hocc4t113 : NO VIDEO SESSIONS FOR THIS?
thomas : it will be uploaded by tomorrow.

a : IF I MISSED ANY OF THE AIMCATS AND CAN I ABLE TO TAKE THE TEST WHENEVER I WANT AND WILL MY SCORE STILL BE ANALYZED?
thomas : no. you will be able to write the test only in Septemper. only the score will be available and you will not get a rank or percentile

rj : MY AIMCAT 2520 SCORE WAS PATHETIC. VARC - 9
thomas : this was not a very difficult test as far as varc was concerned. Was slightly easier than last year cat paper varc section

disha : I JOINED TIME 2 WEEKS BACK, STILL DON'T HOW TO START THE PREP. CAN YOU HELP ME IN THIS?
asim : Begin with the basic study material booklets and the handouts that are being discussed in classes.

disha : HOW TO SOLVE RC'S?
gayathri : More attempts depend on your ability to thoroughly comprehend/absorb the content you read. So first focus on improving speed. form connections between thoughts, understand the central theme, identify the purpose of writing, follow the flow of ideas and summarize the critical points. Regular practice will deliver good results over a period of time.

audityaa : HOW TO IMPROVE VOCAB FOR CAT?
philipthomas : Attend the vocab sessions at your centre and work upon the vocab exercises using the cue cards.

a : THE CLASSES ARE STATED FOR ME FROM MAY MONTH, SO WHEN WILL ALL THE SYLLABUS BE COMPLETED ?
sunildua : First of all, why are you waiting for the syllabus to be over? We expect to give you all the classes by 30th September but after that also we will be doing some workshops. You are expected to begin reinforcing every thing at home that you are studying with us. Don't wait for all the classes to be over.

hocc4t113 : HOW MANY STUDENTS GAVE THIS AIMCAT??
thomas : 9250

anushia : HOW TO PREPARE FOR RC ?
lakshmymenon : Read articles on a variety of topics. The most common topics in CAT RCs are sociology, political science, cultural history, psychology, biology, physics, technology, linguistics etc. Take AIMCATs regularly and analyse your mistakes. Watch the video explanations to understand the flaws in your logic. For each question, eliminate the easy options first and then for the remaining options, go to the passage and check each option carefully. See if you can identify distortions, far-fetched statements etc. This will help with accuracy.

hk : HELLO, EXPERT ANALYSIS FOR AIMCAT 2522 AND 2520 HASN'T BEEN UPDATED YET?
thomas : the video solutions for aimcat 22 is already uploaded. you will not have a strategy session for all aimcats

rj : MY AIMCAT 2520 SCORE WAS PATHETIC. OVERALL 18 (9-0-9). I AM DONES WITH LOD 1 OF THE BOOK BY ARUN SHARMA SIR (ALL BLOCKS). I NEED MORE HELP WITH LRDI PREPARATION. IF I ONLY RELY ON THE PROBLEMS IN THE MOCK TESTS AND PREVIOUS YEAR CAT QUESTIONS, WILL THAT BE ENOUGH? OR DO I HAVE TO COMPLETE THE 2 LRDI BOOKS BY ARUN SHARMA SIR ALSO?
thomas : you do the aimcats, aimcat sa and the class handouts of lr and di along with the advanced level sectional tests. you need not refer to any other material

disha : FOR JUNE BATCH, WHEN IS THE SYLLABUS BE COMPLETED?
thomas : depends on the frequency of classes. it will be completed around one month before CAT in most cases.

ng : HOW CAN I IMPROVE MY ACCURACY IN VARC SECTION IT IS ALWAYS 50% NO MATTER HOW MANY QUESTIONS I ATTEMPT
gayathri : Read passages on a wide range of topics from sources such as Aeon essays (these are long articles - you can read a few paras), Economist, Guardian, BBC, National Geographic, Scientific American, New York Times etc. Many of these are sources of CAT passages. You can try reading with a timer - do a word count and set the timer at a reading speed of 200-250 words per minute. Take sectional tests and AIMCATs regularly and analyse your mistakes. Listen to the video solutions to understand the flaws in your logic.

vishnu : I CANT KEEP UP WITH SOLVING LRDI ON TIME I AM NOT EVEN ABLE TO
abhishek : DILR will take time and practice. Keep practicing LR and DI sets from the material. Also, slightly try to improve the level of the questions.

hk : THE EXPERT ANALYSIS PROVIDED GOOD INSIGHTS! IF POSSIBLE PLEASE DO UPDATE THAT AS WELL. THANKS
asim : Sure, will do

nischay : I WAS ABLE TO SCORE MORE THAN 90 PERCENTILE EVERY AIMCAT WITH LRDI SCORES EXCEEDING 35, BUT THIS TIME I WASN'T ABLE TO SCORE EVEN 10 IN LRDI. ANY TIPS
abhishek : CAT is slightly unpredictable. More so is LR and DI. This area needs proper consistent preparation. ALso, analyse the last mock to see where did you get stuck, did you attempt the right set of questions or not.

