Many of you who are preparing for the Common Admission Test on November 19 write a mock CAT every Sunday. These tests are organised by training institutes across the country.

CAT trainers Gautam, Rishi and Arindam from Career Launcher offered some advice to aspirants during a recent chat on September 20: "One day before a mock CAT, please revise all important multiple choice questions you have encountered in earlier mocks and Full Length Tests." 

For those who missed the chat, here's the transcript:

Part I: A time management strategy

arun123 asked, hi,im appearing for both CAT and JMET this year.I want to know how many students appear for JMET every year and what should be my rank to get admission into IIT(mumbai,delhi or Kharagpur) Is there any cutoff like CAT for IITs?

Gautam answers, JMET does not give the score, it however announces the rank. For IIT-Mumbai your rank should be less than 350 and if you are beyound 500 IIT-Delhi is ruled out. For IIT-Kharagpur interview calls are given for rank up to 1,000. Last year about 25,000 students appeared for JMET

saurabh asked, i am a cat 06 aspirant can u please tell me which forms of various colleges should i fill.

rishi answers, Depending upon your performance in mock CATs. But don't forget to fill up forms of institutes, which are from one category upper and lower than your callibre. Tell me your scores in the mock tests. I could suggest.  

aparna asked, how should we prepare one day before Mockcat?

Gautam answers, One day before a mock CAT, please revise all the important multiple choice questions that you have encountered in the earlier mocks and FLTs.

Girish asked, Hi Arindam,I am in dubai rite now working as a web programmer for past 3 years but i wnt to do CAT next year, please guide me how I can get success in my first attempt, and what are the odds ?

Arindam answers, If you are keen on it, you can always make it. You can start right away. Start brushing up your fundamentals in English and Math and also spend a lot of time in reading books and magazines.

kg asked, i wanted to know how is TA PAI INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT?

Gautam answers, TA Pai is good and in the  same league as IMT Ghaziabad, NMIMS and Symbiosis.  

raja asked, can u suggest some sites where I can get CAT previous Question papers

Arindam answers, There are a few sites who support online tests including CL.  

saurabhkapale asked, Can u please Symbosis " IT and Operation" ??? rate out of 10... 10 best ....5 better ... 1 least

rishi answers, You mean SCMHRD, Nashik campus (IT and Operations). It is 6 or 7 according to me.

sid1 asked, arindam, can you tell me how to improve the scores in DI section...?

Arindam answers, sid1, Date Interpretation in CAT these days is quite logic oriented. Hence solving puzzles regularly incl Sudoku shd help

Divya asked, what are the institutes for doing MBA in finance other than CAT institutes?

Gautam answers, Apart from the CAT institutes you can consider -- XLRI Jamshedpur, XIM Bhubaneshwar, FMS Delhi University, NMIMS, MFC Delhi University and SIBM/SCMHRD.  

sid1 asked, can someone tell me how to go about cracking the DI section in 45 minutes...?

rishi answers, Scan the paper thoroughly. Carefully pick up only three to four blocks, and progess with patience. Do not jump from set to set and talk to yourself. Calm yourself down during the DI section. 

iankur1 asked, How is JMET? Which institutes are good in it?

Gautam answers, IIT- Bombay and Delhi would figure among the top 25 MBA institutes in the country.

MK asked, I am Simple graduate, can i get the admission in One year Exe. prog, if i clear the written test.

Arindam answers, MK, most one-year executive programmes have a requirement of X number of years of experience. If you have that you can definitely attempt to clear the written test.

Divya asked, What are the options other than CAT

Gautam answers, XAT for XLRI, XIM and GIM FMS Delhi Univ IIFT SNAP for SCMHRD and SIBM.

swet asked, as u knw english is the most scoring so my strategy is to do english then qa and di in the end is this a good strategy as i told u my last section always goes for a toss somehow how do i cool myself during the last section

rishi answers, Swet, I suggest try the opposite. Start with English, sweep it up within 50-52 minutes and then move on. You will have sufficient marks in your kitty already.  

aparna asked, Does revising the same material for the next 2 months help? oe should i go on for new books or additional material?

Gautam answers, Revision is important. In all the MCQs that you have gone through ie Mocks, FLTs and Section Tests, identify important questions and do revise all of them at least once a week.

sam asked, my question is can a student who has done UG through correspondence apply for CAT

rishi answers, Yes, they can. But the UG degree has to be approved by University Grants Commision or AICTE.  

Rohan asked, Dear Sir, I am currently pursuing my final year B.Tech (Computer Sc) and am planning to appear in CAT06. I am facing problems in RC/VA section and am unable to clear the cutoff in this section in all my previous mocks. Otherwise for QA & DI, I have managed to secure 95-99%ile. Kindly suggest me some measures to improve my scores in VA/RC. Also I would like to ask if there is any good university abroad which would be worth to take admission in and which does not have Work-Ex in its Admission Criteria?? I would be very much obliged. Thank you

Arindam answers, In order to increase your RC/VA scores, you need to improve your reading skills. In the short span now, focus on a few types of passages, scientific, business-related and practice more.

prakash asked, I am 32 yrs old and confident of clearing CAT , will it affect my placement opportunities after I finish my MBA in IIMs.

