q : WHAT IS THE DIFFICULTY LEVEL OF RCVA?
tarannumraza : The difficulty level is the same for all. You have to focus on increasing your score vis a vis the others. It is a percentile game.

anurag : IS SP JAIN BETTER THAN BABY IIM ?
renufrancis : Definitely yes. It is one of the Top 10 B-School in the country.

akshada : HOW TO PREPARE FOR VA
lakshmymenon : If you are referring to the VA section of VARC, practise the various question types by working out the exercises in the study material. Analyse your mistakes and try to figure out certain common patterns. When you attempt the questions, look for sentence pairs, patterns of idea flow such as general-specific/specific-general etc. For vocabulary, read a wide range of articles and look up the meanings of unfamiliar words. Note them down and revise regularly.

sxahilll : IF I START TODAY AND I AM CONFIDENT ABOUT MY GRASPING POWER/SPEED, HOW DO YOU SUGGEST ME TO PREPARE FOR CAT?
philipthomas : Focus on basics and advanced concept levels , follow it up by working upon speed and accuracy in the sectional tests and later finalise your strategy through the mocks.

buttercup24 : I HAVE REGISTERED FOR THE AIMCAT BASIC WITH VIDEO SOLUTIONS. BUT I CANT SEEM TO FIND ANY SOLUTIONS BE IT TESXT OR VIDEO OF ANY OF THE TESTS OR STAMINA BUILDERS. PLEASE HELP. I AM VERY NEW TO THIS
sachindubey : Please contact to your centre , they will surely help you.

akshada : WHAT CAN BE THE BEST WAY TO UTILIZE THE 3 MONTHS FOR CAT PREPARATION
philipthomas : Spend the first month on basics and advanced concepts, the second month on a thorough revision and in the last month focus only on mocks and tests.

nish : HOW TO PREPARE FOR LRDI ?
thomas : similar question already answered

anurag : IMPORTANT TOPICS TO BE COVERED BEFORE EXAM IN ALL THREE SECTION
tarannumraza : For VARC, practise RCs based on different genres. The questions are mostly critical reasoning based, so a deep understanding of the passage is required. Go through the four types of para-based questions- Para-jumbles, para-summary, sentence placement and odd sentence. Make sure that you attempt the TITA (type in the answer) questions but not spend too much time on them.

hocd4a160 : SIR, IN DILR , I WAS SOLVING THE LAST SET ON MARBLES AND BOXES. BUT I WAS CONFUSED, HOW TO PROCEED, I WAS MAKING VERTICAL SECTIONS TO SOLVE THE SAME. BUT I COULD NOT SOLVE THAT SET. I HAD THE QUESTION WITH ME. IN EVENING I TRIED THE SAME SET. I WAS ABLE TO SOLVE IT, BUT YES, IN MORE THAN 40 MIN , APPROX ONE HOUR. WHAT SHALL I DO TO IMPROVE MYSELF IN DILR
thomas : the last set was the toughest set in this difficult aimcat and this should have never been attempted . you get the same marks for doing easy or difficult ones and so the aim should be to identify the easy sets and do them slowly and accurately. in this aimcat, the third and the first set, ideally in that order, were the ones to be attempted.

arya : I LEFT MY JOB IN JUNE 2023 TO PREPARE FOR CAT 2023 BUT COULDNT CRACK IT. I AM ATTEMPTING CAT AGAIN THIS YEAR. WHAT SHOULD I DO ABOUT MY GAP
lakshmymenon : Do not worry about it now. Once you crack CAT and get interview calls, you will get tips from the mock interview panel at your centre on how to handle this question, based on your specific background. 1.5 years gap is not in any way a deal-breaker. Focus on CAT now. Good luck.

chaitanya : IN THIS AIMCAT, HOW WE WERE TO APPROACH THE DILR SECTION? WHAT WERE THE EASY SETS AND DIFFICULT SETS AND HOW TO IDENTIFY THEM ON SPOT DURING THE EXAM?
thomas : in this set the only easy set was the third one about the number of days people came to work. after this the first set though slightly, was doable. around 8 questions overall accurately would be a good attempt. the first 5 minutes should be spend in glancing through all the sets to select 2 doable ones.

yashvardhan : MY MOCK SCORES HAVE BEEN FLUCTUATING, MAINLY DUE TO THE LRDI SECTION. DESPITE HAVING SOLVED OVER 500 SETS IN PRACTICE, I'M STRUGGLING TO SOLVE EVEN A SINGLE SET DURING THE TESTS. IT'S FRUSTRATING BECAUSE WHEN I REVISIT THE SAME SETS AFTER THE TEST, I'M ABLE TO SOLVE THEM IN 15-20 MINUTES. I FEEL CONFIDENT WITH MY LR, BUT DURING THE TEST, I CAN'T SEEM TO PERFORM. COULD YOU PLEASE GUIDE ME ON HOW TO IMPROVE MY APPROACH TO THE LRDI SECTION?
sachindubey : you have already solved good number of sets in LRDI for practice. But incase if you have not done with the enough number of sectional test , then start solving sectional test.

