The Common Admission Test (CAT) is a competitive exam conducted by IIMs for MBA aspirants. The CAT exam is highly competitive and requires significant effort from students to succeed. Each year lakhs of students dream of clearing the CAT exam. They take months off from social media and other distractions to focus on their goal. Preparing for any exam where there is tough competition is not an easy task. 

Even the process of selection after the CAT exam is not easy. Students need to get a percentile that meets the criteria of their desired IIM or business school. After this stage the students get a call for the Written Ability Test (WAT) or Personal Interview (PI) round. Then the final selection list is released based on many factors, such as the percentile of the CAT exam, WAT/PI, academic record, etc. 

CAT Exam Pattern

Sections of CAT Exam:

Topics covered under the section:

Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension

Long and short passages, para-summary, jumbled paragraphs, analogies, idioms etc.

Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning 

Data charts, tables, bar graphs, seating arrangement, venn diagrams etc.

Quantitative Ability

Number system, profit and loss, ratio and proportion, probability, vectors, geometry etc.

 

There are in total 3 sections of the CAT exam. Each section has a certain number of questions. CAT is a computer-based exam; hence, each section has an allotted time of 40 minutes. The total exam time is 120 minutes.

CAT Preparation Material

Students can study for the CAT exam from various sources. Some students prefer to take coaching to prepare for the exam. This is because CAT is not such an easy exam to crack; hence, students need some guidance to help them study and prepare for the exam. Coaching centres do a great job at providing comprehensive CAT preparation material to the students that helps them in their journey. Students don't feel the need to search for the material.

Students preparing on their own for the CAT exam can search on various websites and get the material from there. Various mock test papers, sample papers, notes, videos, sessions and previous year question papers are available for free on the internet for students to use. There are various books that students can refer to while preparing for the exam. Study packages are also available for the students to buy and get the CAT preparation material from.

How to prepare for the CAT exam?

Preparing for any exam is a difficult task that requires students to put in all their efforts. The first step towards preparing for any exam is to get the syllabus. Students should have full knowledge about the syllabus of the exam. 

The next step is to know the exam pattern. Students will feel clueless if they have no idea about the pattern of the CAT exam. Students need to know which types of questions will come in the exam.

Then, students can move towards collecting all the study material that they will need to prepare for the exam. The CAT exam preparation material can be in the form of concept notes, books on various topics related to the syllabus, videos available on the internet, mock test papers, PYQs, sample papers, other practice papers and much more. 

After having all the material, students should make a strategy on how to cover the entire syllabus within the time that is available to them. No topic should be missed out on. Students should have the time to get clarity on all the concepts and also get the time to practise as many questions as possible.

In the end, before the exam approaches, students can go back and revise the weak concepts. This will make students feel confident about their preparation. All this also helps to get some structure in the learning process of the students.

Conclusion

Nothing is impossible in life. Cracking the CAT exam is also possible. Many students take on a lot of pressure to get a good percentile, and this pressure stops them from preparing well for the exam. Instead, students should only focus on their preparation. Everything else will follow through. Students should use CAT preparation material to have the best preparation that is possible. Students should take advantage of all the excess of material that's available to them.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. Are online CAT mock test papers better than offline papers?

Yes, generally it is believed that online CAT mock test papers are better than the offline ones. This is because CAT is an online computer-based exam with fixed time durations. Hence, if students want to have a better idea of how the CAT exam will be, then they should prefer to attempt online CAT mock test papers.

2. What topics are covered in CAT crash courses?

CAT crash courses cover all three sections of the CAT exam. There are practice questions and lectures given on all the major topics of Quantitative Ability, Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension and Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning.