There is more to “CAT” than just Math and English – Kiran Joshi

Most people think that you should be very good in Math and English if you have to crack CAT. If that is the case PGs in MATH or English Literature should do well. Past results do not show any bias in favor of any particular stream. Yes, there are more number of engineers who get to know. This is more to do with the screening that is done at 10+2 level which ensures that the better students get into engineering than the claimed superiority of engineering students over quant. In fact the Math standard in CAT is pegged at the 10th level to ensure a level playing field for all. If this is the scene, what does CAT test?

1. DECISION MAKING

It is a known fact that no candidate will ever be able to answer all the questions that appear in CAT. In fact most candidates get through attempting less than 2/3rd of total questions. It is therefore important that the candidate prioritizes properly and takes sound decisions regarding what questions to attempt and what questions to leave.

2. ABILITY TO WORK UNDER PRESSURE

No amount of practice or simulation will ever be able to expose the candidate to the stress that he would be facing in CAT. This is something, which can only be experienced and cannot be explained. There are several factors that add to the pressure – time, standard of questions, unfamiliar setting, quantity and quality of competition etc. Therefore ability to work under such pressure for 150 minutes gets severely tested. A particular section may be unusually tough – but that should not affect the rest of the performance. A candidate may not be able to answer too many questions in the first half-hour because of his choice of questions but he should not allow that to affect the rest of the performance.

3. ADAPTABILITY

The uniqueness of CAT lies in its unpredictability. Number of questions, the standard of questions, the pattern of questions, the packaging of the test are all unknown and vary from year to year. There is no preset formula valid for all seasons. So the candidate has to exhibit flexibility in dealing with the situation. A rigid approach may not work under all circumstances. This is not to say that the candidate has to go without a plan or a strategy. But the plan should be so designed that it can be adapted to unknown situations that may arise in the test.

4. TIME MANAGEMENT

It goes without saying that time management is very important where the most precious resource apart from the candidate’s intelligence is time. How to apportion that over sections and how much time to spend over each question is something that the candidate has to decide and follow. There is an added complexity in this decision making as the candidate has to qualify in all sections. In other words he has to clear sectional cut offs – which means that any lopsided apportioning of time will lead to disastrous consequences. The aim therefore in time management is to ensure that the candidate manages to clear sectional cut offs and maximizes his score by working in his area of strength.

5. OPTIMISATION

No candidate is a super human. Every student has his strengths and weaknesses. It is important for the student to realize this so that his expectations are pegged within realizable limits. However the challenge is in being aware of the strengths and weaknesses and working in such manner that while the weaknesses are properly factored into any plan, strengths are exploited to the fullest to maximize the scores. This calls for an extraordinary amount of optimization.

The above points would accentuate the importance of factors other than academic brilliance in CAT. The difference between people who make it and those who don’t is not academic brilliance but the qualities mentioned above. While it is important that the candidate is thorough with basic concepts he should take into account the above factors to come out in flying colors.

Originally Published on rediff.com on November 08, 2004 here