bhagyesh : HELLO,
ashwinvariyar : Hello. Please post your question

jovita : IS IT OKAY TO SOLVE ONLY THE EXERCISE (A) OF QA AND LR STUDY MATERIALS, AS OF NOW?
thomas : Qa is fine but for Lrdi you will need to do the tougher exercise so that you get familiar with cat level questions

bhagyesh : CURRENTLY SHOULD WE GO FOR ONLY FOUNDATIONAL SECTIONAL TESTS OR LEVEL HIGHER THAN THAT AS WELL?
thomas : It depends on your level. If you feel the basic tests are pretty easy skip them and go to the intermediate level test

harsh : WHAT IS THE IDEAL DAILY TIMETABLE WE SHOULD FOLLOW? HOW MANY HOURS SHOULD I STUDY DAILY? HOW TO ANALYSE MOCK TESTS? HOW TO IMPROVE DILR SCORE? BOOKS OR OTHER EXTRA MATERIAL WE SHOULD REFER?
thomas : The time you spend depends on whether you are working studying or doing full time preparation. 6 hrs on holidays and 2 hrs on working days is ideal now. Dilr can be improved only by practice. Try to solve as many sets as you can. Your speed will gradually improve as you become familiar with the different models

: IAM TAKING MORE TIME FOR PREPARING QUANT AND ALSO IN EXAM IAM NOT ABLE SOLVE QUANT QUESTIONS HOW CAN I IMPROVE MY PREPATION AND EXAM STRATEGY?AS IT IS TAKING MORE TIME FOR QUANT ONLY
mandar : First step is, you should be able to solve a question. Then you can think about reducing time. You said, you are taking more time in Quant preparation. I think, that's fair enough. In my opinion, solving each and every question per chapter doesn't mean that chapter is over. Once you solve 20 to 25 different types questions per chapter, you can assume that chapter is done, and move to next chapter. I think this will help you.

jovita : IS IT BETTER TO EXPERTISE IN SPECIFIC TOPICS, OR HAVE AN AVERAGE KNOWLEDGE OF ALL TOPICS FOR NOW? FOR THE AIMCATS WHICH ARE COMING UP.
pradeeppandey : You can't afford to miss any topic in Quant. All topics are equally important.AIMCATs are full length test and it is independent of course completion.

s : HELLO, MY WEAKEST SECTION IS QUANTS AND I HAVE NOT DONE MATHS SINCE 9TH GRADE. PLEASE GIVE ME SOME EFFECTIVE TIPS AND WHAT I CAN DO FOR CAT 2025
thomas : How did you clear 10th without maths? Take the 9th and 10th standard cbse maths books and go through all the chapters. Cat questions are mostly applications of your high school maths concepts

harsh : DOES PLAYING CHESS, CROSSWORD OR SUDOKU IMPROVE LOGICAL REASONING?
raman : It is good way to keep your mind active. But we should also look at some explicit ways. Make sure that you start doing the regular work as well.

bhagyesh : WHAT IS CAT LEVEL IN SECTIONAL TESTS? INTERMEDIATERY OR HARD?
ashwinvariyar : CAT will have mixture of Easy, Medium and Difficult Qs. Intermediate Tests contain moderate level Qs - testing your conceptual clarity.

hycab5a025 : HELLO SIR WEAK IN ENGLISH
raman : start doing reading. Go through the basics class on RC-1 Vocab-1 SCHO-1. VA basics1. Look at the benefits of making it to IIMs. Have motivation to put effort is more important now.

hycab5a025 : I WANT TO INCREASES MY ACCURACY IN QA DI AND LR
mandar : Accuracy is directly related to concept clarity. So focus on concepts, your accuracy will be better.

harsh : HOW MANY HOURS SHOULD WE STUDY IF WE ARE NEITHER A STUDENT NOR WORKING?
thomas : 6 hrs should be enough now. This will also allow you to analyze a mock the same day you attempt it. Mocks like aimcat sa

bhagyesh : DOES READING NEWS PAPER READING ACTUALLY HELP? AS MANY ARTICLES ARE SHORT, AND I BELIEVE RELATIVELY EASIER TO UNDERSTAND THAN AEON ESSAYS?
ashwinvariyar : Newspapers are a good source. You need to mix it with other sources like Aeon as well.

