nandini : GOOD EVENING SIR WHAT IS THE SAFE CAT SCORE FOR GENERAL CATEGORY ENGINEERING STUDENT FEMALE FOR IIM BLACKI ???
amitpoddar : See, apart from the CAT scores,gender and diversity they also give weightages to acads, work ex etc. So,anything in the range of 95-99 should be good enough for some of these calls.

arshad : HOW MANY HOURS OF SHOULD BE GIVEN TO LRDI ON WEEKLY BASIS?
asim : 8-12 hours min

rutuja : I’M FROM CAT PREP BATCH STARTED IN NOVEMBER. I’M NOT SURE FROM WHICH BOOKS SHOULD I START PREPARING FOR VARC?
asim : Start with the basic study material booklets along with the handouts that are being done in class

kxca4a159 : WHAT ARE THE BEST BUSINESS SCHOOLS APART FROM IIMS TO TAKE ADMISSIONS INTO, JUST IN CASE FOR A BACK UP.
thomas : FMS, XLRI, SP JAIN, IIFT, IITs.

rutuja : I’M WORKING CURRENTLY. HOW MUCH TIME SHOULD I ALLOT TO VARC PREP WEEKLY? AND HOW SHOULD I STRUCTURE MY GOALS
thomas : at least 2 hrs per day on days you are working and a minimum of 6 hrs per day on holidays.

nandini : SIR HOW MUCH SHOULD BE THE CET PERCENTILE FOR FEMALE GENERAL CATEGORY ENGINEERING STUDENT FOR JBIMS ??
asim : 99.5+

vansh : HOW CAN I ANALYSE MY ALL INDIA RANK AND PERCENTILE IN AIMCAT?
thomas : your all india rank and percentile will be available in the results page. DO not bother about the scores initially as most students would have just started prep; the initial aimcats are for trying out different strategies in the exam to select the one which best suits you. we will be giving strategy videos for aimcats occasionally.

dlca4a617 : BOOKS THAT WE SHOULD READ FOR IMPROVING VOCAB
asim : Apart from T.I.M.E. study material, you can read Newspapers(any national daily English), magazines (Outlook, India today etc), Novels (fiction and non fiction), books like word power made easy.

vasu : GIVE A ROADMAP FOR RC
amitpoddar : Diverse read from different sources should be done for 45 to 1 hr daily. Note down all the difficult words/jargon and clear your concepts.Write some summaries on and off.. Practise 2-3 passages from the booklets and take sectional tests every week.

arshi : HOW MANY QUESTIONS PER DAY SHOULD BE SOLVED FOR LRDI?
asim : Atleast 1-2 sets

iqra : WHAT ARE THE MAIN TOPICS FOR LR
thomas : the main topics are mentioned in the basic SM book which you would have received when you enrolled.

kxca4a159 : CAN YOU PLEASE SUGGEST ME SOME QUESTION BANKS WHICH I CAN REFER TO WHILE PREPARATIONS FOR CAT.
asim : T.I.M.E. study material is more than sufficient

ankush : WHAT IS THE N.O OF GOOD ATTEMPT QUESTIONS FOR VARC SECTION.
thomas : it depends on the paper and can vary significantly depending on the difficulty level. keep an eye on the cutoff marks given for each test and this will give you an indication of how difficult or easy the paper was.

deepak : HOW TO PREPARE FOR VARC AND LR. HOW TO MASTER LR?
asim : Start with LRHO handouts then move to LRPE and LWHO, practice alongside the basic study material booklet provide along with online sectional tests.

muca4a974 : ARE 9MONTHS ENOUGH FOR STUDY OF CAT EXAM
asim : Yes, it is more than sufficient

vasu : HOW WE START LRDI PRACTICE?
asim : Start with the basic study material booklets along with the handouts that are being done in class

hocd4a119 : HOW MUCH TIME SHOULD I SPENT ON VA WEEKLY. AND WHICH NEWSPAPERS I SHOULD READ FOR INCREASING MY COMMAND OVER IT.
amitpoddar : Devote 2-3 productive hours everyday for English. Read newspapers like The Hindu, ET,Mint,etc. and refer to websites like T4e,economist.com,aoen,The Guardian.com,etc. Practise solving passages from the booklets and take onine sectional tests from the SHP.

