CAT EXAM INFO

ANNA HAZARE METHODOLOGIES

2011-06-05T11:52:00.000-07:00

Anna Hazare is one of India's well-acclaimed social activists. A former soldier in the Indian army, Anna is well known and respected for upgrading the ecology and economy of the village of Ralegan Siddhi which is located in the drought prone Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra state. The erstwhile barren village has metamorphosed into a unique model of rural development due to its effective water conservation methods, which made the villagers self-sufficient. Earlier, the same village witnessed alcoholism, utter poverty and migration to urban slums. Inspired by Hazare’s unique approach of salvaging a hopeless village, the state government has implemented the `Model Village’ scheme as part of its official strategy. Hazare is now synonymous with rural development in India.

ANTI CORRUPTION MOVEMENT

Power Situation during 1985-86 became extremely critical. The farmers were unable to lift water from the wells inspite of its availability due to insufficient voltage to run pumps. The motors were getting burnt due to fluctuations and the crops were getting affected. There was scant response from the govt. inspite of continuous follow-up. On 28th Nov. 1989 Mr. Hazare was forced to undertake fast for seeking redressal. After 8 days of his fast , his health deteriorated and was admitted in the civil hospital at Ahmednagar. As there was, no response inspite of action from his side, the farmers from three tehsils became furious and they started road block agitation. Fearing that if the agitation takes a wrong turn, something untoward may take place. He appealed to the agitators from the hospital bed that they should not resort to unfair means, damage the national property and inflict any harm to the passengers. The agitation should be peaceful. The police authorities did not expect huge participation and there was meager police force available.

However, they were proved wrong and more than 10000 men and 1200 women participated in the agitation. The agitators had offered police to take them to jail. However, since enough transport was not available with the police, the police tried to remove the road block. Due to improper treatment meted out to the agitators, there was scuffle between police and the agitators and the police resorted to lathi-charged on agitators. This action on the part of police irritated them and they pelted stones on the police force. Since the situation was going out of control, additional force was called and police opened fire on the agitators in which 4 farmers died on the spot and 7 farmers sustained severe injuries. He felt sad on hearing this news in the hospital. The agitation was meant for awakening the government and there is no harm in carrying out such agitations in democracy. He had decided to end his life during the fast itself, but Senior Officials of the government and even Ministers persuaded him to give up his fast as they feared that if agitation continues, lot many farmers may lose their life and in order to save the life of innocent farmers, he withdrew his fast.

Model Village as contemplated by Gandhiji was brought in reality by Shri Annaji at Ralegan Siddhi by his dedication. “Late Shri Achyutrao Patwardhan, the great freedom fighter, suggested to the government of Maharashtra that to commemorate the golden jubilee of Bharat Chhodo Andolan, it would be most befitting to create model villages like Ralegan Siddhi in every tehsil of the state. The government accepted this suggestion and declared to implement “Adarsh Gaon Yojana”. The Government entrusted this responsibility to him and Adarsha Gaon Yojana was started under his leadership . He travelled whole of Maharashtra and selected 300 villages to implement this scheme. While working in this scheme

he realised that development is getting hampered due to planned corruption in Govermnent machinery and he decided to fight against this corruption. He gave evidence against two ministers who had amassed wealth disproportionate to their income. However since the Govt was passive about this he started agitation and undertook fast for l0 days. Chief Minister intervened and he deleted these two ministers from ministry and appointed an Inquiry Commission. The Commission held both the ministers guilty but to save them the Govt appointed another commission who discharged them from the allegations. Though the ministers were discharged from the allegations, they had to loose their ministership which is the success of Mr.Hazare's agitation.

Mr.Hazare's gave evidence of corruption by Social Welfare Minister to the then Chief Minister. On 3lst July l999 the Chief Minister informed him that inquiry is being instituted about the charges leveled by him. He had given an interview to a local daily regarding this inquiry and based on this interview the concerned minister had filed a case in the court against Mr.Hazare for defamation. He was held guilty by the Court and the court had asked him to give an undertaking that he will not make such allegations in future.He refused to give such undertaking and preferred to go jail for 3 months as ordered by the court. He told the court that He was willing to give his life for truth. His punishment created commotion in public and scores of people started visiting Yerawada Jail.

