Anisha has done MBA in Marketing from NMIMS And Executive Management(PMNO) from Harvard Business School. She has been instrumental in growing CATKing Digital with her experience with Marico and Henkel in the past.
CAT 2023 strategies
What is CAT?
Common Aptitude Test- CAT is a computer-based test for admission in postgraduate management programs in India. CAT provides admissions for more than 500 MBA colleges in India including All 20 IIMs, FMS, JBIMS, SPJIMR, MDI, IMT, DoMS IITs, IISc, etc. Let's know more about the exam and CAT 2023 preparations. For Preparation Join our CAT 2023 Courses
Also Read: CAT exam RC passages
CAT 2023 Exam pattern
CAT (Common Admission Test) is an MBA entrance exam to get through B-School. Before we jump onto the CAT strategies let's understand the pattern and weight of the marks. CAT is primarily divided into 3 sections viz Quants, LR / DI, and Verbal ability. The following table helps us understand the no. of questions & time duration for each of them.
| Subjects | Questions | Duration |
| Quants | 34 Question | 60 Minutes |
| LR / DI | 32 Questions | 60 Minutes |
| Verbal | 34 Questions | 60 minutes |
There are a total of 100 questions that need to be solved in 180 mins i.e. approximately you have 1.8 mins per question. Also Read: Percentile required for getting a call from IIM
Eligibility for CAT
The candidate is eligible for CAT if he/she satisfies the following criteria:
- The candidate should own a Bachelor’s degree with at least 50% marks or equivalent CGPA (45% for SC, ST, and PWD/DA categories).
- the percentage received in bachelor’s degree could be calculated on the premise of practice observed through the involved college/institution. In the case of grades/CGPA, the conversion might be based on the manner defined by the involved university/ organization.
- In the absence of any per cent conversion scheme, the candidate’s CGPA could be divided through the most possible CGPA and multiplied the result with 100.
- applicants appearing for the very last year of bachelor’s degree/equivalent qualification are also eligible to apply for CAT.
CAT 2023 Strategies:
Focus on the percentage, not the percentile:
Often we hear that a student scored 99.99%tile (percentile) to get a call from the top IIMs. This is true in most cases however, did you know the %tage (percentage) required to get that kind of percentile? Can you make any guesses? In 2016 CAT, if you scored 213 marks out of 300 you would get 99.99%tile i.e. 71% of marks and for 99.95%tile you needed a score of 200 out of 300 i.e. 66.67% Haven’t you scored a first-class or distinction in your 10th, 12th & graduation classes? If you have this is surely achievable. Now that you do not have that extra high percentile burden on your head; think of CAT as an exam where you need to score between 67-70% +.
Start slow but be consistent:
No matter what activity it may be, a disciplined student has a much better chance of scoring high than a disciplined one. The study is like going to the gym, you may not do a night out & get a body like Arnold Schwarzenegger, but it will take a disciplined & persistent effort. for CAT 2020 strategies, An ideal start would be to spend around 2 to 3 hours a day working on the basis of all three sections. The best thing that you can do is create a timetable and allocate equal time to all the 3 sections. Most of the time, some students make the crucial mistake of only studying their favourite sections, I know this is a tempting option but eventually will lead you to mess up the sections that you are not good with. Also Read: Top MBA colleges in India
Get a Timetable for yourself:
You can make a similar one if not adopt the same.
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
| 2 hours verbal | RC 2 hours | Quants 2 hours | LR 2 hours | DI 2 hours | Revision | Revision |
It’s not only important to manage all the subjects equally but also to revise them before closing the week; this will ensure that you have thoroughly understood whatever has been done so far. During the first month of your preparation; you need to rigorously follow this up; since unless you get a good start to your preparation, you will not have an edge over others. Also Read: Welingkar GDPI experiences
Keep your CAT 2023 strategies hat on:
Always remember that it’s not about solving a question when it comes to CAT, it is how fast & effectively have you solved it, if you inculcate this habit from the start it would definitely help you cultivate that thought process and greatly help you during the actual CAT. The best way to bring this to practice is by trying hard to find out a shortcut trick for all the questions that you have solved. Just ask yourself, if there is a better & quicker way of solving this. Learn strategically and complete your IIM dream come true!
Pace up at the right time:
Make sure that you keep increasing the duration of study gradually, in this case, we started with 2 hours a day however, that will not be ideal when the exam is approaching the close of every month. Here is how you can gradually increase the no. of hours for study. Also Read: MBA in LAW
| > 5 months | < 4 months | < 3 months | < 2 months | < 1 month |
| 2 hours a day | 3 hours a day | 5 hours a day | 6 hours a day | 7 hours a day |
If you have more than 5 months before the exam; you can start off with 2 hours a day, and every consecutive month you can increase the duration of the study. This is very important to make sure the moment is not halted. Also, you can take a 1-day break per month to get some breathing space. To summarize; consistency with the right strategy is the key to success in the CAT exam. I hope this article helps you with your preparations. Keep going and All the very best! Related links: Quant Preparation for Non-Engineers How to increase accuracy in CAT? CAT Exam 2023- Dates, Eligibility, and, Syllabus IIM-A interview experiences and their tips CAT Preparation: The Do’s and Don’ts