bhca4a526 : WHAT TIME SHOULD BE GIVEN TO CAT PREPARATION EVERYDAY
thomas : 6-7 hrs if you are not working/studying currently

hari : HOW MANY NO OF QUESTION SHOULD I ANSWER CORRECTLY IN ORDER TO GET A 99.5 PERCENTILE
asim : It cannot be predicted in advance as it depends on difficulty level of CAT 2024 which no one can predict

sd : GOOD EVENING SIR,WHAT IS THE PERCENTILE SCORE I SHOULD BE TARGETING IN AIMCAT TO ENSURE THAT I WOULD BE GETTING IN IIMS THROUGH CAT,I AM A FEMALE, GENERAL CATEGORY AND NON ENGINEERING BACKGROUND
thomas : try to aim for a score above 85 percentile consistently. that should be a good score to target initially

vedant : SIR PLEASE SHARE PREPARATION STRATEGY FOR VA RC & LR
asim : A lot of preparation tips have been shared please check the chat transcript

dlca4c99 : BEST STRATEGIES FOR CAT EXAM FOR AVERAGE STUDENT
asim : Focus on gaining conceptual clarity, do not just memorise formulae alone, understand why we are solving the question by a particular method, discuss your doubts regularly with faculty members.

tripti : WHILE GIVING THE AIMCAT, MY FOCUS WAS MORE OVER THE TIME , HENCE WAS GETTING DISTRACTED. ANY SUGGESTIONS TO FOCUS MORE ON THE QUESTION THAN ON LOOKING AT TIME AGAIN AND AGAIN?
amitpoddar : Scan the whole section first and List down the doable questions. then try to solve as many questions as you can correctly and do not bother about the time.Focus on the reward you get per correct question that is +3 marks.

nidhi_singh852 : I AM ENGINEERING LAST YEAR STUDENT,HOW MUCH PERCENTILE SHOULD I SCORE FOR XLRI?
thomas : if you are looking at XLRI, yo will need to score more than 95 percentile to have a chance to get a call.

dlca4af07 : HELLO SIR,
thomas : please post your question

pg : HOW MANY QUESTION NEED TO BE ATTENDED, IF ANY SUGGESTION?
thomas : will depend on the difficulty level of the paper and can vary significantly from paper to paper. so, do not go with a fixed number in your mind.

hargun : WHAT OTHER THINGS I SHOULD BE FOCUSING OTHER OTHER THAN PREPARING FOR CAT TO GET A GOOD COLLEGE
thomas : make sure you brush up your general awareness. if in final year of graduation, keep in mind that the graduation scores matter in most schools.

bai : SIR IS THAT POSSIBLE TO GET 99% BY ANSWERING FOR SELECTED QUESTION?
amitpoddar : Yeah. Last year around 75 marks gave 99%ile overall. ast to last year it was around 86 for 99%ile.

hocd4a119 : HOW MUCH TIME SHOULD I SPENT DAILY FOR PREPARATION OF CAT FOR ALL SUBJECTS
amitpoddar : 6-8 hrs of productive study should be good enough. Focus on completing chapters rather than just the number of hours.

gowri : I MISSED AIMCAT?HOW CAN I SEE QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
thomas : you will be able to attempt all the missed aimcats only after a few months, couple of months before CAT. we keep it this way so that you do not skip the aimcats

user1 : IS IT REQUIRED TO KNOW ALL THE WORDS FROM THE CUE CARDS?
amitpoddar : No, just go through the cards on a regular basis and focus on the RPS technique taught in the class.Pick 10-20 words daily from the reading you do regularly.

student : WHAT KIND OF BOOKS SHOULD ONE READ TO SUPPORT VARC PREP
amitpoddar : Read some autobiographies of some business tycoons like Bill gates, Akio Morita, et. and books based on sociology,philosophy,psychology,biology,etc.

richamali_ : HOW MUCH SYLLABUS SHOULD I COMPLETE WEEKLY IF I'M STARTING NOW?
thomas : make sure that all the chapters in the basic SM( or all topics) are finished at least by junso that you can start the aimcats seriously by that time

hocd22045 : SIR THE VIDEO LECTURES CONTAINS LESS CONTENT AS COMPARED TO THE MODULES WHICH IS GIVEN.
asim : Many more session are yet to be conducted, please note, makes sure you watch/attend all the classes to gain comprehensive knowledge.