deepshikha : GOOD EVENING SIR
thomas : Good evening. Please post your question

hycab5a025 : HELLO I WANT TO INCREASE THE ACCURACY IN QA DI AND LR
mandar : already answered

s : I AM FROM ICSE SIR AND I HAD THE OPTION OF CHOOSING EITHER SCIENCE OR MATHS. HENCE I TOOK SCIENCE AND ECONOMICS. THATS WHY MY MATHS IS WEAK
thomas : Do as I suggested. Try to get hold of the cbse class 9 snd 10 math books and revise all the concepts well. Then do our SM book . Do the ex a of each chapter you finish

deepshikha : SIR HOW TO IMPROVE VARC ... PLEASE SIR SUGGEST ME
ashwinvariyar : For CAT RC plays a crucial role in VARC. So try to get better at RCs. Practice from SM and attempt sectionals. use techniques like elimination of options while answering Qs. Apart from this the VA Qs are generally para based Qs. like sentence placement, summary etc. So try to get the idea flow of the content.

muca5a008 : WHEN I SOLVE QA STUDY MATERIAL THE PROBLEM I AM FACING IS THAT LEVEL A IS 80% DOABLE SOMEWHAT.LEVEL B IS 30-40% AND I HARDLY ABLE TO SOLVE LEVEL C.HOW DO I TACKLE THIS ISSUE.SHOULD I CHECK OUT THE SOLUTION OR ANY OTHER METHOD?
thomas : Most questions in cat should be of Ex a and b level. If you aiming for something around 95 percentile, ex a is more than enough. Make sure you do all the questions in each chapter

bhagyesh : SHOULD I MAKE DETAILED NOTES FOR DILR? FOR QUANT, ALREDY DOING AS THERE ARE MANY FORMAULAS.
thomas : Not required as you have very few concepts. Always take a note of any interesting set or idea you come across and that will be enough.

bhagyesh : ANY PARTICULAR SUGGESTIONS FOR PACE OR MATERIAL IF AIM IS 99.9 PERCENTILE PLUS?
thomas : Try to finish all preparation by July. The last few months should only be for mocks, se advance level sectional tests and analysis. Do revision of concepts once every month

harivamshika : WHAT COULD BE A GOOD STRATEGY IN ATTEMPTING VARC, DILR AND QA SECTIONS IN MOCKS AND HOW TO DEVELOP A STRATEGY?
pradeeppandey : You will finalize the right set of strategies once you have taken sufficient number of Intermediate and Advanced level sectional tests. You can do a lot of permutations and combinations in your sectional test in order to settle on a correct strategy for you. Analyse your performance after every time bound test and take the corrective measures without any further delay.

aman : IN QUANTS, I FOUND NUMBERS ARE CHALLENGING FOR ME SHOULD I DROP THAT CHAPTER OR IT IS COMPULSORY TO DO ?
mandar : Nothing is compulsory as such. Questions can appear from any area, from High school mathematics topic.So skipping a chapter can be risky.

harsh : DO WE MAKE NOTES WHILE ATTEMPTING RC QUESTIONS AND NOTES FOR BOOK READINGS(SUMMARY,CENTRAL IDEA)? SHOULD WE MAKE A FORMULA BOOK FOR QUANT? DO WE HAVE TO MEMORISE ALL FORMULAS AS SOME QUESTIONS ARE SOLVED USING THEM?
mandar : Not required. No need of formula book as such. You don't have too many formulae, You have formulae in Geometry and Mensuration. In other chapters, hardly there are any formulae. Understand one thing. to solve CAT questions, you need to through with concepts, formulae hardly play any role.

deepshikha : SIR HOW I IMPROVE MY ENGLISH WITH IN 6 MONTH FOR RV AND VA
ashwinvariyar : Already answered - with some direction that you can start with

k : FROM WHICH TOPICS DO QUESTIONS COME FOR QUANTS?
thomas : No topic as such cam be specified as they change the nature of questions every year. Arithmetic and algebra generally constitute most of the questions

bhagyesh : WHATS AIMCAT RANKING I SHOULD AIM TO IF CAT AIM IS 99.9+ PERCENTILE
pradeeppandey : Give your best shot every time and try to be in top 50....

harsh : IN SOME SECTIONAL OF DILR ABLE TO SOLVE 1 SET IN SOME NONE
thomas : Do not worry about it as most students face this in the beginning. Continue practice and you will gradually improve

hitisha : SIR I HAVE STARTED MY PREPARATION TODAY AS MY COLLEGE COMPLETED YESTERDAY! I WANT TO ATO GET ADMISSION IN TOP 5 IIMS. CAN UH PLZZ GIVE ME A GOOD PREPARATION STRATEGY
mandar : Hitisha, Meet Faculty member at your centre, he or she can provide better guidance. Strategy depends on some parameters like, your educational background, your strengths, weaknesses , no of hours available with you etc, thats why i am suggesting this

gayana : HOW IMPORTANT IS LEARNING ROOTS? CAN I WORK ONLY ON RC AND GET GOOD SCORE?
ashwinvariyar : Roots is important to improve your vocabulary. For CAT direct vocab Qs may not come. But most other exams will test you on direct vocab Qs. Having knowledge of roots will help in getting meaning of a lot of words. So try to get better at roots incrementally.

