Monday, November 17, 2008

Cutoff for different Institutes ( Past Data )

Institute Cut off Percentile
IIMs (A, B, C, L, I, K, S) 98+
MDI, NITIE, TAPMI, IMT, SPJain 95-97
MICA, IMI, UBS 92-95
FORE, KJ Somaiya, NIRMA, IIFM, Praxis 88-92
Welingkar, IISWBM, LBS, IFMR 80-88
Kirloaskar, SDM, IIMM, ITM, AMITY 70-80

Ref: http://www.catindiaonline.com

-------------------------------------------
Following were the cutoffs(percentiles) last year for various CAT based colleges...

IIMA 99.3 overall (sectionals marginally higher than IIMC)

IIMB profile based( Least being somewhere around 95)

IIMC 98.96 overall (sectionals around 95 each)

IIML profile based(least being somewhere around 97)

IIMK 98 overall with 92 sectionals

IIMI 98 overall with sectionals 80 called top 1500 odd students satisfying
this criteria

IIMS 80% marks in graduation(not sure about the CAT percentile though
people with around 96.5 have made it)

NITIE 98.2 overall with sectionals 80

MDI PGPM 97 overall with 80 sectionals

SPJAIN Profile based...although everyone needs to score at least 85 percentile in CAT

IMT-G 96 overall

IMI 96 overall sectionals 50

TAPMI 90+ with sectionals of around 68+

NIRMA Total percentile is greater than or equal to 91,
Sectional cut-off - 50 percentile each, and
No sectional cut-off for total percentile 95 and above.

PS:all the info(except for NIRMA ) mentioned above is strictly based on my memory...but it should be pretty accurate

Hope this helps....
Ref: http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/cat-and-related-discussion/12097-what-cut-off-cat-based-83.html#post1220033

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Last Minute Gyan

"A few pointers for stuff just before/during the exam and beyond:

0. Reach exam hall early and enjoy the sight of the students who are doing last minute revisions. Don't get nervous when you see other people study but give them a healthy smile

Don't be nervous when you se hoardes of students. Half of them have filled the form because their parents filled it and another 25% filled the form because their peers filled it, so just to be a part of peer group, he/she filled the form!
Remember for a given AIR, more the no of students appearing for the exam, better will be your %ile

1. You have done really well throughout the season. Afterall that's why you are in the dream team. So there is no reason why you should not do well in this paper. So keep this thought in mind to overcome anxiety before exam. Don't overhype the paper, just enjoy the 150 minutes process , n you will be thru!

2. With approx 1.9 lakh students, the best way to remove milk from water is to change pattern.So just keep that in mind.
Be prepared to get surprised if the pattern does not change
Don't get psyched out by change in pattern. There are enough other aspirants who are going to do that! You need not join that group.
So at time t=0 , itself you may assume that approx 5-10% people will get psyched out! Good for you!

3. When you get the paper, certianly there will be butterflies in the stomach, there have to be! Else consult a good psychologist
The target is to drive away these butterflies as fast as you can!
So spend initial 10-20 seconds on scanning the paper, go thorough the pages, see how many questions are to be solved, check whether the paper has a few DI sets, a few RCs , check whether the paper is in ENglish langugage
This will help you to drive away the anxiety and it will assure you of the fact that similar DI sets , RCs have been done by you over the mocks. And this is something which is not in greek n latin and hence no need to be nervous!

3. The next anxiety barrier will be broken ,when you get the answer of the 1st problem that you are solving. So don't spend too much time on solving 1st problem. Scan the questions to find the sitter and just DO it
When you get the answer and you find that it is one of the options, butterflies are driven out!

4. With the anxiety bubble being burst, you will fully forget the hype of 1.9 Lakh students n blah blah You will be back in your tempo.

Keep doing micro-time management using alarm in your watch i.e. after every 15 minutes, do review approx how many questions you have done. This will make sure that you don't lose track of time in the heat of exam!
Just give the exam for 150 minutes in your ususal form and you will be thru!

5. Exam de do, PG pe scores post karo and so jao

One point though: It is very difficult to predict cutoffs on D-day ,so don't worry if some insti comes up with EU cutoff =22 and you ve got 18 marks as it happened in CAT05!
So don't base your performance on these cutoffs. FYI EU cutoff was 13 marks last year!

6. There will be a void in your life after CAT.In case you have no more exams , there will be nothing to do!
So do all those things that you missed because of busy mock Sundays.

Make friends on PG, infact a lot of friends I made on PG were in Dec05, as this was the month of uncertainity, we kept on boosting morale of each other!

7. Be patient about results. They will come , don't worry.
Plz don't spend unncessary time, looking at IIM websites and hitting Refresh Refresh and hoping that a link for result will be out up.

IIMs are not stcokmarkets, plz spare them IIMs will convey you when the results will be out. Don't waste your time about speculating !

Will be back with more tips when my exams get over "

Ref: http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/cat-and-related-discussion/34706-the-pg-dream-team-08-a-31.html#post1272602

Thursday, November 13, 2008

CAT 2008- scared? who, me? A nice post by Total Gadha



On 15th November, 2008, you will have a sleepless night. You will twist and turn in your bed, shut your eyes tight, and try to fall into slumber, trying not to think about what the next day is going to bring. You will tell yourself to relax and that whatever is going to happen will make no difference to your life. You may have some fits of fear or bad dreams. You may try some alcohol or marijuana to calm yourself. And, for the first time in your slovenly life, you would try to go to bed early because you are taking CAT the next day. Needless to say, 15th November, 2008 would be one hell of a restless night.

And Surprise! For the first time in your slothful existence, you find yourself awake at 6:00 am on 16th November! Yes you, who swore that 10:00 am was early morning. And suddenly the panic hits you, oh damn! Today is the CAT. The real thing. You look at your watch again. 6: 30 am. You have to report at your test center by 9:45 am so you have lots of time. You go freshen up, take your breakfast, try to read newspapers full of articles giving you CAT-cracking tips, check your pencils, sharpeners, lucky underwear, CAT-admit card, and- in the end- get out of the house because you are tired of waiting. You don’t want to be caught up in a traffic jam, hit by a dog, or caught in a Mexican shootout and get delayed for your CAT so you leave early. Maybe you will have your parents coming along with you and find that your mom’s cheerful smiles are panicking you more and more. Your test center is far away from your house and you ask a lot for the directions before you finally get to the school. Why do they always keep the CAT center to the other end of the city?

