questions, refer to past mocks and old CAT papers, solve 5 each of Para Summary, Odd One Out and Para Jumbles every day for the next 2 weeks days.
Logical Reasoning & Data Interpretation
There are two different strategies for different type of aspirant
1) Those who are solving 2 or less sets in a Mock consistently:
- In the first 5 minutes, go through the whole LRDI Paper, and see all the 4-5 sets along with their questions.
- Select 2 sets according to the relative difficulty level and use the next 25-30 minutes to solve each of them.
- Even after attempting for 5 minutes and going through the data, you cannot solve a particular set and get stuck in it, leave the set, ignoring your ego and move forward. Don’t waste 20 minutes on a single set.
2) Those who are solving 3 or more sets in a Mock consistently:
- You guys don’t need to waste time in selecting sets or categorising them, as these 5-6 minutes could be used to solve 4-5 more questions in the end.
- Once you start the set, take 4 minutes time to make some headway, if you can’t, let go of your ego, go to the next set. Don’t waste your time.
Big Question : Which set to choose? : The answer to this question lies within you. As you keep practicing and solving different kinds of questions, you’ll find your comfort zone. When you start the test, skim through all the sets once in around 3-5 minutes and focus on those in which you feel more confident.
It might happen that you start solving a set of your own choice, but are still unable to crack it. Many people take it upon their ego and thus end up wasting a lot of time on such questions. Another possibility is that after spending around unsuccessful minutes on a set, you’d feel that now you have to solve it anyhow as you’ve already given too much time on it. This is a trap and I urge you not to fall into it.
To be honest the best thing one has to do is to solve maximum variety of sets, enough so as you are able to guess which set is doable for you and which set is not, thats it. In iQuanta mocks and sectionals there are around 250+ CAT level LRDI sets overall and if one solves them all properly then they are almost through this section.
CAT LRDI Sources to Practice from :
For iQuanta Students : LRDI Inception, LRDI 70 by Indra, Past Papers & Classes/Marathons by iQuanta.
Important LRDI Topics & Free LRDI Resouces : https://www.facebook.com/groups/370097693157939/posts/2898658776968472
Mock Source : Your 35 CAT Level Mocks + 45 sectionals by iQuanta & 18 Past CAT Papers as Mock are available here in iCAT Mock Test series: https://www.iquanta.in/cat-mock-test
HOW TO ANALYZE MOCKS & SECTIONALS?
The only thing more important than taking (you ‘take’ a mock, not ‘give’ a mock) a Mock or sectional is analyzing it.
Analysing Mocks –
- If an in-depth analysis is available, see the questions you attempted and the accuracy & time taken by other aspirants in those questions.
(A.) The question has high attempts and high accuracy from aspirants – You missed out on an easy question. This is unforgivable in CAT. Try to analyze where you got it wrong if you attempted it and if you didn’t attempt it make a note as to the type of question it is. For example, it is a fact-based RC question make a heading your notes or Word file and keep a count of these types of questions. While attempting the practice mocks or sectionals keep an eye out for these and give them a try over questions you have doubts over or consider as your weak areas (Example – RC inference based)
(B.)
If a question has low accuracy and high attempts – These are the questions you must avoid if you’re either not comfortable with the section or the type of questions ( Eg: PJs which have small lines, usually they’re the tricky ones that aspirants think will be easy enough but can’t solve. People end up wasting some 4-5 minutes on these questions which are better avoided. You can invest this time in an RC or Para Summary.
(C.)
Questions with low attempts, high accuracy – You need to be able to identify these questions. They’re the ones that will make a difference between 95 & 99 in VARC on the D Day. Try understanding why people left that question. Try finding out what are the key aspects of that question that you should look out for so that you can attempt them in the future.
(D.)
Questions with low attempts and low accuracy – These are the questions that usually students can identify as being tricky. If you’ve successfully avoided them well and good. But if you attempted and got them correct, I would suggest trying seeing the logic/ explanation in the answer. If it matches with your thinking I would say go on, but if you got those wrong despite thinking you got them right or you took a chance, beware. This is the thin line between a decent score and a mediocre 70%.
CAT is a question not only about scoring good marks but also being able to leave tough questions and using that time for easier questions.
- After this initial analysis go over the questions you got wrong. Here your mistakes can be divided into
(A.)
Silly mistakes which aren’t silly at all. Here you made a mistake because of a lapse of concentration or you fell into the trap of the question maker. The question maker usually doesn’t want to gift out anyone freebies. There are a couple of points or aspects which an aspirant may look over because the question maker knows that aspirants will do those mistakes. These will kill your chances at your B School. Once you identify these, I would suggest making a note physically and going over this question sometime later in the week so you make a mental note of it.
(B.)
Tough questions which you weren’t able to decipher – Nothing you can do about it. But you must see the explanation or solution and learn from it. If nothing you’ll be able to identify these during the exam and avoid them.
(C.)
Questions that you left – you must attempt these questions again and evaluate them as per the above-said criterion.
- Noting all your observations from this down and implementing them in the next test or practice.
After that, you repeat the above process. Initially, you may find this taxing and time taking. But make it a point to reduce the time taken to analyze with practice. Again there’s no fixed time that I can suggest as it varies from person to person and their ability to comprehend and understand where they went wrong. Some make take mere 10-15 mins and some upwards of an hour. So, do not compare the analysis part with anyone.
I know the above task is mundane but this is the only way you can improve your scores. There are no shortcuts; only practice and analysis.
FINAL WORD
The next 2 weeks can be a game-changer for your preparation and boost your actual CAT score way beyond your own highest mock score.
Just work without worrying about results, do not let mock scores distract you. Mocks are just a preparation tool and not at all an indicator of your CAT performance. The last 2-3 days before CAT is for you to relax and chill. S
So the next 2 weeks, give CAT everything you have, a good B-School and career awaits you on the other side.
~ Indrajeet Singh
Founder & CEO, iQuanta