dlca4a : I HAVE SCORED 95 %ILE+ IN ALL AIMCATS UP TILL NOW AND HAVE BEEN SCORING 99 %ILE+ IN THE LAST COUPLE ONES. WHAT SHOULD SUCH A SCORE TRANSLATE TO IN THE ACTUAL CAT CONSIDERING THE CURRENT DIFFICULTY LEVEL?
thomas : wait for a couple more aimcats as most students have just stated prep. in case you are consistently scoring more than 95 percentile in the last 10 aimcats, you can reasonably expect 98+ in CAT , with the same level of performance

hocc4t113 : WHAT ARE CUE CARDS?
asim : For online course students these are available on your SHP in form of a booklet, this helps improve your vocabulary

nayanam : HOW MUCH TIME SHOULD I GIVE TO EACH SUBJECT IN ORDER TO COMPLETE THE SYLLABUS
abhishek : Depends on your level of knowledge. I would suggest you divide the time in the ratio 2: 1: 1 for weakest area, followed by the other two areas. Also, try to keep the preparation time at 3-4 hours at least.

roshith : HOW TO IMPROVE ACCURACY IN RCS?
lakshmymenon : Take AIMCATs regularly and analyse your mistakes. Watch the video explanations to understand the flaws in your logic. For each question, eliminate the easy options first and then for the remaining options, go to the passage and check each option carefully. See if you can identify distortions, far-fetched statements etc. If it is still confusing, just leave the question.

subhalaxmi : WAS THE DILR SECTION THIS AIMCAT EASIER OR DIFFICULT THAN ACTUAL CAT?
thomas : the dilr and qa section f this aimcat was very similar to last year cat paper. the varc in this aimcat was slightly easier that last year cat paper

muca4a411 : I AM NOT ABLE TO FIND THE LINK FOR ONGOING CATALYST SESSION PLEASE HELP
abhishek : Check with your local centre.

zeeshan : WHAT ARE TOPICS TO BE PREPARED UNDER ARITHMETIC AND ALGEBRA?
abhishek : Arithmetic - ERPV, PPL, SICI, AMA, TSD, TW Algebra - Inequalities, QE, Progressions, ILS

aa : I SCORED 67 IN THIS AIMCAT. IS IT GOOD?? WAS THIS AIMCAT MORE DIFFICULT THAN THE PREVIOUS ONE?
abhishek : Please check your percentile and compare it with your past performances.

s : HOW MANY QUESTIONS NEED TO BE SOLVED FOR SCORING 90%ILE
thomas : it will depend on the difficulty level of the paper. fo this aimcat, you can check the score of the student who scored rank 1000 in each section to get an idea about 90 percentile in that section

aadi : SIR WHICH ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT TOPICS IN QUANT WHICH I NEED TO FOCUS THE MOST UPON. I KNOW ALL ARE IMPORTANT BUT I JUST NEEDED TO KNOW ON WHICH TOPICS I NEED TO FOCUS MORE UPON, SOLVE MORE EXCERCISES FROM THE BOOK AND DO MORE SECTIONAL TESTS.
abhishek : Arithmetic part(PPL, ERPV, SICI, TSD, Time and work, AMA). Looking at last year CAT, algebra also.

bbq132 : SIR , AND WHICH EXAMS SHOUD I NEED TO FOCUS MORE EXCEPT CAT , AND WHO WILL BE OUR POINT OF CONTACT FOR ONE ON ONE COUNCELLING/DOUBT SOLVING ON EXAMS WE NEED TO FOCUS ETC..
sunildua : Please pick around 3-4 OMETS (management entrance tests other than Cat). Your Faculty members are your point of contact for your academic doubts as well as your choice of B schools. Please approach your Centre Staff for appointments.

dlca4a : ROUGHLY, WHAT RAW SCORE SHOULD I AIM FOR, FOR A 99.6 %ILE+ IN CAT 2024 ASSUMING DIFFICULTY LEVEL IS LIKE CAT 2023?
thomas : around 100 marks

muca4a596 : PAST 5 AIMCATS MY SCORE IS STUCK BETWEEN 60-70 PERCENTILE. SCORE FROM LRDI CAN COUNTED AS NEGLIGIBLE. WHAT CAN BE DONE SO THAT I WOULD BE ABLE TO SOLVE 1-2 SET AND MOVE MY SCORES TO 90+ IN NEXT MONTH OF JULY.
thomas : have a look at all the four sets and select one set which look the easiest. take around 5-7 minutes for that. now do this set slowly and accurately. if you can do this set without mistakes, you can expect close to 90 percentile in most aimcats.

hocc4t113 : IS THERE ANY TOPIC WISE WEIGHTAGE PUBLISHED SOMEWHERE?
thomas : no, there is no specific weightage for any section

nixxhi : SIR,HOW TO PREPARTION ON ENGLISH ,BECAUSE MY BACKGROUND IS HINDI MEDIUM
gayathri : Improve your reading skills. Read simple passages in the beginning and gradually shift to complex ones. record the unfamiliar words in a book and find their meanings. read them regularly. This will help you to improve your vocabulary. Practice the study material daily. After a while focus on improving your speed.