He wanted to compelte his jail term but to give respect to the public feelings he accepted his release.In l992 Gandhji had told the court that if court feels that his actions for the freedom of the country are considered as anti government activities he was willing to undergo any punishment .Similarly he did not give bond to the court and accpeted punishment. He did not prefer any appeal against the court order immediately but due to public pressure he later made an appeal which was upheld by the Higher Court and rejected the suit of minister.Mr. Hazare asked the Govt. to conduct the inquiry against the minister which is still on.

In the regim of coaliation Government of Congress and National Congress Party, He had forwarded evidence of corruption about 4 ministers and had asked the Government to conduct inquiry. One of the ministers had made allegations about corruption in the institutions in which he was associated. Since there was no action from the Govt. he undertook fast for 9 dys in August 2003 at Azad Maidan. The minister concenred also started agitation at Azaj Maidan in Mumbai. At last the Government relented and Retired Suprement Court Judge Shri P.B. Sawant was appointed to conduct the inquiry. The commission conducted the inquiry and sent its report to Govt. on 22nd Februrary .

In the report the commission had observed ministers guilty and had held Mr.Hazare also guilty forirregularities but not a single charge of corruption was proved against him.Mr. Hazare has offered the Government that it should take action against him as well as the ministers based on the findings of the enquiry comissions.Though Govt has not taken any action on the Commission's report three ministers had to go and this is a big achievement of his agitation against corruption.

He felt that corruption will not stop merely by taking action against a few officers and ministers and it is necessary that a change should be brought about in the system, He believes that unless decentralisation of power takes place the system will not change.In order to bring change in the system he felt that information should be made available to people regarding Govt.'s actions which was not being provided to people on the ground of secracy. Here again he decided to follow Gandhiji's path and started Maun Vrat and later fast unto death. This brought pressure on the Govt. and both the Central as well as State Governments have enacted Right to Information Act. His whole life and work is based on Gandhian philosophy.

Prohibition

Alcohol has ruined many families in rural India. The existing laws did not have teeth to ban the sale of alcohol in villages. So he decided to press the government to make a law for prohibition if 50% women demanded for it. Ultimately, women are the most affected lot if their husbands are drunkards.

By the new Act, the women of any village can collectively demand for ban on sale of alcoholic drinks in the village. If a minimum of 50% of women complain to the District Collector about their sufferings and request for total prohibition in the village, the Collector can hold ballot paper election in the village. There will be two signs on the paper – one being a bottle in standing position and another being in a horizontal position. The women will cast their votes. In the evening, the votes will be counted. If more votes are in favour of ‘horizontal bottle’, then the Collector will ban the sale of alcoholic drinks in the village and cancel the license of the seller.

In many villages, the licenses have been cancelled and total prohibition came into reality after this Act. In some villages, the alcohol sellers have manipulated the election with money power.

Anyhow, this Act has supported and strengthened the women. Women have become empowered due to this act and became fearless to come in open against the alcoholism. This Act has helped in organizing the women and fight against evils for a common good. Women’s empowerment is the need of the day.

