91 Comments

1. Hello GP Sir.

   I’ve always been motivated by your articles. CAT is just round the corner, and I always see certain guys post their profiles and get comments on them. I’ve been a kind-of-lazy person and with a shudder I realise (like most people) that its too late. However, you can honestly give a feedback on the following:

   Xth: 96.40 %
   XIIth: 80.60 %
   Grad: 7.38 / 10
   No work ex (currently in final year, at NIT Rourkela)

   Achievements: NTSE scholar, INMO qualified.
   Internships: 3 (IIT Madras, CSIR-IMMT Bhubaneswar, ONGC Gujarat)

   Extra acads: Plenty! I always hope extra acads might be an only edge for me, but please honestly tell me about it, I’m really tensed.. I want to know whether these extra-acads really count provided you don’t have good acads?

   -International Youth Forum Seliger 2013, Indian delegate to Russia.
   -National level winner in Manthan youth movement, for designing an innovative traffic system, 2013 Oct.
   -Selected for a National Climate Conference by 350.org, UDAAN, 2013 Dec.
   -Selected for SPJain School of Global Management, Dubai’s Student Ambassador Programme, represented institute in a free study tour in Dubai, 2014 Jan.
   -Chief-Organizer of successful event series (twice) in NIT Rourkela fests, 2013-14
   -I’m also a content writer at Watwhyhow.com

   Pardon me sir, if I’ve written a lot about myself, so long for the tension! My acads haunt me. I’ve applied for CAT and XAT, and most of the top B-schools apart from IIMs. What do you think my chances are for a top b-school, coz I really don’t want to settle for less? What percentile should I aim at? Any suggestion you’d like to give, sir?

   Thanks a lot.

   • Sid Chandra, you have good acads (also extra acads) and extra curricular activities and they will provide you with an edge in the selection process. However they will come into play only after you get an interview call. Most of the top institutes have a low/no weight for past academics and rely primarily on CAT/XAT score for interview shortlisting. You should restrict yourself to top institutes for which the percentile requirement is:
     1. 99.5%ile for IIM A, B & C
     2. 99%ile for other top IIMs, IIT Mumbai and FMS
     3. 97.5%ile for new IIMs, MDI, NITIE, other IITs and SP Jain
     XLRI will need over 97%ile in XAT and IIFT will need a score of over 50.

     • Thank you so much sir! That gives me a lot of motivation. I’ll try to concentrate on my preparations now.

       Regards, Sid.

2. Sir , This is my fifth and last attempt of CAT so almost CL student for last 6 years , i already have 3 years of work ex. my mock scores are in range of 100-110 . In each mock i mess up one section.
   Sec 1 Sec 2
   Mock 1 36 64
   2 45 56
   3 66 33
   4 40 60.

   Accuracy around 70% attempt 55-60
   Sec 1 = 20-30
   Sec2= 32-38
   To be frank i am not too good in of the section’s so my plan was to devote equal time to both of section and try to secore 75 marks per section breach the 150 mark.Till now i am not able to do this.

   With just 45 days left please help me , how to prepare.

   • Sourabh, this will need a discussion, please call me anytime today at 9811155160.

3. Respected Madam,
   Thank you for your advice for a scheduled approach. I am a CL student. I can’t understand your statement “How will you respond to a differential marking scheme? for example, in IIFT?”. Please explain it. Your ( all of CL faculty ) every advice is valuable for us.
   Yours faithfully,
   SIB SANKAR SAHA

   • In IIFT marks for different section are different.
     QA-1,VA- .75, & only 0.5 for GA … Number of attempts will depend on the marking scheme to clear the cut offs

4. Sir,

   I wanted to apply your “Do these after every mock” methods of grouping areas (which i think is awsome).
   So i attempted 5 CL mocks , just bcoz i wanted the quality of data to be truer. (After all one mock wont tell me whether Geometry needs work, or i’m bad at ParaJumbles right?!)
   Now it took me aaround 10 days to analyze these mocks (i kno thats too much ..but i asked the same on a diffrent blog post on this site itself and was advised by CL Team to go ahead with the analysis even if it takes time as it’ll help me knowing wjich areas need to be worled on )
   COOL..could.nt agree more

   Now i did this and gave another mock. I gave Mock 5 and got a 102 (as opposed to my earlier 70-80 average score)
   I was happy. But just to be sure this wasnt a flash in the pan…i gave another mock the next day… i got 36 :-O !!
   THIS has completely shattered me Sir (My BEST and worst performance..on CONSEQUTUVE days 🙁 )
   I know that giving another mock the very next day ws a bad idea (maybe) and i was totally filled with mental fatigue.
   But that score has disheartened me sooo much that I’m not even able to focus now (let alone give another mock)

   Any way to get out of this SUPREME low of self esteem??!!