nish : WHAT ABOUT MAT EXAM?
sachindubey : What do you want to know about that ? People often write MAT to create backup options.

hocd4a160 : SIR, MY SCORE IN VARC IS DECLINING. WHAT SHALL BE DONE TO IMPROVE IN RC ESPECIALLY
lakshmymenon : Firstly, try to understand what your problem is - speed or accuracy? If you're able to attempt at least 10-12 questions, then you should work on improving your accuracy rather than increase the number of attempts. Spend more time on deciding between options - revisit the relevant part of the passage and compare the options carefully. Also, do not blindly attempt all questions from an RC passage just because you read the passage. If you find a question confusing after 1-1.5 minutes of struggling with it, just leave it or mark for review. Be selective with VA questions too. Rather than attempting all TITA questions blindly, spend more time on the questions you find doable.

buttercup24 : MY CENTER IS SAYING THAT THESE SOLUTIONS WOULD BE THERE IN SEPTEMBER AND NOT NOW. SORRY FOR BOTHERING SIR
renufrancis : AIMCAT2412 solutions is available in you SHP by now if you attempted the test. If you have attempted any sectional test, the link for the solution will be active once you submitted the test.

hocd4a160 : SIR , FOR FMS AND IIFT , IS THERE SEPARATE FORM TO BE FILLED OUT OR THEY ACCEPT CAT SCORES.
renufrancis : FMS and IIFT will accept CAT score, But you need to apply to FMS and IIFT separately.

hocc4y128 : QUANT SECTION IS DIFFICULT FOR ME. HOW TO PREPARE?
sachindubey : First you have to work on your basics till 10th standard maths. Then check the progress by solving concept review exercise given at the beginning of every chapter. Once you feel comfortable with these questions then you can move on to solve exercise.

xyz : IN LAST AIMCAT MY SCORE WAS 69 BUT IN THIS AIMCAT MY SCORE DROPPED DOWN TO 31. HOW TO MAINTAIN CONSISTENCY IN THAT
lakshmymenon : Since scores depend on the difficulty level, focus on your percentile rather than absolute score. If the percentile is fluctuating a lot, analyse your mistakes in the AIMCAT you did not score well in, to understand flaws in your logic and strategy.

shruti : HELLO SIR , I AM A CAT REPEATER , DESPITE HAVING STUDIED AND SOLVING PLETHORA OF DILR CASELETS , SOMEHOW IN AIMCATS I MANAGE TO PICK UP THE WRONG SET (USUALLY WHEN IT IS MORE TRICKY FOR INSTANCE THIS AIMCAT AND THE PREVIOUS ONE). WHEN I APPEARED FOR CAT LAST YEAR , WITHOUT STUDYING I GOT 89%ILE BUT EVEN AFTER STUDYING THE SCORES ARE IN THAT RANGE ONLY , COULD YOU PLS SUGGEST HOW DO I APPROACH STUDYING.
thomas : in dilr, there is not much scope for studying and the only thing you can do is practice, which you have said you have already done. keep practicing there is little bit of luck also involved in the set selection as sometimes sets which appear easy might turn out to be difficult.

arya : VIDEO SOLUTIONS ARE NOT AVAILABLE FOR THIS AIMCAT?
renufrancis : It will be uploaded soon.

anurag : IM FACEING THE PROBLEM IN LRDI SECTION WHAT CAN I DO FOR IT.
thomas : lrdi can be improved only with practice. try to solve as many sets as you can. your speed will gradually improve as you become familiar with different models

asin : IN WHAT ORDER SHOULD I PRACTICE MATERIAL QUESTIONS, SECTIONAL TESTS, AIMCAT ANALYSIS, SAMCAT ANALYSIS, HANDOUTS TO SCORE IN DILR SECTION.
sachindubey : Handout followed by practice material followed by sectional test followed by SAMCAT/AIMCAT.

mg : HOW DO I IMPROVE MY RC SECTION? IN EARLIER AIMCAT'S, I WAS ABLE TO SCORE AVG., BUT FROM LAST 3-4 AIMCAT'S, I AM GETTING ONLY AROUND 10 MARKS IN VARC. PLEASE SUGGEST SOMETHING.
lakshmymenon : First of all, try to understand what your problem is - speed or accuracy? If you're able to attempt at least 10-12 questions, then you should work on improving your accuracy rather than increase the number of attempts. Spend more time on deciding between options - revisit the relevant part of the passage and compare the options carefully. Also, do not blindly attempt all questions from an RC passage just because you read the passage. If you find a question confusing after 1-1.5 minutes of struggling with it, just leave it or mark for review. Be selective with VA questions too. Rather than attempting all TITA questions blindly, spend more time on the questions you find doable.

jsca4a110 : HOW TO ANALYZE VARC ?
tarannumraza : In the same way as you do for the other two sections. First go through the questions you answered wrong. Try to understand the difference between the correct answer & your answer - did you interpret the question wrongly? Did you hurry through the options? Having worked out for yourself why you went wrong, only then read the explanation given. Second step, take up the questions left un-attempted. Attempt them & check whether you leftout doable questions. Then check the one's you got correct. Did you spend more time than average on them? The sub-area analysis given with AIMCATs help in identifying the question types you regularly get wrong/ whether your choice of questions is correct or not.

std01 : WHAT WAS THE DIFFICULTY LEVEL OF THIS AIMCAT AS COMPARED TO THE ACTUAL CAT?
thomas : varc and qa were slightly easier and lrdi was tougher than last year cat paper. overall very similar or just tougher than last year cat

dlcn4q218 : IN VARC, I'M ALWAYS ABLE TO ELIMINATE 2 OPTIONS BUT GOT STUCK IN THE OTHER 2. HOW CAN I DO BETTER
lakshmymenon : Once you narrow down the options to 2, go back to the relevant part of the passage (for central idea questions, primary purpose etc., you may have to quickly glance through the entire passage). Compare each option carefully with the passage to identify distortions, far-fetched statements etc. If you're still confused, leave that question without wasting more time. You may mark it for review and return to it later. Remember that you usually do not need more than 50 per cent marks to get to the 99th percentile.

samarth : MY QUANTS SEEMS TO BE WEAK COMPARED TO OTHER SECTIONS AND I AM YET TO COMPLETE THE SYLLABUS. SHOULD I TRY COMPLETING THE SYLLABUS OR IS THERE ANY OTHER WAY TO NAVIGATE THROUGH THE PARTICULAR SECTION?
renufrancis : Cover the basics of all topics as early as possible. Start with arithmetic and then move on to Algebra and geometry. Practice as many questions as possible and start taking sectional test of different difficulty level.

chandrahas : GOOD EVENING SIR. CAN I START PREPARATION ON QA FROM MID OF SEPTEMBER TILL THAT I AM FOCUSING ON OTHER AREAS.
renufrancis : That may not be a good strategy. You need to start practicing QA at the earliest, at least learn the basics as early as possible.

simran : HOW TO AVOID CHOOSING DIFFICULT SET IN DILR
sachindubey : try to attempt familiar sets in which data is fully mentioned in form of tables, bar graph & pie chart etc. Avoid starting with unfamiliar sets

chandrahas : BUT EVEN TOUGH I AM PREPARING BUT I AM UNABLE TO SCORE GOOD IN AIMCATS. WHAT CAN BE DONE ? SINCE IT HAS BEEN COMPLETED 2.5 MONTHS FROM MY JOINING FOR PREPARATION.
tarannumraza : Make sure that you analyse all that you do. This will help you identify weak areas. Is there a concept problem/wrong strategy/lack of practice?During the week, in between AIMCATs, go through the study material booklets/ sectional tests. Work on each section/question type patiently. Hurry & panic to be avoided completely.

amar : GOOD EVENING SIR, I WANTED TO ASK THAT HOW TIME SHOULD I DEVOTE FOR EVERY QUESTION?
tarannumraza : The average time spent by students on questions of different difficulty levels can be checked from the AIMCAT analysis you get. This will give you a fair idea.

std01 : SIMILAR TO SOME OF THE QUESTIONS POSTED HERE - HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO CRACK EVEN 1 DILR SET CONSISTENTLY EVEN AFTER PRACTICING REGULARLY. POST THE EXAM I CAN SOLVE MOST OF IT COMFORTABLY
thomas : this was most probably due to to the wrong set selection. set 2 and set 4 were very difficult but there is no reason why one among the two was not solved, even though you selected the wrong ones. the difficult sets are those which take around 30 minutes to solve while the two easy ones would have been done in 15 to 20 minutes

varad : MY PROBLEM LIES REGARDING QUANT PREPARATION,
sachindubey : But what is your problem please specify ?