Big Talk With Experts

2010-10-31T10:29:00.001-07:00

Sunday was a special day for all serious CAT 2010 takers who have either taken or will take CAT. To mark the first Sunday after the CAT 2010 has started,we organized double Live Expert Chats with CAT Guru and CAT 2010 Convener on Sunday, October 31, 2010. The first slot of the chat was held with the expert Byju Raveendran, CAT guru and founder of Byju’s CAT Classes. The expert of the second slot, which took place from 4 pm, was Prof. Himanshu Rai, CAT 2010 Convener.
Both the chats saw participation from a large number of CAT 2010 takers and MBA aspirants. They posed several questions to the experts regarding the analysis of the test, what to expect on their test days and what strategies they should follow on the D-Day and during the last minute preparation.
Let us read the excerpts of the Live Expert Chats.
Chat with Byju Raveendran:
Q: MBA: Good afternoon sir, please tell me the analysis of first three days of CAT. I am taking exam on 9th November.
A: I cannot get into the specifics of the paper as it is against the non-disclosure agreement. It more or less follows the patterns and weightages of the previous years’ papers.
Q: Prasanna: Sir, will getting a score of 60 at a higher accuracy rate fetch me a better percentile than a 70 at lower accuracy rates?
A: Getting a higher score is always the priority. If the scores are same, then a better accuracy MAY play a role.
Q: Swati: Can I know a basic trick to tackle the data interpretation questions?
A: To start with, you should know how to interpret various data formats. Tables, line graphs, bar graphs, pie charts, flow diagrams and cumulative frequency tables are some of the data formats that have featured in CAT over the years. But one very important skill you need to develop to crack CAT is understanding percentages. You should have a very good idea of percentage calculations, comparison of fractions (to determine highest/ lowest percentage), average annual growth rates (CAGR) and related concepts like market share by value, market share by volume market share increase and decrease, etc. Approximation is the best tool to arrive at answers quickly but using it is an art, and you will have to learn this through trial-and-error and practice. Often you can arrive at the correct answer by the process of elimination. For some questions you may see that two or three of the given options are quite far-fetched and it is easy to select the right answer. Again, this method needs practice to become perfect.
Q: Sameer Gupta: Sir, for the last three days, the paper has been following the same pattern. Do you think that there will be any surprise element in the coming days?
A: The only thing which you can predict in CAT is its unpredictability, so no one will ever know.
Q: Jyotshna: How to prepare CAT 2010 for upcoming days?
A: What you should do is - Spend time solving and analyzing previous years’ CAT papers. As the date draws closer, relax and take it easy! What you should not do - Don’t listen to rumor mills. Don’t waste time on social networking sites etc. trying to figure out questions. Questions repeating are very rare.
Q: Pooja: CAT 2010 is from 27 Oct to 24 Nov. which will conduct for 20 days. So I want to know what are the 9 off days? Anyone know this? Please reply.
A: The days of the test are: Wednesday, October 27; Friday, October 29; Saturday, October 30; Sunday, October 31; Tuesday, November 2; Wednesday, November 3; Thursday, November 4; Sunday, November 7; Monday, November 8; Tuesday, November 9; Wednesday, November 10; Sunday, November 14; Monday, November 15; Tuesday, November 16; Thursday, November 18; Friday, November 19; Saturday, November 20; Monday, 22; Tuesday, November 23 and Wednesday, November 24, 2010.
Q: Shivaki: Hello Sir, how much percentile will fetch an IIM call? Last time I got 200/450 i.e. 88 percentile. I don't think that 50 will do any good.
A: In CAT, more than the score; the percentile is what makes a difference; i.e. your relative score with respect to others. Hence, never go to the exam with a specific number of question attempts in mind. Aim at maximizing your attempts in every section with a good accuracy in the time you have allotted for that section
Q: Mohini: Hello Sir, what can you say about the difficulty level of cat 2010?
A: General feedback from students based on the first three days is that the difficulty level is just above last year’s CAT but comparable to 2007-2008 CAT papers.
Q: Manju: What are the trends in DI caselets? Shall I concentrate more conventional or LR? What should the the startgey for 2 questions caselets?
A: If you are comfortable with calculation, numbers and percentages; it is better to attempt conventional DI caselet first as you have the flexibility of attempting some of the questions in that caselet and leaving the tougher ones. That is not necessarily the case with LR caselets.
Q: Sivesh: My negativity is too high around one fourth of the questions i attempt are wrong.how to improve it.
