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

ASSUMING 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)