After months and months of hard work and preparation, the time is here.

CAT is only a few days away! Yikes!

So how can you best use these few remaining days? How can you maximise your percentile?

What should you keep in mind on exam day? And how can you beat the stress?

Mr Gejo Srinivasan, competitive examination expert with IMS, discussed these topics and more during a November 14 chat.

For those of you who missed it, here's the transcript:

hey asked, any last minute tips?

Gejo Sreenivasan answers,  1) You will bajao the CAT � Go with that attitude. 2) Chill & sleep well the day before the test 3)In these last days do what you think is best for you 4)If the CAT paper stumped you.. feel happy because it has stumped everyone! You keep your cool and do the best. 5)Two mantras � 1) Never leave a question without reading it & 2) If you get stuck, move on

sandy asked, how to get an idea of cut offs in exam so that i can give necessary time to that section.

Gejo Sreenivasan answers, Cut-off score is the score which is scored by the last guy who got that call. Logically, therefore, it cannot be pre-decided and hence not in your control. Focus on what you have in your control. Solve each question on its merit and do the best in the given time limit. Having said this, you should aim at around 30% to 40% per section

riya asked, what are the things to be taken to test center?

Gejo Sreenivasan answers, Apart from pencil, eraser, sharpner, admit card, an identity proof(just in case).... carry a positive attitude and an open mind

bhuvana asked, is it true that iims give different weights to the different sections of CAT paper

Gejo Sreenivasan answers, Each IIM has a different criterion to decide the cut-offs and it is opaque. What we know for sure is that one has do well in all the 3 sections of the test..

hii asked, sir i have not got my admit card what shuld i do it is written that i shoould bring a i d card and 2 snaps on the 17th of november to the test center but the test center is too far away from my place i willl have to go on both 17th to collect the admit card and on 18th early morning to give the paper this seems very hectic

Gejo Sreenivasan answers, I am afraid that you don't have a choice. You need to make necessary arrangements... Don't let this hamper your performance.. take it as a small hiccup...

VJ asked, hey gejo..nice articles on the simshock newspaper..do u think i can skip 40percent of the paper..i suck at geometry..

Gejo Sreenivasan answers, VJ... You need about 30% to 40% marks to get a call... So it is fine to say that you can skip 40% of the paper.. but the approach is wrong.. your approach should be to solve 60% of the questions and not to leave 40% of the questions.. don't go with a pre-decided mindset.. read the questions in geometry and leave only if you cannt solve them..

gautam asked, sir i am doing b.com(p)frm DU thru correspondence, i know i am eligible for CAT, i had heard that b-schools not even consider students who have done their graduation thru distance learning.....is it true.....

Gejo Sreenivasan answers, IIMs will take anyone who has the potential to become a future leader.. You need to demonstrate that in the CAT and the GD/PI... IIms do not have a bias.. having said this, there are institutes which clearly mention that those who have done graduation thru corresp are not eligible

anoop asked, any tips to perform well in quantitative aptitude?

Gejo Sreenivasan answers, The mistake that many make is that they leave the question without reading.. either because it 'looks' difficult or is from area in which they are not strong.. Dont do this.. you should select or reject a question only after reading it..

girija asked, is work exp help to take admit in IIM

Gejo Sreenivasan answers, there is a weightage for work exp.. however, the ratio of work exp: freshers in most of the good B-school is 50:50. You still have to do well in the written test & GD/Pi to make it..

Maddy asked, What "percentage of marks" is required to be scored in the Q, DI, V sections of CAT to be sure of clearing the cut-offs? What is the difference of marks between overall cut-off and aggregate of sectional cut-off i.e. (overall cutoff - sum_cutoff(Q, DI, V)?) Also, if all the cut-offs are cleared does it mean i can get a sure-shot call from at least a few IIMs?

Gejo Sreenivasan answers, This of course depends on the difficulty level of the test... however a thumb rule is to look at anthing more than 30% in each of the section

Raghav asked, My biggest problem in English is that I am always left with 2 options which are extremely close to each other. And most of the times I am not fully convinced about right answers provided in my practice materials.Please help

Gejo Sreenivasan answers, raghav, you face a problem which is faced more than 1.5 lac students! in most cases, it happens because students do not compeltely grasp the essence of the article... last year, the options were really close and one had to really understand the artcile/passage to boil down to the correct one.. i would suggest that u read a bit slowly... dont rush...

manu asked, I have been getting on an average 85 percentile in the mocks.. but that hasnt bogged me down and i do believe i can do well on the d day.. quant is my achille's heel.. though i have practised it a lot.. somehow mess it up always in the test..how to maximise my score? Thanks

Gejo Sreenivasan answers, Great attitude.... since u have prepared enough.. just keep ur cool on the D-day... also, have a look at the advise that I gave earlier regarding the quant section

vijay asked, how many question should i attempt?

