CAT 2018 Exam review and reactions by students.

LRDI
This was easier than the previous years. There were 3-4 sets which could be attempted. The more difficult sets had l or 2 questions that could be attempted.
A good attempt would be in the range of 15 to 18. With a score of around 40-45 for a 99 percentile.

QA
This section was a surprise to anyone who did not talk to the first slot students
This year QA was a little difficult than the previous years. Though most of the questions
focussed on basic application.
There was a good spread of questions from arithematic, algebra and geometry. An attempt of around 20 questions with a score of 50-55 should get a 99 percentile.

VARC
The VARC section of second slot of cat 18 was, as far as difficulty level and paper pattern is concerned, was not much different from the first slot. There were 24 questions from reading comprehension and 10 from verbal ability. Out of the 10 VA questions, 3 questions were from summary, 3 from odd sentence and 4 from TITA Parajumbles.

The difficulty level of the VA questions was on the lower to moderate side. It was definitely easier than last year’s VA questions.

The reading comprehension pattern saw a slight change, with four passages having five questions each and one passage having four questions. The good thing about the RC section was that the passages, unlike those that came in mocks, were easy to read and understand. The questions were based on main idea, inference, strengthening and weakening of author’s argument. Most of the questions tested the comprehension skills of the aspirants. There were hardly any questions whose answers could be directly spotted in the passage.
The overall difficulty was on moderate side. But it must be remembered that most questions revolved around the central idea. If the understanding of the central was out place, then more than one question is likely to go wrong. An attempt of 25 plus with 80 percent accuracy could fetch you a decent 98 plus percentile.

A score of 153-158 can fetch you a 99 percentile

I’d first get 2-3 years of experience and then prepare for MBA. This is a very common thought that most freshers have after graduating. On the contrary it’s way better to pursue an MBA as a fresher and enter the corporate world fully equipped.

• Firstly the most important is that one would earn somewhere between 7-8 lpa when working without an MBA and on the other hand the earnings shoot up and increase three fold when you join as a MBA graduate.
• The job roles offered to MBA graduates are always better. Those who have worked for few years will agree that to grow beyond a certain level in your job, you need an additional degree. Also, even as a fresh graduate you can reasonably expect saving 2-3 years in reaching the project manager level of profiles.
• For any job promotion, work experience as an MBA would be more relevant and valuable rather than work experience without an MBA.
• Writing CAT as a fresher always gives you a better chance to give another shot if things don’t go well in the first try. You’ll always have ample time in your hands when you are done with your MBA straight after graduation to experiment and expand their horizons.
• The exposure you get in just two years of your MBA is equivalent to 3-4 years of work experience. You’ll get the opportunity to interact with leading CEOs and businessmen at your respective prestigious MBA colleges in seminars and events which you’ll not be able to get during your work experience.
• Next most important myth is about the weightage given to work experience. It is not more than 10% for any IIM or other leading B-schools. So it is not really as much an edge as it is made out to be. Also, at the time of placements after the MBA program there is hardly any preference given to people with work experience and most companies vouch for freshers.

In today’s time there is an abundance in choice of career fields to choose from, so finding the right postgraduate program can be a challenge. In that case it is very important to understand that why MBA is the most sorted career option.

1) Flexibility- This is the most important aspect of an MBA degree because it gives you the freedom to choose from a plethora of options as to what kind of a job role you want to pursue or start a business of your own.

2) High Salary Potential- If you research about the salaries paid to an MBA graduate versus those with other degrees you will see there is a significant difference. Whether an MBA graduate is employed with private or public sector they are heavily compensated.

3) Better Career Opportunities- MBA program provides a diverse field for fresh graduates and even working professionals to expand in. There are several core areas like Human resources, statistics, operations, marketing and finance. All these areas qualify an MBA graduate to pursue career in multiple areas and opportunity to expand themselves and develop their minds.

4) Be your Own Boss- With a master’s in business administration you acquire the requisite knowledge needed to potentially develop and operate your own business. You’ll be taught business management, planning and even financial handling.

5) Ideal for Networking- Business school provides a great base for MBA graduates to meet like minded people. It paves the way for you to interact with future business managers and executives. When the course is finished these people could be ideal business partners or even provide recommendation on your behalf.

6) Credibility- Those conducting business with an MBA graduate will be more relaxed and inclined to do so, in comparison to someone without an MBA. An MBA ultimately shows that you are an expert at what you do.

World wide recognition of its credentials, Enhancement of knowledge and communication skills along with personal development are other added advantages of an MBA degree. Without a doubt pursuing an MBA degree will alter your whole perception of life and adjust your mind for better.

Hello CAT Aspirants!

If you are reading this article then you have surely searched the bylanes of the internet for CAT related stuff and landed yourself here! Maybe you have written CAT in 2017 and want to give it a serious try this time or maybe you’re someone who has started fresh. Whatever might be the case; this is the perfect place for you to begin! We at Team Satyam are helping aspirants like you in formulating a standardised preparation plan for CAT’18.

The first thing you need to do is to take a diagnostic test which would help you in deciding the level of pre-preparation you’re currently standing on. It will help you in saving a lot of time and as well as in gaining a clarity of purpose as to where to start from!

