CAT 2015 last day tips: How to conduct yourself on the D-day

By Parasharan Chari

 

Good Morning!

Hope you had a peaceful refreshing sleep last night. So what if it seems an irony on the day of CAT 2015, it makes sense to hope you had a wonderful sleep. And hope you are carrying the admit card and the ID proof.

Here is a small set of instructions with the purpose of reinforcing the basics of “How to conduct yourself on the D-day”.

Once all the procedure is over, and once you enter your test cubicle, read the instructions carefully. A lot of the instructions are redundant but doesn’t mean you shouldn’t read them carefully. The flip-side is that you really do not have anything more constructive to do in that last half an hour.

Once you are through with the instructions, go through the demo to get acclimatised with the test environment and considering the fact that you all would have been through a test series or the other, there isn’t much to add / subtract, it is just the thing of getting comfortable, and that’s all!

When it is just a minute or two for the paper to begin, start revisiting the test strategy you would have prepared, so that from the moment you start the paper, you are already in the right gear and in the right direction.

CAT 2015 last minute tips: Experts answer 4 important questions

 

Verbal Ability:

Go through the paper to know the exact number of questions in RCs so that you know how to space out the paper. Getting the right composition of RCs (most time consuming) vs Parajumbles, Verbal Logic questions (semi-time consuming) Vs vocabulary / Grammar questions (least time consuming) so that the time distribution and the order can be planned. Just in case there are a new variety of question(s), just ensure you maintain calm and finish the familiar ones before venturing out to the newer varieties. Better Time management in itself is capable of increasing your score by a good margin.

 

Analytical Reasoning & Data Interpretation:

As indicated in the demo, it will be eight sets with four questions each. That means the planning has to be to solve the easier sets first before moving to the next level and so on. For the same, a bird’s eye view of the section is important. Post the bird’s eye view, it is necessary to put the sets in order according to personal preference. While in a set, be patient enough to get it right rather than jumping back and forth between the sets.

 

Quantitative Aptitude : This section needs “rounds”. First round of going through the extremely easy sitters and simultaneously ensuring all the questions are categorized according to difficulty levels so that we know which ones to move to as soon as the sitters are over. (Sitters would mean the questions which will not take more than a min to solve depending on the topics of personal control / preference). Post that, according to personal preference and comfort, we should move into the 2^nd set of questions and then the 3^rd and so on. If the Quant questions are approached in such “rounds”, unnecessary overspending is avoided.

 

General DOs and DONTs for CAT 2015 exam:

 

• Read the tutorial carefully
• Stay calm and think through your subsection strategy & always have a plan B in case of contingencies
• Keep a constant eye on the timer and do not overspend in any question / set
• Use the "View the paper" option to have a bird’s eye view of the paper
• Use the calculator wisely
• Avoid guesswork
• Give your best shot.

 

Have a great paper and an overwhelming GDPI season.

Enjoy cracking CAT 2015!

 

Best wishes.

About the Author

The author Parasharan Chari is an alumnus of SP Jain and is currently serving as the Chief Operating Officer at Endeavor Careers and is also associated with the design and development of its online testing portal www.CatGurus.com.