rohith : HI SIR,REGARDING QUANT AND LRDI LEVEL-2 BOOK, ARE THE QUESTIONS IN THESE OF HIGHER LEVEL THAN CAT ? AS IM UNABLE TO GET ALL THE QUESTIONS IN THE 1ST GO.
thomas : no, they are not at a level higher than cat but are at nearly the same level. you can try the aimcat sa to get questions very similar to previous year cat papers

nini : HOW MUCH TIME SHOULD WE DEVOTE TO EACH SECTIONS ON A DAILY BASIS FROM NOW
tarannumraza : Two hours to each ideally

nini : ANY TIPS FOR SOLVING GRAPH QUESTIOS
sachindubey : You should be through with geometry, mensuration and co-ordinate geometry in order to do well in solving Garphs

std01 : THE THIRD AND THE FIRST SET (APPARENTLY THE MEDIUM DIFFICULTY SETS) SEEMED THE MOST DIFFICULT DURING THE EXAM, ATLEAST ON THE SURFACE LEVEL. HOW TO JUDGE THE DIFFICULTY WITHOUT ACTUALLY DELVING INTO IT COMPLETELY? MISJUDGED MY SET SELECTION THIS TIME AND ATTEMPTED THE LAST ONE.. COULDNT SOLVE ANYTHING
thomas : the third set just involved basic concepts of number of weekdays of each type in 120 consecutive days. no reason why it appeared difficult when compared to the rest. the first one appeared to be very lengthy but very much doable and when the other sets are difficult, these are the sets you should attempt. this aimcat was therefore a good test in set selection. the last one was very difficult but not something which would have taken more than 30- 35 minutes.

varad : MY QUERY IS REGARDING QUANT PREPARATION, SHOULD I PRACTICE ONE TOPIC EACH DAY WHOLE WEEK OR SOLVE ALL TOPIC RELATED QUESTIONS TOGETHER AT ONCE WHOLE WEEK?
renufrancis : It depends on your current level of preparation. If you have covered the basics of all topics, you can start practicing random questions from different topics. Otherwise learn the basics and practice questions from book topic by topic.

richa : I AM NOT ABLE TO SOLVE QUANTS IN MOCKS AS I GET FATIGUED WHILE DOING THE PREVIOUS SECTIONS. PS I DONT KNOW WHAT TO PRACTISE TO IMPROVE MY MARKS IN QUANTS AND DILR .
sachindubey : If the reason is fatigue then it would be better to take the test when you feel energetic.Take some rest before taking the test. In order to improve your score you need to start solving sectional test also before taking the AIMCATs

jaishreehari : HOW TO MAINTAIN THE SECTIONAL CUTOFFS ?!
philipthomas : For the time being focus only on those questions where you are sure about getting the correct answer. Obviously the number of attempts will reduce however you will end with a higher score that will enable you to clear the cut offs .

shruti : I AM NOT ABLE TO SCORE IN QUANTS SECTION , I HAVE COMPLETED THE BASIC STUDY MATERIAL AND CAN ONLY SOLVE 5-6 QUESTIONS , THE ONES WHICH ARE OF EASIER LEVELS , HOW DO I APPROACH MODERATE TO DIFFICULT QUESTIONS TO INCREASE PERCENTILE ,
sachindubey : Its a good strategy to start with easier level question first. In order to solve moderately difficult questions you need to start working with advance study material and sectional test simultaneousely. Also solve past year CAT papers in order to scaling up your performance.

vanessa : WAS SCORING ABOVE 90 PERCENTILE IN THE PREVIOUS AIMCATS, STOOPED TO A MERE 70 IN THIS ONCE. I HAD NOT BEEN PRACTICING FOR THE PAST FEW DAYS. HOW SHOULD I STEP UP MY GAME?
lakshmymenon : These fluctuations are normal. Analyse your mistakes and strategy thoroughly, and try to practise consistently.

dashu : HI SIR I AM NOT COMPLETE FULL CAT PAPER I CAN'T MANAGE TIME .AND I WOULD FELL QUANT FULL DIFFICULT MAXIMUM 10 QUESTIONS I WOULD TO ABLE TO SOLVE.HOW OVERTAKE WEAK IN QUANT SIR
sachindubey : There is no need to solve more number of questions in quant until your accuracy is ateast 80 percent. So in your case if you are able to solve upto 10 queations then try to maintain 90 percent accuracy this will help you to improve your prformance in quant.

std01 : KINDLY ALSO UPDATE THE 'EXPERT REVIEW' SECTION ALONG WITH THE VIDEO SOLUTIONS. THANKS!
thomas : the strategy will be available only for few of the aimcats and not for all the aimcats. you will get the analysis of the aimcat in a couple of days

anurag : WHAT ROADMAP SHOULD I FOLLOW FOR CAT 2025
philipthomas : Attend all the sessions , revise what you learnt in class and do the prescribed work by the faculty.