ritujadatta : FROM WHEN SHOULD I START GIVING MOCK TESTS ?
asim : Write all the AIMCATs (for which you are eligible based on the course variant).

student : WHAT IS THE GRADUATION CGPA REQUIRED TO GET INTO TOP B SCHOOLS
asim : Even with not so good percentage you can still make it provided you do well in CAT/WAT/PI.

divyajyot : SIR ACCORDING TO YOU HOW MUCH TIME WE SHOULD GIVE TO RC IN MAIN CAT EXAM AND ALSO FOR AIMCAT
thomas : around 25 minutes for RC and 15 minutes for the va section

digvijay : WHAT WOULD BE THE BEST WAY RETAIN INFORMATION WHICH WE READ OR MEMORIZE FROM THE VARC AND LR SESSION?
amitpoddar : Keep making notes of all the important learning on a daily basis. Understand things rather than memorizing it.

ayush2099 : FOR AIMCAT WHAT SHOULD BE OUR MAIN TARGET GET GOOD MARKS OR OBSERVATION
asim : Try to secure a good percentile

vansh : WHICH PERCENTILE IS GOOD IN AIMCAT AT THIS LEVEL? (I GOT 97.7, HOW IS THIS??)
thomas : anything above 85 right now is good if you are preparing for the first time. anything above 95 is excellent.

9515831511 : DO WE NEED TO PAY TO WRITE AIMCAT
asim : If you are full course student, then no, it is part of your course, in case you are not a T.I.M.E. student then you need register/enroll into the AIMCAT series

hocd4a306 : PLEASE TELL WHICH TOPIC OF LRDI SHOULD BE FOCUS THE MOST FOR CAT?
thomas : thee is no topic as such which can be termed important as questions can be from any topic or from a combination of topics. please have a look at the previous year question papers to get an idea of the questions which are used

hocd4a119 : HOW TO IMPROVE MY SPEED FOR CALCULATIONS
thomas : you will have speed maths class and booklet to help you speed up calculations.

ayush2099 : SO IS THEIR A TARGET FOR AIMCAT
asim : First few AIMCATs serve the purpose of diagnostic tests, they help you figure out your strengths and weaknesses.

hocd4a119 : THE PASSAGES ARE TOO LONG AND TAKES TIME TO READ AND UNDERSTAND .HOW TO TACKLE IT
thomas : make sure that you take your time to read and understand . if you are able to do 2 RCs very well, that should get you a very high score. 3 or more RCs are done by only the toppers who are at 99+ in that section

student : WILL STUDYING IN PRESTIGIOUS COLLEGES FOR BCOM GRADUATION BE OF ANY USE WHILE GETTING INTO MBA COLLEGES
thomas : the scores in your graduation will matter. The college as such is not going to matter significantly and it is a level playing field for all.

gowri : HOW MANY AIMCATS WILL BE PROVIDED? AND HOW MANY TOTAL MOCKS SHOULD WE DO IT EASILY CRACK CAT?
asim : Depends on the course variant you have enrolled into.

hocd4a119 : FOR GA WHICH MATERIAL TO REFER AND HOW TO IMPROVE IT
asim : For preparation on General Awareness, in addition to reading newspapers regularly, it would be advisable for a student to prepare from the following sources: Also, in the various issues of MBA Education & Careers magazine, focus on features like Business GK, Current Issues & Events, and Current Event Chronicle (this feature captures important tid-bits). In addition to the above, please run through the GK Model Papers feature titled, Improve your GK. Go through the GA Note (Study Material) booklet for stock GK (like history and geography). Also use the GAT papers, each with 50 questions. Manorama & CSR Year Book - it helps in preparation for stock type questions In Manorama Year Book and CSR, please focus on the following chapters. Who is who What is what Science scan Human body Computers Landmarks of history The Universe

vansh : WHERE IS THE CHAT TRANSCRIPT IN WHICH THE TIPS ARE GIVEN?
asim : Check on the right side of the screen(bottom)