And suddenly you are there. You look at your watch- 8:50. You have reached an hour early, and, looking at the crowd milling around the gate, so has everyone else. You push through the crowd holding your admit card and check your classroom with the help of your roll number. To ensure that you have not made any mistake you check your roll number and classroom again. Some of your acquaintances who have been taking the mocks in the same school with you are standing at a distance and you join them for a casual talk. While you walk up to them, you notice a few students mugging up wordlist or formula from their notebook. A marketing guy from some coaching institute is pushing leaflets into students’ hands trying to make use of this opportunity with cheap marketing. You join the group of your ‘so called friends’ who are discussing about the paper. The discussion invariable turns to percentiles and the more they discuss percentiles, the more you realize ki tumhari ‘watt lagi hui hai.’ But you still keep on discussing. More and more people keep coming and suddenly the whole street in front of the gate is jam packed. People start jostling each other to reach the school gate. School authorities scream at the top of their voice to make themselves heard. And now it hits you. Shit. So many people take CAT! Mera admission kaise hoga? sad

And mercifully, after a seemingly long time, the gates are opened and the students start streaming in. Although you have not done it in a long time, you touch your parents’ feet to get their blessings, turn around, and then enter deep into the jungle. Once inside the school, your first task is to locate the washroom because you cannot hold yourself. The school seems to be out of electricity and feels dark and gloomy everywhere. Once inside the bathroom, you try to steady yourself, relax, and say all the usual gibberish about “it doesn’t matter” to yourself. You make your way to your classroom. The classroom is dark and gloomy and it sinks your spirits further. The desks are small and you wonder how you will accommodate your bulky frame inside into it. You switch off your cell and keep in on the Teacher’s desk. The roll numbers are stuck onto the desk so you find your desk easily. You collapse in your chair with relief as your legs are paining from standing outside for so long. You discover that both your chair and your desk are rickety and that it would be hard to keep your desk steady while trying to write on it. You spend minutes trying to insert a thick roll of paper under one of the legs. Sigh… why does it happen to you only?

If you think this is happening to you only, you are wrong. It is happening to everyone. On that D-day every student is going through this panic attack. You are not alone. Sab ki haalat patli hai evil

There are a few things you should remember over here:

  • Check your center a day before CAT. On the D-day, you would not be worried about finding your center and wouldn’t have to leave early. Don’t reach too early; reach 15 minutes before the scheduled time.
  • Don’t spend time discussing with other CAT takers outside your center.
  • Locate the washroom and drinking water facility in the school before the start of your exam.
  • Keep a bar of chocolate with you in the exam. It helps you relax.
  • Above all, remember this article. DON’T PANIC. smile


How do you keep away panic besides eating away that tasty chocolate of yours?

While Googling on the net for keywords such as “choking under pressure,” “handling pressure,” etc. I came across many medical and psychology articles which describe the cause and symptoms of choking- performance decrements under pressure circumstances. In short, while taking CAT if you feel that your mind has become foggy or numb, you cannot remember formula, or that you have a sudden slump in your enthusiasm, you are experiencing phenomenon of choking. To explain choking under pressure, the following theory in psychology have been put across.

The theory says that when you pay excessive attention to skills that have become automatic your performance will go down. This theory best explains the difference between performance of an expert golfer and a novice golfer during a very high stake tournament. Although both may possess the same skills, an expert golfer does not pay attention to his shots or movement of his limbs. He has done it so many times that he plays instinctively and by habit. A novice golfer, on the other hand, evaluates his every shot, pays excessive attention to his stance, and so on… Invariably, the performance of a novice golfer goes down. It can be seen that

  • High self-conscious participants are more likely to choke than their low self-conscious counterparts.
  • This tendency is particularly evident for the private self-consciousness sub-scale (where attention is directed inwards, to private thoughts and feelings, as opposed to public selfconsciousness, where attention is directed to the self as the object of others’ awareness).
  • In terms of trait anxiety, only somatic trait anxiety (measuring physical feelings, eg jitteriness) was a significant predictor of choking.

So what can you do to avoid choking during your CAT paper? Simply this:

  • Flow. Don’t stop for anything. Flow.
  • Avoid paying attention to your performance or your skills or your accuracy. Most of you have taken many mock CATs and you already know the process. Don’t pay attention to what you are doing.
  • Flow. Flow, flow, flow.
  • Don’t check and recheck your answers. Stop thinking whether you are doing it right or wrong.
  • Flow. Don’t think. Flow.
  • Do not evaluate how you are doing so far. Do not calculate how many attempts you have made or how many marks you have captured.
  • Be an expert. Just flow.
  • Do not think about past, or future, or what will happen or what will not happen.
  • Flowwww.

Also, most of you would need to acknowledge that you are feeling the pressure of the exam. If any time during the exam you feel that you are choking, stop for a minute, do some deep breathing, and relax. Tell yourself that you have done this before and that you can do it. Slowly, the panic waves will pass and you will become normal. The best way to handle pressure is to acknowledge it first and then deal with it.

And here is some gyaan from a last year’s article:

  • Equal time to all the sections: Trust me, I have tried all the variations such as deducting some time from my strongest section and giving it to my weakest section. It does not work. Before CAT 2005, I had taken 48 full length tests (not even counting the sectional tests) and experimented with every tactic that came into my mind. I realized that most strategies come because of the fear inside you. Keeping it simple helps. Give equal time to all the sections.
  • Strongest, Stronger, Strong: Attempt the section in that order. When I started test-taking, I used to keep Quant (strongest) first, DI (strong) next and Verbal in the end. Because my DI was weak, I figured that I would take more time in the section. As my reading speed was good I figured that I could make up for the extra time taken in DI with less time spent in Verbal. Although I used to clear cutoffs in all the three section, I was always fearful before every paper and was unable to pile up a huge score as my Verbal section was the highest scoring section. Then I let myself loose. Starting with Quant always put me in a good mood. This is the biggest reason for starting with your strongest section- getting few questions correct under your belt in the first 5- 10 minutes puts you in a good mood and overcomes your fear. From quant, I started solving the verbal section. As a result, by the time I reached the DI section I used to be in such a high that I could crack a lot of question. Every paper became a piece of cake.
  • Always reach the end of every section: This is THE most important test-taking strategy that I followed. If I had covered 1/3rd of the section in half the time, I made sure that I cover the rest 2/3rd in the other half. None of you can predict where the sitters are lying in the paper. To cover the whole section, you will have to rush through the problems and thereby you will only pick up problems which you can tell at first glance that you can solve. This is the crux of test-taking. You will be identifying most of he sitters. So make it a strict rule with every section- cover he whole section, end to end.
  • Two-markers first, one marker next: For more than two years, I have been developing content for MBA aspirants. I can tell you that there is not a single content developer on this earth who can gauge difficulty index of a question exactly. A question might be difficult for you but simple for him. Similarly, a question might rate higher on his difficulty table but you might solve it in ten seconds. Truth is, there is no exact division that question belongs to a two-marker or a one-marker category. So go for two-markers first. You might find some easy questions there and get bigger payoffs for the same input of time.

