CAT preparation: How to transform your weakest section into the strongest one? -By Anubhav Singh from IIM Lucknow - Part 2

To ace CAT, you have to perform well on D-day. To perform well on D-day, you have to prepare well. When can you confidently say that you have done everything you can towards your CAT preparation? Almost all aspirants have weak sections, for some, it's VARC, for others it's QA and DILR, or some other combination. So how do you go about your weak sections? Do you play your game on weaker sections or stronger ones? Do you need to perform exceptionally well on your stronger sections so as to compensate for weaker ones? And finally, the most important question is, how do you make your weakest section into your strongest section? 

CAT preparation involves learning concepts and practicing them, may it be taking mocks, sectionals, or just solving questions from past year papers. Writing mocks and analysing them is a must if you want to get a decent percentile. I bought two full mock series and I can’t emphasize more on taking mocks on a regular basis. Here are some things that will help you in your sectional CAT preparation;

QA preparation

I don’t suggest any heavy books in the market (even if you are a non-engineer). Here is what you need. Get chapter-wise funda books from any institute (you already have that if you are a classroom student of any coaching center) or buy second hand, formulas are not going to change. The good thing about CAT QA is that you don’t have to be a mathematician to get 99+, know this thing as a fact QA is about aptitude. 

So you have your funda books, now go through it once or twice, as needed. Understand concepts and applications well, make notes for revision, and start practicing questions. Initially, you can take your own time, but when you get the hang of the topic, I suggest you start practicing in a time constraint manner. Taking an entire day to solve a question will not help to crack the section. 

Do this process for every topic. And keep revising those notes that you are making (you are not making them to get churmure in it, are you?) Once you are done with 60-70% of the syllabus, start taking full-length sectionals. Don’t worry about low scores, it will improve (The phoenix must burn to emerge).

Bonus tip: Practice calculations once a week for about 2-3 hours. You don’t want to put numbers on the calculator from your mouse when others are doing mental maths. Just pick questions from topics like ratios and percentages and try to do them orally (don’t you dare touch that pen).

DILR preparation 

When I started my CAT preparation, I tried to find good books on DILR, but I failed. There is no such book for this section. More importantly, you don’t need any, all you need to do is find lots of sets from previous year papers, current year mocks/sectionals, and old mocks of different coachings (definitely you have to dig a little but eventually you will find it online) and solve them. 

The calculation practice that we talked about in the QA section will also be very helpful here. CAT DILR is more abstract and unpredictable than most other MBA exams. And that is what makes it beautiful as every set is as new for a repeater as for a fresher.

Bonus tip: The trick to cracking this section is to not get trapped in any setting. You don’t need to do all the questions of the selected set. You have to be more question oriented rather than (as most people are) set-oriented.

VARC preparation 

This was my weakest section, I scored zeros and negatives here. VARC is a nightmare for most engineers like me. I was always so sure that this section would ruin my CAT. But one day, after another zero or so, I had a crazy thought. I just thought what if I make VARC my strongest section? What if I can get 99 percentile in VARC? Wouldn’t it be great!

But is it even possible? I had my doubts but I thought there is no harm in trying. So, I talked to my teachers, read articles (as you are reading now), and watched many interviews with toppers. I found many things but here I am listing down those that worked for me and I am sure it will also do good for you:

• Read: I know you have already heard it millions of times, but believe me, this is the only way. And if you are the one with the weakest VARC, take my advice, go and start reading. Read books, articles, newspapers, magazines whatever you get your hands on, READ!!! You will not see any improvement for a few days, but don’t stop. Also, reading is a habit that you should inculcate even if it’s not for CAT.
• Improve Vocabulary: Vocab questions are not very frequent in CAT (even if they ask, it will mostly be contextual) but it will help you a lot in comprehension. Also, during your CAT preparation try to do jargon of different fields like philosophy, medical science, art, culture, etc. 
• Practice Verbal Ability: Keep practicing VA questions every now and then. Make sure to give VA at least 10 minutes in every mock, as sometimes (like in CAT 2019, slot 2) it can throw a few easy questions. I know, para-jumbles of CAT are of good level, but you can’t simply skip the practice.

Bonus tip: While reading, make sure you read something that you hate the most. Read all kinds of topics ranging from history to culture to evolution. Increase your familiarity with each and every topic. It will help you in comprehension as well as in the VA part.

All in all, remember, “Spectacular achievement is always preceded by unspectacular preparation”  - Robert H. Schuller

Good Luck!

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