A: As there are fewer questions per section, spend time reading each question to avoid silly errors. Avoid making wild guesses. Even if you are guessing, make an intelligent guess after eliminating all options which are not feasible.
The next Live Expert Chat was held with CAT 2010 Convener Prof. Himanshu Rai. The common questions were mainly on the CAT 2010 process, the admission criteria for IIM Lucknow and many more.
Chat with Prof. Himanshu Rai:
Q: Radhika: Thank you sir and congrats for the glitch free CAT. What would be you advice to remaining CAT takers to keep calm.
A: Welcome! And thanks for the wishes! I am glad that things are fine for everyone this time around. I would advice everyone to stick to the basics; work hard, don't pay heed to rumors about toughness levels across slots, visit of your centre, bring required documents to the centre and reach early. Also remember, this is a part of life, not life itself!
Q: Ashish: Sir, there are 40 sets of paper and obviously difficulty will go up and down. What is the procedure of analyzing the performance?
A: The method of equating post-test has been explained in the videos uploaded on catiim website; do watch them for a clear answer to your question!
Q: Debbrata: Sir, now that the CAT 2010 has rolled on smoothly, do you think that there can be any unwanted situation in the coming days?
A: I don't think so, and let’s not even talk about it! Let’s all wish CAT 2010 and all those taking it a great success!
Q: Anand: Sir, I heard that some students are facing problems with computer systems, as skipping to the next questions are taking some time?
A: Not at all! Don't listen to any such rumors; focus on your preparation and then give it your best shot.
Q: Rohit: Good afternoon sir, how do you decide that the pattern of the test remains similar throughout the 20 days of two slots each?
A: Different question papers are constructed from a pool of questions by maintaining similar numbers of questions with a particular difficulty level. Don't worry; we do it to the best of our ability. And to take care of any minor variations that still remain we have a psychometrically robust post-test equating process.
Q: Vikas: Good Afternoon sir! What was the CAT cut-off at IIM Lucknow last year and also what it would be this year?
A: Sorry, I don't have that data in front of me right now. The cutoff for this year will be determined only once we analyze this year's CAT scores. The minimum cut off required has been put up in the admission policy document on IIM Lucknow website.
Q: Shivani: What are those five things that your institute consider while selecting a candidate? (written exam + GD PI)
A: Academic performance, work experience, quality of work performance/graduation. The details are in the admission policy document on IIM Lucknow website.
Muskan: Sir, I am not good in verbal, and average in quant, Data Interpretation is good, how many questions I should attempt to clear cut off. I cannot attempt 30- 35 and get 48 score only in mock test. What should I do?
A: Just practice more, focus harder, and believe in yourself. "Karat karat abhyas ke jadmat hote sujaan"!!
Q: Megha: In order to score a around 95 percentile, how many questions should be attempted?
A: Only a soothsayer would be able to tell you that. Just focus on your preparation and give it your best shot!
Q: Dharmesh: Sir, there are several candidates who belong to the test prep institutes. Don't you think that if the experts take CAT then our chances of getting through is hampered?
A: No. If you are good, you will come through. Stop worrying about things which are not in your control; focus instead on things that you CAN do. And that is to give it your best!
Q: CAT: Sir, I am an average student. I am giving CAT for the first time but I am not very confident. I want to reach at least among top 10 B-schools. What all I have to do?
A: Average is your state of mind. Not you. You can bring out the best in you if you work hard. That is the basic premise. Believe in yourself.
Q: Rani Kumari: Sir, what is the difference between percentage & percentile? How is percentile calculated?
A: It’s a process of normalization which will take an entire statistics class to explain! Stop worrying about that process; suffice to understand that you are being marked with reference to the other candidates. You just do your best.
Q: Pooja: Sir, if I do well in CAT and GDPI but I am not having strong acad background. Will it affect my chances to get into IIMs?
A: Each IIM has its own admission criteria that they have outlined in their policy document available on their websites. They give different weightage, if at all, to past academic performances. You can't erase what you have done. Focus on the present and what is yet to come!
Q: Prasanna: Sir is it worth attending a question when you are clearly able to eliminate 2 answer choices.
A: Only if you wish to take chances with a 50 per cent probability!