ultimate : HOW TO MANAGE TIME IN VARC SECTION? I AM ABLE TO DO 20-22 QUESTION WITH NOT MORE THAN 50-60% ACCURACY. ANY TIPS??
lakshmymenon : Reduce your attempts please. 50 percent is usually enough to score 99th percentile. So don't attempt questions randomly. For RC, it looks like you're able to read all the passages. While this is excellent, you should not attempt all the questions from the passages you read. After carefully eliminating the easy options, go back to the passage and check each of the remaining options. Look for distortions, far-fetched statements etc. If you're still confused, just leave it. Try to attempt not more than 15-6 questions, but spend more time on each attempt. Let us see if this will improve your accuracy - I am sure it will.

hocc4t113 : HOW TO CHECK THE SCORE OF OTHER 1000TH RANKED FOLKS
thomas : go to the results page and click on all india performance

arpit12 : I HAVE GIVEN 3 AIMCAT BUT STILL I NOT IMPROVE
thomas : do not worry about the scores in the initial aimcats. they should be considered more as practice to try out different strategies in attempting the test. your score will improve as you cover more topics in class.

aadi : SIR CONSIDERING THAT CAT IS LIKE 5 MONTHS AWAY FROM NOW AND I AM ALREADY DOING 2-3 RCS, 3-4 SETS OF DILR AND 15-20 QUESTIONS OF QUANTS DAILY. I AM ALSO TAKING MOCKS WEEKLY. IS THIS APPROACH FINE. DO I NEED TO CHANGE MY STRATEGY? I AM SCORING LIKE 80-85% CONSISTENTLY
sunildua : Attempting questions from various sections is primarily a way to evaluate your knowledge and skills. What are you doing to enhance your knowledge and skills? You must, on a regular basis, improve your vocabulary, work on Grammar, do lots of reading to ensure good, quick reading without distraction of the mind and also identify your weak areas so that you do better in the next Aimcat.

ani : HOW TO INCREASE ACCURACY AND SPEED IN QUANT? I DID 9 IN 40 MIN, WITH 6 CORRECT AND 3 WRONG
abhishek : The first and foremost thing to do will be to improve the concepts. After that one needs to work on the applications of the concept. In the AIMCAT, try to devise your own strategy, like scanning the entire paper and then attempting the questions or solving the questions one after the other with a clear rule of not overspending time on any question. See which strategy works for you by exploring different ones in AIMCATs.

rohit : WHERE WILL THE VIDEO SESSION BE UPLOADED
thomas : tomorrow or the day after.

aadi : SIR, HOW TO SCORE MORE IN DILR, THE SETS WHICH CAME IN THIS AIMCAT WERE ON THE DIFFICULT SIDE I FEEL. ALSO I COULD N
thomas : this paper was similar to the cat paper last year. you should try to select just 1 or 2 sets among the our and try to do them slowly and accurately. even solving one set correctly is going to get ou 90+ perentile

bbq132 : SIR , WHICH EXAMS SHOUD WE ALSO FOCUS MORE RATHER THAN OF CAT AS BACK UP ??????/
lakshmymenon : The other major exams are XAT, SNAP, NMAT, CMAT, MICAT etc. Please check out the colleges under each exam, and then decide which exams you want to take.

dlca4a : I HAVE CONSISTENTLY SCORED 80-90 MARKS IN ALL AIMCATS WITH AN OVERALL ACCURACY OF 80%+ WHILE CONSISTENTLY ATTEMPTING AROUND 35 QUESTIONS. TO BREACH THE 100 MARK, SHOULD I INCREASE MY TOTAL ATTEMPTS A LITTLE OR JUST WAIT TILL MY SYLLABUS IS FINISHED CONSIDERING THAT I HAVE ONLY DONE ARITHMETIC TILL NOW.?
philipthomas : You are doing well , be patient, be selective in picking questions, do not attempt more than what you expect to get correct, as you go forward you will find that your attempts and marks will increase as you complete more topics.

ngca4a174 : DO THE SAMCATS CONTAIN ALL CAT PYQS? WILL IT BE BENEFICIAL FOR ME IF I GIVE THESE TESTS ALONG WITH AIMCATS?
thomas : yes, they contain questions similar to that came in previous year cat papers. you should do them along with the aimcats

root : I HAVE GIVEN ALL AIMCATS UP TILL NOW AND MANAGED TO SCORE BETWEEN 80-88 PERCENTILE IN ALL. BUT FOR THIS ONE I WAS NOT ABLE TO SOLVE LR/DI SECTION AT ALL. I AM NOT ABLE TO UNDERSTAND THIS HUGE INCOSISTENCY
abhishek : Could be some new type of sets have surprised you. Take it as a learning and move on to the next AIMCAT.

cjcb4a201 : HOW TO PREPARE FOR VARC SECTION ?
gayathri : Reading passages on a variety of topics is the first and foremost step. You may do this with a timer set at a reading speed of 250-300 words per minute. Take sectional tests, and all the AIMCATs. Analyse your mistakes thoroughly to understand the flaws in your reasoning. In AIMCATs, practice question selection rather than passage selection- once you read a passage, learn to identify and drop tricky questions. For the VA part you need to work upon grammar and vocab which together act as the foundation for the Verbal section. Understand how sentences are connected. this can be developed by working on your reading skills and methods of dealing with Verbal Reasoning questions.