Gejo Sreenivasan answers, around 50%... again this is a rough guideline... but from a different perspective attempt all the questions that you 'can' attempt.. what i mean is that once the test is over you should not come out the test and say. 'oh! i could have done this one also'

vijay asked, Should read in the privious night of Cat exam

Gejo Sreenivasan answers, The previous night is important to do whatever you feel comfortable... My advise would be to chill... probably watch a movie and sleep early...

kjha asked, Hi,i was getting low percentiles initially in mocks but in last 2 i hv scored well,in excess of 90 percentile....what shd i expect on the D_DAY

Gejo Sreenivasan answers, Bajao the CAT!

onik asked, hi gejo. is it possible that this time cat may come with even lesser questions than last year?

Gejo Sreenivasan answers, It is of course a possibility.. if you look at the recent trend.. the questions have reduced and they have become reasoning intensive...

charu asked, sir can we expect essay in CAT this time

Gejo Sreenivasan answers, highly unlikely... actually no..

tt asked, Srinivas TQ Very much... as suggested I shall go with the CHAKDE CAT attitude. TQ once again

Gejo Sreenivasan answers, Great

Varun asked, Hi Gejo what should be the strategy for the next few days?? write papers or then just go through maths formulas etc

Gejo Sreenivasan answers, You should ideally not write any test after thursday.. go through the formula.. flip through chapters.. and do some mild reading.. you have done enough prep and you will do well... have that attitude and go bajao the CAT

vijay asked, i know i am not getting call from top 20 college.what is a good percentile

Gejo Sreenivasan answers, Vijay... finally everything depends on that 2 and 1/2 hr.. someone said that if success is not guaranteed.. failure is also not guaranteed.. having said that, you should look at anything about 85 to 90 percentile..

Kunaal asked, How much percentile score is required to get a seat in SP JAIN and KJ Somaiya .Does SP JAIN and KJ Somaiya demand for sectional cutoff?

Gejo Sreenivasan answers, last year, SP jain mentioned that there is no cutoff and they look the overall profile... However around 95 percentile would be a good score for Sp jain and for KJ Som it will be around 88-90.. They do have some kind of sectional cut-off however, these criteria change year after year.. so the safe approach is to do well in all the sections

amsa asked, hi Gejo! how about going through just the formulae for the Chapters of Quant that have not been covered while preparing for CAT

Gejo Sreenivasan answers, personally, i don't think that is helpful.. believe in what you know and forget the rest...

richa asked, despit effort i hav not fared well in my mock CATS.this is worryin me immensely ,,

Gejo Sreenivasan answers, Like i said.. success is not guaranteed.. failure is not guaranteed.. mock CATs are mock CATs... The only CAT that matters is the one on 18th Nov and you are yet to take it... so dont bother about the mocks...

Swara asked, Hi, Since you are a MBA comsultant as well, could you please give us ur mail id? i have some question abt when to do MBA and from india or abroad ? would like to cosult u for that. profile : MCA (59.42%). Workex with MNC as software developer : 2 years

Gejo Sreenivasan answers, No issues.. you can write to me at gejo@imsindia.com

mayank asked, hello sir, dont you think we should club the weakest section between our two strong sections or should we attempt the strong sections first and then weakest of them all.

Gejo Sreenivasan answers, look mayank.. in reality it wont matter if u don't carry the burden of one section to the next.. i believe that solving one question at a time attitude is the best attitude.. its like cricket.. teams score 300 irrespective of the start..

Pravesh asked, is snap is also as tough as cat & is it also have negative marking?

Gejo Sreenivasan answers, the cat is tough not because of the test but because of the competition... u need to be on the top to get that call.. snap is also a competitive test taken by around 80000 aspirants... of course, in the past the level of difficulty of the CAT was higher than the SNAP

Raghav asked, Last year PS was easy and English was hard. Is there a trend to shuffle the difficulty levels of the sections?

Gejo Sreenivasan answers, I guess we will have to leave that decision to the IIMs :) You never know!

Raghavan asked, can u suggest me some good B schools

Gejo Sreenivasan answers, Apart from the IIMs, the good ones are XLRI, SPJain, FMS, Bajaj, MDI, NITIE, IITSOM etc.

123456789 asked, Hi ! Is CAT 2008 going to be conducted online?

Gejo Sreenivasan answers, IIM A has clarfied this issue on their website... CAT 2008 will not be online

Sri asked, A bit off-topic: What do you feel about techies entering management? As a techie yourself, do you feel you have made the right decision in taking up management?