richa : HOW TO ANALYZE YOUR MOCK , ESP VARC .
lakshmymenon : For all the questions you got wrong, look at the text solutions and also watch the video solutions. Understand where your logic was flawed. Then, try to analyse how you could have improved your strategy - did you attempt too many questions or too few? Did you attempt many difficult questions and get them wrong? etc. Make a note of these observations and revise them before the next AIMCAT. You can experiment with various strategies in AIMCAT SAs in between 2 AIMCATs.

navneet : I HAVE SOLVED ALL THE RC PASSAGES IN THE BOOKLET PROVIDED BY TIME. PLEASE SUGGEST OTHER MATERIALS TO PRACTISE MORE PASSAGES.
philipthomas : Suggest that you now move on to the sectional tests.

chandrahas : GOOD EVENING SIR. CAN I START PREPARATION ON QA FROM MID OF SEPTEMBER TILL THAT I AM FOCUSING ON OTHER AREAS.
sachindubey : If you feel you are good at quant then you can run the risk of starting in september. But if that is not the case then start as early as possible.

siva : HELLO SIR, PLEASE SUGGEST SOME WAYS TO IMPROVE MY LRDI.
thomas : similar question already answered. please read transcript.

std01 : HI @THOMAS SIR, I WASN'T TALKING ABOUT THE STRATEGY VIDEO. THERE'S AN EXPERT REVIEW SECTION WHERE THE ENTIRE MOCK IS DISSECTED, IT HAS BEEN THERE FOR ALL THE MOCKS, BUT IT GETS UPDATED REALLY LATE. SOMETIMES AFTER WEEKS. IT PROVIDES GREAT INSIGHT THOUGH
thomas : that will be done this week itself. the lrdi section turned out to be little more difficult than we had expected. will have to analyze the reason for the low accuracy rate before posting the same.

chandrahas : BUT I AM ABLE TO SCORE GOOD IN SECTIONAL TEST AS OF NOW. BUT I AM UNABLE TO SCRE GOOD IN AIMCATS
tarannumraza : The AIMCATs have all three sections together. That makes a difference. Keep working on the question types /topics you get wrong. The analysis you do, along with consistent efforts will help you score better.

hocd4ab53 : GD EVENING SIR MY SELF ARADHAYA ,PLEASE TELL ME HOW I JOIN MY TELEGRAM GROUP ,I CALLED IN MY SECTIONAL BRANCH AND THEY SAID THAT ONLY MAIN BRANCH CAN HELP YOU OUT,I ALSO MAIL TO OFFICAK EMAIL BUT THEY DID NOT RESPONSE TILL YET ,SIR PLEASE HELP ME
thomas : ask them for the phone number of the main branch. in case they ask you to mail , insist on the phone number and show them a copy of the mail you had sent earlier and tell that you need to speak as there is no reply for the mail

vanessa : I GET DEMOTIVATED IF I'M UNABLE TO SOLVE A FEW QUESTIONS IN A ROW, HOW DO I GET PAST THIS?
philipthomas : Tell yourself that you are saving time for the remaining questions and that the questions that you can handle are around the corner

vanessa : MY SECTIONAL SCORES ARE INCONSISTENT, USUALLY DRIVEN ONLY BY VARC. HOW DO I GAIN MOMENTUM IN THE DILR AND QA SECTION?
sachindubey : Please tell us first what you have already done in LRDI till now. Then it would be easier for us to give you further suggestions.

nini : DESPITE TAKING DAILY PRACTICE ON RCS I AM UNABLE TO GET THE ANSWERS CORRECT IN THE VARC. WHY IS THIS HAPPENING
lakshmymenon : It is good that you're practising daily, but are you spending enough time on analysing your mistakes? For all the questions you got wrong, read the solution carefully and understand the flaw in the option you selected. If it is in AIMCAT, watch the video solution. Make notes of the observations you make about your mistake pattern. While attempting questions, spend more time on choosing between confusing options. Definitely revisit the relevant part of the passage before picking your answer. In AIMCATs, if you're just not able to choose between 2 options, leave it without wasting time.

nini : SHOULD WE PRACTICE THE 900-1000 WORDS PASSAGE IN LOT 1 BOOKS
philipthomas : No harm in doing that however the focus should be on passages of the 550to 600 word range.

