Previous

Page - 2

Finishing Touches

Do away with your urge to cover the complete syllabus instead of revising or analysing the test. Besides spending time on why some answers went wrong, also concentrate on why some
answers were correct, or whether there is any better way of doing the question.

Furthermore, in any well-planned CAT paper, you will not be able to complete the whole section or paper. So go through the questions that you did not attempt, and see if you made a mistake by leaving out those and attempting the ones you did. Also remember that in every paper, there will be both difficult and easy questions. This is where the concept of revision comes in. With regular revision, you get better and better at questions and are able to do them in a short span of time.

For D-Day

One of the biggest pitfalls is that as students we always search for short-cuts, asking 'which is the easiest way out and which are the easiest questions?' A critical issue here is the tremendous urge to skip questions.

We tend to lose concentration at different stages during the exam and tend to skip questions because of the pressures of time. But things get better if you follow a couple of golden rules. If you want to identify the questions to attend, it is imperative that you read all the questions.

Prioritise

Start with the shorter questions. The advantage with short questions is not that they are easier, but that it will take you less time to identify whether you can do them or not. The short questions are not just one-liners or two-liners. So read all the questions and quickly decide which ones to attempt.

Be Decisive

Decide in two readings whether you are going to attempt the question or not. This is perfectly normal and don't let it bother you. It will take not more than 15 seconds, at a very leisurely pace, to read a question. But if you read the question faster, you would have saved a few seconds. These can then be spent on understanding the question.

Next

* Contributed by -
Gautam Puri,
An Alumnus of IIM Bangalore,
Vice Chairman, Career Launcher India Ltd.,
Article posted on November 6, 2008.