somya : SIR WHEN SHOULD WE START GIVNG AIMCATS?
asim : Immediately, do not skip any AIMCAT

nitu : WHAT ABOUT SECTIONAL TESTS ?
thomas : the sectional tests are to be done regularly as and when you complete that particular topic. This will help you judge how good your level of prep is

shree : HOW TO PREPARE FOR VARC FROM SCRATCH TO BECOME INTELLECTUAL IN THAT SECTION ? CAN YOU EXPLAIN
amitpoddar : Devote 2-3 productive hours everyday for English. Read newspapers like The Hindu, ET,Mint,etc. and refer to websites like T4e,economist.com,aoen,The Guardian.com,etc. Practise solving passages and para based questions from the booklets and take onine sectional tests from the SHP.

aadrika : I AM HAVING DIFFICULTY IN UNDERSTANDING READING COMPREHENSION WHAT CAN I DO TO IMPROVE IT?
amitpoddar : Pick all the difficult words from whatever you read and check the meanings first. And then reread.

hocd4a119 : WHAT IS THE CGPA REQUIRED TO GET INTO TOP B SCHOOLS
thomas : depends on the course you are doing. anything in the top 25 percentage of the class/course you are doing is considered good

tathagat : PLEASE OUTLINE A ROUGH DAILY SCHEDULE FOR VARC PREPERATION
amitpoddar : Devote 2-3 productive hours everyday for English. Read newspapers like The Hindu, ET,Mint,etc. and refer to websites like T4e,economist.com,aoen,The Guardian.com,etc. Practise solving passages and para based questions from the booklets and take onine sectional tests from the SHP.

deepak : WHAT IS LRPE AND LWHO. YOU REPLIED THIS TO MY QUESTION IN'HOW TO MASTER LR?
asim : These are handouts that will be done in future in classroom after we conduct LRHO handouts

loser : I FOUND IT REALLY DIFFICULT TO SOLVE QUESTIONS IN SPEED.. WHILE EVERYONE GAVE ANS SO QUICKLY. ITS DEMOTIVATING ME .. WHAT SHOULD I DO MY QUANTS IS REALLY WEAK
thomas : understand that you need to score only around 10-12 marks to clear the cutoff. if you can do even 7 or 8 questions correctly in the 40 minutes, you should get a 95+ score. So, do not worry about the less number of attempts

anonymous : WHEN WILL AIM CAT FOR CAT 25 STUDENTS BE AVAILABLE?
asim : Next year Jan

adithya : TO BE HONEST, AIMCAT WAS A MISERABLE EXPERIENCE. AN EMBARRASSINGLY LOW SCORE. IS THIS ACCEPTABLE FOR A NOVICE OR IS THIS THE TIME TO START SWEATING IT OUT?
asim : I am a strong believer that one should not quantify one's quality of preparation in terms of number of hours of study, rather you should look at your preparation in terms of number of topics covered,number of concepts learnt and so on. If you still insist on an answer, I would say a minimum of 40 hours ( excluding the online classes ) per week routine is recommended. You should ensure that you distribute the time among all the areas ( as almost all IIMs and some of the other top -B-schools have provision for sectional cutoffs ).The distribution ratio would depend on your comfort level in that area,Make sure that you do not ignore your weaker areas, in fact devote a little extra time for those areas.

shantanu : FROM WHEN WE SHOULD STUDY 18 HRS A DAY?
thomas : do not overdo it. you should not look at studying 18 hrs per day. make sure that you are doing the prep smartly and do for 6 to 7 hrs per day so that you can sustain the interest and intensity till the end.

tathagat : SINCE THERE IS NO DEFINITE SYLLABUS FOR RC , CAN WE RIGHT AWAY START ATTEMPTING RC'S SECTION TESTS?
amitpoddar : Pls start from the RC booklet. Write some summaries first and then do some CR and then start doing the passages. After you do this for a month, you can start taking tests.

reshamlalwanii : HOW TO START PREPARATION AND HOW TO DIVIDE THE TIME FOR THE EACH SUBJECT SIR
amitpoddar : Practis at least 2 sections in a day and devote around 2-3 hrs to each section.General Reading should be done daily from the reading links provided on the SHP..

