how I prepared to crack MBA entrance

Hi Abdul,

Studying for any exam requires a lot of thought process and planning. Be it MBA exam or any other exam an aspirant is giving. One’s ultimate objective is to reach the particular University or college that he dreams to be a student of. MBA entrance exams provide us a pathway to reach our objectives. As it is rightly said, “More important than the goal, the journey to reach towards the goal matters the most” . Yes, the journey, the preparation for MBA entrance exam matters a lot. It is therefore one of the crucial moments for any aspirant’s life.

Taking forward the preparation, the first step is to be very clear about the MBA program that the college is offering. How that program is relevant to shaping your big picture, and then decide whether to go forward or not.

Language Skills

One of the main reasons why B-Schools test language skills in their entrance exams is because one has to be very clear in their written, speaking skills in B-Schools as well as in the corporates. One must know how to articulate properly one’s thoughts so that there is no ambiguous communication flowing around. One can improve this ability by reading newspapers, magazines and even get into a habit of writing his own thoughts for that matter.

A dictionary is an aspirant’s best friend when it comes to improving in vocabulary and grammatical usage. One can also watch how TV anchors perform on the television to get the blood flow right for their body language. This also will improve one’s listening ability.

Quantitative Skills

Undoubtedly one of the favourite subjects of engineering students is mathematics. Though Engineers have an advantage in this section, other stream students are not far behind in this nowadays. Also, the pattern and differential weightage of sections has reduced this advantage considerably in certain entrance exams. However, one must have a strong math background to gain some good marks in this section. Others who lack or haven’t been in touch with such mathematics background, have to prepare hard and close in their gaps if any. The following points can help them do so,

• Take part in solving puzzles, riddles and quiz competitions
• Solve enough number of problems from standard entrance exam books. Take good amount of online quizzes and make them as a habit
• Give good number of mocks and review your results
• Find out your weak areas and dedicate efforts to improve upon them
• Get enough guidance from your friends who have been preparing for these entrance exams or those who have already been under such a hammer and have joined B-Schools
• One can also join a coaching institute to help oneself better with understanding, and know where he stands in the competition

Now, these were the generics that one must be clear with before writing any entrance exam. There are many exams for which you have to change your strategy from other entrance exams. For example, CAT is a highly unprintable exam and one must be clear in his mind what strategy works for him to get a good score. It is not necessary that two persons strategy has to be the same. One must work on his or her strategy to excel in the exam. This he can build by giving different mock exams and analysing their results. I suggest if a mock exam is for a 3 hour duration, one must dedicate double efforts to understand where he went wrong or which area is his strongpoint. Personally, I feel that for any exam, it’s the planning that matters the most and ideally 60% of the time should be spent on that. Keep this mantra in your mind, “Plan your work and work your plan” and you shall sail through.

All the very best!!

Dear Abdul, you haven't mentioned which exam are you enquiring about. So we shall help you with CAT as it is the most common entrance exam for MBA. CAT is an online examination of 3 hours duration.The questions in the exam will be of MCQ and TITA type totaling 100 questions. MCQ are multiple choice questions, for which candidates get multiple answer choices. Each Question has 3 marks and a wrong answer takes away 1 mark. However Type in the Answer questions are exempted from Negative Marking.

CAT exam paper can be Categorised into 3 parts:

Quantitative Ability
Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension
Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning

The Verbal Ability section and Reading Comprehension has 34 Questions, Data interpretation-Logical Reasoning section has 32 MCQ questions and Quantitative Ability has 34 MCQ questions totalling up to 100 questions. Each Question has 3 marks and a wrong answer takes away 1 mark.

First things first, know the syllabus. And go through the previous papers to analyse and prepare a comprehensive plan and set priorities according to the importance of different topics across sections.Customise your own study plan based on your strengths and weaknesses. Gauge your preparation from time to time by taking mock tests. Solve questions to check your levels of preparation but not to set any targets. Remember, its ok to have cheat days and relax. But make sure you have a plan and stick to it for the next few months because even Rome wasnt built in a day.


NCERT books will sharpen your basics and you need strong basics for preparing for any entrance examination. Once your basics are in place, because the time period for preparation is quite less, your preparation should be extensive and thorough.

Quantitative Aptitude covers almost 30% of the CAT question paper. QA can be categorised into Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry and Advanced Mathematics. Practise chapter by chapter and develop mental calculations. Like practise more of basic summation, subtraction, fractions and tables. Numbers, Percentage, Profit and Loss, Simple and Compound Interest, Ratio, Proportionality, Time-Distance, Time-Work, Mixtures, Averages, Partnership, Permutation and Combinations, Probability, Set Theory, Progression and Series, Line, Angles, Triangles, Quadrilaterals, Polygon, Circles, Ares, Volume, Height and Distance, Coordinate Geometry, Basic Trigonometry are few important topics.

Preparation tips:

Because this section involves mathematics and takes most of your time, your focus should be on solving the problems efficiently in the beginning. Even if it takes time, practise upto perfection. Practise as many questions as you can in the conventional way. As and when you get a grip on the subject, you can go for short cuts. Memorise tables, square roots, cube roots, conversion from percent to fraction, etc. Solve sample papers on Mathematics. In the beginning, do not worry about the time it takes. As you practise, you will get the hang of the subject and it will be easier for you.


In Verbal Ability session, command on your English, Grammar, Vocabulary, Understanding of the given paragraph are of more importance. Reading English NewsPaper will also help you in your preparation.

Preparation tips:

Read articles from time to time. Follow newspapers, magazines, and watch the news channels and browse the internet to keep yourself updated. You will need a lot of reading to help you in the comprehension section. You will need speed to help you in this section and you can achieve that only by thorough practise and reading. Take time to understand the question because most answers are interlinked.


Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning needs to be practised as much as possible. Comparison of data, Data Analysis, taking clues, interpreting missing data, coming to conclusions and making future projections will be covered under this Category. The questions here are interlinked and so if you get one formula correct, cracking the next few questions will be easy. So it's important to memorise and practise formulae. You should cover topics like Data tables, Data Charts, Bar Diagrams, Pie Charts, Graphs, Data Comparison and Analysis.

Preparation tips:

As this is the most tricky section, this needs a lot of practise. Solve as many sample papers as possible to get the hang of the section. Make notes when required. Regular practise can help you understand and solve the questions easily as time goes on.

Overall,once you know the syllabus, it's easier from there on.Go through the previous papers to analyse and prepare a comprehensive plan and set priorities according to the importance of different topics across sections. Customise your own study plan based on your strengths and weaknesses. Gauge your preparation from time to time by taking mock tests. Solve questions to check your levels of preparation but not to set any targets. Remember, its ok to have cheat days and relax. But make sure you have a plan and stick to it for the next few months


We can recommend a few books for you:

NCERT books to cover the basics from 6th to 10th Class

Quantitative Aptitude for CAT by Nishit Saxena

Quantitative Aptitude Quantum for CAT by Sarvesh Sharma

How to prepare for Quantitative Aptitude for CAT by Arun Sharma

Quantitative Aptitude for Competitive Exams by Abhijit Guha


You can also download free downloadable e books at:
https://bschool.careers360.com/download/cat-ebooks