“CAT 2014 – How I Attempted New Pattern Mock CAT 18” by Gejo

The setting of this attempt was different – I had taken the test in a classroom in front of my students.

I sincerely believe that the video of my attempt of Proc Mock CAT 18 will give you clear insights into how you can execute the CAT in such a manner that you solve the questions you should have solved.

Just a few days to CAT, what can we do?

That must be the question in your mind. Well, the answer is simple – you cannot gain more knowledge, but you can still ensure that your current knowledge is fully utilized. That is the problem, isn’t it? You end up not solving questions that you should have solved.

So, the answer to the question is this – You must execute a plan during the CAT which ensures that you solve all the questions that you should have solved.

“I will solve all I can”

Here are few simple things that you must do:

  • Accuracy is paramount:
    Many are happy with 80% accuracy. To me, that is bad. Look at it this way – 20% of the questions were wrong; 20% of the time got wasted; given the 1/3rd negative marking the net time wasted would be around 27%. 27% of 170 minutes is 45 minutes! 45 minutes got wasted when you achieve 80% accuracy! You can’t afford that, can you?Accuracy should be really high – as close to 100% as possible! That would in turn mean that you should NOT mark the answer that you are not sure of or rather, you are sure that you are not sure. Also, you would know the areas where you tend to make silly mistakes. Be careful when you attempt such questions. Read instructions carefully. Don’t try and hurry things up just to solve more questions. Speed does not come from solving questions faster; speed comes from knowing how much you want to attempt and having a good plan to achieve that target!
  • Set a target:
    This is a slightly difficult thing to do – when we can’t be 100% sure as to what score well get us to 98+%ile. However, you are work out this based on the “I will solve all I can” principle. If you have been analysing your mocks, you can get a hold of this magic number.For me, the target I set when I took the mocks were – 30+ attempts in each section. For those of you aiming for ‘IIM percentile’[which I believe is all you] , you must look at an overall attempt of around 50+ with a 20+ in section 1 and 25+ in section 2.This helps to create your plan.
  • Have a plan:
    The questions are given in a certain order – you don’t have to follow that order. You plan must be a simple one – solve the ‘easy’ ones first and then move on to the difficult one.This is normally my plan:
  • 80 minutes for each section with a 10 minutes buffer.
  • My rough sequence:
  • Section2 80 minutes Section 1 80 minutes Buffer 10 min
    Time(min)-> 30 20* 30 35 15* 30 10*
    Area -> EU LR RC QA(R1) DI(R1) R2
    Target (Quest)-> 12+ 6 – 8 10 – 12 12 – 15 6 – 8 7 – 8
    The attempts will depend on the ‘manageability’ of the sets 3 or 4 sets based on how many LRs I could solve [I will pick the ones I think I can solve in less time] The attempts will depend on the ‘manageability’ of the sets Allotted to the section which I fell shot

    The above sequence acts as my rough guideline. You need to have a rough plan as to how you would go about with the sequencing of attempts. Once you have a plan, all you need is to execute that plan.

  • Disciplined Test Taking 

    One of the biggest issues is panic. The key to avoid panic is being in control. The trick is you have to act like you are in control!

  • Create milestones:You have these rough targets that you designed. So you know where you should be (in terms of attempts) at some particular points in time. This will help you understand as to whether things are going as per plan. Trust me, it always does if you just handle this one thing – “Learn to quit”!
  • Learn to Quit:You call it ego, you call it not wanting to leave your favourite topic – whatever be the issue – getting stuck in a question is a serious problem. The solution is actually very simple – just leave the question for later. Yes, learn to quit. If you go through the video, you will see umpteen cases where I have quit – sometimes after reading the question, sometimes after solving for a while. The moment you feel things you are stuck, come leave it and come back later if you have time.

In Proc Mock 18: this was how it happened for me:

Net: 31 attempts in Section 1 and 34 attempts in Section 2, Total 64 attempts

Before I leave, let me give you one last thought – Reassure yourself & Enjoy the process: When things don’t go as planned, reassure “Don’t worry”. When things go as planned, tell yourself “Good job”. Enjoy the whole process. Treat it like a ‘strategy game’ that you are playing with an awesome reward at the end. Play the game.