nixxhi : SIR,HOW TO START PREPARTION IN ENGLISHG VACB,COMPERSION GIVE ME SOME ,SIR
lakshmymenon : Read passages on a variety of topics. he most common topics in CAT RCs are sociology, political science, cultural history, psychology, biology, physics, technology, linguistics etc. Since CAT passages are about 500 words long, try to read excerpts of about 500 words from articles. Set a timer at a reading speed of 200-250 words per minute while reading. After reading, check the meanings of words you do not know in a dictionary. Write down the meanings in a notebook. Learn them, and revise regularly. Try to improve your spelling too. All the best.

germanguy : I AM SCORING 95% FROM THE PAST 2 MOCKS. WHAT CAN I EXPECT FROM THE FINAL CAT EXAM?
thomas : if you can consistently manage more than 95 in the aimcats, you can expect more than 98 in CAT

paddy : WHAT IS USE OF SECTIONAL CUTOFF DECLARED IN AIMCAT ? HOW TO ANALYSE IT?
thomas : the sectional cutoff is the minimum score you are expected to score to get calls from IIMs.

cccd4aoo8 : I COVERED ALL ARITHMETIC CLASSES ONLINE AND SOLVED EXERCISE AND TEST SUMS. BUT WHILE LOOKING AT CAT PREVIOUS YEAR QUESTIONS I WAS NOT ABLE TO COPE UP WITH AND SOLVE IT. ANY TIPS
abhishek : Look at the solutions and learn. Please understand that classroom prep along might not be sufficient to solve the CAT level problems. You may need to learn it by taking the AIMCaTs, actual CATs.

tarun : HOW TO INCREASE READING SPEED ?
sunildua : Don't worry too much about your Reading speed at this stage. Work on accuracy first. Once you reach an accuracy rate of around 80-85%, you can begin to improve your Reading Speed but beware, do not increase your RS at the cost of accuracy.

disha : WILL THERE BE SEPARATE PREPARATION FOR OTHER EXAMS ALONG WITH CAT IN COACHING?
philipthomas : Yes and it will start after the CAT exam

nixxhi : I AM GIVING AIMCAT BUT MY SCORE IS DOWN REASON MY ENGLISH IS WEAK HOW TO IMPROVE SIR
lakshmymenon : Read passages on a variety of topics. The most common topics in CAT RCs are sociology, political science, cultural history, psychology, biology, physics, technology, linguistics etc. Since CAT passages are about 500 words long, try to read excerpts of about 500 words from articles. Set a timer at a reading speed of 200-250 words per minute while reading. After reading, check the meanings of words you do not know in a dictionary. Write down the meanings in a notebook. Learn them, and revise regularly. Watch English movies, documentaries etc. to understand the usage better and improve your confidence.

harsha : WHAT ARE THE TIPS TO BE FOLLOWED TO HAVE GOOD SCORE IN THE AIMCAT?
asim : After each AIMCAT, spend at least two to three hours in analysing each section of the paper. This is undoubtedly the most enriching experience that you can extract out of the AIMCATs. Step-1: Attempt all those questions in that section that you left unattempted during the AIMCAT. Step-2: Try solving questions that may still be left over. Only after giving all the questions a good try, check the answer key to find out which questions you could answer correctly and re-attempt all those questions that you answered wrongly. You would be able to learn a great deal from this step since you would actually be pushing yourself to think harder and find out where you have made mistakes. Do not look at the solutions until you are finished with this step. Step-3: You can refer the solutions and compare your approach with that given in the solutions. You should keenly observe and learn anything new that you may find in the solutions. At the end of this stage of your analysis, you should try to categorize the questions into levels of difficulty based on the understanding required and the amount of time that you would take to solve each of them in an exam situation. This is a very important step that will help you in identifying the level of a question, a critical input required when trying to choose the right questions to attempt in the AIMCAT or the actual CAT. Step-4: Carefully look up the extensive analysis – Section-wise, Area-wise, Difficulty Level wise and much more – that is provided to you on the Student Homepage after the results are declared. The AIMCAT results and analysis that are made available on the website are meticulously designed, comprehensive, and personalized analyses that are intended to give you valuable feedback regarding your performance. This feedback will guide you towards a better, more focused and effective preparation and can set you on a path of continuous improvement. Another practical way to boost your learning is to sometimes study, if possible, with your peers in small groups of not more than three to four members. You can analyze and discuss each AIMCAT as a group, after each member is through with his share of individual analysis. This a very good approach to maximize your learning. The group should ideally be formed with members with strengths in different areas so that there is scope for everyone to gain from the joint effort.