roh : IN THIS TEST I SCORED VERY LESS. WAS THE PAPER VERY DIFFICULT COMPARED TO THE ACTUAL CAT PAPER?
thomas : varc and qa was easier and lrdi was tougher than last year cat paper

kunwar : SIR, I HAVE BEEN REGUARLY GIVING AIMCAT FOR QUITE SOMETIME. TILL AIMCAT2513 I WAS CONSISTENTLY SCORING ABOVE 90 PERCNTILE. BUT IN THIS AIMCAT, I MERELY SCORED 43 MARKS ~ 84 PERCENTILE. I AM LOOSING CONFIDENCE. IS IT NORMAL OR DO I NEED TO PUSH MORE GIVEN I HAVE ONLY 3 MNTHS LEFT FOR CAT?
thomas : it is very normal to have 1 or 2 off days. you have to ensure that such things do not demotivate you and make you stop working hard.

ansi : SIR, AIMCAT 2512 WAS REALLY TOUGH, I AM QUITE DISAPPOINTED ESPECIALLY IN DILR AND VARC, I USED TO SCORE 25+ IN VARC BUT NOW ITS DROPPED TO SINGLE DIGIT OR MAX 16 MARKS, PLEASE GUIDE.
lakshmymenon : Please focus more on accuracy and question selection. Analyse your mistakes thoroughly to understand what went wrong. Did you attempt too may questions? How many questions did you attempt even when you knew they were confusing? Refine your approach before the next mock.

ansi : SIR I AM LOSING FAITH, ITS HAMPERING MY CONFIDENCE IN WRITING CAT, MY LOW MOCK SCORES, DESPITE WORKING HARD, I AM NOT ABLE TO DEDICATE TIME AFTER SEEING THE SCORES. HOW TO I WORK UP FROM HERE
thomas : you skip a couple of aimcats and do them at the end. revise all the topics once more and then do the aimcat sa to get a feel of the questions just below aimcat level. maybe the sudden jump in the level of questions from the material to the aimcats is what is making it difficult to adjust.

jaishreehari : LIKELY WEIGHTAGE OF LOGARITHMS IN PAPER ?!
renufrancis : Logarithms is one of the key topics in the CAT Quantitative Ability (QA) Section, have consistently appeared in CAT exams over the years. Typically, 1-2 questions can be there.

nini : SIR REFERED TO THE GRAPH QUESTIONS IN THE DILR SECTION IN THE ABOVE QUESTION
thomas : the graph question in this aimcat was not at all difficult. you just had to write down the values of the three quantities for the ten years and then convert all of them into one variable using the two conditions given. this would not have taken more than 10-12 minutes even for an average student. this set should have been done under 20 minutes. try it once more before looking t the solutions.

ansi : WHATS THE WEIGHTAGE OF SPECIAL EQUATIONS AND QUADRATIC EQUAITONS AS PER PYQ IN CAT? THESE TWO TOPICS ARE MY FORTE IN QA SIR.
sachindubey : Thses topics are consistent in CAT. So if you are good at these topics then you will definitely going to be benefited. But these two topics alone will not be sufficient to clear sectional cut-offs or getting the good percentile. You will have to prepare other topics also.

std01 : SHOULD WE START TAKING PYQ MOCKS EVEN IF WE HAVEN'T YET FINISHED THE SYLLABUS?
sachindubey : Yes, you can start it early even if your syllabus is not finished.

nini : SIR CURRENTLY I AM LEFT OUT WITH THE CONCEPTS OF FEW MORE CHAPTERS OF QUANTS. SO AT THIS POINT, SHOULD I FOCUS ON REVISON OR GO ON WITH COMPLETING THE SYLLABUS
thomas : finish all the chapters first and tryy to do it as soon as possible.

amar : GOOD EVENING SIR , SIR EACH SECTION HAS 40 MINS SO FOR VARC: WHAT IS THE TIME TO SOLVE A PARTICULAR QUESTION? AND FOR FOR EVERY PASSAGE, WHAT IS THE IDEAL TIME TO SOLVE A PASSAGE? SIMILARLY FOR DILR HOW MUCH TIME TO BE SPENT ON A SET? AND FOR QUANT HOW MUCH TIME TO BE DEVOTED PER QUESTION?
tarannumraza : start with 10 minutes for a passage - leave out the difficult question/questions. It takes about 4 to 5 minutes to read the passage. You can divide the 40 minutes into 30-10/ 25-15.

jaishreehari : WHAT ARE THE CUTOFFS FOR AIMOMETS AND SHOULD I TAKE THE SAME AS I AM AIMING TO GIVR THE MAT EXAMS?!
thomas : the omets are basically meant for NMAT, SNAP and XAT. I do not know whether there are any tests on the pattern of MAT.

