CAT 2018 is roughly 6 months away. This is the correct time to start your preparation. Begin your preparation by taking a CAT mock test. Taking the mock without preparation will help you to know what your ground zero is. Also, taking the mock will help you to identify your strong suits and shortcomings.

Strengthen your understanding of the basics in June and July. Revise the concepts and do a large number of problems to reinforce the concepts you learn. By the end of July, start taking sectional mock tests covering all the areas of each section. Solving questions in a limited timeframe will help to hone your question selection skills. Also, start taking a mock every week from June.

Develop a habit of reading. Unlike other sections, the scores in the VARC section take some time to improve. Therefore, make sure that you read at least for half an hour every day. Also, try solving puzzles in your free time to develop the thought process required to tackle the unconventional DI sets that have been appearing in the exam in the recent years.

Increase the frequency of mocks from August. Take 2 mock tests every week and analyze them thoroughly. Note down the mistakes you make during the mocks and work on them. Also, if a particular topic proves to be troublesome, do not hesitate to start afresh. Ensure that you improve with every mock you take. Do not allow any room for silly mistakes. Take a good number of mocks to ensure that you develop the capability to remain sharp for 3 hours. Do not let fatigue get to you. Continue the same process in September too. Ensure that you are selecting the right questions to answer. Develop the ability to gauge the toughness of a question at a glance.

Try to develop a strategy for the D-day during October and November. After trying out various strategies, choose the one that suits you the most. Put your plan to test in the mock tests. Be open to making changes to your strategy depending on the toughness of the exam. Revise the concepts regularly to ensure that they stay fresh in your memory. Also, go through the mistakes you tend to make often to ensure that you do not commit the same during the exam. Avoid taking too much pressure and try to take the exam with a cool head. All the best for CAT 2018.

Common Admission Test (CAT) is a management entrance exam conducted which is the qualifying exam for getting into an IIM.

I will suggest the following stratergy of preparation for CAT 2018:

Set your Target and know the dream college and understand the competition that exists.

Devote a certain of time of the day to CAT and stick to it. Make a Study Plan.

You must attempt a minimum of 30 mocks and analyse them well to ace your CAT preparation

To summarize it all, basic concepts + advanced concepts+mocks is the key to crack CAT. I will suggest that before studying any course material for this exam, take a mock test of this exam or try your hand at one of the previous years’ papers of this exam.

In order to crack CAT, it is important that you first understand the paper pattern and the subjects that you would need to prepare for the same. CAT consists of 4 main areas:

• Quantitative Ability(QA)
• Logical Reasoning (LR)
• Data Interpretation(DI)
• Verbal Ability(VA)

LR and DI consists of 16 questions each and it is combined in one section. Quantitative Ability and Verbal Ability are entirely different sections with 34 questions in each of them.

To complement the mock tests and to strengthen the fundamental understanding of the topics, following books can be used:

Quantitative Aptitude/Data Interpretation

• How to prepare for Quantitative Aptitude for the CAT by Arun Sharma
• How to prepare for Data Interpretation for the CAT by Arun Sharma (for traditional and calculation based DI sets only)
• https://cat100percentiler.com
• Topic-Wise & Year-Wise Solved Papers (1990-2017) for CAT 2018 by Gautam Puri

Verbal Ability

• Norman Lewis (for vocabulary)
• Wren and Martin (for grammar)
• As many articles and books as you can find time for

Watch the following Video for more help.

Logical Reasoning

• Puzzle to Puzzle you by Shakuntala Devi
• Puzzle and Teasers by George Summers

Be accurate, be positive, do not stress too much.

ALL THE BEST!!

Common Admission Test (CAT) is a management entrance exam conducted which is the qualifying exam for getting into an IIM.

CAT is conducted for admissions in Postgraduate Business Administration Programme and other programs in various IIMs and other B-Schools accepting CAT. Since 2009 CAT is conducted as a Computer Based Test. The pattern of CAT is as follows: Quantitative Ability (QA) section will be having arithmetic problems. There will be 34 Questions in QA Section. DILR Section comprises of the calculation intensive portion including Graphs, charts , tables etc. This section will have total of 32 Questions. VRC section of CAT Exam includes RCs, Para Jumbled questions, grammar etc.This section will have total of 34 Questions.

After the CAT results are declared IIMs conduct further rounds of selection that includes WAT and Personal Interview. The scores of all these as well as your CAT score will decide your selection in an IIM.

For preparation you can refer to following reference books as per your choice:
1) How to prepare for Quantitative Aptitude for the CAT
How to prepare for Data Interpretation for the CAT
How to prepare for Logical Reasoning for the CAT
How to prepare for Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension for the CAT

2) Pearson Guide to Quantitative Aptitude for CAT by Nishit Sinha
Pearson Guide to Quantitative Aptitude and Data Intrepretation for CAT by Nishit Sinha
Pearson Guide to Verbal Ability and Logical Reasoning for CAT by Nishit Sinha

There are others books like Word Power Made Easy by Norman Lewis, High School English Grammar and Composition by Wren and Martin etc to help you for your preparation.

You can also join various coaching institutes like TIME, CL, IMS etc or the online coaching institutes also for concepts and mock tests.

All the best!

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