Chennai: With just over two weeks to go before the CAT test starts, many a candidate would be striving hard to ensure that they get the most out of this shot at success. With CAT now becoming a two-section paper with one section of English and Reasoning, the importance of cracking the English section assumes all the more importance.
Cracking the English section rests on two basic premises.
A) A 'reasonable' accuracy – 100 per cent attempts with a 25 per cent accuracy will leave you with a 67 per cent (approx.) score – not too bad after all.
B) The more you attempt, the better off you are.
A second important aspect of cracking the English section is to understand that the section consists of different types of questions, each with its own requirements and approach. Reading Comprehension questions require you to spend a fair bit of time comprehending the passage before you can answer any question at all.
In Grammar and word-based questions, the increasing length of sentences in such types of questions requires a sound footing in grammar and vocabulary and the ability to apply these principles at the blink of an eye. Verbal reasoning questions require, over and above a firm grip on grammar, an equally strong grip on the principles of reasoning as well.
One of the interesting aspects of the CAT entrance test is that your score will ultimately depend on identifying and answering questions that you find the easiest across the paper. There will be easy and difficult questions in every type – RC, Grammar and Vocabulary and Reasoning.
A) For instance, under RC, direct questions would be easier than inferential questions which would in turn be easier than questions involving summarising and identifying the tone/tenor of the passage.
B) Some of you might find para-jumbling easier than completing a paragraph.
C) Within the former, questions with obvious clues like words connecting sentences to each other and identifying the sequence are easier than questions that require an understanding of the flow of the idea.
D) Within para-completion questions, some paragraph might be much more direct and hence easier than another.
E) Critical reasoning questions will require you to understand the type of reasoning being employed – deductive or inductive. Knowing this difference will be the key to answering any critical reasoning question, be it strengthening/weakening an argument, identifying a flaw, categorising a response in an exchange, coming up with a conclusion, etc. Depending on your comfort level with different types of reasoning, you could find the questions to be at different levels of difficulty.
F) Reading all the questions is the key to ensuring that you get all the easy questions across the section.
So, when you start the English section, take a quick glance at the structure of the paper and divide your time across the different types of questions. A minute or so spent here would be a great investment rather than time wasted without answering a question. Considering you can expect three to four passages in RC, budgeting eight to ten minutes per passage will consume around thirty to forty minutes. That would leave you with around thirty-forty minutes for the remaining questions. Divide this time between Grammar and Vocabulary on one hand and Verbal Reasoning on the other depending on your estimate of your strength/weakness in each area.
Ensure that you never get stuck for too long on any question. Questions that require extensive re-reading of the passage such as those with the 'except' clause or those with lengthy answer choices should be avoided (unless something obvious sticks out, of course!). Remember, your goal has to be that you read every question and answer the ones you are most certain about. No single question is worth losing your admission over.
Tips on last-minute preparation
1) Go through the fundamentals of grammar once again. It never hurts to revise. Do it by reviewing all grammar-based questions that you have come across in every bit of study material you have on hand.
2) For word-based questions, spend 30 minutes regularly on going through a list of the most commonly misused words like homophones etc. The root-prefix-suffix method for word learning can help solve fill in the blanks questions in CAT.
3) For para-jumbling and other reasoning-based questions, go through all the practice tests you have written till date, preferably categorising the questions type-wise to ensure that you gather all solving tips applicable to each type across various papers.
4) Keep reading. Various Websites like www.magportal.com give theme-based articles to read and will give you wide-ranging exposure.
5) Finally, please remember that there are no short cuts to learning a language. Practice is the key to success in this section. So spend at least an hour on regular reading and another 30 minutes in solving passages from various online sources. The same applies to vocabulary and reasoning-based questions.
Hope you found this useful. Happy cracking!!
(S Balasubramanian is the Centre Director of T.I.M.E. Chennai. An alumnus of IIM, Ahmedabad, (Class of ‘98) and of IIT, Madras, (Class of ’94), he has been involved in training students for CAT for the 12 years that he has been handling T.I.M.E. operations in Chennai.)
Comments
0 comment