That’s all folks. Good luck and God bless you all with success.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Tips for D-Day- Courtesy T.I.M.E

Often repeated stuff , still no harm in refreshing it again

In a nutshell

Two days before D-Day
Work toward reducing the pressure on yourself
No serious preparation
just browse through what you have already worked on
Certainly no taking Mock CATs in the last 2 days
Don't get into any discussion on Mock CAT papers in the last 2 days
If you are not familiar with the centre, make a visit to the test centre the previous day to acquaint yourself with the route

On the day of the CAT

Plan to reach the exam centre at least 30 minutes before the reporting time of 9:45 AM
Carry your Hall Ticket, pencils, sharpener, eraser, pen, and a wrist watch
Do not expect any pattern or cut-offs for the paper
Be prepared for all eventualities

During the exam

Scan the paper and distribute the time over various sections
Don't worry if the paper is difficult
all test-takers are taking the same paper
Do not worry about the difficulty level of the paper
Focus on locating easy questions and answering them
Mark your answers on the OMR sheet for each question as soon as you solve it
Check that you are marking the oval against the correct question
If you are able to eliminate three choices (and are not able to arrive at the final answer), mark as your answer, one of the remaining two choices it is not worth leaving out such a question
Don't spend too much time on any one question
No blind guessing of answers
Keep track of time
Do not lose heart if one section goes bad - it may be the same with everyone else

Sunday, November 9, 2008

THE D-DAY IS ALL THAT MATTERS -10th Nov Article by Arun Sharma On Education Times


AS YOU ENTER THE EXAMINATION HALL FOR PERHAPS THE MOST IMPORTANT TEST IN YOUR LIFE,ALL THAT IS GOING TO MATTER IS THE NEXT 150 MINUTES.BUT,THAT ALSO MEANS YOU HAVE AS GOOD A CHANCE TO PERFORM AS ANY ONE ELSE.ARUN SHARMA GIVES YOU THE LOW-DOWN


SO, we have reached a point of time where all your preparations and hard work dissolves into the final two-and-a-half hours. In a way anything that you have done till now — your preparations, your test scores — lose their significance. When the bell rings on the D-day, for a brief period of time an estimated two-and-a-half lakh aspirants would be equated for a brief period of time.
As you enter the examination hall for perhaps the most important test in your life, all that is going to matter is the next 150 minutes. So, what you need to remember is that on the D-day you are going to have as much of a chance as anybody else to perform. So, what are the few key things you need to remember as you approach the D-day? More importantly, what are the few things that you should focus to control in those 150 minutes?
Well looking at it from our perspective, the last week represents the most important phase of your preparations. We would like to make the following points:

1. Recognise that this is not the time for conventional preparations:

Free yourself from your routine of solving questions, test papers etc. Perhaps, you should do no mental work on the last twothree days before the examination. So, get rid of your books, your revision plans et al. Give yourself the freedom to enjoy the last few days. Get away from the pressure, the intensity. Get in touch with your inner-self and make your plans of where you would want to take your life, with or without cracking the CAT.

A point we have made before, but which gains immense importance in the last week prior to the CAT — Reduce the importance of the CAT in your life. Create an alternate plan of success, prove to yourself how you are going to ‘make it big’ irrespective of whether you go to an IIM or not. Ironically, achieving this state of mind could be the biggest favour you could do to your chances on November 16.

2. Recognise that the battle you are facing is against yourself:

It’s a battle for the management of your mind. One of the greatest disservice you could do to yourself during the 150 minutes of the CAT is to stop focussing on your performance and start thinking about where your competition is heading to. Do not fall into this thinking trap. Instead, your main goal of managing your mind should be to ensure that your undiluted focus for 150 minutes is on what you can control.

At every point of the examination the only thing that you can control is the next question and its solution. Nothing else matters. The previous question and its experience does not, the previous section does not, the next question or the next section does not.

• What will matter in the CAT is what you are able to execute.


• What will matter in the CAT is whether you will be able to spend the appropriate time for the appropriate question.


• What will matter in the CAT is whether you are able to block out your negative emotions.


• What will ultimately matter in the CAT is going to be the percentage of time when you had control of your mind.

For this purpose it is important to 'free your mind.' For 150 minutes on November 16 you will need to be insulated against the three things that imprison your mind — fear, doubt and disbelief.

3. Get into the no fear state and no doubt state:

Fear and anxiety take over our minds when we are faced with a situation where we have something to lose. The moment external circumstances create a situation where an individual recognises that he is in danger of losing out on something he/she has cherished, that is the point where anxiety and fear grip you. The moment that happens, one starts losing control on one's performance.

On a day like the CAT where there is so much at stake, such a thing is bound to happen to you. In fact, it is almost sure to happen to each and every aspirant on that day. What is going to be your critical test is how fast you can regain control of yourself when fear, doubt and anxiety grip you.
Throughout this series of articles we have maintained that the questions in the CAT are pretty easy. That has been the case for every CAT paper of the past decade and more. That is going to be true for CAT 2008 as well. Why the CAT becomes difficult is because these negative emotions we are talking about create lapses of reason. The most common reaction for every 50-60-70-80-90-99 percentiler after he/she comes out of the paper is ‘Oh my gosh. How could I miss this logic?’
The answer is that you miss out on logic, thought processes and reactions when your state of mind is dominated by fear, doubt and anxiety. So, the battle on the D-day is going to be one of holding yourself straight. It's going to be a battle of managing your state of mind — one of controlling your senses and your intelligence.
Trust yourself and break barriers of disbelief. The aspirants who do these things the best are the ones who will get the coveted interview calls. All the Best!

How to get the best out of AIMCATs

Note : Following as a Article from TIME website . Hope I had read it earlier . Nonetheless better late then never



Section I: Introduction

Approach: Treat each & every AIMCAT like a real CAT - with as much seriousness as you would treat CAT. This means that you will divide your time in doing the sections in a manner that you demonstrate your competence in all the sections so as to achieve the sectional cut-offs.

You are advised to distribute the total time available to you over various sections as per the "Test taking Strategies" session/note.

Easy Questions: A sure-shot way to conquer CAT or any other exam is to identify easy questions and doing these as fast as you can with good accuracy. The other important part is to leave most of the difficult questions so that in the given two and half hours, the number of questions that can be attempted, is maximized.

Scanning Skills: Scanning the paper to identify easy/difficult questions is an important skill that you will need to build, develop and hone with each AIMCAT. A series of AIMCAT tests, therefore, greatly helps in developing this ability.

Accuracy: You should target at achieving an accuracy level of 70-80%, which means that out of every 20 questions attempted by you, at least 14 questions should be right.

Importance of Analysis: A large number of successful
T.I.M.E. students have confirmed that a "thorough analysis" of AIMCATs was the most important ingredient in their preparation & their eventual success. Given below is the process recommended by T.I.M.E. and used by these students in analyzing their performance in AIMCATs to achieve success. This note covers what you should do as soon as you write your AIMCAT (Stage II) and how you should use the results and AIMCAT performance feedback given to you on T.I.M.E. website for every AIMCAT (Stage III).


Section II: How do I get more out of AIMCATs

This section deals with what you should do after you take the AIMCAT (and before you get to know your percentile scores and rank).

Basics

1. To get the best out of AIMCATs, please budget at least 6-8 hours for a thorough analysis which is essential to get the full learning out of the same. A number of students mistakenly focus more on taking a large number of tests without rigorous analysis of the tests they take. Remember, test-taking without proper analysis is like eating without digestion.

2. While taking the AIMCAT, please ensure that you mark in your test booklet, each question/option attempted by you.

3. After the AIMCAT is over, please DO NOT look at key/solutions to check your marks. Instead, freshen up, relax a bit and get ready for a few marathon sessions.

4. Please take each stage as seriously as you would take the actual CAT.

5. Results in each stage should be tabulated as given in annexure under 'Record - Keeping'.


Stage 1

In the first stage, please attempt those questions in the AIMCAT which you did not attempt earlier. You will need to fix a time period for Stage 1.


This time period can be arrived at as below:

a) Suppose total Questions in AIMCAT: 75 ( 100% )
b) Questions attempted : 30 ( 40% ) in two and half hours
c) Balance Questions : 45
d) Time period to be fixed for stage 1 to attempt 45 Questions: 3 hours ( this is calculated using student's speed as given in this example)
On the other hand, if the number of questions attempted was 30 then:
a) Balance Questions : 45
b) Time period fixed for stage 1 to attempt 45 questions : 90 minutes

The actual time you should fix will be more than what you calculate as above since the questions that you left out will be more difficult/time-consuming than the questions that you attempted in the exam. Hence, budget for about 20-30 minutes more than what you calculate as above.

After fixing the time period, you should now attempt the un-attempted questions in that time period by using an alarm clock.

Please note that after stage 1, you may have still left some questions un-attempted.

Stage 2

Now you will attempt all the "leftover" questions that were not attempted so far (at the first time or in Stage 1) without any "time limit". It is possible that even after giving "infinite" time, you may still not be able to answer all the questions.

Stage 3

Now is the time to check how many of your attempts are right by using the key only. Please Do Not look at the solutions at this stage.

Stage 4

Re-attempt all those questions which you answered incorrectly, still without looking at the solutions, to see if you can correctly answer the same now. You will find that you are now able to get a few more questions correct even without looking at the solutions. Please understand that this is the way to improve your learning. You do not need to set any time limit for this stage. At the end of this stage, there could be some other questions that you still are not able to answer correctly.

Stage 5

Now look at the solutions and check following:
a) Have you solved each question by the "approach" suggested in the solutions or have you used another/longer method?
b) Solutions to those questions which you could not answer correctly earlier.
c) How to solve those questions that you were not able to solve at all at the end of stage 2.

It is possible that some students may not be able to understand fully the solutions/explanatory notes for some questions. In such a case, please take guidance from your faculty members. In case, the question is from the chapter that has not yet been taught in the class for your batch and you do not know the basics of that chapter, please wait till the chapter is taken up in your batch.

Stage 6

You will now review each question and try to classify the questions into "EASY", "MODERATE" and "DIFFICULT" questions based on your perception of the difficulty level of the questions. Use the following guidelines while assigning difficulty levels to various questions:

Easy: Can be done in about a minute.
Moderate: Requires more number of steps, more calculations: Time taken could be between 90 and 120 seconds.
Difficult : Questions where you may not know the basics for answering the question, questions that involve very long calculations or that need to have very accurate answers due to close options or questions that involve large number of steps - all these leading to time taken of more than 150 seconds.

You will then tabulate how many of these questions were attempted in your first attempt, stage 1 and stage 2.

Summary of Stages & Analysis

At the end of the analysis, you should be able to identify your strengths & weaknesses and make an action plan as below:

a) Attempts Percentage (AP): Percentage of total questions attempted. While this is undoubtedly important, a lot of students place undue emphasis on this factor alone. More attempts without accuracy will only lead to less marks and lower rank.

Attempts Percentage is closely linked to the second parameter – IEQ (Identify Easy Questions). Without high IEQ, Attempts Percentage would normally be lower. The key to improving Attempts Percentage is to build your skills in the area of:

i) Numerical Ability: This is all about your ability to calculate fast. You should be thorough with multiplication tables, conversion of fractions into percentages & vice-versa, square & cubes, etc. to improve this ability. Needless to add, the more you practice, the better you would become.

ii) Reading Speed (RS): Good RS does not only help in RC section but also helps in all the sections, for, the length of questions in each test area has significantly increased in the recent years and now almost resemble small size RC passages!

iii) Ego Management: A large number of students lose precious time in continuing with a question just because they think that they can do it and spend a disproportionate amount of time battling with it. Avoid getting into this bruising ego - battle!!

b) Ability to Identify Easy Questions (IEQ): As mentioned earlier, this is the most important skill that can make a huge difference to your score and rank. When you do this analysis for every AIMCAT, you should be able to significantly improve your ability to identify "easy" questions. You should do this analysis for each section / test area as well as for the whole paper.

Measure: IEQ = IEQ = 100 x (No. of easy questions attempted / Total no. of easy questions in the test )

Target & Action Plan: Improve your IEQ score by at least 10 percentage points in the next AIMCAT.IEQ score of 80+ is considered to be very good.

c) Accuracy (Ac): Check your accuracy in each stage and try to identify the reasons for making mistakes. The reasons could be many - carelessness in calculation, application of wrong formulae, missing out on some critical data, hastiness arising out of a desire to attempt more questions, etc. The objective is to understand the reasons why you made mistakes and learn from them. This analysis is extremely important for you if your accuracy is less than 70%. When your accuracy is low, you are wasting a lot of precious time in attempting and marking wrong answers.

Measure: Ac = 100 X (No. of questions attempted & right / No. of questions attempted )

Target & Action Plan:
i) Try to get an accuracy score of at least 70. If your score is above 70, aim to increase it and maintain it around 80-85 while trying to attempt more number of questions.
ii) Make a list of reasons and identify the number of mistakes that can be attributed to each reason. Track your progress to check if you are learning from your own mistakes.

d) Ability to Avoid Difficult Questions (ADS): This is a measure of your ability to identify the 'tricky' ones so that you leave these alone. Some of you may be able to solve and get correct answers to these questions. However, the time required in answering these could be much better utilized in answering easy questions - simply because you can attempt more of these! For most students, if their ADS is high, their IEQ will be low.

Measure: D = 100 x (No. of difficult questions attempted/Total no. of difficult questions in the test)

Target & Action Plan: Aim for a score of less than 10%.

e) Areas where you need to build knowledge & techniques (KT): In case of questions that you could not solve in any of the stages or found that the method used by you was longer/more cumbersome, stage 5 is helpful in identifying your weak areas.

You will need to build a storehouse of short-cut techniques and also work on improving knowledge in your weak areas.

Record-keeping

AIMCAT AP (Attempts Percentage) IEQ Ac ADS
916 - Stage1



916 - Stage2



916 - Stage3



916 - Total







Section III : Additional Analysis & Action Plan after AIMCAT results are declared

  1. Discrepancy between your estimated score and the one reported on the website

    If you notice any large discrepancy (difference of more than 2 in your attempts, right or wrong answers) estimated by you against that reported on the website , it is possible that the darkening of ovals done by you on the OMR sheet is improper. Please pay special attention to this. Otherwise you may lose marks unnecessarily.

  2. How to use AIMCAT Feedback

    A thorough analysis of the AIMCAT results provided on T.I.M.E. website will help you get an insight into what's happening with your performance in the AIMCATs. It also helps you to understand your relative performance vis-à-vis the entire student community writing T.I.M.E. AIMCATs.

The feedback given to you on AIMCATs consists of the following:

Section-wise Results
Area-wise Results
All-India Comparative Performance
Question-wise Analysis
Toppers' List
Snapshot of your Performance
Performance across AIMCATs

Let us look at the parameters on which you are given feedback under each of the above areas.

Section-wise Analysis: This gives the performance of the student in each section. In addition to your City Rank and All India Rank, you get your percentile score, percentage score. These two parameters are also the scores given in the Score Card of CAT. In addition, you can also know the cut-offs in each section as well as the cut-off for the entire paper as a whole. These cut-offs are the levels that you should aim to get a call from the IIMs. With the help of the percentile mark, one can understand how close the student was to the cutoff. A safe percentile mark in each section would be around 85. You should strive towards achieving this target in each section. A thorough analysis of the ranks in each section along with the percentile scores in the section will give you an indication of where you stand in the entire lot of students writing the AIMCATs.

Area-wise Analysis: In addition to the Section-wise analysis, the Area-wise analysis can be used to check your performance across various test areas within a section also. Whereas section wise analysis gives you the relative performance in the section, area wise analysis will give the relative performance in each area viz., RC, VA, QA, DI, DS and LA. So you can check your percentile rank in various areas and work on those areas where your performance is less compared to the other areas. In fact this will also help students understand the relative proficiency of the entire test takers.

Question-wise Analysis: The Question-wise Analysis gives the following feedback for each of the questions in the test: the correct answer to the AIMCAT, the answers marked by you, the difficulty level of the question, number of people who attempted that question and the number of students who got the answer correct. This analysis will help you to tally the marking you are supposed to have done on the OMR with what you actually had marked. In addition, you can know what type of questions you should have attempted and what should have been left out with the help of the difficulty level as well as the data on the number of people getting a particular answer correct.

Toppers List: This is the list of all those students who have cleared the cut off in all the sections. Please note that by studying the toppers marks, you can understand the pattern of the toppers scores i.e. which areas they are scoring marks in and which sections are not easy to score and accordingly modify your preparation. You should try to get into the toppers list as many times as possible so as to get the confidence of making it to the IIMs.

All India Comparative Performance: This will give the marks at various rank levels in each of the sections. Please note that the sum of the marks of the sections may not be equal to the total (all sections taken together). The importance of every mark is clearly brought out by this All India Comparative Performance analysis. A simple analysis of how better your rank could be can be gauged by looking at the marks you have got and comparing it to the person who is ranked 100 places ahead of you. This will hopefully propel you to go a little faster in your exam and attempt more or be a little more careful so as not to make mistakes in the exam and thereby get the extra marks to improve your rank.

Snapshot of your Performance: In each section of the test and for each level of difficulty of questions, Snapshot identifies the questions that you got right, those that you attempted but got wrong and those that you did not attempt. The color coding helps you identify the mistakes in your strategy and helps you fine tune your approach before you go for the next AIMCAT.

Performance across AIMCATs (Areawise and Sectionwise): This will give a picture of what has been your performance across AIMCATs at one shot. This will also help you to understand which of the areas you need to concentrate on and change your strategy for attempting the paper. For example, if you have not been crossing your cutoff in say verbal and RC by a mark or two in every AIMCAT, then it may be worthwhile in changing the time limits that you set for yourself in that section and give say 5 minutes more than the time you usually give to ensure that you cross the cutoff comfortably.

3. Target-setting

Your target in AIMCATs cannot be just an improvement in your NET score. You should be clear that the ABSOLUTE SCORE in the AIMCATs is not the most reliable indicator of whether you are improving. For example, a lower score in a relatively difficult test could be better than a higher score in an easier one!