   • Rushuil, hope our discussion was helpful, will wait for your call after you have covered what we discussed.

5. sir..I m preparing for cat from last 1 month & gone through all the topics & found that I m strong in geometry(apart frm mensuration), DI,LR &……. avg in p/l, tsd , number system, r&p &..very weak in rc & algebra(esp maxima,minima,range)…so I would like to ask u that what should be my strategy in the last 50 odd day before the d-day..??

   • Ranjan, your strategy should be to ensure that you become so good in the question types that you are good at that you will be able to get all of them correct, ignore the question types that you usually get wrong and work on the ones in which your are average. Do not consider RC as an area, you will find that there are certain types of passages or questions that you usually get right and certain types are usually incorrect and you focus should be on the ones that you are able to handle. I will be writing a post on this issue shortly.

6. sir.
   I m basically from dhanbad & looking forward to do my mba from ism dhanbad..so can u please tell me whether it is right choice or not..if yes than what would be the safe score in cat to get into it..!!

   • Ranjan, to the best of my knowledge ISM Dhanbad has poor placements for MBA and hence should be avoided.

7. Hello GP sir,
   1) I am taking CL test series. In the new format i have taken 3 mocks.I am getting 80-85 marks. I have SC reservation. So what should be my target marks to get the IIM calls? currently I am attempting 52-55 questions. how many correct will fetch 95+ percentile? I have decent academics. Xth: 82.8 XII:78.3 B.Tech:78.6 workex: 2years+
   2) what will be the safe marks in IIFT to get call and convert considering i have reservations.Is there any subsectional cutoff in IIFT. as i want to leave the RC section or may be want to attempt just 1 RC. Is it okay?

   • CATAspirant, with a SC category reservation, good academic record and 2 years work experience you can get calls from all IIMs, FMS, all IITs, NITIE and IIFT at 85%ile but my suggestion is to target a 90%ile which should be possible at a net score of around 110-115 marks.
     One RC passage is not an issue but a score of 80-85 with 52-55 attempts indicates an accuracy of around 65% and to improve your scores you just need to work on accuracy as the attempts are sufficient.
     For IIFT a score of 40 can get you an interview call but you should target 45-50 to ensure a good chance of conversion.

8. heelo sir..
   I m preparing for cat frm aug. I have almost done with the basics and started to give mock bt with every mock I dnt see any improvement, sometime I felt it vry tough & sometime easy bt nt that upto the mark sometimes I think of starting frm the begining bt with few days are left I cant decide what to do..it really gets me mentally depressed…so plz guide me what to do..!!

   • Pankaj, if you are done with your fundamentals and are comfortable with them then it is most probably an issue of improper test taking. Please go through the following posts and then call me at 9811155160 to discuss.
     1. 7 Rules to Excel in CAT QA
     2. 7 Rules to Excel in CAT VA
     3. The single-most unpardonable, gravest sin you can commit in CAT
     4. Are you choosing the right questions in your Mock CATs?
     5. Things you must-do after every mock you take

9. Sir,
   I have taking I.M.S.Mocks. I follow the approach mentioned in your blogs HOW I ATTEMPED……..! I attempt 30 in Verbal and 26 in quant every time!And I score 62 in Verbal and 58 in Quant almost every time!My percentile is in the range 80-85 for quant and 94-97 in Verbal with 92-95 Overall!I’d like to shoot it to 98-99.5..Suggest me a way!Thanks in advance!

   • *been taking

     • Karan, if you are stuck at the same attempts/scores then the possible reasons could be:
       1. accuracy – you can look at improving your accuracy especially in VALR where for 30 attempts you have a lower raw score. Target about 25 out of 30 correct in VALR and 22 out of 25-26 correct in QADI. This is usually achieved by regular revision of the important questions from the papers (Mocks and sectional tests) that you have taken. Please refer to the posts Things you must-do after every mock you take for more on this.
       2. inability to leave questions – after you have taken the Mock and analyse the paper do you find that there were questions that you should have attempted but did not then you need to work on this aspect. Please refer to the posts The single-most unpardonable, gravest sin you can commit in CAT and Are you choosing the right questions in your Mock CATs? for more on this issue.
       3. Knowledge – this is unlikely to be an issue but if you find that most of the questions that you did not attempt in the paper are unattemptable then you need to work on this area. Identify the topics that you are weak in and improve your concepts/fundamentals in these areas.
       4. Speed – this is actually a function of point 2 and and also of revision.
       You will have to identify which of the issue is stopping you from increasing your scores and work.
       Suggest that you join CL CAT Test Series as our tests have always been closest to CAT.

10. Hi sir,

    I am an avid reader of your articles as they really accentuate my thinking and further establish my understanding of the CAT.I have enrolled in the PIN Express program and had started preparing for CAT ’14 since the first week of August.I have improved drastically nonetheless I do have a couple areas to strengthen :-
    1.Quant : Probablility,PnC,progressions
    2.VA & LR : I have a crisp perception of knowledge and roughly need to practice (A LOT!)
    VA is my strength while Quant is often my Achilles’ heel.Please do add any significant advice towards the final month-odd sprint for CAT ’14 as I dedicatedly put in 8-10 hrs a day in studies.
    Thanks!
    Chandan

    • Chandan, the focus on these last couple of months should be on practice (test gym, sectional tests and online reading), testing (Mock CATs as per schedule) and analysis plus revision. You could consider the following weekly schedule:
      Day 1: Topic wise tests from the Test Gym eg, 2 tests each of RC, DI, LR and VL (14 questions each), 1 test of Usage (Sentence Correction and Vocabulary) and 3-4 of QADI or a sectional test each of QADI and VALR.
      Day 2: Repeat Day 1 schedule
      Day 3: Take a section test of QADI and VALR, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.
      Day 4: Repeat Day 1 schedule
      Day 5: Repeat Day 1 schedule
      Day 6: Revise all important questions from all the test that you have taken so far.
      Day 7: Take a Mock CAT
      In QADI if you are not comfortable with P&C and Probability then leave it and focus on the other topics, you will not lose more than a couple of questions.

      • Hmmm,makes sense.Thank you!

11. so that would be enough to fetch into the fms-bhu with an avg gd/pi..??

12. Sir I have set my NMAT in mid of october..In what ways my preparation for NMAT should be different from routine prep for CAT.
    P.S. I am a CL student and have access to SIS 🙂

    • Namita, except for taking the NMAT online mocks in the two weeks before your NMAT you really do not need to do anything different.

13. what would be the minimum attempt to secure 85-90% in cat??

    • Rajesh, I’ll come out with better estimates by end Oct but possibly a score of 110+ would be sufficient for a 90%ile.

14. hello gp sir..
    Can u plz tell me good cllg b/w rcm bhubneswar& taxila b-school jaipur in terms of placement..??

    • Dear Rajesh,

      RCM, Bhubaneshwar and Taxila Business School both are very low ranked institutes. Average placements at these institutes are not likely to offer more than Rs. 5 lacs p.a. Further, more than 50% of the batch may have difficulty in getting placed. It would be difficult to choose between these two institutes.

15. Sir, After I attempted my Additional Mock test in online mocks. I am unable to view the solutions neither in the Analysis tab nor in the Online mocks tab

    • Dear Chakravarty,

      Were you able to submit your test? Kindly check if the test was actually submitted. In case the test was submitted, the analysis should be visible.

16. minimum percentile required to clear cut off of IIM L,I,K and new ones when i am academically week(50-65%).Is attempting in actual exam around 30-35 in QA-DI with 85-90% accuracy sufficient to clear cutoff of all colleges?

    sir does JBIMS,MUMBAI takes cat?