gowthaman : THE CUTOFF OF SCORE FOR DILR IS 6 IN AIMCAT2412. THIS IS BECAUSE OF UNFAMILIAR SET. IF THE DILR PAPER APPEARS IN CAT 2024. WILL IT BE 6 OR LESS THAN 6 MARKS AS A CUT OF FOR DILR IS IT SO
sachindubey : It would difficult to say anything regarding CAT. But one thing would be very obvious that if the section is difficult then in that case solving 6-7 questions correctly would be enough to clear the sectional cut-offs

ansi : @LAKSHMYMENON MA'AM THIS IS IN RESPONSE TO YOUR PREVIOUS QUESTION: IN VARC: ATTEMPT 15, RIGHT 7, WRONG 8; IN DILR: ATTEMPT 8, RIGHT 1, WRONG 7, IN QA: ATTEMPT 8, RIGHT 2, WRONG 6. THIS IS MY USUAL ATTEMPT NUMBERS BUT SCORES DROPPED.
lakshmymenon : I can tell you about VARC - since your accuracy rate was below 50 per cent, it means that you were either overconfident about some questions, or attempted some questions even when you knew they were confusing. If you are confused between 2 options even after revisiting the relevant part of the passage and comparing them, please drop it without wasting time. You can mark it for review and go back to it later too. Remember that with about 12 attempts, you can get close to 99 percentile if your accuracy is 100 percent. So, do not feel compelled to attempt all questions based on an RC passage just because you read the passage. Work more on your analysis of mistakes, and on question selection. In between 2 AIMCATs, try to take 1 AIMCAT SA to experiment with strategies. Good luck!

samarth : PARAJUMBLES ARE VERY CONFUSING, IS THERE A WAY TO IMPROVE IN THAT AREA?
philipthomas : Remember you will need a combination of Grammar , Vocab and Logic to solve the Verbal Reasoning questions. While working upon Para Jumbles, write brief points and notes on how you arrived at your selection , for example, if you select 2 as the opening sentence , why 2 why not the other sentences; if you believe that 5 2 is a combination , why so ; in that way do the same for the remaining parts also , finally when you check the solution you can compare your notes with that provided by the question paper setter, thereby you learn

ansi : I STRUGGLE WITH PERCENTAGES, AVG MIXTURE ALLIGATIONS, SICI, BASICALLY ARITHMETIC, SOMEHOW THE SM CONCEPTS OF PERCENTAGES ARE VERY HARD TO UNDERSTAND FOR ME AND I ALWAYS END UP MAKING MISTAKES IN ARITHEMETIC PROBLEMS. I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO WORK ON IT BUT AT THE END IT TAKES ALL MY TIME AND I DONT GET BETTER, WHAT TO DO
sachindubey : You really need to work on your basics first wihout which it will be difficult to move on. You can start solving solved examples and concept review exercise first and check your progress by taking easy/basic level sectional test. Take the help of faculty members to understand the concept which are difficult to grasp.

teshu : GOOD EVENING SIR, I AM ALMOST ALWAYS ABLE TO SOLVE THE QUESTIONS THAT I DID NOT ATTEMPT POST THE TEST, THIS IS MORE SEVERE IN QUANT SECTION SINCE MIND GETS EXHAUSTED AFTER 2 SECTIONS. HOW SHOULD I OVERCOME THIS?
philipthomas : Do a SAMCAT on the day prior to taking an AIMCAT.

ansi : SIR WHAT WOULD YOU SAY THE LEVEL OF AIMCAT 2512 WAS WRT CAT LEVEL IN ALL 3 SECTIONS, SHOULD WE EXPECT HARDER THAN THIS PAPER?
sachindubey : One particular mock can not be sufficient to fully understand the overall difficulty level of CAT. So it would be better to take maximum number of mocks and maintain good score consistently.

ansi : IN QA SECTION SIR, I AM NOT ABLE TO VISIT ALL QUESTIONS DESPITE TRYING FOR LAST 3-4 AIMCATS, I GET CAUGHT UP IN SOLVING FIRST FEW QUESTIONS, HOW TO GET OVER THE MENTAL STRATEGY AND VISIT ALL ONCE. I JUST FEEL IF I SKIP A QUESTION I KNOW, I WONT BE ABLE TO COME BACK LATER DUE TO TIME CONSTRAINT
sachindubey : There is an option to see all the questions of a particular set during the test. So use this and then select all the doable quetions first then start solving.

