The Hindu Business Line : Fundamental principles

Go to the CAT with an open mind. Do not try to predict the cut-offs or give yourself any targets in terms of score or number of questions to be attempted.

As explained in the previous article, the basic objective of a candidate appearing for the CAT is to get an acceptable percentile in each section and get a good percentile on the aggregate. While this sounds simple, the question that might be on our mind is "How do I ensure a good performance in the CAT?" The operative word is "ensure".

We need to remember that before the exam, we know very little about it. We do not know how many questions it will contain or how tough it will be. We do not even know what makes for a good score in the paper or even in a particular section. So you would be wondering "If I don't know what is good, then how do I do it?". The fact is that performing well under these uncertainties requires one to follow certain basic principles and evolve a sound strategy in consonance with these principles.

Principle 1

Go to the CAT with an open mind. Do not try to predict the cut-offs or give yourself any targets in terms of score or number of questions to be attempted. If you have such targets, you run the risk of being off the mark, but taking critical decisions based on your (incorrect) preconceived notions. For instance, if you go in thinking that 10 is going to be the cut-off in the quant and the paper turns out to be easier than usual, you may end up being an underperformer in quant. On the other hand, if you set a target much higher than what the actual cut-off turns out to be, you might spend inordinately high time and maybe end up scoring much more than required to qualify in that section. This will consume precious time that could have been better devoted to another section.

Principle 2

Treat every question as a decision to be made - To do or not to do. Take this decision after reading the question and assessing its difficulty level. Questions in the CAT can be assessed on 2 broad parameters - Your knowledge of the relevant concepts and the time it would take to solve the problem. On this basis, questions fall into 3 types.

Type 1 - You do not have the requisite knowledge

Type 2 - You have the knowledge, but the question is time consuming

Type 3 - You have the knowledge and the question is not time consuming

Type 1 questions are to be omitted quickly. Type 3 questions are to be done carefully. The toughest to judge and decide on are type 2 questions. These are questions that are usually tempting because you know some or all the concepts required, but are also risky because they require a considerable amount of time. In some cases, it may not be apparent that the question is lengthy. One of the keys to cracking the CAT is learning to assess questions correctly.

This capability is not an inherent skill, but one that is built up in the course of a thorough preparation. When you work out a large number of questions from your study material and also revise them thoroughly, you will often find patterns in them. You will find that certain models of questions are inherently time consuming and will thus learn to be cautious when you come across a question of that type. In fact, you will also be able to find out what variations can make an otherwise simple question difficult.

Following this principle, however, requires a clear understanding of how much time is appropriate to spend on a single question. In a 2 ½ hour test with 90 questions (following the pattern of CAT 2005), you end up with around 1:40 minutes per question. This average, you should remember, also includes the questions that you decide to omit. Therefore, in such a paper, you may be able to comfortably devote around 2 to 2 ½ minutes for each question that you know how to approach. In case the number of questions in CAT 2006 turns out to be different, the first thing you need to do when you start solving it is to revise your estimate of "time available per question".

Principle 3

"READ ALL THE QUESTIONS" - This principle is what we often call as the golden rule of the CAT. The importance of this rule becomes apparent when you realise that while you need to assess every question in terms of its difficulty level, such an assessment can be made about a question only after reading it. Every year, we come across candidates who say "If only I had done that set of questions. It was so easy." These candidates have often missed these questions not because they did not know them, but because they did not read them at all. Considering that CAT papers contain a mixture of easy and difficult questions in a random order, such an error can be very costly indeed.

These principles will have a significant bearing on your time management strategy, which in turn is critical to success in the CAT.

(The writer, an alumnus of IIT-Madras and IIM-A, 1998 batch, is Director, Chennai Centre, T.I.M.E., an education and student training/counselling organisation. He may be contacted at chennai@time4education.com)

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Fundamental principles