    • Shashank, most of the institutes outside the IIMs have a low/no weight for past academics. The IIMs too do not have a very high weight for acads. You should target a score of over 99.5%ile for a call from top IIMs, over 99%ile for FMS, IIT Mumbai and other old IIMs and over 97.5%ile for new IIMs, other IITs, NITIE, MDI and SP Jain.
      A net score of over 55 marks (net 18 correct attempts) will be sufficient to clear the sectional cutoff of all IIMs. With 33 attempts and 6 incorrect answers (net score of 75) you would be over 99%ile in QADI.

17. Sir,
    I have 80.6% in 10 and 80.8% in class 12. But my graduation percentage for B.tech is only 53. Do I stand any chance of getting any IIM if I get more than 98 percentile? I don’t have any work experience.

    • Divay, with good marks in X and XII you have a chance of calls from all IIMs despite a 53% in B.Tech. Most of the institutes outside the IIMs have a low/no weight for past acadeics. You should target a score of over 99.5%ile for a call from top IIMs, over 99%ile for FMS, IIT Mumbai and other old IIMs and over 97.5%ile for new IIMs, other IITs, NITIE, MDI and SP Jain.

18. Dear Sir,
    Plz tell me what are the chances of an aspirant with 54% in ssc, 68% in hsc and 62% in btech in getting NITIE and IITB with 0 experiance. What %ile he shud get to ensure a call from NITIE and IITB.

    • Himanshu, NITIE, IITs and most of the institutes outside the IIMs do not consider past academics and hence a good CAT score will ensure an interview call from them.

19. With two months to go for the CAT…how should i decide upon whether to take adaptive gym tess or sectional tests??

    • Dear Chhhavi,

      The kind of Test you take depends on your preparation level.
      Adaptive Gym Tests -> Sectional Tests -> Full Length Tests should be the order.
      Each stage has its own importance. Adaptive Gym Tests are key to check your preparation level of a particular topic. Sectional tests will help you in strategizing for the sections as a whole.
      Full length tests will build up your stamina, speed and an overall strategy to attempt the paper.

      A

      • Maám,

        I’m gettin 90-102 in my Mocks.

        My plan going forward is::

        1.Give 3 Mocks.Analyze.
        I think its wierd…but i take a day and a half to anayse a mock thoroughly.But i do everything Gp says..categorizing questions so i kno my way goin forward.
        so half a day goes in giving d mock. the other half oh this day and d next day is d analysis.(its like a mock + analysis in 2 days)
        2.Now i go thru my categorisation sheet.The chapter with max question (hence max importance) and most mistakes i made in i start with.I give a TG Adaptive to know my current level.Prepare.This takes about 5-6 hours.
        Give a TGA again to c if my level has improved.
        Rinse . Repeat until level goes 1 UP 🙂
        3.Once this is done for the main say 5- chapters..i repeat this entire 2 step process again.
        My scores have come up from 36-40 to around 100 doing this.

        Would u suggest any improvements or does this plan look plan.

        An entire cycle
        3 tests + Analysis = 6 days
        Patchwork on chapter until level goes 1 up = 4 days

        on LOOP

        What ive noticed is once ive done my patch work on a chapter..doin it as thoroughly i do it…its troubles go away in d next test cycle

        or would u reccommend any alterations.
        Im a 94 %iler last year.
        A third time CAT giver.
        Ive left my job too so IM ALL IN.
        u just give me the direction..and ill STORM thru it 🙂

        • Rushil ,
          It is a good approach…. Keep following it … analysis is very important … You need to keep focussing on that … Make sure you attempt some past CAT papers in the coming month.
          Everyday revise some vocab as well as GA…..so that you are prepared for other exams as well.

20. Dear GP Sir!!!

    Please help me. I scored a decent 97 % in mock cat 05 but my Ist section was way dismal. I scored a meagre 13 marks out of 150!!!! One of the unproctored mocks i took also had dis same show(1 Section was way poor and 2section was good). I am bascially done with the concepts of Quant and DI But still i am not being able to increase my score in that section. Please advice what strategy should i adopt for the remaining 2 months to maximise my score in ist section so as to get a 98-99 percentile..

    • Dear Suhas,

      You need to analyse your mocks thoroughly and identify those areas/topics where you are regularly making mistakes. Revise the basics in these areas and then, practise as many problems from these areas as possible. Use Test Gym Adaptive thoroughly. This will help you build up speed as well as accuracy.

