CAT 2020 Preparation Tips: How to crack CAT 2020 with 95+ percentile?

By Kirti Yadav
9 April 2020

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So, you have decided to appear for CAT 2020, that’s great. And, this will be your first attempt. But given the COVID-19 situation, feeling now a bit under stress and dicey about taking or dropping CAT this year? Well, it's understandable and quite obvious for you to feel this way. We say, stick by your decision and apply for the exam this year itself. We wish CAT 2020 to be your first and last attempt. “Well, for me, it will be the second time that I will be taking the Common Admission Test (CAT). I think I know where I went wrong last year and this time I am sure that I will be able to crack CAT 2020 with a high percentile.” That’s the spirit is all we can say. It’s amazing to know that you have made up your mind to reappear for one of the most coveted exams. Since you haven’t given up on your dreams of becoming a great managerial professional, we believe you shall make it this year. “Okay, so I guess I am the odd one out here as CAT 2020 will be my third or the fourth attempt. At times, I feel I really don’t have it in me, what it takes to crack this exam. I see my dreams shattering every year, when the CAT result is announced. But then, I compose myself and start the journey again. Now, I see my mock scores improving and this gives me the ‘hope’ that I may crack the exam this year.” We see you as a fighter and believe that you shall witness victory this year. You are the epitome of motivation for every examinee who will be taking CAT 2020 for the first time. So.. Being a CAT 2020 aspirant, we are sure you must be able to relate yourself to one of the above-mentioned 3 categories of exam takers. Which number of CAT attempt this year will be is hardly a matter to even think about, but what matters is, are you determined to make CAT 2020 your last one? Ask yourself? Because we are sure that you shall crack the exam this year. Now, there are no mantras or cheat codes to qualify for this exam. However, with the implementation of some improved methods of CAT 2020 preparation and tweaking your already ongoing preparation strategy, the goal of belling CAT can be achieved. We list below 10 must-know tricks to enhance your preparation for CAT 2020.

CAT 2020 Preparation Tips

These are some suggestions that may help you prepare better for the exam. There will be a lot of things which you might be doing correctly but then, there are chances that unknowingly you might be committing certain mistakes, because of which you haven’t reached the finish line of the race of cracking CAT and taking admission to one of the B-schools. Try tweaking your CAT preparation strategy a bit by incorporating these 10 important tips of CAT preparation into it …….and you may be a CAT 2020 topper! So, what are the 10 must-know tricks to prepare and crack CAT 2020?

Create your own CAT study material for 2020 instead of piling up the books

Ever wondered why IIMs don’t provide the CAT syllabus or officially release the same as the CAT exam pattern? It’s simply because there are no fixed chapters or topics from which the exam is set. However, the books available in the market have been prepared by experts who have been observing and analyzing CAT over the years. With due course of time, these experts have a fair idea of what kind of questions are asked in the exam and consider that they publish these books. Now, as a CAT 2020 aspirant, we suggest you take some 80 to 85 mocks in these leftover 150 days and create your own CAT 2020 question bank. This way, you will end up having some odd 8000 questions, which are more than enough for CAT preparation 2020. However, for the initial practice of questions, candidates can use the books written by established authors but with time, they must rely on their CAT question bank instead of these books.

Use your smartphone to make short notes or quick formula revision sheets

We are living in the generation of smartphones, so use your phone for making notes. One of the 10 must-know CAT preparation tricks is to use the notepad on the phone and jot down important notes and pointers which you can open and revise at any time. Carrying a notebook or a bundle of pages may not be feasible every time but you cannot deny the fact that you carry your mobile phone everywhere. Make a habit of listing down the points in the notepad of your smartphone while having a discussion with a senior, teacher, or expert. Note down the suggestions or advice given by them so that they don’t slip from your mind. You can also make a list of shortcuts or formulas required for solving questions of CAT and revise the same anytime and anywhere.

Clearing the concepts and basics should be your priority

We are sure, this is the most common CAT 2020 preparation tip given by every expert and CAT topper. Well, we would suggest you do the same because it is extremely important for cracking an exam like CAT 2020. It is often said that a class 10th pass student can crack the Common Admission Test with ease and high percentile compared to any working professional. Now, the probability of this statement being true may be low, but the reason behind this is very logical. The kind of questions asked in CAT is equivalent to the level of classes 8, 9, and 10 but the exam takers graduates, and other working professionals, tend to forget the basics and hence find cracking CAT difficult. So, if you are really serious about cracking CAT 2020, invest your time in clearing your basics. The most important trick from the bunch of 10 must-know CAT 2020 preparation tricks is to practice fewer questions but practice them well. Devote time to understanding the methodology involved in the solutions and focus on revising the same.

