Hi!
I have a query regarding verbal section. I have written CAT 2015 and scored very poorly in verbal. I am working as a software engineer and it's very difficult for me to devote time to all the sections on regular basis. Kindly let me know how to prepare for this section with devoting minimum possible time daily.
Hi!
Since you cannot do too many things, I wanted to determine the preparation that will give you maximum results with minimum inputs. Here is what I suggest based on two portions in Verbal:
- Reading Comprehension (RC): This comprises nearly 80% of the English section in CAT. Direct RCs, parajumbles, and fill in the blanks, all of them test your reading skills. First, I think you start reading three things on regular basis: (a) The Hindu newspaper, (b) The Economist magazine (c) Scientific American online. Even if you can't read novels, these three will take care of your reading. Second, download the 1000 RC file from the download section here and start doing two RCs a day. Don't do them fast. I do not want you to speed up. Read them slowly, understand everything, and then answer the questions. Whenever you get stuck, post the questions along with the RCs here.
- Grammar and Sentence Correction: Buy the good old 'Wren and Martin' for grammar and finish it. Do only the grammar section in the book. Don't touch rest of the sections. Make a plan such that you are able to finish the book three times before November, remembering that you will get busy with Mock Cats etc. from September. I am suggesting three times (at least) because you will keep forgetting the grammar rules that you read. So keep reading again and again.
Also, if you are joining any coaching Institute, make up your mind that you will not take more than 10 full length tests. Get this straight, no one can get good in a subject by taking tests. Tests are meant to test your skills, not enhance them. So taking a lot of tests only wastes the precious time that you can invest in studies and get ahead of the pack. The coaching institutes play on your fears and make you believe that the more tests you take, the better you get. Do not fall into that trap. Just study for these 6-7 months.
Rest, I will keep helping you as you go along. Keep posting your doubts.
Thanks a lot TG,
I want to ask one more thing: I wrote CAT last year just to check where I exactly stand without much (negligible) preparation. I got a decent percentile – 90th.
Now I am scared a bit. I have seen that people who do well in their first attempt generally get a lower score in the second attempt even if they join any coaching institute.
Need your guidance.
Hi Abhi,
It happens with people who took their previous CAT with full-fledged preparation and couldn't get through. In their next attempt, most of these people go through a decline in their preparation, maybe because of overconfidence or because of confusion because they feel they have already studied everything.
If you want to improve on your CAT preparation, concentrate more on studies and less on test taking. Everyone in coaching industry knows that taking tests improves your scores only initially. Then you reach a plateau and your percentile becomes stationery. To improve on that percentile, you need to go back to studies. You will again see a marked jump in your scores.
Don't worry about your percentile falling in this attempt. There is no logical reason it should. Just plunge into your preparation.
Cheers!
Tathagat