Percentile score or rank are the only reliable indicators of your performance
.

It is suggested that you should fix a target for the next AIMCAT after you finish analyzing the current one. This target can be a two-stage one depending on your performance level:

Stage I: Target to clear the cut-off in any given section where your score is lower than the cut-off score.

If you narrowly missed the cut-off in a section, did you miss it because:
a) you gave it less time? Or
b) attempted fewer questions? Or
c) have low Accuracy score?

On the other hand, if you missed the cut-off by a wide margin in a section, is it because:
a) your "fundas" in this area are poor? Or
b) you gave this section very little time?

In either case, you have to prepare an action plan to reduce/eliminate this lacuna.

Stage II: Target a higher score / percentile

This is a bit more difficult. As explained earlier, higher absolute score may not necessarily lead to higher percentile score or higher rank, hence your target has to be in terms of percentile rank. To do this well, you will need to develop the ability of assessing how difficult/easy each of the sections/whole paper was. This can be done by benchmarking the test paper against one or more of the earlier tests. This is a skill that can be acquired over a period of this and this is where we expect the long series of 20 AIMCATs to really make a difference to the student.

In a Nutshell

Be up to date with your Basics: Remember that, over the past few years, CAT has been placing increasingly more emphasis on the sheer ability to tackle a question and solve it, when compared to resorting to shortcuts, speed, selection of questions etc. Therefore, you better be up to date with your basics on the topics that you would have already covered in class.

Be regular: Do not miss out on any AIMCAT unless it is absolutely unavoidable, and take each AIMCAT seriously, as if it were the real CAT itself – minus the consequences, of course! In short, always give your best go at it but never let it get to you!

Analyze, analyze, and analyze: After each AIMCAT, spend at least 2 to 3 hours analyzing each section of the paper. This is undoubtedly the most enriching experience that you can extract out of the AIMCATs. Try and first work out each and every question in as many different ways as you can think of and only then look up the solutions for the same. It is in this phase of your prep that you can expect to significantly improve your understanding of the basics and more importantly, you ability to apply them in an exam scenario.

Clarify your Doubts: Do not hesitate to approach your respective faculty to clarify your doubts and gain useful and important inputs. Also, forming small groups with three to four of your friends to dissect and discuss each AIMCAT, after you have done your share of individual analysis, is also a very good approach to maximize your learning.

Track your performance regularly: Most of the above mentioned effort needs to be put in within the first two days after each AIMCAT. As soon as the results of the AIMCAT are made available on the website, ensure that you take enough time to look them up diligently. The AIMCAT results that are made available on the institute website are meticulously planned, comprehensive and personalized analyses that are intended to give you invaluable feedback regarding your performance. This feedback will guide you towards a better, more focused and effective preparation.

Plan for improvement: Two to three days before each AIMCAT, make a short plan of improvement – to be implemented over the remaining AIMCATs and also the rest of your preparation and overall approach – on the basis of all the analysis that you would have put in for the previous AIMCAT. This plan should be a dynamic one, subject to modifications and improvements with each AIMCAT.

On a final note, know and remember that the competition is bound to intimidate you on more than one occasion over the coming few months and you better be prepared for spells of self-doubt, despair and discouragement – they are all a part and parcel of the game – which you will eventually become accustomed to and, hopefully, use as stepping stones to reach greater heights in your preparation and career in the long run.

I am reminded of the famous lines of the song ‘Sunscreen’ by Baz Luhrmann - “ Sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind…the race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself ( the full extract is on www.lyricscrawler.com/song/3953.html )

WISH YOU ALL THE BEST!

Friday, November 7, 2008

Down in Mocks??

http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/497489-post57.html - Best one
http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/501918-post61.html
http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/502719-post63.html
http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/502721-post64.html
http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/503149-post68.html
http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/579850-post98.html
http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/482319-post7.html
http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/482323-post8.html
http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/482343-post9.html
http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/482629-post17.html
http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/482800-post22.html
http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/482804-post23.html
http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/485491-post34.html
http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/486983-post36.html
http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/487052-post38.html
http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/482814-post24.html
http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/488070-post47.html

Lets Crack the FIJs !!

FIJs, or Fact Inference Judgements are what we would call "Definition" based questions. The structure of these questions is such that a set of words are given a random definition, then we are supposed to categorize a set of sentances based on those definitions.

Now, for quite some time the Fact, Inference and Jugdgements have been give a definition that is close to real life definition, but that may not always be the case. So make sure to read the definitions properly on D day.

Now getting back to the FIJs that we know,.

1) You do not have to find if a sentance is a fact or an Inference, you only need to know if it is a Fact or not.
2) You do not have to find if a sentance is a Judgement or an Inference, you only need to know if it is a Judgement or not.

So now we have reduced FIJs to FJs. All you need to do is figure out the Fs and the Js, and be sure about them, and what is left is surely an Inference.

Now as per the definitions used lately in cat papers, a fact is not necessarily true, it is true subject to verification. which means it can be false too upon verification, but we do not care and will call it a Fact period.

Judgement is someone expresses his/her opinion on a ponit which maybe good or bad or great or anything else. These are of 2 main types.

Judgement based on stated facts and
Judgement based on unstated facts.
In both the cases we call them Judgements and Judgements only.

Now for some pointers with the help of examples.

(a) The heavy rains last year have been attributed to the goodwill of the gods
(b) The heavy rains last year were due to the goodwill of the gods

(a) would be a Fact, because both the occourance of heavy rains and their being attributed to the goodwill of gods is somethings that can be verified - For eg i can check up to see if there were heavy rains last year and if indeed someone did attribute the heavy rains last year to the goodwill of gods.

(b) would be a judgement, because although the occourance of heavy rains last year maybe a fact subject to verification, the opinion of the statement maker that these heavy rains are due to the goodwill of the gods is nothing but a Judgement based upon stated facts. For that matter even "The heavy rains last year can be attributed to the goodwill of the gods" will also be a Judgement.

Now look at some of the examples from cat 2006, here is a random selection of sentances

1) The truth is that we have more red tape - we take eighty nine days to start a new buisness, Australians take two.
2)Given the poor quality of service in the public sector, the HIV/AIDS affected must be switching to private initiatives that supply anit retroviral drugs (ARVs) at a low cost.
3)Red tape leads to corruption and distort's a people's character.
4)According to all statistical indications, the sarva siksha abhyan has managed to keep pace with its ambitious goals.
5)Every red tape procedure is a point of contact with an official, and such contacts have the potential to become opportunities for money to change hands.

Now lets dissect the above sentances.

1) Although the first part of the sentence may lead you to believe that it is a personal opinion, what follows this part makes is obvious that a statement of cerifiable fact is what is being made. So Fact. Things like "there is more rain here" "this is less suseptable" followed by a clear fact support it makes the whole stmt a fact. But something like "we are a less responsible people, we do not even care for our immediate environment" is very clearly a judgement based on a stated fact. The key to see the distinction clearly.

2) Reading second statement clearly shows that the second part of the statement is a personal opinion based on the first part that seems like a Fact. So Judgement

3) This is the easiest. It is a Judgement based on unstated facts.

4) This one is ambiguous, here is where we are prone to making a mistake. According to all statistical indications tells us that there is a set of facts somewhere is the background. has managed to keep pace is a conclusion ( not an opinion or Judgement) based on those background facts. So neither are the facts present here, and neither is there an opinion or Judgement. So this is clearly an Inference.

5) This is even more ambiguous. Here we are out of the scope of our reasoning. Every red tape procedure is a point of contact with an official, this seems to us like a verificable fact. and and such contacts have the potential to become opportunities for money to change hands. seems like an opinion - and we are tempted to call this a judgement. But on close reading we can see that the second part of the statement is a conclusion based on the first part. The clue is the word "potential" this one word disassociates the author from the statement and hence it is his conclusion based on a set of facts and not his opinion based on a set of facts. [Even I am a bit lost here, the explanation of 5 is from a source other than me]

Conclusion

Its easier to find Facts, a little closer look will give us the Judgements. If you are very doubtful, its most likely an Inference. So just think of these sets as FJs and get cracking!

Hope this has been of help.


Aditya
__________________________________________________ ______-
Edited to add:
it maybe useful if we can work these into our reasoning:

1)Judgments are arguable and contestable. Inferences are rock solid. Although both judgments and inferences are based on facts, in the latter the conclusion is so unquestionable that it becomes fact itself.
2)Judgments are opinions, suggestions and recommendations whereas inferences are proven conditions.
3) Judgment statements include a lot of quantities that cannot be measured, such as happiness, beauty, joy etc.
4) Many a times, judgments are not accompanied by facts at all but are only opinion statements. When there is no fact involved, the statement can only be a judgment statement.
5) A judgment is an honest attempt to make reasonable observations about the given facts but they do not conclusively prove anything.

Some useful links (Although Im yet to read any of them fully)

Link 1
Link 2
Link 3

Ref :http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/cat-and-related-discussion/34706-the-pg-dream-team-08-a-28.html#post1267401

The Principle of Inclusion-Exclusion

The Principle of Inclusion-Exclusion.

Consider two sets, A and B. If n(A) denotes number of objects in A,
The total number of objects is given by

N = n(A) + n(B) - n(A,B)

[ Eg. if 10 people play cricket and 7 people play hockey. and 3 people play both, total number of people = 10+7-3 = 14]

Consider three sets A,B and C.
The total number of objects is given by

N=n(A) + n(B) + n(C) - n(A,B) - n (A,C) - n(B,C) + n(A,B,C)

[Eg. if 10 people play cricket, 7 play Hockey, 8 play football. 2 play hockey and cricket, 4 play cricket and football, 3 play hockey and football, 1 person plays all three. Total number of people = (10+7+ 8 ) -(2+4+3)+(1) =17]

As a Genaralization, If N(i) denotes number of objects belonging to set a(i),
N(i,j) denotes number of objects belonging to sets a(i) and a(j) etc,

Total Objects = sum [N(i)] - sum[N(i,j)] + sum[N(i,j,k)] - sum[N(i,j,k,l)] + ...

Where Sum(x) = Sigma(x) for i = 1 to n, etc.

Using this Principle for Derangements

Let N denote the total number of permutations of n Letters. To calculate the number of derangements, Dn, we want to exclude all permutations possessing any of the attributes a1, a2, ….., an where ai is the attribute that person i gets his correct letter for i = 1 to n. Let N(i) denote the number of permutations possessing attribute ai (and possibly others), N(i,j) the number of permutations possessing attributes aij (and possibly others), etc. Then, from the inclusion-exclusion principle

Dn = N - { sum [N(i)] - sum[N(i,j)] +sum[N(i,j,k)] -sum[N(i,j,k,l)]+ ...)}

By symmetry, N(1) = N(2) = …= N(i), N(1,2) = N(1,3) = …. =N(i,j), and so on


So, sum[N(i)] = nC1*N(1); sum[N(i,j)]= nC2*N(1,2) and so on


Now, N(1), the number of permutations where man 1 gets his correct letter, is simply (n-1)!, since the remaining letters can be distributed in any order. Similarly, N(1,2)=(n-2)!, N(1,2,3)=(n-3)!, and so forth


So Dn = N - nC1*N(1) + nC2*N(1,2)- nC3*N(1,2,3)+ ....
= n!- nC1*(n-1)! + nC2*(n-2)!- nC3*(n-3)! + ....
= n! [ 1 - 1/1! + 1/2! - 1/3! + 1/4! - .... ((-1)^n)/n!) ], Our Derangement Formula


Ref :http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/cat-and-related-discussion/34706-the-pg-dream-team-08-a-28.html#post1267388

Sunday, November 2, 2008

PREPARE FOR SURPRISES IN THE CAT -3rd Nov Article by Arun Sharma On Education Times

PREPARE FOR SURPRISES IN THE CATASSUMING THAT SOMETHING THAT HAS HAPPENED EARLIER IN THE CAT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN AGAIN HAS BEEN THE DOWNFALL OF MANY.ARUN SHARMATELLS YOU HOW AVOIDING SUCH ASSUMPTIONS CAN EQUIP YOU TO HANDLE ANY AND EVERY SURPRISE CAT 2008 MAY THROW AT YOU


THE CAT exam is full of surprises and year-on-year lakhs of aspirants are shocked by the so-called unpredictability of the CAT. While there is no denying the fact that surprises do exist in the CAT, it is also a fact that most surprises happen due to the fact that aspirants prepare only on a two to three year framework while preparing for the CAT.