After analysing your test scores you need to decide whether you need a mentor or you’d be able to pull this off on your own. Remember that if you choose self-study you need to have a temperament full of discipline and dedication otherwise you’ll just end up browsing a lot of social media, which of course is not the area of syllabus asked in CAT!

Further after deciding your style of preparation, you need to ask yourself a few questions; and don’t forget to be completely honest when you answer them in your head:

A- Do you need a continuous push for studies or are you a self-driven person?

B- Do you need a mentor to plan out your assignments and tests or you can test yourself on your own and set short term goals for yourself?

C- Most importantly, are you damn serious for CAT? : ) Do not make CAT a side kick or a Backup plan!

After you’ve got it all sorted in your head, it’s time for you to get into the action arena. Do yourself a favour. Grab a pen and paper and chalk out a study plan for yourself. Choose your most productive hours of the day. Start with a basic plan where you could also squeeze in an hour of Netflix with Quant, Data Interpretation, Logical Reasoning and English! Your study plan needs to work for you so don’t plan unnecessarily stretched hours of studies just to please your mom for an extra monthly allowance! Remember CAT needs you to be smart and dedicated; sometimes slogging all day might not work yet that one hour of brainstorming with a few good minds can do wonders.

All you would need on your journey will be persistence, patience, smartness and passion!

Stay tuned !

In this article we bring you a list of seven deadly sins that need to be avoided at all cost while you are preparing for an MBA entrance exam. So take a look at the list below:

1. Option solving must be avoided because CAT has introduced TITA questions lately where you do not have options to choose from. A number of people end up paying a lot of attention to options in a manner that they become accustomed to having them. Try to be prepared for all sorts of questions formats and not just options.
2. CAT has the habit of giving surprises. It would be a horrible sin to judge the exam by the previous year question papers. Do not fall into this trap because it is quite deceiving and gives you late surprises that you really don’t want as an aspirant.
3. Another sin that needs to be avoided is to segregate topics according to their priority. As mentioned earlier CAT is quite unpredictable so you never know which topic might hold a greater weightage in which year.
4. One thing that completely mars the performance of an aspirant is to not take your mocks seriously. Never think of a mock as something trivial in which you are allowed to score low. Give them the equal importance as you give to the main exam.
5. Sometimes aspirants commit a horrible sin of limiting their attention to just one section of the exam. Since we know every sectional contains individual weightage so we simply cannot let our attention to be diverted to a specific sectional and to deprive another of the same.
6. A horrendous sin that can be committed during an MBA preparation is piling up one’s doubts. Never keep your doubts to yourself. Make it a habit of clearing all your doubts before you go to bed.
7. Last and the most easily committed sin is investing too much time on only one type of questions. Students go on solving the same type of questions from different sources and thinking that they have solved a number of questions. Remember solving more is not the key, solving different type of questions is the key.

A number of times aspirants feel that giving the maximum number of mocks is the key to success in CAT, but the real fact is that you get better when you realise the mistakes that you’ve made on your way. It is not the number of mocks that takes your further but the proper analysis of these mocks that does.

Inevitably it is important for every serious MBA aspirant to crucially analyse their mocks.

To begin with the first thing that needs to be kept in mind is to identify the kind of errors that you are making. Human errors can be of different types, you can read a question wrong or interpret it in a wrong manner. So it is always advisable to begin with identifying your weak spot. Mock analysis gives you a perfect opportunity to do that.

The next important thing to analyse is to see the kind of questions you always end up attempting or leaving. You will see a clear pattern in the kind of questions that you always end up leaving. Try to reflect upon why you leave those questions. It might be possible that simple questions are often disguised in the difficult presentation of tricky language.

Another very vital aspect is to look up on the amount of time you are spending on individual questions. Sometimes students make it an ego issue to solve a problem regardless of the fact that a timer continuously ticks off. There is no extra reward for attempting a difficult question, something a lot of us forget to see. It is important to choose and leave wisely so that we do not end up losing time on traps.

Mock analysis is a crucial step towards building CAT stamina, and if done properly it can work wonders for you.

CAT preparation is a great deal about giving mocks, but there is a lot that needs to be done before you start appearing for mocks on a daily basis.

Just getting started without a strategy is going to hurt in the long run because aspirants forget to keep a plan ahead of their preparations. The key to getting good mock scores is to get a good start and for that one needs to have a strong hold on concepts.

The best strategy for beginning on a good note is to gather all important information needed for mocks in a single space. Do some homework and collect basic formulas, tips and tricks ready in a notebook. Revise them before you start your mock. You shouldn’t ever be hunting for a formula mid-way while you’re giving a mock!

Next important strategy is to make yourself habitual of a daily schedule. Start waking up at a fixed time and try to give mocks according to the CAT schedule. By this strategy you will make yourself physiological and psychological more attentive during a particular time slot. Remember CAT requires you to be quick in thinking in addition to being smart.

Another important thing that needs to be kept in mind is to solve all types of questions from the material provided by one institution. If you try solving questions of the same topics from 10 different sources, more or less you will end up wasting your time on the same type of questions. The trick here is to solve maximum variety of questions not the maximum number of questions.

Last but not the least, be focused and always try to relax yourself before you begin with a mock!