germanguy : HOW MUCH SHOULD I CONSISTENTLY AIM FOR IN THESE AIMCATS FOR A FINAL AIM OF 99.5+ IN THE FINAL CAT EXAM?
thomas : if you score consistently above 98 percentile in the aimcats, you can expect 99.5+ in CAT

vedaant : MY PERCENTILES ARE 93.17, 95.9, 94.72, 97.95 IN THE LAST 4 AIMCATS. HOW MUCH CAN I EXPECT IN CAT?
thomas : doing very well. can expect something slightly better than the average of your aimcat percentiles

nayanam : I HAVE MISSED CLASSES FOR A MONTH OR SO DUE TO FAMILY EMERGENCY SO SHOULD I START THE NEW BATCH OF JUNE OR FEBRUARY OR SHOULD I CONTINUE IN CURRENT BATCH AND TAKE FEW EXTRA CLASSES?
philipthomas : Suggest that you resume with a later batch

harsha : HONESTLY EVEN AFTER DEDICATED EFFORTS STRUGGLING TO GAIN THE GOOD SCORE WHAT IS THE ISSUE? PLEASE HELP
thomas : the efforts will take time to show. do not bother about the scores in the initial aimcats and keep trying. your score will gradually improve with experience of writing the test.

: ARE SECTIONAL CUTOFF APPLICABLE FOR ALL COLLEGES (EXCEPT IIM) LIKE SPJIMR. IIT B AND ALL?
thomas : IITs do not have sectional cutoffs . Most of the top 20 colleges do have sectional cutoffs

dlca4a : I HAVE NOT DONE ANY PREP FOR VARC SECTION EXCEPT ATTENDING RC CLASSES. I AM STILL GETTING 37-45 MARKS IN VARC ALWAYS.
sunildua : What are you hinting at? You don't need to focus on VARC at all? You may identify this as your strong area. We work hard on our strong areas to increase our overall percentile and we work on our weak areas to ensure that clear the cutoffs. Continue working on all the sections and remeber, there is always scope for improvement...All the Best

germanguy : HOW TO IMPROVE RC, I ALWAYS MESS UP IN RC QUESTIONS, WHICH ALL BOOKS CAN I READ FOR INCREASING MY READING SPEED AND RC SKILLS?
lakshmymenon : While reading books is always good, for specific RC preparation we suggest that you read articles on a variety of topics. The most common topics in CAT RCs are sociology, political science, cultural history, psychology, biology, physics, technology, linguistics etc. Since CAT passages are about 500 words long, try to read excerpts of about 500 words from articles. Set a timer at a reading speed of 200-250 words per minute while reading. Your score in mocks will not improve if you just read books, though. You need to select questions carefully, and then be extra careful while choosing the options. After carefully eliminating the easy options, go back to the passage and check each of the remaining options. Look for distortions, far-fetched statements etc. If you're still confused, just leave the question. Keep taking AIMCATs regularly, and analyse your performance. Soon you will be able to improve your strategy.

hycb4a213 : HI SIR , GOOD DAY ,HOW MANY HOURS OF PREPARATION IS NEEDED FOR A DAY ?
philipthomas : Minimum of 2 to 3 hours.

paddy : DOES PERCENTILE IN AIMCAT AS PER ACTUAL CAT SCORE BECAUSE THE NO OF STUDENTS APPEARING FOR EXAM IS LOW AS COMPARED TO ACTUAL CAT ?
thomas : the crowd here is much more serious while im CAT nearly half of the crowd would be writing for experience. The percentile will take out the question of the sample size and is a good indicator of what you can expect, as long as the number is above a minimum threshold ( say around 10k).Your rank will go down as more students write CAT, but the percentile will be similar or SLIGHTLY better due to better competition here.

cccd4aoo8 : IAM GOING FOR WORK AND PREPARING FOR CAT. IT'S BEEN 2 MONTHS SINCE I STARTED MY PREPARATION. IAM STUDYING FOR 3-4 HRS COMBINING MORNING AND EVENING. HOW MANY HOURS OF STUDY WOULD BE SUFFICIENT ENOUGH FROM NOW TILL NOVEMBER
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 30-40 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.

aks : SIR WOULD U SUGGEST TO JUST BRUTE FORCE OR GO THOROUGH WITH THE BASICS AND THEN FOCUS ON THE MARK SCORED IN AIMCAT ?
thomas : brute force mothed without basics will only work if you are exceptionally good with calculations. for 99 percentage of the students going through basics will help them sore more.

lol : SIR IS THERE ANY CHAPTER WISE WEIGHTAGE IN EACH SECTION IN CAT EXAM ?
thomas : no, Questions can be from any chapter and can vary from year to year.

omar : PHARMA STUDENT.PROFILE OF 9/9/8.5+ YET, I JOINED BY MID MARCH. STARTED PREPARING RELIGIOUSLY DAILY FROM JUNE. HAVE ATTENDED CLASSES YET. EVEN THOUGH AM STUDYING DAILY AM UNABLE TO SOLVE QUANTS, AND DILR QUE (ALL THE SM I'VE DONE) BUT IN AIMCAT AND ST'S IT GETS REALLY TOUGH TO SOLVE EVEN A SINGLE QUES. AND IN VARC ALSO I AM MAKING TERRIBLE MISTAKES (CONSIDERING AM AN AVID READER SINCE EVER). WHAT IS THE CUTOFF FOR MY CATEGORY AND WOULD IT BE REALISTIC TO TARGET BLACKI NOW?
sunildua : Nothing is lost dear, you have a long way to go. Do not feel demotivated. All bright students become most serious in their preparation in the month of May-June. So, get going with more determination and seek help in areas that trouble you.