21. I am a CL student…
    Plz telle about sectional tests often talked in your blog…where can i find these in my sis account???

    • Dear Chhavi,

      In your SIS, go to Test Gym Classic V2.0. Test Gym Classic V2.0 contains the sectional tests.

22. From where can I find previous years CAT papers..I cant find them in my e lib in sis account

    • Dear Vaishali,

      Past years’ CAT questions are available in your sectional tests.

23. Sir,
    I am not very good at verbal and RCs are very time consuming ,but on the other hand in other parts of verbal I suffer on accuracy.Can I afford to leave RCs especially in the new format where we have freedom of switching?
    Please suggest!

    • Dear Aman,
      IIM’s will most probably still have sectional cut off’s. So despite.no sectional limits…you will still need a 85 % ile in VA section or atleast 30 Attempts with a good accuracy.
      In case you feel RC’s are time consuming, then try and practice the Verbal Logic part so that along with Logical reasoning you have some 20-25 questions in hand and you only have to solve one more RC. But it would be very difficult to leave out all the RC’s

    • Dear Aman,

      Most good b-schools consider sectional cutoffs. Therefore, leaving the Verbal section or the RC portion is not advisable.

24. With roughly 40 days left for the NMAT exam, please suggest the strategy to score minimum 215+. Last year, my score was 192. What all areas should I focus? I felt that I struggled in DI & waste my lot of tym in it.

    Thanks in advance. 🙂

    • Dear Lucky,

      Focus on building up your problem solving speed. This is critical to doing well in NMAT. Use SQC techniques for DI. Take at least a few NMAT mocks so that you are familiar with the NMAT pattern and have a relevant test-taking strategy in place.

25. Sir i have a problem of attempting way too many questions in verbal section which eventually mess up my final score, please suggest me some ways to overcome this???

    • Dear Yash,

      The simplest solution for this is to finalize your test-taking strategy before starting your mock test. Set a target of no more than 25 attempts in either section (50 attempts overall). Stick to this target and try to improve your accuracy. If you have some spare time at the end of your test, use it to revise those questions in which you were not sure of your answer. Try this for the next 2 mocks and see if this helps you. Once you have good accuracy at this number of attempts, start increasing your attempts gradually.

26. Hello Sir, how is an ‘attempt’ defined in the analysis section? Plus, how can I know the time I took in solving a question?
    I liked the way the graph showing the earlier scores of mocks.

    • Dear Siddhartha,

      Every question that you answer (whether correctly or incorrectly) counts as an attempt. The time management analysis will become available shortly.

27. Hi,
    How much score should I consistently maintain in CL mocks to be assured of a 95pc minimum in CAT-14. As of now, my mock scores have fallen between 80 & 105. What is my scope of improvement? Pls help.

    • Dear Gopal,

      By the end of September, you should be attempting around 50 questions in your mocks consistently (around 25 in each section, with at least 80% accuracy). By the end of October, you should be attempting around 60-65 questions in your mocks consistently (with at least 80% accuracy) in order to expect 95 percentile + in CAT. As of now, your performance is on track. Work towards being more consistent (80 to 105 is a large range).

28. Sir Test gym adaptive is a great tool but there is a loophole in it in the sense that you cant leave a question unattempted. So if you are stuck on a ques and want to move to next ques you have no option but to guess the answer and if by mistake that answer gets correct, you may undeservingly advance to the next level!!

    • Dear Ashu,

      You only have a one in four chance of getting an answer correct by mistake. Very often, students are not confident of their answer choice though they may have correctly identified the right answer. In such cases, if the student does not mark the answer, he will not get marked for it despite the fact that he was able to solve the question. Forcing you to attempt the question ensures that even if you are not sure of your answer, you still have to attempt the question and thereby, your actual level gets measured.

      • Fair Enough!!

29. sir which are the best colleges in punjab for MBA??

    • Dear Manjoth,

      UBS Chandigarh is a decent option. You may also consider good b-schools in other parts of North India. Some examples would be FMS Delhi, MDI Gurgaon, IIFT, IMI, etc.

30. I have filled the application forms for XAT and SNAP. Do i need to apply or register for the respective institutes of these exams or should/can i wait for the results after giving the exam ?

    • Brijesh, the last date for application to the institutes is usually before the date of the exam and hence you will have to apply without knowing how you have performed in the test. It is advisable for you to delay applying to the instituters to as late as possible to ensure you have a good idea (based on Mocks) of how you are likely to perform in XAT/SNAP.

      • Thank you so much sir.
        How much XAT/SNAP score is required for the admissions in the institutions that accept these scores like XLRI, Symbiosis, etc.?
        and how can the mock percentile be compared with the XAT/SNAP percentile/score ?

        • Dear Brijesh,
          We will do a separate post on which institutes to apply on the basis of your percentile in mocks. Details on XAT\ SNAP institute specific cut offs will also be posted soon.

          • Thank you so much mam.

31. Come on guys it’s not a tough question, answer please!

    • Dear Dexter,

      You may still feed the AIMCAT scores. That facility is still available.

32. Sir,
    Where to prepare static GK from especially for exams like SNAP?

    • Dear Pakshaal,

      To prepare for static GK, you should first go through previous years’ papers so that you get an overview of the kind of questions asked. Further, you should solve some model question papers/ CL’s mock tests. Static GK questions come from diverse topics. Hence, in order to prepare for this, you should be well-versed in all the basic sections/areas of GK, viz. history, polity, geography, sci, economy, etc. Some suggested readings are as follows:
      1) Lucent’s GK
      2) Manorama Year Book 2014
      3) Any national daily news paper
      4) A monthly magazine like Pratiyogiota Darpan/Civil Services Chronicle

      • Okay. Thank you

33. When will the IIFT GK compendium be available on the SIS ?

    • Dear Vaibhav,

      It will be available before the end of September.

      • Also, I wanted to ask if it would be enough for the preparation(clearing the GK cutoff for IIFT) ?

        • Dear Vaibhav,

          The compendium will be quite comprehensive and will certainly be very helpful for your preparation. In addition to the compendium, it would be useful for you to read at least one good newspaper and one good monthly magazine regularly.

34. Please suggest some ways to increase the number of attempts.
    I am getting an accuracy of more than 80% but the attempts refuse to go beyond 50 questions.

    • same problem is faced by me. In both mocks of new pattern my accuracy was> 90 % but could not exeed 45 attempts and score being about 105. Please suggest some way to increase my score.

      • Also throw some light on how to attempt grammar, EU and vocab. Most of d time even after knowing answer but lackingconfidence cant attempt them.

        • Dear Chhavi,

          Practise more problems. Use Test Gym Adaptive thoroughly. As you attempt more problems, you should gain more confidence. If you know the answers and have decent accuracy, then practising more problems should be sufficient to take care of the confidence issue. For attempting questions from EU, grammar and vocab, a good approach can be to try and eliminate options when in doubt. Typically, you should be able to reject at least one or two of the options directly. For the rest of the options, try to find reasons for rejecting each of the options. Whichever option appears least objectionable should be your answer.

      • Dear Chhavi,

        Practise more problems. Use Test Gym Adaptive thoroughly. This will help you build up your speed as well as your accuracy.

    • Dear Soumak,

      Practise more problems. Use Test Gym Adaptive thoroughly. This will help you build up your speed as well as your accuracy.

35. Gp sir,
    i have sent u an e-mail.pls reply asap.

    thanks.

36. sir what would be the expected score to get atleast 99.5%ile in cat 2014?

    • Dear Nilesh,

      Around 70 attempts in CAT ’14, with 90% accuracy, should be good enough for 99.5 percentile and upwards.

      • Sir,
        If u’re predicting 99.5+ %ile at a score of 180+ then is the CAT Percentile Predictor correct in showing 97%ile at a score of around 105 in the Cl procmocks.??

        • Dear Vaibhav,

          Yes, typically there is a steep decline in marks in the 100 percentile to about 95 percentile range. After that, marks decline relatively gradually.

37. Good post. Anyways what I wanted to ask you guys was that in the CAT percentile predictor you update the CL scores automatically but we have to feed the AIMCAT scores, so I fed all the scores at the time but it’s not asking for scores of the newer AIMCATS (1514N onwards). So, will that change or from now on will you only use the data from CL mocks?

    • Dear Dexter,

      You may still feed the AIMCAT scores. That facility is still available.