B schools are interfering in ur private life

2010-10-30T14:25:00.000-07:00

On the sidelines of today’s CAT 2010 test, there have been reports of centre personnel asking CAT candidates for their personal information and contact numbers before or after the test.

At the Sri Balaji Society center in Pune where I was taking the exam, all students were asked to form a queue inside the building entrance and write their names, CAT registration number, mobile number, email address and in-time in a register. The register did not have any Prometric branding on it. On asking the attendants if the data was being taken for the school’s purposes or Prometric’s, they replied in affirmative that it was being taken by Sri Balaji Society for ‘security’ purposes.

Huh?

CAT registration number and email address for a security register?

Similarly, my colleague Vasundhara Vyas reports from her Institute of Business Studies and Research (IBSAR) test-center at Belapur, Navi Mumbai,

After the test ended, all I wanted to do was stretch. But the institute where I was taking my test did not think we were done yet. “The uploading of all the test papers has to be done. We have started the process and will request you to wait till the Prometric office confirms having received all the test,” said one of the senior faculty invigilators of the institute. Then he motioned one of his staffers to bring in something.

A long register was brought in, which had green paper. There were columns drawn and the register was brought to each of the candidates to fill in information: Name, Contact Number, Email ID and Pin code.

When the register reached me, I turned and asked the young office staff what it was for. “It’s official,” she said. When I asked was it for the college’s purpose, she confessed. “Yes, it’s for the college,” and took the register to the next candidate.

In both the cases, the manner in which the data was being asked for was such that it seemed like a mandatory part of the process to appear for the CAT.

About half of this year’s CAT 2010 testing centers are private management institutes and being visited almost daily by hundreds of registered CAT candidates is a golden chance for harvesting their personal data. The concern here of course is, if the institutes are recording the data so that they have a ready database of leads to pester for admissions after the CAT results through unsolicited emails and SMS. In other words, will your personal information leak out into the open market and will you soon start receiving ‘counselor’ phone calls, SMS and emails from business schools you really did not opt-in to look out for.

We spoke to senior management in both Sri Balaji Society and IBSAR.

Prof Biju G Pillai, Director (IT) of Sri Balaji Society said that the data was just being collected for security purposes. “Anybody who visits our institutes is asked to fill in the register at the entry gate so that we know who is on the premises. But since today was the CAT day, we shifted that register inside the building for the same purpose of security.”

When asked why a security register would require people to fill in their CAT registration numbers and email addresses, he replied, “What if some people forget their personal belongings submitted at the token counter? We feel responsible for all the people who are going to visit us today and the remaining days of the CAT.”

Asked if the candidate data will be used by the Sri Balaji Society to send unsolicited emails, phone calls and SMS to the candidates during the admission season, Prof Pillai said, “Has anybody received a phone call today? Then why are you asking? I have personally signed the MoU with Prometric for allowing our campus as the CAT center and if any violation happens then I’m personally responsible for it.”

PaGaLGuY also contacted Manju Aggarwal, the Group Deputy Director of IBSAR and she said, “That register is for the information that Prometric has asked us to gather. The register is of Prometric and I do not know of the details they have asked for in it. The information has been asked for by Prometric to keep a record of the candidates giving the test so that in case there is a glitch while uploading the test of the candidate, the information is readily available and the candidate can be informed.”

Both Prometric and the CAT 2010 Convenor deny that there is any such requirement.

“Prometric has not instructed any CAT test centres to take down any candidate particulars upon arrival for their test. We have investigated the report that this is happening in some centres and have reiterated the standard operating procedures to them. We will identify the responsible parties and take appropriate action,” said Prometric’s Managing Director Soumitra Roy in an email to PaGaLGuY.