garry : MY SCORE IS WAVERING AND IT SCARES ME TO THE CORE. LAST TO LAST MOCK I SCORED 95 PERECENTILE AND 79 IN THE LAST ONE. ANY TIPS ALSO IM QUITE ANXIOUS EVEN BEFORE APPEARING FOR THE MOCK. HELP PLEASE
lakshmymenon : Most students find their scores fluctuating in the initial mocks. Keep taking mocks and analysing your mistakes. Watch video explanations for all your mistakes. See how you can improve your strategy. When you scored less, did you attempt too many tough questions and get them wrong? Should you attempt fewer questions overall and focus on accuracy? Or is speed an issue? Once you understand these aspects your consistency will improve.

roy : SIR/MAM I SCORED 57 PERCENTILES IN AIMCAT HOW MUCH CAN I EXPECT IN CAT
philipthomas : Keeping in mind the fact that you have another 5 months to go , if you continue working hard , you could expect a 95 percentile.

roy : SIR/MAM AS A SC HOW MUCH SHOULD I SCORE IN EVERY SECTION TO GET A GOOD TOP SCHOOL
lakshmymenon : Aim for at least 80 percentile in all the sections, and more in your strong section.

dlca4a : CONSIDERING THE CURRENT TREND OF INCREASING STUDENTS EVERY YEAR, IS IT A POSSIBLE CONCLUSION THAT OVERALL DIFFICULTY OF CAT SHOULD GET TOUGHER SINCE COMPETITION IS EVER-INCREASING? FOR EG - CAT 2023 SLOT 3 WAS QUITE A TOUGH EXAM, SHOULD WE EXPECT SIMILAR LEVEL FOR CAT 2024?
sunildua : We cannot and should not speculate on what to expect in Cat 24. Will you make better preparation only if the level of Cat is going to increase and not otherwise. Work only on your preparation and nothing else. Nobody know how difficult or easy the next Cat will be.

hycn4q072 : HI, PLEASE TELL ME WHAT SCORE SHOULD BE ATTAINED IN EACH SECTION OF AIMCAT TO GET 99 PERCENTILE IN ACTUAL CAT PAPER??
abhishek : It is difficult to answer, still looking at the past year trends, score of 50 - 55% is usually enough to get 99%ile.

rj : SIR/ MA'AM,
lakshmymenon : About your VARC score in AIMCAT I wanted to add this: Take each mistake you made in this AIMCAT and watch the video solutions. Try to understand what was wrong with the options you picked. Make notes if required,so that you do not repeat the same mistakes next time. Also, just because you read a passage you should not blindly attempt all the questions in it. If a question is confusing even after you check all the options carefully, just leave it so that you can avoid negative marks.

lol : SHOUD WE FOCUS ON GK AT INTIAL STAGES AS IT MAY NEED FOR OTHER EXAMS ?
philipthomas : Stay in touch through the T.I.M.E. Magazine and newspaper reading.

tusshar : WHAT ARE THE TOPICS TO FOCUS ON TO GET GOOD SCORE IN AIMCAT
abhishek : There are no fixed topics from which questions are asked.

tusshar : WHAT ARE THE TOPICS TO FOCUS ON TO GET GOOD SCORE IN AIMCAT
sunildua : Are you referring to RC topics of topics in all sections? For RCs, you may read passages on Sociology, Philosophy, Culture, Technology, Pol. Sc.,Science, Environment, History Linguistics, Archaeology etc.

ansh : HELLO SIR, I M GETTING LOW SCORE IN VARC SECTION HOW I CAN IMPROVE IT I HAVE ALREADY STARTED READING EDITORIALS AND 2 PASSAGE EVERY DAY ???? AND CAN YOU TELL ME WHICH SET IN DI SECTION WAS DO ABLE ONES?
lakshmymenon : I will answer the VARC part. Keep reading the editorials, and try to do it with a timer set at a reading speed of 200-250 words per minute (which means, you should read an article of 500 words in 2-2.5 minutes). You said you do 2 RCs daily. Keep it up.Focus on your mistakes - check the solutions and try understand the kind of mistake you made. Try to improve question selection in mock tests. Don't attempt all questions blindly after reading a passage. If a question is very confusing even after you check the options carefully, just leave it. Take and analyse AIMCATs regularly, you will definitely improve.

paddy : GEM WITH PROFILE 10/8/6. I HAVE TWO YEAR OF WORK EXPERIENCE. MY AGE 28 RUNNING. I HAVE LEFT JOB TO FOCUS ON PREPRATION. BECAUSE OF MY LOW GRADUATION SCORE I HAVE UNABLE ELIGIBLE FOR OLD IIMS. I HAVE SEEN THE SCORE REQUIRED TO GET A CALL FROM OLD IIMS WHICH ARE RANGING FROM 98 TO 99.7 PERCENTILE. WILL I ABLE TO SCORE IN ONE ATTEMPT.
philipthomas : Yes you can , do not think too much about calls aand selections right now , focus on the percentiles , a high CAT percentile will open doors for you.