student : CAN YOU PLEASE SUGGEST SOME BOOKS FOR OMET EXAMS?
asim : Which OMET

muca4a220 : SIR, HOW MUCH TO SCORE IN VARC SECTION FOR A DECENT SCORE IN AIMCATS
amitpoddar : Anything in 20s should be a good score as of now and then keep moving up the ladder.

bhoomika : DOES A FRESHER NEED TO HAVE AN EXTRAORDINARY PROFILE IN TERMS OF EXTRA-CURRICULARS AND INTERNSHIPS TO GET INTO TOP IIMS?
thomas : no,every year more than half the students who get in are freshers. you only need a good cat score , good score in the next stage and good academic record.

sruthi : HOW SHOULD I APPROACH QUESTIONS IN RC?
amitpoddar : Do some critical reasoning chapters first and then you will be able to tackle questions based on inference, assumption,most agree, etc.

student : BOOKS FOR OMET EXAMS LIKE NMAT AND SNAP
thomas : we will be providing you the material for that.you need not refer to any other material

student : I HAVE ATTEMPTED THE AIMCAT BUT COULD NOT ATTEMPT LRDI SECTION, AND OVERALL I GOT A LESS SCORE. CAN I REATTEMPT THE SAME AIMCAT IN FUTURE?
thomas : no, you will not be able to do it to get a new score. do not bother about the scores in the initial aimcats and they should be used to try out different test taking strategies.

ritujadatta : AM IN THE FINAL YEAR OF GRADUATION, HOW MUCH TIME SHOULD I DEVOTE FOR CAT PREP EVERY DAY?
rajesh : an mean avg of 2 hours and steadily increasing it

dlca4a676 : SIR AS I AM TRYING TO STUDY THE COURSE FROM THE START ON MY OWN, HOW CAN I ALLOCATE TIME IF I AM WATCHING VIDEO OF PARTICULAR TOPIC AND THE VIDEO ARE OF 5 HOURS THEMSELVES?
rajesh : currently how are you strategising

hargun : HOW TO MANAGE COLLEGE WITH CAT PREPARATION
amitpoddar : Use your commuting time and weekends. During breaks in college do some reading,etc.

kk : LR IS GEETING ON MY NERVES AND IN THE AIMCAT ALSO COULD ATTEMPT ONE SET ONLY.COULD NOT SOLVE LR.KINDLY SUGGEST.
thomas : do not worry if you can attempt only one set. you are expected to solve only 2 sets in CAT o get a very good score. so, doing one set right now is perfectly fine and a good start.

muca4a220 : SIR R 9 RIGHT ANSWERS ENOUGH TO START WITH?
amitpoddar : Looks good.

: SIR, PLEASE TELL HOW TO MANAGE JOB WITH CAT PREPARATION?
amitpoddar : Use your commuting time and weekends. During breaks in college do some reading,etc.

sammartin : HELLO SIR I GOT 50 IN AIMCAT (VARC:20;DILR:10;QA:20) WHAT SHOULD BE MY STUDY PLAN TO IMPORVE THIS SCORE.
rajesh : break up and what is your plan for studying

loser : WHAT SHOULD I DO TO IMPROVE MY LRDI AND VARC .. ON A DAILY BASIS
rajesh : have you started preparing from your material

: SIR, DO I NEED TO QUIT MY JOB FOR CAT PREPARATION AS I AM ABLE TO DONATE NO MORE THAN 3HRS DAILY FOR CAT PREPARATION?
thomas : 3 hrs per day is good enough now and make sure that you are consistent. DO NOT quit the job for the sake of preperation

rr : DI LOOKS EASY WHEN SOLVED USING CALCULATOR, BUT REALLY DIFFICULT WITHOUT THE CALCULATOR(CALCULATIONS ARE REALLY COMPLEX), SHOULD I PRACTICE DI WITH OR WITHOUT CALCUATOR?
thomas : the type of qns you get these days will not require extensive calculation. whenever you find so many calculations, try to approximate as much as possible. only CAT provides a calculator and so if are looking at the other tests also, you should make sure thaat the use of calculator is kept to minimum.