When contacted about the matter, Prof Himanshu Rai, CAT 2010 Convenor said, “Nowhere in the process is an institute required to record the candidates’ personal data on their own accord. If any institute is doing this then they are clearly stepping out of their brief. I request the candidates to report any such activity so that we can take action.”

IIM A gold medalist answers queries on Day 1 & 2 of CAT 2010

2010-10-30T14:12:00.000-07:00

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CAT 2010 third show taken by 8778 candidates; No glitch reported

2010-10-30T11:22:00.001-07:00

The first slot of CAT 2010 Day 3 is now over. The first half has not reported of any technical snag yet. The afternoon session is yet to begin. It is definitely a good indication in terms of the smooth running of the test that apart from minor glitches, the test hasn’t faced any technical glitches unlike CAT 2009 in the first three days.
Prometric MD Soumitra Roy mentioned that today the test was taken by 8778 candidates. It is observed that the number of CAT 2010 takers is increasing with each day of the test by approximately over 2000 candidates.
Examining this, Vinayak Kudva, Product Head, IMS Learning said, “Last year the occurrence of technical issues happening on the first two to three days was high, and hence many students this year have preferred to take the test in the latter half of the test-window. Hence, test venues by and large are experiencing very low occupancy at this stage.”
Regarding the analysis of the test, Manish Saraf, COO, PT Education said, “The Quantitative Ability section is difficult than other sections. An overall attempt of 45+ questions will fetch you a good call.” But he also added that accuracy is very important.
The pattern of the test is similar to the first days itself. “Not only was the pattern same, but the structure of the questions were also similar. It is good to see the uniformity and we hope that this will be maintained throughout the 20 days of CAT 2010,” said Saraf.
Looking at the pattern, Kudva suggests the CAT 2010 takers of the upcoming slots, “So far as the test goes, we at IMS would reiterate students to aim to attempt 90% questions while maintaining an accuracy of 85 to 90 per cent.”
CAT 2010, the 20-day long computer based test for admission to the IIMs and 159 other B-schools, is being delivered across 240 labs in 78 test centres in 33 cities across the country. A total of 2.04 lakh students will be taking the CAT 2010 this year in the entire test period of 20 days.
Forty different sets of question papers have been prepared for CAT this year. The results of CAT 2010 will be declared on January 12. Prometric, entrusted with the task of conducting the test in the online format, had released a 'practice test' paper earlier to familiarize the candidates with the online format.
The maximum number of CAT takers this year will be from Maharashtra (30,296). 19,931 candidates from Delhi will be taking a shot at the test. Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are the other leading states with respect to the number of test takers.

First day first show: Good beginning with no glitches surprises many

2010-10-28T01:13:00.000-07:00

CAT 2010, the 20-day long computer based test for
admission to the IIMs and 159 other B-schools, is
being delivered across 240 labs in 78test centres in
33 cities across the country.

The first day of CAT 2010 is on the verge of getting over while writing this report. Prometric, the test executing firm of CAT 2010, has reported that 4,548 candidates are taking the first day test across India.

With respect to the question pattern and format CAT 2010 has not thrown any surprise. There are 60 questions, which are divided equally among the three sections, Quantitative Ability, Verbal Ability and Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning.
According to the students, the toughest section was Quantitative Ability followed by Verbal Ability.

According to Gautam Puri, Vice Chairman, Career Launcher, the difficulty level of the paper was on the easier side. “The questions were relatively easy as far as the first paper was concerned. In each section 15 questions can be attempted. If you have attempted 42 or more questions correctly, then it will reap pretty good results,” he said.

But he also warned the future CAT 2010 takers not to get carried away with this. “The paper will be different every day, though the difficulty level should remain similar. But you must keep revising and practicing as you don’t know what is in store for you,” Puri mentioned.

Till now, when the second slot of the test day is nearing end, there has been no reports of any kind of technical snags. Though few centers started the test after a little delay but that was not a major issue. We hope it continues like this for the rest of the CAT days.