cccd4aoo8 : DO I NEED TO SOLVE PREVIOUS YEAR CAT QUESTIONS FOR THE TOPIC I COVERED. OR SHOULD I FIRST COVER ALL THE TOPICS AND GO FOR CAT PREVIOUS YEAR SOLVING
philipthomas : Focus on the sectional tests now, attempting AIMCATs would enable you to work upon trending patterns and question types

ansh : SIE CAN YOU TELL ME WHICH CLG SHOULD I TARGET AS I M GETTING 80 PERCENTILES IN AIMCAT AND MY PROFILE IS 9/9/7.84
philipthomas : Suggest that you do not worry about the colleges now, focus on improving your percentiles.

cjcb4a201 : I AM WEAK AT SOLVING RC SO PLEASE GIVE ME SOME TIPS SO THAT I CAN IMPROVE IT .
gayathri : Practice reading short articles like editorials with a timer set at 200-250 words per minute. Focus on reading the whole article within the time. Don't worry even if you do not understand it fully. Practice writing one line summary of each paragraph you have read. Then check how far your summary is in line with the para.

sucheta : I FEEL COMFORTABLE IN VARC AND ATTEMPTS AROUND 18 QUESTIONS. BUT ABLE TO GET 8 RIGHT AND 10 WRONG ANS FROM THE PAST 2 MOCKS. I DON'T KNOW WHERE AM I LACKING? HOW TO GO ABOUT THIS SITUATION?
philipthomas : The problem is that you are attempting a fixed number of questions irrespective of the difficulty level, be flexible , vary your attempts according to the difficulty level.

9281 : SEEING STUDENTS OUT HERE IN CHAT SCORING REALLY WELL, MAKING ME FEEL DEMOTIVATED THAT I AM LAGGING BEHIND A LOT. SCORING REALLY TERRIBLE (20-30%ILE) IN AIMCATS AND (50-60%ILE) IN STS.
sunildua : Nothing is lost dear, you have a long way to go. Do not feel demotivated. All bright students become most serious in their preparation in the month of May-June. So, get going with more determination and seek help in areas that trouble you.

jp17 : SIR DESPITE PRAPARING FROM JAN I AM GETTING OVERALL 10 ,1 , 18 MARKS IN AIMCAT. CAN YOU PLEASE GUIDE ME ?
asim : After each AIMCAT, spend at least two to three hours in analysing each section of the paper. This is undoubtedly the most enriching experience that you can extract out of the AIMCATs. Step-1: Attempt all those questions in that section that you left unattempted during the AIMCAT. Step-2: Try solving questions that may still be left over. Only after giving all the questions a good try, check the answer key to find out which questions you could answer correctly and re-attempt all those questions that you answered wrongly. You would be able to learn a great deal from this step since you would actually be pushing yourself to think harder and find out where you have made mistakes. Do not look at the solutions until you are finished with this step. Step-3: You can refer the solutions and compare your approach with that given in the solutions. You should keenly observe and learn anything new that you may find in the solutions. At the end of this stage of your analysis, you should try to categorize the questions into levels of difficulty based on the understanding required and the amount of time that you would take to solve each of them in an exam situation. This is a very important step that will help you in identifying the level of a question, a critical input required when trying to choose the right questions to attempt in the AIMCAT or the actual CAT. Step-4: Carefully look up the extensive analysis – Section-wise, Area-wise, Difficulty Level wise and much more – that is provided to you on the Student Homepage after the results are declared. The AIMCAT results and analysis that are made available on the website are meticulously designed, comprehensive, and personalized analyses that are intended to give you valuable feedback regarding your performance. This feedback will guide you towards a better, more focused and effective preparation and can set you on a path of continuous improvement. Another practical way to boost your learning is to sometimes study, if possible, with your peers in small groups of not more than three to four members. You can analyze and discuss each AIMCAT as a group, after each member is through with his share of individual analysis. This a very good approach to maximize your learning. The group should ideally be formed with members with strengths in different areas so that there is scope for everyone to gain from the joint effort.

dlca4a : WHAT SHOULD BE THE STRATEGY FOR REVIEWING ANY MOCK? WHAT ARE THE KEY STEPS I SHOULD FOLLOW IN A MOCK REVIEW AS MANY PEOPLE SAY THAT REVIEW TAKES DOUBLE THE TIME IT TAKES TO ATTEMPT.
lakshmymenon : Yes, review is very important. Take each mistake and watch the video explanation for that question (in AIMCATs). Note down what you learned from the mistake so that you can review it before the next mock and avoid repeating the same type of mistake. Then, look at the difficulty level of questions you attempted. Did you leave many easy questions and do too many difficult ones, getting them wrong? Also, did you make too many attempts overall? Make notes based on these points and compare your performance after each AIMCAT.