The most common refrain while preparing for CAT is — 'this used to happen earlier, does not happen any longer.' Any suggestions to the contrary are met with a roll of the eyes suggesting nothing but incredulity at the mere suggestion. The common thought goes that the CAT in 2008 is so different from the CAT in 1995 that how can you even think of comparing the two.

Well, we would agree and disagree with that opinion. Agree in the sense that we would accept the point that the CAT in 2008 is very different from the one around 1995. Disagree in the sense that there could be a lot of things that one could learn from the past CAT papers as one prepares for the CAT in 2008 and beyond.

Just to rest our case, we would like to point out to you the rather extraordinary fact that

faced CAT 2006 aspirants — facts inference and judgements stumped over two lakh CAT aspirants and the last time this question type was used was in CAT 1991.

OUR ADVICE

In life (as in CAT) it is very important to understand that one should not become 'too wise.' The 'I know it all' attitude has been the death knell for the greatest of people. Be conscious in life to not make it yours. Stay foolish.

So what is the advice we want to pass on to you at this point in time? When there is a war, the better-prepared person is less likely to get shocked. So our message to you is to prepare yourself on a 10-15 year framework — do not take the myopic view of looking at what the CAT is in the two-three year framework. In other words, prepare on a wide angled framework.

So, what does it mean to prepare thus? Well, in the context of the last few days leading up to the CAT it means the following:

1) Question type wise: When you are looking at the kinds of questions the CAT has been throwing up, look right through from 1990 onwards to date. There have been numerous instances where not just question types but also question logics have been repeated in the CAT after 5-7-10 years. The FIJ example given above is just the most illustrative of this phenomenon.

2) Pattern wise: Do not get too straitjacketed with respect to what you expect in terms of the number of questions. In fact, do not pre-decide on the number of sections too. Be prepared for anything.

Take for instance CAT 1999 where the three sections pattern was introduced for the first time, if memory serves us right. The previous two years had consisted of two sections only to be done over two hours. So, everyone had a clearly defined strategy- one hour with five minutes more or less per-section. When aspirants picked up the paper, it had three sections containing 55 questions each for the first time in its history. To top it all, the first section was VA/RC and it was a particularly lengthy section. People could not make the simple decision of dividing the two hours into three time periods of 40 minutes each (which was the logical thing to do).

THE RESULT

The majority spent the planned one hour in the first section leaving only 60

minutes for the second and third section. Needless to say, by the time people finished the second section there was only 20-odd minutes left for the third (DI) section and there were 55 questions to be handled.

As a further punch, the exam setters had put 25 simple cake-walk questions of syllogisms between questions 141-165 (the last 25 questions) in all the question sets. Majority of the aspirants unfortunately did not reach these questions as they had already exhausted the time.

In this context a lot of students ask us about how many questions and sections to expect in CAT 2008.

OUR REPLY

Be prepared for a 50-question paper to a 150-question paper. Be prepared for a single section paper, to a multiple section paper. Preformulate your strategies for all paper patterns and there will be no shocks or surprises for you on the D-day.

(The writer is an alumnus of IIMBangalore, a nationally renowned CAT trainer and the author of a series of books published by Tata McGraw Hill on CAT and other aptitude exams)

CAT Tips: What to do the day before and on the D-Day

Copied from blog of Kumar Vivek- IIM Kozhikode, India

“The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.”

- Elbert Hubbard; The Note Book, 1927


The penultimate

Relax! Your part of the job is already done! If you happen to be an engineer too (which I presume with a 90% level of confidence), recall the days when you used to laugh looking at people messing their heads with “Irodov” and “Krishna’s IIT Physics” on the day of the JEE! If you weigh intelligence and perseverance in terms of importance towards cracking CAT, trust me, this cat is way too sexy to be tamed just by slogging hard for it – I would rank intelligence higher when it comes to getting her! If you count in attitude and thinking-on-the-toes as components of intelligence, you are made for an IIM. Tomorrow is your day to prove that you are great not because you are amongst the crowd of those two hundred thousand guys writing the exam each one of which has the brains to solve those easy Quants and DI problems, but you are great because you are more intelligent in terms of choosing the right ones out of the twenty five questions and calm enough to crack them within fifty minutes. Adding to it, you should be intelligent enough to understand that you don’t need to slog tonight to prove yourself tomorrow!

If you want a personal experience, I had enjoyed a mug of beer in Bangalore’s “Just Another Pub” at Koramangala the day before CAT, chilling out with a bunch of college friends (and I got a “blacki”!!) The point out here is not about alcohol (remain strictly within 50ml!); just relax in the best way which suits you. Stay calm, have a dinner with you girlfriend (if you aren’t as lucky as me who doesn’t have any such filthy burdens), and remain confident that you are made for the big day. It’s meant to be a laid back Saturday, let the essence remain – you’re doomed to be back again to the rhetoric of office or classes from Monday!


The ultimate

Ever actually seen how “mornings” are like on Sundays? The exam is at ten, make sure you wake up in time keeping in mind your transit time to the examination centre. You haven’t taken a bath for past 4 days, do it today (yes, do it even though it’s a “sun” day; it’s the second best thing in the world to refresh with a cold water shower on a November morning!) Feel like revising formulae or something? Personal opinion – it’s of no use. It’s only the easy formulae – which you already have used a lakh times – combined with your sheer presence of mind that is required to sail through CAT problems. Get to the examination centre by 09:45, check out all girls allotted the same centre if you are writing CAT in a real town and, finally, take your seat at 10:00.

The 10:00 to 10:30 period when you’ve to wait in the examination hall for the question paper is the worst torture you might have ever faced in life. Here’s how to make best use of the time. Get your brain working before the exam starts. After you are done with the form filling stuff, this is the time to revise your formulae. Your brain is already at peace with the relaxation you offered it yesterday, let it start afresh. Mentally start recalling simple geometry and mensuration’s areas, volumes, equations and stuff. If you remember some problem you had ingeniously solved (ever), think about the solution again, you’ll bolster your confidence. Start building your focus fifteen minutes before you’ve got the papers. Once you get them, it’s the regular easy trick. Pick up the most comfortable areas (personal favorite – geometry in Quants); steer through rough uncomfortable terrains the last. Constantly look for easy problems, spot them right and you are through the cut-off. Get ready to enjoy the Sunday evening once again!

All the best!

http://krvivek.blogspot.com/2007/11/cat-tips-what-to-do-day-before-and-on-d.html