How to Prepare for CAT exams

Fundamentals for Preparation

Construction of knowledge in your mind is the key because only you have to reproduce this knowledge in exam. Teaching (Instructions) from school / coaching class / digital media are methods of giving knowledge to you but far more important is how much have you gained (construction of knowledge in your mind) and for that only your efforts will matter.  Memorising is short lived. Learning is lasting as you have put in efforts to understand each topic. In objective exams there is no shortcut to learning

CAT mainly tests your concepts with speed and accuracy

In most competitive exams, your knowledge is important but how much you know more than others is more important. As CAT has a limited curriculum, do not leave anything

This year CAT is computer based. You may be required to practice on computers beforehand. However the nature of preparation is same

You can divide your CAT study in two phases

Phase 1 is setting your fundamentals right. Master each topic chapter wise. Self assessor would be of great help

Divide you curriculum into short objectives. Each objective should be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound. The overall period of all short term objectives should not extend beyond 10th October

1. Start QA, DI &DS and VA simultaneously
2. Master topics step by step

Phase II -  Start practicing to improve your speed and accuracy. Test simulator will come handy

Methodology

Study yourself from any good book
90 minutes maths
30 minutes Reasoning and Logic
45 minutes Data Sufficiency and Data interpretation
30 minutes English Proficiency and Usage
45 minutes Reading Comprehension

Thereafter take ten to fifteen minutes self test in TestBag Self Assessor on each topic of the subject studied by you to assess level of understanding achieved in the topic studied. These tests draw questions from a large and specific knowledge pool based on your selection criteria.  Kindly ensure that there is sufficient challenge in your self test. Your number of questions be more than 10 for the topic, level of questions should be at least L2 (except in Elementary maths where it should be L1) and time should be bare enough to solve questions.

Analyse results. For questions done incorrectly refer to books to understand where you have gone. try to complete this exercise alone. Alternatively take help of your mentor. The mentors can be your school teacher or teacher in coaching class. To economise time prefer  coaching if necessary only in subjects where you are weak.

Thereafter retake test with new set of questions. Once confident, move to next topic. This is active learning as you have yourself put in efforts to understand topics. You will start enjoying your studies and these concepts will be long lasting in you mind
Remember - Move step by step to ensure that you cover all topics and avoid confusion


Start arithmetic with number system - understand concepts from any good book. Initially take a 10 minute tests with 10 questions on number system in TestBag at question level L1 with question type Any. (Number system questions in CAT can be straight objective multiple choice or common data type where more than one questions are linked to a common data or comprehension)  Analyse what is not known to you and what mistakes are you doing. Go back to books, peers in group study or take help of teacher. Take tests again and till you achieve requisite confidence

Repeat this for other areas in arithmetic - ratio proportions, simplification, averages, logarithms, ages, boats and streams, time and work, time and distance, calendars clocks . Thereafter work on Mensuration , followed by geometry. And now cover the most important - Algebra (mainly Theory of Equations,Inequalities, Logarithms and Permutations andCombination). At the end work on Probability

Start English with Vocabulary, then move to English Proficiency  ( working on sentence improvement, rearrangement of words in sentence, sentence in paragraphs, paragraph formation, paragraph completion etc) and then move to English Usage (common errors, spotting errors, in appropriate usage)

Start Reading Somprehension with history paragraphs, move to science and technology paragraphs, sociology and philosophy

Start data interpretation with less complex tables, bar charts, pie diagrams, line graphs and then move to complex graphs, charts, mixed diagrams

Start Reasoning with data arrangements, data comparison, move to analytical reasoning and case lets

Remember - Move from simple topics to complex and excel step by step.

Once you are confident on all topics, move to TestBag Test Simulator for final leap. There are mock tests, old papers and test patterns on CAT.

Each test is build on previous patterns or by subject matter experts and clearly indicating topics included, number of questions, level of questions and type of questions. Each test simulates exam like environment with time and marking pattern of CAT
Mock tests and old papers have fixed question. But test patterns every time generate new online tests where computer based on specific  parameters randomly generates questions from CAT knowledge pool. This pool keeps getting enriched regularly

Again the new set of questions replaces old questions in mock tests after regular time intervals
Test Simulator will help you to build Speed and Accuracy and indicate

• your shortcomings so that you can  initiate steps for improvement
  
• your mistakes so that you can avoid them
  
• topics you have not covered or covered inadequately
  

www.testbag.com is very comprehensive for CAT preparation and is available at a reasonable cost.
Books : Study from any good book. Preferably use only one/two books as your base/test books . Other books be only used for reference. This saves lot of time. Few books are mentioned below

TOPIC	NAME OF BOOK	WRITER/PUBLISHER	TO BE USED FOR
Maths	NCERT Maths from 8th to 10th	NCERT	Brush your fundamentals
Maths	Quantitative Aptitude for CAT	Nishit Sinha/Pearson	Text Book
Maths	Quantitative Aptitude for MBA Entrance Examinations	Abhijit Guha	Reference Book
Maths	Quantitative Aptitude for MBA Entrance Examinations	R.S. Aggarwal	Reference Book
Maths	How to prepare for Quantitative Aptitude for CAT	Arun Sharma/TATA McGRAW HILL	Reference Book
Maths	Puzzles and some other number books	Shakuntla Devi	Reference Book
Maths	Higher Algebra	Hall and Knight	Reference Book
Maths and DI	Crack The Cat Quantitative Aptitude & Data Interpretation	Vivek Gupta and Sandeep Amar
Data Interpretation	Any good book in Statistics		Brush your fundamentals
Data Interpretation	How To Prepare For The Data Interpretation And Logical Reasoning For The CAT 3rd Edition	Arun Sharma/TATA McGRAW HILL	Text Book
Data Interpretation	Course in Mental Ability and Quantitative Aptitude	Edgar Thorpe	Reference Book
Data Interpretation	Fundamental of Reasoning  A Logic Book	Robert M. Johnson	Reference Book
English	High School English Grammar and Composition	Wren and Martin	Text Book
English	Word Power Made Easy	Norman Lewis	Reference Book
English	Business English and Communication	Clark Grade C	Reference Book
English	All about Words	Rosenblum and Nurenberg	Reference Book
English	How to Prepare for the Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension for the CAT	Arun Sharma & Meenakshi	Reference Book