CAT 2010, the 20-day long computer based test for admission to the IIMs and 159 other B-schools, is being delivered across 240 labs in 78 test centres in 33 cities across the country. A total of 2.04 lakh students will be taking the CAT 2010 this year in the entire test period of 20 days.

Forty different sets of question papers have been prepared for CAT this year. The results of CAT 2010 will be declared on January 12. Prometric, entrusted with the task of conducting the test in the online format, had released a 'practice test' paper earlier to familiarize the candidates with the online format.

The maximum number of CAT takers this year will be from Maharashtra (30,296). 19,931 candidates from Delhi will be taking a shot at the test. Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are the other leading states with respect to the number of test takers.

The CAT 2010 is being watched keenly by top MBA experts, academia and education policy makers as the CAT 2009, the first computer based CAT, was a not-so-good experience for many test takers with reports from across the country on server breakdowns.

Prof. Himanshu Rai, Convener, CAT 2010, had said, “I am certain that the technical problems that we faced last year would not occur this year. We have taken ample measures to ensure a sound, comfortable testing environment.”

The test executing agency Prometric had earlier informed that they are taking all steps this year to give a smooth test taking experience to the test takers. "We are all committed to make CAT 2010 seamless and glitch less exam," said Soumitra Roy, MD, Prometric, India

The CAT 2010 has far lesser number of test takers compared to CAT 2009. There is a dip of more than 15% in CAT takers this year. Experts say that it is a blessing in disguise as only the good contenders for the IIM seats will be in the race.

In a recent poll the management community also feels that with more number of seats in the IIMs the chances for the test takers are brighter this year. The three new IIMs have added to the number of seats available. These are IIM Raipur, IIM Ranchi and IIM Rohtak, which have started their academic session this year.

r u prepared for CAT2010

2010-10-27T12:27:00.000-07:00

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2010-10-27T10:01:00.000-07:00

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CAT strategies

2010-10-27T09:32:00.000-07:00

The run up to CAT 2010 is getting hotter and hotter day by day. Last week we had launched the special series of CAT 2010 weekend preparation guide, in association with Pearson Education India, which will provide you with reading material from Pearson books and tips on cracking CAT 2010 from Pearson authors.

In the first edition of the guide we presented to you exclusive reading material from the book ‘An Introduction to the CAT: Tips from an IIM Alumnus’ by Sidharth Balakrishna, published by Pearson Education.

Today we bring to you exclusive excerpts from the book ‘An Introduction to the CAT Tips from an IIM Alumnus’ by Sidharth Balakrishna, CAT expert, author and IIM Calcutta alumnus. You will learn how to attempt the paper.

Here are the excerpts from the chapter ‘Strategies for the Examination Day’.

ATTEMPTING THE PAPER

Now you get down to actually attempting the CAT paper and getting through the various sections.

Be conscious of time: The first point here is to make sure that you are always conscious of time. It has been often noticed that test-takers often get so engrossed in the questions that they completely loose track of time and suddenly realize that they have exceeded the time that they had accounted for / planned to allocate to a given section. So make sure that your watch is set and that you keep glancing at it (though not too often).

Try and stick to your strategy as far as possible: Next, it is amazing how much students panic in spite of all their preparation. You must consciously try to stick to your strategy. Always keep in mind that the scoring and percentile is relative-a tough section is tough for all the others too. In a tough paper, focus on the basics and do the questions that you have familiarity with, you might have done a similar type of question during your preparation. Also, catch the sitters, there will always be a few.

Attempt the paper in a smart manner: You may have noticed during your practice tests that some types of questions (particularly Reading Comprehension, Analytical Reasoning and caselets) require a greater degree of concentration and cannot be solved under intense time pressure. So, try not to leave such questions for the end when you are likely to be tired and there is greater time pressure.

