CAT 2017: QA preparation - 5 mistakes to avoid in revised CAT exam pattern

15 days are left to appear in CAT 2017 exam on November 26, 2017. During this fortnight, your Quant preparation for CAT 2017 exam should get the final shape with pinning and removing all the errors analysed that you tend to make in CAT Mocks and in your sectional practice tests during CAT 2017 preparation.

CAT preparation experts, toppers and IIM Lucknow alumnus Prof Nishit Sinha author of titles on QA, LRDI and VARC, widely published by Pearson, shares with the CAT aspirants that they should avoid the common mistakes which candidates  make while preparing for CAT Quantitative Aptitude. The next step is how to get rid of them and move up in scoring higher percentile.

5 mistakes to avoid in Quant preparation
It is the consistent practice and practice which can take you to higher level of Quant preparation. You might have no-strong background in mathematics but IIMs also do not need only a Quant expert. The need is to think logically and attempt smartly.

During their last few days of preparation CAT 2017 aspirants are advised to avoid following mistakes. It will help them to score high in the CAT 2017 exam.

Important links:

• Take CAT Quant Mock – attempt then check answer
• CAT 2017 Success mantra from Varsha, IIM Ahmedabad student “Make a concepts book for challenging Questions”
• ‘Focus on improving Accuracy in CAT 2017’ Success mantra from IIM Ahmedabad student Chanchal Gupta

Don’t Jump to finish line
It is not advisable to start and read with the objective of ‘finishing’ a chapter than deriving the learning out of it. CAT aspirants tend to read QA chapters like a Novel and forget carrying pen and paper before opening the book.

So ensure that you need to learn more out of what you are reading instead of hurrying up to the finish line of the chapter. This will help you to understand what petty mistakes you make while attempting the particular type of QA questions.

Don’t be Quantity hungry
Believing more in Quantity of questions rather than quality of the questions, is the big problem which causes sudden dip in your CAT percentile in Quant. There is nothing you could guess in Quant. It is either correct or incorrect. If you cannot learn, say, Geometry even after solving 100 questions, chances are very less that you will have confidence in Geometry even after solving 1000 questions.

Don’t go to solution without attempting QA question
Another mistake that CAT aspirants make is that they go straight to solutions without attempting the questions. They try to do it in all such practice tests and CAT Mocks, which have answers attached to them.

The cycle they use is - Practicing the questions —-> Not being able to solve the questions —->Let us go through the solution.  

Then they attempt the question again after a day. Now you get typed and get into a particular frame of mind while attempting the question as we already know the solution. If you get similar question in different perspective you may not be able to attempt it and will do the same mistake which reduces your chances to score high in Quant in CAT 2017.

Don’t think on same lines
There are many ways to attempt a question and arrive at the answer. What you need is to think fresh. When you try to attempt a question differently, in fact you are recalling all that you have learnt and are devising your pattern to solve a particular type of question. It not only helps you to score high in CAT Mock tests but will also make the CAT 2017 exam day as another Mock only.

Don’t use Calculator in QA
CAT toppers in past have found that use of calculator causes delay in solving the question resulting in time loss. CAT topper Akshay with 99.19 percentile and SPJIMR student found the use of calculator in CAT a very slow process. CAT toppers suggest to go for oral and mental calculations using pen-paper instead of depending on calculator and in all the calculations do not use the on screen calculation in CAT 2017 exam also.

CAT 2017 is the mandatory exam for admission to flagship Management programmes at 20 IIMs and other top B-schools like FMS, SPJIMR, IMI, IMT, MDI, NITIE among others. The revised CAT 2017 exam pattern has impacted Quant section more and you may need a different preparation strategy to score high. Read here key changes in CAT 2017 Exam pattern

Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more updates on CAT 2017

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