Don’t run after practicing high-level difficulty questions

We agree CAT is considered to be the toughest exam. But, what makes it an arduous one is not the difficulty level of questions but the attitude with which it is attempted. CAT 2020 will be a strategy examination that will test your time management skills, stamina, how you choose which questions to attempt and which not to attempt, etc. It does not test your core abilities. Therefore, we would suggest CAT 2020 aspirants stop finding the ‘most difficult question’ for themselves and wasting days solving the same, maybe for the sake of satisfying their ego that if I can solve such a difficult question, I will be able to crack CAT too. Well, this may not be the scenario on the actual exam day. So, focus on test-taking instead of individual questions or problem-solving. For effective CAT preparation 2020, understand and analyze the difficulty level of questions that are asked in the exam and prepare the same. Practice and revise more questions with the same difficulty level.

Follow the formula = Practice + Analyze + Revise

Just practicing countless questions should not be your goal. You must spend time analyzing these questions, finding other methods to solve these, and keeping the pace of revision equal to your practice. Revision is the only key to increasing your speed and doing better in the exam. If you won’t revise, you will tend to forget the skills of solving the questions and thereby taking more time to solve them.

Today is a good time to start taking CAT 2020 mock tests

We often come across queries as to when one should start taking mock tests. We believe you should take a mock even before starting with the CAT preparation. There is no predefined timeline to commence with taking CAT mock tests. Any day is the right day and time to start with mock tests. We suggest CAT 2020 aspirants consider taking mocks as one of the prime methods of their preparation. Studying and revising topics should go hand in hand with writing CAT mock tests in order to keep a check on CAT 2020 preparation level. However, don’t let the low mock test score affect you. Tweak your mock-taking strategy in the next paper and focus on improving the score. The trick to scoring well in mock tests is to choose the questions wisely and get them right in the defined time frame.

Analyze and revise your mock test CAT paper

Another one of the 10 must-know CAT 2020 preparation tricks is to revise and analyze the CAT mock tests, which is more important than taking the mocks. The CAT 2020 aspirants are advised to invest 4 to 5 hours in analyzing the mocks in order to understand where they went wrong and to improve in the next exam. Also, they must go through the mock solutions carefully, it will help them have a better understanding of solving the questions and they may come across different methods of solving a particular question. Mock test solutions are books in themselves and must be referred by the CAT exam takers for a serious revision of the CAT syllabus 2020 and all important topics.

Be consistent with your CAT exam preparation

We do understand that the preparation of the CAT exam does get tedious but then those who start enjoying this tiresome journey crack this entrance test with magical percentiles. If you see your name as one of the CAT 2020 toppers, then you must stop finding reasons or excuses to escape from studies, and instead devise ideas to concentrate and focus on the preparation. Try studying for a shorter period of time but ensure that you study on a daily basis. However, the working professionals must start investing more time in CAT 2020 preparation on weekends and holidays.

Prepare all the 3 sections of the CAT 2020 exam simultaneously

While preparing for the CAT exam, devote equal time to all the 3 sections of the exam. We understand you may feel quant is your strong area so you can invest more time in VARC so that you can excel there. However, we suggest that this approach may not always work in your favor. You must concentrate equally on all the three sections and prepare them well. Paying more attention to one may lead to forgetting the skills of excelling in the other one with due course of time. For example, you may excel at VARC but then when you will pick up a question of quant after 2 months then you may find it difficult to solve the same. The reason is you were paying more attention to VARC in the last 2 months and ignoring quant. This is why we suggest CAT 2020 aspirants prepare for all the 3 sections simultaneously and pay equal attention to them.

Treat CAT as 3 exams of one hour each instead of one exam of 3 hours

In the exam, you will get 60 minutes to solve each section and during which you will not be able to switch between the sections. The marking and percentile are also given for each section and so does the IIM CAT cutoff work. Therefore, we suggest you start thinking and preparing for CAT 2020 as 3 exams have a duration of one hour each instead of one exam of 3 hours duration. Treat your CAT mock tests as the actual exam and take the mocks with this thinking. This will help you forgive and forget about the previous section and perform better in the next section. The conclusion By following these 10 must-know CAT 2020 preparation tips, you will find yourself in a position of well prepared and all set to bell CAT. However, this exam has a legacy of springing surprises at the last moment and no list of do’s and don’ts can actually help in gauging these last-minute twists. However, the only thing that will matter is your presence of mind during those 3 hours and the hard work of all these months. So, start with your CAT preparations for 2020 now, you still have time to buck up. Good Luck!

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