zeeshan : HOW TO IMPROVE IN DILR? I AM NOT ABLE TO GET A SINGLE QUESTION RIGHT IN DILR IN AIMCATS
asim : Dont worry start with the DIHO handouts that are being discussed in classes and the basic study material booklet provided for DI on your SHP

a : SIR 'WHERE' DO I START , I FEEL I KNOW THE TOPICS BUT AGAIN I AM UNABLE TO SCORE MARKS AND I FEEL STAGNANT
asim : Begin with the basic study material booklets and the handouts that are being discussed in classes

bhcb4a639 : SIR, I AM NOT ABLE TO SOLVE ANY QUESTION IN TIME CAN YOU SUGGEST SOME TECHNIQUE SO THAT I CAN SOLVE THE PROBLEMS FAST.
sunildua : There is no short cuts or easy ways of solving. Work on improving your knowledge and skills, success will come.

hocc3w123 : I FOUND THE DILR OF THE AIMCAT 2420 A BIT DIFFICULT.
asim : Don't worry,, focus on the concepts taught and do loads of practice. Make sure you properly analyse your performance in the aimcats.

ash : HI, WHAT'S THE BEST WAY TO ANALYSE THE AIMCATS?
sunildua : Talk to your FM. It would be explained to you in detail.

muca4a219 : HOW MUCH TIME SHOULD I GIVE FOR THE PREPARATION
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 30-40 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.

abhi : MA'AM IN THIS AIMCAT I FOUND VARC ON A TOUGHER SIDE MY NET SCORE IN VARC IS 15. HOW TO IMPROVE MY ACCURACY? I GOT 6 QUESTIONS CORRECT OUT OF 13.
gayathri : Read wide range of topics from variety of sources like aeon essays, BBC, The Guardian, National Geographic etc. Though the articles are too lengthy you may read about 500 words as that is the general word limit of CAT passages. Identify your reading speed using a stop watch and enhance the speed by reading daily. Take sectional tests regularly. follow the textual/video solutions to analyse your answer. Note down the mistake.It is not about answering all the questions. The focus should be on identifying and attempting the moderate and mild difficulty level questions and skipping the very difficult ones.

hi : IHAVE JUST STARTED PREPARING WILL I BE ABLE TO CRACK CAT OR XAT IN 5 MONTHS
abhishek : Yes. Possible.

dlca4a915 : HOW TO CHOOSE A GOOD RC QUICKLY ?
philipthomas : Pick one that is comfortable for you, do not go through all the passages , if the first one is comfortable , start there.

ccca4a512 : FOR SOLVING AN RC, SHOULD WE FIRST READ THE PARA AND THEN GO TO SOLVE OR SHOULD WE FIRST LOOK AT THE QUESTION AND SEE IF ITS SPECIFIC OR GENERAL AND THEN READ THE PASSAGE ACCORDINGLY?
philipthomas : Even if you read the questions first, you still have to go through the passages, so you might as well go through the passages first .

aa : MY PERCENTILE IN AIMCATS HAVE BEEN 97, 99, 99.2, 96.7, 97. WHAT IS THE CHANCE OF ME SCORING 99 IN THE FINAL EXAM?
lakshmymenon : Very high if you keep practising, analysing the mocks and revising all the topics regularly. Good luck!

deadly_monarch : PLEASE SUGGEST SOME TOPICS/AREAS FROM WHERE PASSAGES AFRE FREQUENTLY GIVEN!
philipthomas : Science , Engineering and Technology. Business , Trade, Commerce , Banking , Advertising , Financial services

deep : IS READING TOPICS FROM ONLY AEON MAGAZINE FINE OR IS IT NECESSARY TO SUPPLEMENT THAT WITH OTHER NEWSPAPERS LIKE NYT AND THE HINDU FOR READING PRACTICE?
lakshmymenon : Aeon is a good source, but you may have noticed that the passages are very long. CAT passages are about 500 words long - so, try to read 3-4 paragraphs from Aeon articles. It is definitely advisable to supplement this with other sources such as NYT, The Hindu, Guardian, Scroll, Wired, IFL science, History Magazine, BBC, National Geographic etc. The most common topics appearing in CAT are sociology, philosophy, cultural history, political theory, psychology, linguistics, physics, biology, technology etc. Try to get familiar with all these topics.

hocc4z506 : HOW MANY RC'S SHOULD I BE ATTEMPTING IN THE ACTUAL PAPER?
sunildua : If you target two passages and manage to get 7 ques correct out of 8, you can expect a fairly good score.

shru : , I WANT TO DO AN MBA IN FINANCE, BUT I AM FROM AN ENGG BACKGROUND, ALSO I DONT HAVE THE RELEVANT SKILLS TO DO AN MBA IN FINANCE.I HAVE A 1 YR GAP YEAR RIGHT AFTER COLLEGE AND I AM ON MY GAP YEAR RIGHT NOW TO PREPARE FOR CAT
lakshmymenon : Not clear what your question is. It is very common for engineers to do finance MBA. You are not required to have any prior knowledge of the subjects.