Accuracy: Another point to be kept in mind is to ensure a fair degree of accuracy when you attempt the paper. Most exams have negative marking for incorrect answers, and it has often been noticed that students do actually solve enough questions correctly to cross the cutoffs but then the negative marks that they get pull their score below the cut-offs, so be careful. Test-takers should attempt to have an accuracy rate of around 80% overall.

STRATEGIES TO BE KEPT IN MIND
-- Using answer choices: Some questions, particularly in the Quantitative Ability section, are best solved by using the various answer options. This may save your time and effort. More importantly, you will find that for some questions, after going about solving the question to some extent and completing some steps, a glance at the answer choices will help you estimate the answer with a fair degree of accuracy and proceed faster. This will also save you time.

-- Try to ensure that you definitely do the questions that give the best return for the time you invest; this ensures that you have made the most profitable use of your time. What this means is that you need to do questions that take the least time to solve individually (typically the ‘sitters’) or you should do the sets of ‘linked questions’ (or caselets). Solving the latter may take time, but you will get the answers to a set of 3-4 questions and therefore, score more marks.

-- As opposed to the ‘sitters’, be careful for questions that are best called the ‘speed breakers’. These questions can be solved, but take a lot of time and you end-up wasting time that could have been more profitably used elsewhere. You could, for example, solve two other questions in the same time it took to solve the ‘speed-breaker.’

-- Questions on topics such as vocabulary, GK/Current Affairs should be attempted (if you know the answers, of course). Such questions often appear in non-CAT tests such as MAT, SNAP etc. These questions take the least time to solve individually-it should not take you more than 10-15 seconds to do a General Awareness based question, as there is nothing to solve-either you know the answer or you don’t.

OTHER TIPS
-- For a Computer-Based Test, do look through the Review screen once or twice-check for questions that you may have marked to do later, check if you have done enough questions to clear the estimate cut-offs etc.

-- For a pen-and-paper test (such as FMS, IIFT etc.), do ensure that you mark the answers on your OMR sheet periodically / darken the circles while solving the questions. Some students prefer to do this only at the end, but this has certain risks-given the time pressure at the end, given the time pressure at the end, you could make a mistake and circle the wrong option (even though you have marked the right option in your question booklet!). The other risk is that you are asked to hand in your answer sheet before you have completed darkening all the circles-which is a disaster, since all your effort has now gone to waste.

-- Also, all the circles you darken must be done so properly that the circles must be darkened completely; there should be no other stray pencil or pen marks on your OMR sheet. All this can mean that the machine scanning the OMR sheet makes a mistake and gives you fewer marks.

For those who were not able to read last week's preparation guide we once again bring the excerpts from the book‘An Introduction to the CAT: Tips from an IIM Alumnus’ by Sidharth Balakrishna, published by Pearson Education.

WHAT CAN YOU DO IN THE LAST FEW WEEKS

ANALYSE YOUR TEST SCORES AND PERFORMANCE
A very important thing for you to do is to analyse your test scores and performance in a detailed manner. If you have been taking mock test, you should sit down with your performance results and try to spot a trend. Crucial aspects to look out are:

In the English section
-- Within the Reading Comprehension section, which type of passages are you comfortable with and scoring well?
-- Conversely, in which type of passages do you struggle-is it that you are weak with passages dealing with philosophy for example? Do you struggle with inference based questions?
-- What kind of strategy works for you in Reading Comprehension, to read the questions first and than attempt the passage or vice versa?
-- Within English, are you more comfortable doing the Reading Comprehension part first or Verbal Ability?
-- Is your Vocabulary up-to-date?
-- Are you comfortable with Grammar?

CAT 2010 2nd day exam(29 oct)

2010-10-27T03:55:00.000-07:00

get the information on 29 october at 2 pm

CAT 2010 second day exam(29 nov)

2010-10-27T03:54:00.000-07:00

CAT 2010

2010-10-27T02:45:00.000-07:00

for more info click on the following link

http://catexaminfo.blogspot.com/p/cat-2010.html

CAT 2010

2010-10-25T02:06:00.001-07:00