Hello Aspirant,

Common Admission Test, in short CAT is conducted by any of the IIM in rotation every year , it is a computer-based entrance exam conducted for MBA/PGDM admissions at 20 IIMs and 1000+ B-Schools in India. Candidates who have completed graduation with 50% of marks are eligible to apply for IIM CAT 2021. As per the new paper pattern the paper is of total 228 marks and it will consists of 76 total number of questions divided in three sections namely VARC, DILR and QA. Out of these 76 questions, 54 question will be of MCQ type and other 22 will be Non-MCQ. For every correct answer 3 marks will be awarded and on incorrect answer -1 will be deducted only from MCQs not from Non-MCQs. For complete exam pattern (latest) of CAT kindly check out the link given below :- https://bschool.careers360.com/articles/cat-exam-pattern

https://bschool.careers360.com/articles/cat-exam-pattern If we particularly discuss for VARC section than you should devote it around 3-4 hours a day because it is generally about your reading and grasping skills and it is discussed in detail below that how you should prepare for VARC as well as for other sections.

Now let us discuss how to prepare for above three sections so that we can get the best score which can take us to the best B-Schools of the country.

For Quantitative Ability

> For this section your pre-requisite is the complete understanding of basics of Mathematics.

> You should have proper command on topics like profit and loss, number system, geometry.

> Practice as many as sample papers you can and go for some mock tests as well.

For complete details about preparation of QA section kindly check out the link given below :-

https://bschool.careers360.com/articles/how-prepare-for-cat-quantitative-ability

Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension

> Reading skill is the pre-requisite for this section, so try to read different English story books, magazines, etc.

> Go through newspapers, journals, blogs, articles, etc to enhance your reading skills and watch some English visuals such as English News, web series, movies and likewise.

> Try solving questions based on comprehension, inferences and para jumbles. You can purchase some booklets for the same from market.

For complete details about preparation of VARC section kindly check out the link given below :-
https://bschool.careers360.com/articles/how-prepare-for-cat-varc

Logical Reasoning and Data Interpretation

> This section seems to be the toughest section in CAT exam, but it is not if you practice a lots of questions on logical reasoning and practice solving different hard core problems so that your problem solving ability will increase, which is the pre-requisite for this section.

> Go through some basic topics like seating arrangements, blood relations, syllogisms, etc to get familiar with this section.

> For complete details about preparation of DI&LR section kindly check out the link given below :-

https://bschool.careers360.com/articles/how-prepare-for-cat-di-lr

I hope this information helps you.

Good Luck!!

Hi

In CAT examination you get 40 minutes for each section so while practicing at home you can either give 40 minutes to your  verbal ability and reading comprehension or you can even try to finish it in around 35 minutes so that in the actual examination you don't struggle and rather find it easy to manage the time.

To help you further, CAT examination pattern is provided below:-

IIMs officially don't release cat examination pattern, expected CAT 2021 pattern is provided below:-

-)CAT 2021 will be of 2 hour duration

-)it is conducted in computer-based mode.

-)In cat 2021 , there will be a total of 76 questions - 54 mcqs and 22 non - mcqs

-)The complete paper will be divided into three major sections, which are listed below along with number of questions they have:-

• QA i. e quantitative Ability :- it will have 26 questions in total (18 mcqs and 8 non - mcqs)
• DILR i. e data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning  :-   it will have 24 questions  (18 mcqs and 6 non - mcqs)
• VARC i. e Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension :- it will have 26 questions( 18 mcqs and 8 non - mcqs  )

-)There's 40 minutes for each section .

Marking scheme:-

-)3 marks is awarded for every correct answer

-) -1 marks  for every wrong answer in case of mcqs

-) no marks deduction is there for wrong answers in case of wrong non -mcqs .

To prepare well for your CAT examination you can follow the given below steps

To start your cat preparation, first of all go through its syllabus at

https://bschool.careers360.com/articles/cat-syllabus

Top books which you can follow for CAT are listed below section wise  :-

QUANTITATIVE ABILITY

-)How to prepare for Quantitative Aptitude for the CAT by  Arun Sharma:-

*it is the best  book  for your Aptitude for your cat examination .
*it covers all the topics according to your cat syllabus.
*it has elaborative examples so that it's easy for you to understand them .
* questions are divided into 3 levels of difficulty

DATA INTERPRETATION AND LOGICAL REASONING (DILR) :-

-)Logical reasoning and data interpretation for cat by K. Sinha Nishit:-

* the best thing about this book is it starts with your fundamental and basics and then goes to advanced level too, you get each topics with explained examples .
*it has questions divided into three difficulty  levels, so that you can start from basic and move ahead step by step

-) how to prepare for data Interpretation for cat by arun sharma :-

*it has  strategies and concepts which you need  to solve questions  accurately and quickly.
*it has exercises which are designed in a manner to help you boost your logical thinking etc.

VERBAL ABILITY AND READING COMPREHENSION

-) word power made easy by norman lewis:-
*it is one of the best books that you can get for improving your vocabulary .
* it helps you in learning correct usage of words etc.
* at the end of each chapter you get review exercises

-) mastering the verbal ability for cat by ajay singh:-
*it has more than around 200 passages for your practice .
*it also contains test papers of other B-School as well, etc.

-) How to prepare for verbal ability and reading comprehension for the cat by arun sharma and meenakshi upadhyay:-
*it is written in a very lucid manner.
* it has past year question papers analysis .
* you get topicwise segregation  in this book along with mock papers for your practice.

For detailed information go through our page the link for the same is provided below

https://bschool.careers360.com/articles/best-books-for-cat-preparation

*Make a routine and religiously follow it as it will help you to utilise the time in the best possible way and  avoid procrastination and laziness .

*Keep short breaks of 20 to 25 minutes after every 1.5 to 2 hours between your studies in your routine .Half of the time of your studies must be for practicing questions

* Plan your studies, and set daily, weekly and monthly goals and meet them without any fail.

*Solve previous  year question papers of CAT :-it will let you know the examination pattern, type and difficulty level of questions, also concepts behind the question often gets repeated, so you should definitely solve year papers . You can get cat previous year question papers at https://bschool.careers360.com/articles/cat-question-papers

*Once you are done with complete CAT syllabus then go through CAT mock test papers , it will let you know your preparation level and and weak areas so that you can work on them and perform well in your examination

For detailed information go through

https://bschool.careers360.com/articles/how-prepare-for-cat/amp

Thank you