Commonsense helps you tame the CAT

HERE?S SOME news that those aspiring to beat CAT could use. ?It?s a myth that CAT is a tough exam which only the very brilliant can crack. It?s a simple exam that requires lots of common sense.?

HERE’S SOME news that those aspiring to beat CAT could use. “It’s a myth that CAT is a tough exam which only the very brilliant can crack. It’s a simple exam that requires lots of common sense.”

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At the preparatory workshop organised by Hindustan Times (HT) and Hindi Hindustan (HH) for CAT aspirants at HT office on Sunday, the candidates who turned out in large numbers were given important tips on how to bell the CAT.

There couldn’t have been a better person that Arun Sharma to conduct the workshop and guide the aspirants. For, Sharma himself has the experience of cracking CAT as many as ten times! (He writes books for Tata Mcgraw Hill etc besides guiding the CAT aspirants.)

Sharma began by discussing the last year’s CAT paper and demonstrated how one can solve it easily. “People wrongly feel that CAT is meant only for toppers.

Even average students can crack the CAT paper within the stipulated time of two hours,” he said.

“The important thing to remember is that your preparation should be to the level of excellence and to the level of expectation rather than to the level of understanding,” he said. He then went on to demonstrate what he meant as he solved the questions in front of the students. That the teacher was able to make an impression on the students was clear with the manner with which students responded to the queries later made by Sharma. Sharma advised the students to solve about 6000 questions of Maths, English and Data Interpretation for standing a better chance of getting selected. HT and HH have planned a series of such workshops to prepare the students. Sunday’s programme was the second of the series.

Talking about the importance of speed in the CAT exam, Sharma said, “The approach should be reaction based. As I said earlier, it’s a simple exam made to look difficult. I think even a class IX or X th standard student too can be made to understand what CAT is all about. All you need is concentration and a focused approach.” Talking about the preparation for interview, he advised that students should aim at raising the level of interview. “There might be occassions when seemingly simple questions might be asked. So, if you give just simple answers and think that you have done well, you could be wrong. Try and take the point raised by the interviewer to a take the discussion to a new height,” he suggested.