Gejo Sreenivasan answers, Sri.. irrespective of the field you are in management has a relavance.. for instance, project manager or an IT consultant..

18Nov asked, Hello Sir wats the minimal percentile required to get a seat in IIMs?

Gejo Sreenivasan answers, around 98.5

deepakgjain asked, I am working professional, Shall I continue office till last day (saturday) or shall i take one or two days holiday.

Gejo Sreenivasan answers, depends on your SimCAT scores..if you have consistently scoring above 95 percentile, you do not have anything to worry about..you can work till the last day..however, on a cautious note, I suggest you take the saturday off and relax..

123456789 asked, I would be 26 this JAN...do you think I am too old to do an MBA?...I am relevant work ex and good acads! am a performer....but somehow am confused with my life

Gejo Sreenivasan answers, MBA is a way of life & not just a degree course..You should definitely do an MBA..however, since you mention good work ex & acads, I suggest you also evaluate some options through the GMAT..but definitely do an MBA..

CATFodu asked, Hi Gejo, I have scored between 85 to 99.5 percentile in the IMS SIMCATs / MAXCATs. But I couldn't find much correlation between my strategies and my scores. Can you help me please?

Gejo Sreenivasan answers, anything that works fine is good..I mean, it is always better to not enter the test with biases..go with a open mind..by scoring well before, you have demonstrated that you are good..so do not worry..all the best..

Swara asked, Hi, Thanks for the mail id. Does spending and investin in MBA makes sense when we r already earning around 3-4 lacs pa ? what type of jobs can be expected after MBA systems ?

Gejo Sreenivasan answers, definitely!! ROI is an important part of the decision to pursue an MBA..however, if you need a higher ROI, I suggest you evaluate some of the options available abroad..some of the 1 year programs offered in India also offer a very high ROI..

noname asked, Hi gejo, I am 27 and an IT professional. Finished MSc from UK and now working here in Mumbai. I am learning new things and trying to explore more into technology. However, I am not planning to be purely in technical few years down the line. Do I need to do MBA (already have MS from UK)?

Gejo Sreenivasan answers, Retooling is an important concept in the modern corporate world..An MBA will save you a lot of time - meaning, you will be able to accept & perform in positions from a earlier point of time..There are several Techno MBA options too. I suggest you write a mail to ims@imsindia.com, with your detailed profile & your aspirations..

Bharath asked, hi Gejo.. From the mocks i see myself faring well in VA and DI and in QA am clue less.. would it be a better option to let QA entirely blank and do the rest both wll?, cos i don seem to gain much by attempting QA.. and am looking into those colleges who don't look for sectional cut off's.. pls help

Gejo Sreenivasan answers, I suggest you pls drop the -ve attitude..go with an open mind..what if you left the QA section & later found the questions to be easy..so, i suggest you look at the questions & then decide..Also, most of the better colleges insist on the student performing well in all the sections..there may not be cut-offs, but you should show a minimum amount of competency..so, i suggest you take the decision at the test

nikhilkulk asked, Where can I get CAT forms?

Gejo Sreenivasan answers, CAT will be announced sometime in August of every year..its too late for CAT 07..you can try CAT 08..

John asked, Lets say I get 99.99 percentile in Quants & DI ..and 0 In English...Shall i expect a call from IIM ?

Gejo Sreenivasan answers, No..you need to show equal competence across all the sections..

chaitanya asked, Hi Gejo.how are you doing?to what extent acads and work ex counts during your IIM interviews.do ppl with avg acads are sidelined,even if they score a high percentile in CAT(99%)?

Gejo Sreenivasan answers, acads won't have a bearing at the testing stage..however, during interviews, a candidate with a better academic record may have a better chance..with work ex, it is the institute's decision..some may look for people with more experience & some may decide on freshers..as to better work ex, definitely, working in a reputed & big organization would help..

CWC asked, hiii i have a four years gap after my standard 12 .. i started engg. but could not complete it .. and the i did BBA.. i have good grades in BBA ..i scored well in Mock CATs .. but i,m tensed about the affects of the big gap in my academics.. what should i do...

Gejo Sreenivasan answers, Dear CWC, this is something that can be worried about later..for now, forget everything & focus on CAT..to answer you question, if you can justify the gap convincingly, there should not be any problems..

varsha asked, i have scored below 60% in my tyBsc yet i am giving CAT, what are my chances of getting into a good B school?

Gejo Sreenivasan answers, Forget all that for now..focus on CAT!! Thanks everyone, I hope I could do justice in this short time...All the very best for your CAT..catch you some other time...you can write to ims@imsindia.com