I want to start preparation of CAT exam for admission in IIM colleges and I am presently studying in 11th std. how can I do so?

Hello Murtaza,

CAT is the most competitive entrance for MBA . But it is just a competitive exam moreover an objective type one hence, all you need is speed and accuracy which you can get only through practice.You do not have to sit for long hours to prepare, what you need is smart work. Now coming to your query, glad to see your aspiration but as you are currently in 11th , you have enough time to prepare , I feel this is not the time for you to think and worry about CAT ,you need to first finish your graduation. You can even start preparing during then. If you are disciplined enough you can do self-study,practicing a lot of mock tests or previous year papers by itself is a good preparation, or if you feel you need external help , you can choose a good coaching institute like career launcher, T.I.M.E, or IMS etc and attend max. one year of coaching ,that would do. The areas you must sharpen are Quantitative Aptitude, Data interpretation,Logical Reasoning and Verbal Ability/ Reading comprehension.But as I said earlier, all this can wait,  you have time for CAT and but this right now is a crucial time which you will not get back , your 11th and 12th is the foundation for the rest of your education so please concentrate on that. If you are thorough with your school syllabus your future preparation will naturally become easy. There are enough material and sources available on the internet , so if you really want to start now you can start by daily English and Math practice . Try to excel in math and develop reading habit(in case you don't have it) to increase your comprehension level.But mainly focus on 11th and 12th , be good at your conceptual understanding and clear your board exams with a great score.

All the best.

Hello,

You're still in XI standard, and there is a long way to go for CAT, for appearing in CAT you need to complete Bachelor's Degree in any discipline from a recognized university, right now your focus should be on your studies and qualifying 10+2 level successfully, you can start your preparation once you get into college,  go through the steps mentioned below for that;

In order to initiate preparation for any exam, candidates need to be well acquainted with the syllabus, CAT consists of three sections with their respective syllabus and recommended books are as follows-

Quantitative Ability consists of time and work, simple and compound interest, time, speed and distance, probability, geometry and mensuration, number system, basic arithmetic, algebra, permutation and combination, profit, loss, discounts, trigonometry, logarithms and sets.

Best Books for QA:

• How to prepare for Quantitative Aptitude for the CAT by Arun Sharma has provided elaborate examples and further its divided into three levels of difficulty, covers all the important topics.
• Quantitative Aptitude for CAT by Nishit K Sinha is divided into five modules, it has questions with their solutions along with practice tests.
• Quantitative Aptitude Quantum CAT by Sarvesh Sharma has topic wise division of chapters with practice tests with more than one solution for the given questions in the books.
• Candidates can use NCERTs book from 6th to 10th standard to have conceptual understanding of the topics.

Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning consists of blood relations, puzzles, data sufficiency, graphs, seating and data arrangement, tables, caslets, clocks and calendars, assumptions and binary logic, syllogism and venn diagram.

Best Books for DSLR:

• How to prepare for Data Interpretation for CAT by Arun Sharma is written according to latest syllabus with quick and accurate techniques, new chapters, exercises for practice, mock test and sample paper to analyze preparation level.
• Logical Reasoning and Data Interpretation by K Nishit Sinha has fundamentals as well as advanced topics with better explanation.

Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension consists of word usage, fill in the blanks, odd sentences, para jumbles, para summary, reading comprehension passages, sentence completion and correction.

Best Books for VARC:

• How to prepare for Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension for the CAT by Arun Sharma and Meenakshi Upadhyay is written in lucid manner with topic-wise segregations, analysis of previous year papers including mock tests.
• Mastering the Verbal Ability for CAT by Ajay Singh has defined topics in an extensive manner as per latest syllabus with more than 200 passages and test paper for better preparation.

The most important task is to make a timetable and accordingly assign each section to it. You should focus on having a conceptual understanding especially in case of QA and DILR, for this it's best you go through sample papers in order to evaluate your strength and weakness, and towards the nearing of the examination, mock tests are inevitable in order to crack CAT.

You can get CAT sample paper at https://bschool.careers360.com/articles/cat-sample-paper

Hello student,

Hope you're doing well.

Don't get all tensed up at this stage. For getting into IIMs, you need to have a strong academic history. So, i would really advise you to just focus on getting good grades in your class 12th.

After that, graduation marks matter too. In your bachelors, you can start preparing for CAT side by side. You need to work on verbal ability,  quantitative aptitude,  data interpretation, logical reasoning. If you can have some certificates from extra curricular activities from your school or college,  even that helps.

For now, just work on your academics and speaking skills.

Hope my answer helps you.