Arindam answers, Prakash, in fact most IIMs also offer lateral placement opportunities for students with more work experiences. 

sid1 asked, i have 2.5 years of experience and am going for CAT. can you tell me what colleges should i apply to at 87%ile approx..? please answer...

rishi answers, Are you an engineer or working in some other industry? You may try for the following schools: Lal Bahadur Shastri, BIM Tech Wellingkar, ITM Nawi Mumbai through CAT, or may be BIM/GIM in XAT.

swet asked, how many mock tests should i give per week except the mock cats that i am giving on sundays in cl

rishi answers, Swet, you may try one FLT per week. Other than that, you may go for any ONE mock of some other institute in the week. I think that is enough.  

ANINDITA asked, hello sir,i am a cat aspirant and also working.i am getting mere 17-25 as net score in the mock cats i have appeared.i am not able to balance time also.is dere any hope thati can clear cat with the net score i m getting..please help..

Gautam answers, To balance time during the paper, you will need to ensure that you give equal time to all the sections and move out of the sections even if you have attempted only five questions in 40 minutes. Secondly, you need to check out how many difficult questions have been attempted by you and how many easy questions were missed out. Finally revise all important questions from the mocks and FLTs.  

relativity@life asked, I gavr CAT05 got 98.96, giving again this yaer. V poor score in AIMCAts 70-85, but getting score of 97-99 in CL mocks. Am confused, How 2 go abt QUANT section with 2 months only, am weak in this!

Arindam answers, Relativity, you are doing well. Focus on clearing cutoff for Quant. Make sure you attempt at least 15 marks with 75-80 per cent accuracy (if accuracy is less, increase attempts amrginally to compensate).

Divya asked, How wud you rate students doing MBA through distance learning?
Gautam answers, The industry does not rate them highly, so if possible go for a full time MBA of one or two years.

saurabhkapale asked, is it possible to get in ISB, Hyderbad without any experience with good CAT and GMAt score.. ???

rishi answers, Work experience is mandatory for ISB ie minimum three years.

devendra asked, I have 6 years of experience please let me know wether i have to go for 2 years regular MBA program or any other option.

Gautam answers, You should explorethe option of Executive MBA being offered by the IIMs and ISB. A 1 year program is prefereable with your experience

Pushpa asked, Which time&date for exam in CAT 2006?

Arindam answers, Pushpa, have you filled the CAT form? It is at 10 am on November 19.

sat asked, hi sir, which course of MDI, Gurgaon i should apply, as there are different application forms for different courses, i m getting 90-95 percentiles in MOCKS.

rishi answers, MDI HR is specialised course. Do you want to be an HR Professional? As you are getting 95 percentile already, I think you should go for the MDI general course. It keeps options open for specialisation later. 

goran asked, what are the institues apart from the IIM's which have I-Banks in their recruiters' list?

Gautam answers, XLRI and FMS Delhi University.  

radhika asked, sir are GMAT books useful for the verbal section in CAT?

Arindam answers, Radhika, by and large yes, except that critical RD questions are tougher in GMAT.  

AmitChauhan asked, Hi Gautam ... myself Amit Chauhan from IIT Delhi. I am facing problems in clearing cut off in english section... can you suggest me some book for that

Gautam answers, Revise the important questions of the FLTs and Mocks.

RAGHUL asked, what are the recommended books for preparing for CAT ?

Arindam answers, Raghu, for which area? You need a basic grammar book and a Class X grade maths text book for fundamnetals and then a MCQ based test book.

sid1 asked, I am an engineer...can i go for IMT ghaziabad, / TAPMI/ etc..? Quote: sid1 asked, i have 2.5 years of experience and am going for CAT. can you tell me what colleges should i apply to at 87%ile approx..? please answer... rishi answers, R u an engineer or working in some other industry? U may try Fore school, Lal Bahadur Shastri, BIM Tech Wellingkar, ITM Nawi Mumbai through CAT, or may be BIM/GIM in XAT

rishi answers, Definitely yes, but IMT/TAPMI will require 92 percantile + in CAT.  

joy asked, waht do u think abt the 1yr specialized mba programs started by narsee monjee in retail n other sectors

Gautam answers, New course, too early to comment. However since it has a tie-up with Pantaloons and NMIMS is a good brand name, it should do well.

saurabhkapale asked, Hows would u rate GIM /GOA [Images] University ?? ??

rishi answers, GIM (under XAT) is decent. The average placement was 4.7 lakhs +. It is worth applying.  

reddy asked, Can You explain how can i better my english well

Arindam answers, Reddy. Read, read and read. Start applying in reading and writing as well.  

swet asked, sir for clearing the cutoff in quants is 12-14 enough because i wanna give more time to di and english to maximize my score

rishi answers, In reality for CAT, 14 in Quant will be enough I think, unless the CAT 2006 paper suddenly becomes too easy.

Arjun asked, In your estimate, what percent of first-timers do well enough in the CAT to get a call for the next rounds?

Gautam answers, Out of the stdents getting interview calls from IIMs about 505 are freshers

sakshi asked, hi i m appearing for cat in the third year of graduation having no work ex.... so wil this affect my admission in any b-school?

rishi answers, Not at all. An average top Indian B-School batch compostion is more than 60 per cent fresh graduates.

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