Regards
Gejo

58 Comments

  1. Dear Gejo/GP Sir,

    Could you please explain the technique of solving the RC question of the type – “What question would you ask the author?”

    Regards

    Ameya Karambelkar

    • The technique is this:

      Eliminate the folowing:
      1. Questions that the author cant answer – IRRELEVANT ones
      2. Questions that the author already answered

      Pick the one which:
      1. Priority: Brings out certain logical flaw in what the author has mentioned
      2. Follow up question

      • Sir, i have several times tried to post this query but it was not visible.

        I belong to SC category. I usually get around 25 marks in QADI and 65-75 marks in VALR totalling to 90-95 marks.

        Now, I am worried about that my marks in QADI will yield a %ile below 65 (sectional cut off).

        How much minimum marks is needed to clear the sectional cut off ?

        I urgently need your help. Thank You.

        (I hope my query gets posted as I had tried a number of times before)

        • Abhijeet, the sectional cutoff for SC candidates is 75%ile and my estimate is that a score of approximately 40 marks will be required for this.

  3. Sir, my accuracy in DI is coming very low, around 60%. I’m committing lots of silly mistakes. Please give your suggestions as to what to do in these 3 days.

    Thanks

    • Samrath,

      All that I can say is to double check the DIs. 40% mistakes because of silly mistakes is pretty frustrating. So, I would advise that you check your answer once again. Yes, it may take a bit of extra time, but then the upside is a great improvement in score.

      Regards

  4. Dear Jejo sir,
    your sqc video was truly outstanding. I like the way you kept on mentioning that all those methods are for brave ones only. Truly it is, was able to increase my attempts at least by 2 since watching the video. Sir just wanted to have a rough idea although you have cleared it many a times, how much percentile i am looking at a score of 125-140. Because i usually score in this range with an average score of 70-80 in QA and 50-60 in VA. Kindly mention the sectioal percentiles at this score. Thanks in advance!!!

  5. Sir,
    I am consistently scoring 80+ in the VA section of nearly all the mocks. Could you tell me what percentile this score translates to in CAT?
    My QA scores vary a lot. From 45-65. Given the answer to my first question,what should be my ideal QA score to get 99+ percentile?
    Thanks

  6. Dear Sir

    I have seen your sqc video but still in series type question i get often confused. Do u have some series sets of question through which i could strengthen this part?

  7. Hi Sir,
    I have a query related to no of attempts in VA/LR section as we can never be sure of the answers. Is it better to attempt more no of questions in va section to obtain good marks or stick to 20-30 and if I get 90-95 percentile in quant n 80-90 in verbal..what percentile am I likely to get??

    • Hi Mona,

      While it is true that in VA, one cannot be 100% sure of the answer. But then we get into situations where we are confused with a couple of options. In such a case, do not take the risk – that’s my advise. Now, you could look at this way – If my avoiding risk your score improves, then avoid risks. If that does not happen take risk.

      If you get 95 percentile in QA and 90 percentile in VA, that would mean that you are scoring about 60 in Section 1 and about 50 in Section 2 with an overall 110. That would take you to about 90-95 bracket.

      Regards

  8. Sir, I have attempted all my mocks the same way you and GP sir attempt them! Scored 92-97.5 percentile in them. But one question always remained in my head: Why you do EU+VL first and then L.R? Why not L.R. first?
    Thanx in advance.

    • Karan, I prefer completing language related questions (EU & RC) together and the Maths related questions (LR, QA, DI) together. My performance in RC goes down if I leave it for the end and also want to start the paper with my area of strength. An added advantage is that EU is low reading effort and it helps me get warmed up for RC.
      Gejo will give his reasons separately.

  9. Hello sir,
    Candidates reporting time for forenoon session is 7.30 am and no candidate will be allowed inside the test centre after 8.45, sir can we report centre in between or we have to reach there exactly at 7.30, I am asking this because reaching early will decrease my energy before the test.