trca4a096 : SIR,IS READING NEWSPAPER DAILY IS ENOUGH FOR RC
amitpoddar : No. not at all.It is the minimum one can do. You need to practise passages from the booklets and the SHP.

shantanu : BEST COLLEGES BELOW 90 PERCENTILE
thomas : there are many like TAPMI, IMT, IMI, LBSIM, GIM, GLIM etc. we will be guiding you in all these during the year.

yadav : NOT UNDERSTANDING IN LRDI
thomas : do not worry. practice basic SM questions and do not bother about the time taken to sole, you speed will gradually improve as you become familiar with the different models.

bhca4a526 : WHAT TIME SHOULD BE GIVEN TO CAT PREPARATION EVERYDAY AS A COLLEGE STUDENT AND ALSO DOING INTERNSHIP
thomas : make sure that you score well in your graduation. right now 2-3 hrs per day is more than enouh and you can increase it after your graduation exams are over.

student : HOW CAN I GET BETTER AT DOING CALCULATIONS WITHOUT USING CALCULATOR?
thomas : you will have speed maths classes and practice material to help you practice to help you speed up the calculation

hocc3w123 : I'M GETTING A RANK BETWEEN 7 TO 20 IN ALL MAHARASHTRA MOCK CET TESTS BY TIME INSTITUTE.WHICH ALL COLLEGES CAN I EXPECT ADMISSION INTO? I'M A GENERAL CATEGORY WITH MAHARASHTRA .DON'T IGNORE ME
thomas : DO NOT SPAM. you will be blocked.

aditya : I AM A COMMERCE STUDENT, AND I CANNOT SOLVE ANY LR QNS. WHAT SHD I DO TO SOLVE THIS ISSUE?
thomas : practice the basic SM questions. do not worry about the time take to solve the questions. your speed will gradually increase with practice.

ayush : LAST MOCK TEST I GOT -VE MARKS AND WEAK IN ENGLISH, HOW TO IMPROVE
amitpoddar : Start from the basic booklets.Do one chapter from RC and one from the VA booklet daily. Additionally, read for at least 45-60 min and write all the difficult words and jargon.

student : WILL HAVING COMMERCE BACKGROUND BE DISADVANTAGEOUS DURING INTERVIEW ROUNDS
thomas : no, actually it is an advantage to have a non engineering background.

hyca4a238 : BEING AN ARTS STUDENT IS THEIR AN DISADVANTAGE FOR ME IN INTERVIEW.
thomas : no. it is actually an advantage as IIMs prefer academic diversity

sandeep : HOW CAN I IMPROVE MY VOCABULARY FOR CAT ?
amitpoddar : Read daily and pick new words;Refer to the vocab cards, learn some roots and attend all the vocab classes.

sandeep : HOW CAN I SPEAK FLUENTLY, I'M VERY WEAK IN ENGLISH
amitpoddar : Devote 2 hrs on building your speaking and comprehending skills.Give 30 min each to Reading , writing, Listening and speaking on a daily basis for 2 months.Also, solve the RC and VA booklets chapter wise.

muca4a511 : CAN A NEGATIVE SCORE IN ONE SECTION AFFECT OVERALL PERCENTILE?
amitpoddar : Yeah, the percentile i based on the score you get. If your total score is less because of the negative in one section then based on that score you will get the percentile.

student : TIPS FOR PREPARING FOR GD PI
amitpoddar : Read newspapers daily and make notes on the important events.Go through the monthly magazines given to you by us. And keep practicing extempore on different topics.

sandeep : HOW MUCH TIME SHOULD I GIVE DAILY FOR VA AND LR
amitpoddar : Focus on the completion of chapters than just the number of hours.

sandeep : MY 10TH,12TH SCORE IS IN 50-60 % WILL I GET ANY IIM ?
amitpoddar : You need to score a lot in your CAT entrance and you will make it to the IIMs.

bhca4a611 : I DO NOT HAVE GOOD PERCENTAGE IN MY 10TH AND 12TH, WILL I HAVE. A CHANCE IN IIMS(SCORED LESS THAN 85%)
amitpoddar : Yeah , you have chance. Try to score as much as you can in CAT and you will get calls. Some IIMs give very less or n weightage to the acads and gives a very high weightage to the CAT scores.