Be Cool While Answering

"The CAT anxiety is palpable among those keyed up to take the test this year, starting Wednesday. The Common Admission Test is one of the toughest entrance exams for management college admissions in the country"

• CAT aspirants are concerned about not having satisfactorily 'covered' the course. But what experts advise is - don't get bogged down by pressure. Instead, use it constructively to improve performance.
  
  
• Experts also say that it's smart thinking that helps crack the CAT. For instance, Ajit Phadnis, an IIMB alumnus, an academic consultant with Career Launcher Pvt Ltd, says that if a student gets stuck in a question that appears to need rigorous calculations, then "the candidate is probably not dealing with it 'smartly' or that the smarter decision may be to simply leave it and move ahead. Many a time, rigorous calculations can be made simple by use of common sense approximations".
  
  
• The student should keep a contingency plan in place, adds Ajit. "I would suggest a plan of 30-35 minutes for each of the three sections and answer whatever you can. The rest of the time can be effectively used to improve sections which need it," he says.
  
  
• Whether a student makes it to the IIMs or not, he or she will surely be a better reader of reports, better creator and interpreter of graphs and quicker analyst, he adds on, saying, "In short, a better professional." Experts have some common advice: "stay cool" on the D-day while writing the exam and do not study anything new.

FOLLOW THE PATTERN

Byju Raveendran, founder, Byju Classes, says they have conducted special workshops during the past two weeks based on papers of previous years to familiarize candidates with test patterns, apart from giving students enough number of mock papers. "These workshops and tests give them hands-on experience," he says.

 On the day of the test, whether one solves the question from the answer options through formula or from a sheer hunch, makes absolutely no difference. "But focus should be on solving questions fast without compromising on accuracy. And the most important point which you may have heard a million times - keep cool and be confident. So do anything that works for you but feel confident about yourself on that day. Past performance, incomplete syllabus, fear of a section should all be replaced by one encompassing belief 'today is my day'," he says.

 Ajay Arora, director, TIME, Bangalore, feels a student should take mock tests depending on the availability of time and analyze them properly. "This is the time when rumour mills peak. Students should not get into them. Instead of checking with previous test takers on questions that appeared, students should just focus on preparation," he says.

MORE TIPS

• Revise all main concepts during the last week, do not mug up anything
• Relax! Read a current affairs book, play games, but do not exhaust yourself. If you are daring enough, you can even hit the theatre
• Don't revise anything new in the last moment
• Take as many mock tests as possible