  10. Gejo Sir!!

    Kindly tell what according to you would be the tentative score to fetch above 98 percentile in this year cat?

    Thanks
    Suhas Goel

  11. Dear Sir,

    I am aiming for calls from the IIMs. What should my target scores be in each of the sections ( I am weaker in QA/DI).

    Also will it be better to scan visiting each question manually or see the whole paper at once (which does not show the options).

    Thanks in advance.

    Regards,
    Arpita

    • Arpita,

      The first is just to understand the broad composition of the paper – and not the difficulty level of the questions. Before you start with the questions, it is always a good idea to understand the ‘pitch’.

      Well, since you are weaker in QA/DI try for at least 20 net questions (60 marks) and then maximize your Section 2 (around 80-90 marks).

      Regards

  12. Sir,

    While I understand that accuracy is paramount since the time spent on solving questions wrongly is not just waste but takes our scores down, I have a doubt.

    In QA/DI/LR we can be perfectly sure if we are right or not since we will either get the answer right as per the option or not, so we can do our best to be 100% accurate by marking only those we are sure of.

    But in VA/RC there are some questions we are not so sure of, and after spending quite a bit of time, I find it difficult to simply leave it and move on, since out of 6-7 such questions in every mock, I get about 50% of them right. This means that my net score has increased. Moreover, after spending significant time on a question, if I simply leave it because I am not sure, I am afraid I end up not attempting too many questions, which then would not help in increasing overall score.

    How to address this issue?

    Thanks
    Tejas

  13. Hi Sir,

    First of all thanks for another great write up.

    Secondly I needed a really quick and effective guidance as with just 3 days in hand I don’t want to hit the panic button -which I already feel is about to blow in some deep dark corner of my head (will be a heartbreak if all the hard work goes down the drain)

    I am also (like other people in the above comments) attempting somewhere around 180-190 but I score only between (110-125).

    Now when I analyse the paper I try to solve the questions which had gone wrong without looking at the solutions and to my surprise I get 90% of them correct. Well this keeps me thinking how do i do that within those 170 mins.But sadly am not able to get the strategy right.

    I still have 5 unprocs left which I intend to give in the next three days.

    Please Sir, just a little help (on strategy) as to how can I turn that nightmare of 18 incorrect into a gold mine of 160+.
    I know how to solve them am just not able to during the exam!!!! FRUSTRATING!

    • Rohit,

      It can be really really frustrating to know that you can get to 160 but you get to 110! Let me take an analogy from cricket. Many a cases even the best ones gets out to a really stupid ball by playing some stupid shots. All they needed was a little more discipline, little more calmness, little less panic.

      Take a pause and look at why are you getting it wrong:
      – Did you miss reading something in the question
      – Did you make a calculation error
      Whatever be the reason, be aware of the same.

      And when you take the rest, dont gun for speed – read ‘aaramse’, solve methodically. For those questions that you are prone to make silly mistake be a tad careful.

      Being in control is about acting like you are in control. You will do just fine.

      Carpe Diem!

      Regards

  14. Sir,

    I’m in serious need to your help here. I’m mentioning my mock marks for better suggestions.

    Mock CAT 19: QA – 68, VA – 55, OA – 123
    Mock CAT 17: QA – 68, VA – 69, OA – 138
    Mock CAT 16: QA – 66, VA – 98, OA – 164
    Mock CAT 14: QA – 48, VA – 56, OA – 104
    Mock CAT 11: QA – 44, VA – 60, OA – 104

    As is visible, my VA score always exceeds QA score, but, I feel myself more comfortable solving quant questions.

    My strategy – VA – 85 mins, QA – 85 mins
    Attempts – VA – 35 – 45 A, QA – 30 – 35 A
    Accuracy – VA – 75 – 80%, QA – 80 – 85%

    Hence not able to figure out whether I should stick to time limits of 85 – 85, or dedicate more time to VA/QA.

    Please help me with your able guidance how I should tackle the paper.

    • You have to replicate Mock 16!