ansi : @LAKSHMYMENON MA'AM I MOSTLY FOCUSED ONLY ON RCS IN THIS AIMCAT, BUT I ALSO VISITED TITA QUESTIONS IN THE REST 5 MINS AND MOST PROBOABLY GOT THOSE WRONG, I ATTEMPT THEM REGARDLESS BECAUSE NO NEGATIVE MARKING, BUT I FELT THE VARC PASSAGES I MADE SOME MISTAKES. HENCE THE LOW ACCURACY.
lakshmymenon : Attempting TITA questions in a hurry because they have no negative marks is a wrong approach. Your aim is not to avoid negative marks, but to maximise your score! If you have 5 mins left, try to focus on 2-3 VA questions and do them properly rather than rush through all VA questions. In RC, spend more time on choosing between confusing options, and practise deciding when to leave a question before it is too late.

atharva : IN GENERAL ARE AIMCATS SET A BIT TOUGHER THAN CAT OR WILL CAT BE MORE DIFFICULT THAN THEM>?
philipthomas : Expect the AIMCATs to be tougher than the CAT.

ansi : SIR/MA'AM, SHOULD WE TAKE A BREAK FROM AIMCATS IF WE FEEL VERY CAUGHT UP AND IT AFFECTS US, I FEEL LIKE I WILL LOSE OUT ON ASSESSMENT IF I DONT ATTEMPT THE AIMCATS AND HENCE I AM COMPELLED TO GIVE THE TEST BUT THEN I GIVE THE PAPER AND SCORE LOW MARKS AND IT AGAIN NEGATIVELY AFFECTS. WHAT DO I DO?
lakshmymenon : If you take a break, lose touch with test-taking and then score low, won't that be worse since you would then be closer to CAT? As a future manager, you need to build your resilience and learn to take ups and downs in their stride. I know it is easier said than done, but this is a quality that CAT is looking for too! If you really need a break from AIMCATs, take a couple of SAMCATs and then go back to AIMCATs. Take each AIMCAT as a huge learning opportunity and don't worry too much about natural score fluctuations.

bhcb4ae13 : I HAD NOT PRACTICED MATHS/QUANTS AFTER 10TH STD AND I AM NOT ABLE TO PRACTICE IT CONSISTENTLY BECAUSE OF MY JOB. PLEASE SUGGEST HOW CAN I IMPROVE MY QUANTS?
sachindubey : Unfortunaltey we don't have any other way to improve quant without consistent practice. It would better to manage your day and weekly offs and holidays etc to practice your weak area.

simran : WHILE ATTEMPTING RC I STRUGGLE WITH PASSAGES OF POLITICS GOVERNMENT HISTORY ETC. HOW TO IMPROVE.
tarannumraza : By reading more on such topics. Think of RCs like open book tests. You are not required to have expert knowledge of different subjects. But you are expected to understand what the author is conveying - directly and indirectly.

sowmya : HI! I AM ABLE TO ONLY TOUCH THE CUTOFF IN VARC SECTION, IN DILR SECTION IN 40 MINS I AM UNABLE TO SOLVE THE QUESTIONS AND MAKE MISTAKES, THE SAME QUESTION IF I SOLVE WITHOUT TIME I AM ABLE TO SOLVE, WHAT SHOULD I DO? FOR VARC HOW DO I GO FROM 25 TO HIGHER MARKS? THANK YOU
lakshmymenon : For VARC, focus more on accuracy. or all the questions you got wrong, look at the text solutions and also watch the video solutions. Understand where your logic was flawed. Then, try to analyse how you could have improved your strategy - did you attempt too many questions or too few? Did you attempt many difficult questions and get them wrong? etc. Make a note of these observations and revise them before the next AIMCAT. You can experiment with various strategies in AIMCAT SAs in between 2 AIMCATs. IN CAT, time is crucial - so try to do more timed exercises in DILR.

teshu : SIR I FEEL THAT WEEKLY AIMCATS ARE NOT ENOUGH. I PLAN ON GIVING 2-3 AIMCATS PER WEEK AND A SAMCAT EACH DAY. BUT GIVEN THAT I AM A BTECH STUDENT, I HAVE MY ACADEMICS AND PROJECT. THE FOREMENTIONED PLAN MAY HINDER CONVENTIONAL PRACTICE OF STUDYING FROM THE TIME MATERIAL AND SOLVING QUESTIONS. WHAT DO YOU SUGGEST?
sachindubey : But you have not mentioned that how was you score in already attempted mocks.

kin : I HAVE BEEN ABLE TO GET 90+ PERCENTILE IN SAMCATS BUT NOT ABLE TO CROSS THE 80 MK IN AIMCATS .IS THERE ANY SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE WAY THE TWO SETS OF MOCKS ARE PREPARED OR WHAT CAN BE THE REASON BEHIND THIS
tarannumraza : The SAMCATs are also CAT replica tests. A major difference is the mindset with which you take the test.