CAT'06 - A surprise

I am sure even my best supporters would never have thought that I would be able to do well in CAT this year, but things have changed since then. I guess it was a combination of some luck and easier paper. The reason I am writing this blog is not because i want to praise myself but because I am really sick of saying that i did nothing for CAT this year. So here is what I think should be done in preparation for CAT (suited for engineers in my view). I will take this section by section:

English:
• Create your own flashcards, mostly from newspapers to get yourself conversant with as many English words, used in day- to-day life, as possible.
• Reading more, especially books on on the topic which you think are the hardest nut to crack in a RC passages. For me it was philosophy. I later developed a taste for such books and now ‘Zen & Art of Motorcycle Maintenance’ is among my favorites
• Pay attention to critical reasoning techniques in spite of it not being a part of previous CAT, since it gives you a good perspective regarding how to attack reading and comprehension. I developed a habit of not assuming anything which has not been stated in the passage

Quant and DI: We all know that engineers are good at Quant, still I think everyone needs a brushing up here & there from time to time. Here are my suggestions for it:
• Learn a few techniques of Vedic mathematics for multiplication & division
• Brush up the basics of mathematics:
• Multiplication tables, 30 X 30
• Squares (till 30) & cubes (till 12) etc
• Make a list of all formulae / techniques and paste them on the study room walls
• Learn the conversion of fractions to percentage and vice versa etc.

Test Papers: One of the most effective ways of preparing for CAT is to have as many practice tests as possible. Although appearing in a test and checking result is not the end of it, that’s only a start. This is how I approached practice tests:
• Always analyzed the test, this means went through each and every question after coming back home
• In case there would be any specific techniques used to solve a question I would note down the technique on a piece of paper and stick it to the wall
• In case of a question which I couldn’t solve because of lack of fundamental knowledge, I would put a star next to the question for future reference
• I would make a note of all wrong attempts and try to analyze:
• If I am committing mistakes on a specific topic. If that is the case I need to work on its fundamentals and need to do some practice on it
• I would also look for what is the pattern of mistakes i.e. if most of the wrong questions were cluttered together or scattered. I found that mostly they would be cluttered, which clearly suggests loss of concentration at that time in paper. I didn’t take any specific steps to counter the problem but the awareness of my weakness made me concentrate harder while appearing in test
• From time to time I will go through all starred question from previous tests

I think this is a comprehensive view of all did in preparation for CAT'06. Hope this helps few people in their preparation for CAT.