      If I look at your scores, I think the biggest issue is to accuracy. 75% accuracy in VA would mean 25% of the time got wasted; well, because of the negative marking that would be about 33% of the time – that’s 28 minutes out of 85!

      Your score in QA has become consistent – about 68. What you need to ensure is better accuracy in Section 2: When that happens, you will score 150-160! That is an IIM score. What you need is 80 marks in section 2 – that’s 25 questions solved accurately. Sit for one day and figure out the mistakes that you are making. Create a plan to get to net 25 questions done accurately. You are through! I do not think its an issue of time allocation. Dont change that. Figure out that thing you have to change while solving Section 2

      Regards

  15. Sir,
    In this mock I got 49 correct out of 61 attempts. Approximately, how many attempts and accuracy would fetch me a 99% mark in main exam.

    • Keep the accuracy as close to 100 as possible… 90% accuracy – that way, you are not wasting time. Your attempts is good. get your accuracy from 80% to 90%. You will get to very high CAT percentile.

  16. Sir,

    If a question comes for which none of the given options match with answer, shall I leave that question unattempted or mark any option? In which case I will be given marks?

  18. Sir

    If a person does 30 questions Gets all correct ie 90 marks.
    Another person does 54 gets 38 correct and gets 98 marks.
    Is it true that the first person gets a better percentile than the second?

  19. Hi Sir ,

    Cat website says the process of normalization is going to be employed this time.Could you please explain the process ? Last time around , there was a huge uproar caused by it.

    Thanks And Regards ,

    Binay

  20. sir attempt around 60-65 in sufficient with 3-4 wrong to cross 99 percentile.I am attempting around 28 & 36 in QA&DI+VA&LR.getting score from 100 to 120?

    • Hi,

      You are attempting close to 192 marks worth of questions but getting only about 120. That’s a very low accuracy. That would mean than you are getting around 46 correct out of the 64 attempts. You are better of attempting about 50 and getting 46 correct. That way, your score would be about 135.

      You must avoid making guesses and focus on accuracy. This may pull your attempt down, but will shoot your score close to 99 percentile.

      Regards

    • Chandresh,

      If 99.9+ percentile is what you are aiming, then your score should ideally cross 180+. That’s close to solving 60+ questions accurately.

      In Section 2, you would need about 22-24 from RC+EU and about 8 from LR. One cannot ‘trust’ LR – that is to say, there could be tough LRs and manageable LR. You will have to take a call on it based on its merit. If you get your RCs in place, then your score will shoot up.

      One thing though, don’t mark if you are not sure, there is no point in aimlessly attempting to get to 99.9%ile and then get many wrongs.

      Regards

  22. Sir, score of 80-100 would fetch how many percentile in CAT, Please suggest I am not able to stretch my score more than this. I want to achieve 120 score.

  23. Sir
    I am scoring around 40-55 in QA/DI and 65-75 in VA/LR . i am quite afraid of QA/DI as not able to complete in time

    I always choose QA/DI first (due to fear of QA, want to do when i am fresh) and then give it 85-90 min and after that i solve VA/LR in 80-85 min .
    Should i solve VA/LR first .
    please also state your criteria to choose VA/LR or QA/DI order

    • Vijay,

      My rationale behind solving Section 2 first is this – RC and LR are two major chunks. I really dont want to do that towards the end. So, I do Section 2 first.

      Your point of view is also okay – there is absolutely no problem with that. My suggestion is to keep 80-80-10, A 10 minute buffer time at the end, just in case you need to give more time to Section 2. Rest is fine.

      In Section 1, ensure that you do in Rounds – First Round about 30 minutes – You need to reach Qn 50! That would mean you are only picking the questions that you can understand in first read and solve. Also, leave when you get stuck. Pick a few unproc mocks and practice this.

      Regards

  24. Sir,
    CAT2014 Normalization process is out now.
    Please write an article clarifying all doubts like accuracy,etc will matter this time like last CAT2013 ?
    Please do explain the scoring process in detail as released on cat2014 website.
    Thanx in advance.

    • Saurabh, there is no data to suggest that accuracy mattered last year in the normalisation process.
      I will be coming out with a blog on the normalisation process.

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