Come September and most CAT aspirants start asking themselves, “What should I do now?” With barely two months left for the common admission test –– scheduled to be held on November 18, 2007 –– it is natural for aspirants to worry about their preparation plan. But worrying never helps. Instead, right now you should brush up on what you have learnt, remain calm and be focussed on the exam.

At this point of time your role as a fighting soldier tends to cease and a general’s strategic approach should begin. A strategic approach is important to counter the deadly combination of cut-throat competition and the killer surprise element called the CAT pattern. The more so because the number of CAT takers is increasing exponentially every year. This year the numbers are expected to touch the two lakh mark.

By now, you should have familiarised yourself with various question types in data interpretation (DI), reading comprehension and the tricky ones that can appear in the quantitative section. You should have identified your strengths and weaknesses — here, one must remember that an easy question is one that can be solved in minimum time and not the one that you may think is easy — and learned the art of time management (this becomes important the moment you realise that you are good at concepts and assessment but only if you had time to do it all). If you think you addressed these challenges in the right manner in the previous months, I would say you did the first part of your job really well.

Revision and analysis

One of the main objectives of your preparation should be simulating the CAT. We don’t mean just blind testing — you should optimise your score to reach a good percentile. The integral part of revision is taking mock CATs. At this stage you should do at least two mock CATs every week. And more importantly, after taking the test analyse the paper to know where you faltered. Sectional, topic-wise and accurate analysis of the mock CATs is, therefore, important to know your real strengths. This would help you to understand which questions to attempt and which ones to avoid.

Mock CAT analysis

We have defined an analysis method for CAT aspirants to sail smoothly on D-day. These parameters include: Know your EMD count — easy, medium and difficult questions. At the end of each mock test you need to know and record your EMD count.

The focus of your attempt: At the onset of the exam scan through the paper to understand the order of your EMD. First attempt the easy ones and then the difficult ones always. Sectional count: Noting down your sectionwise score will help you to find out your strong and weak areas with regard to your attempt and accuracy.

Ace the MBA entrance

As you take mock CATs, you will understand the ABC of your attempt. This means you will know the questions that will be your speed accelerators (one liners, one graph, questions) speed breakers (where choices are very close) and carry home questions (that take time to attempt).

Time killed: It is also important to recall how much time was lost in solving questions that eventually went wrong, that you thought were easier and were from your not-very-strong topics. You should reduce the time spent on this.

Must-do topics

An analysis of the last three years’ CAT shows that the share of number theory and geometry in the quantitative section and that of reading comprehension in the verbal section has increased considerably. If the total percentage of number theory questions in the quantitative section was four in 2004, it increased to 12 in 2005 and in 2006, these questions constituted 28 per cent of those in this section.

Similarly, geometry questions in CAT 2004 constituted 15 per cent of the total number of questions in the quant section. In 2005, geometry increased to 17 per cent and in 2006 to 20 per cent.

In the verbal section if reading comprehension (RC) constituted 21 per cent of the paper in 2004, the CAT in 2005 had 20 per cent RC questions and in 2006 RC constituted a whopping 60 per cent of the questions in the verbal section.

Hence, your study plan must be structured around revising these topics thoroughly.

On the other hand, vocabulary and para-jumbles in the verbal section, and time and work, ratio and proportion, profit-loss questions in the quantitative section had a negligible contribution in the previous three CATs.

Managing test anxiety

Most of the time and energy in November should be focussed on self-control. Test anxiety, if not addressed at this stage, can spoil your year-long preparation. Agreed, this test means a lot to you. But don’t let it bear you down.

Learn to relax, unwind and stay calm. Go for walks, read books and newspapers. Meditate and do deep-breathing exercises — things that help you to stay calm. Talk to friends but avoid the panicky-cribby types who will add to anxiety levels.

A day before the test try to eat and rest well. On the day of the test have a light meal before the exam and reach the centre well in time.

In the end, you must believe that you are a sprinter whose goal is not to score more but rather to score better than the best in India. This is a whole percentile game and insulated preparation spoils the spirit of winning it. Wish you all the best for C-Day.

(Atul Prashar is associated with Top Careers and You, a north-India based CAT training institute)