drca5a368 : HOW TO PICK 2 EASIEST SETS IN DILR SECTION. I TRIED BUT WASTED TIME IN DIFFICULT SETS
mandar : there is no mechanism, to check which sets are easy.only after reading the set, you can take call if its easy.

harsh : LAST SAAIMCAT RANK WAS 39.WHAT PERCENTILE DOES IT TRANSLATE TO? MY SAAIMCAT RANK IS IMPROVING WITH EVERY MOCK, DOES THE NUMBER OF TEST TAKERS DECREASE WITH EVERY TEST?
thomas : For samcats. The number will keep increasing. Still 6ou can expect to h e around 98+ percentile with that rank

harsh : PROFILE IS 85/95/8.2 GEM , 0 WORKEX ...%ILE TO TARGET FOR BLACKI AND IIM SHILLONG .....ALSO TELL FOR NEW IIMS
thomas : 99.5+ for blacki and 95+ for new iims

v : HELLO SIR/MA'AM, I HAVE JUST COMPLETED THE ENTIRE LR AND DI BOOK (ALL EXERCISES). WOULD IT BETTER TO START WITH PYQS AND SECTIONAL MOCKS OR IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE I SHOULD DO.
ashwinvariyar : Yes PYQs, sectional tests and Mocks

k : OK SIR HOW ABOUT LRDI TOPICS?
pradeeppandey : Most of the sets of DILR are amalgamation of Reasoning and DI based upon the multiple concepts.

bhcbb5a389 : HOW MUCH SHOULD I BE SCORING IN AIMCATS AND SAMCATS TO BE EXPECT A 99%ILE
mandar : No correlation as such. Its important to be consistent in writing AIMCATs and learning from mistakes.

mansi : WHAT PERCENTILE SHOULD I AIM FOR IF MY PROFILE IS 10CGPA/86%/8.5CGPA, FEMALE, BACHELOR OF DESIGN, 2 YEARS WORKEX. CAN YOU PLEASE SUGGEST A RANGE OF SCALED SCORE I SHOULD AIM AT.
pradeeppandey : Difficult to suggest any scaled score at this point of time. Try to get consistently 99 plus percentile score in every Mocks. Scaled score for 99 percentile vary every time for example in CAT-23 it was close to 75 whereas it was close to 95 in CAT-24. There is no any direct correlation between scaled scores and percentile scores.

kavya : HELLO MAM WHICH ARE THE MUST READ BOOKS FOR CAT
pradeeppandey : There is no any specific book per se you can pick any book of your interest. You can visit the TIME APP and you will find lots of Reading materials for RC under Academic Inputs, which we consider good reading.

gayana : I BELONG TO WEEKEND BATCH, SO HOW SHOULD I MANAGE MY CAT PREPARATION WITH MY BCOM AND WHAT ALL SHOULD I DO AFTER EACH CLASS?
pradeeppandey : Do the exercise from SM Booklets of Quant, DILR and VARC on a regular basis parallel to the topics going on in your batch. Since you are in weekend batch you have a good amount of time in weekdays.Once you are done with at least 60% of the topics start solving the Sectional test of Intermediate and advance level sectional tests. Don't miss any of the AIMCATs and SAMCATs.

dhritee : I’M FACING DIFFICULTY IN QUANTS I’M UNABLE TO SOLVE THE BOOKLET AND HAVE TO TAKE HINTS BEFORE SOLVING WHAT TO DO
mandar : Only practice can help you

mansi : I HAVE BOUGHT THE TIME STUDY MATERIAL AND RECEIVED THE 1ST LOT OF BOOKS. THERE IS NO GUIDELINE AS TO HOW TO GO ABOUT THE MATERIAL AND IN WHAT ORDER. CAN YOU PLEASE HELP. WHAT IS THE BEST STRATEGY TO GO THROUGH THE DIFFERENT BOOKS PROVIDED. THANK YOU
ashwinvariyar : Go as per the topics taken in your classes. For a detailed guidance, please contact the faculty at your TIME center.

k : SIR/MA'AM HOW MANY QUESTIONS SHOULD BE TARGET FOR EACH SECTION TO GET 99%ILE
mandar : generally in Quant one should score 45% to 50%, Verbal : around 50% plus, and LRDI : around 40%.

: HELLO, I AM IN WEEKEND BATCH, WHICH STARTED IN JAN, BY WHEN CAN I EXPECT MY CLASSES TO BE COMPLETED?
raman : It is important to revise what has been covered so far. Further, you may go through the study material by yourselves even before your classes are scheduled.

k : HI CAN I REQUEST FOR DOUBT CLEARING CLASS OR EXTRA REVISION SESSION EVEN AFTER MY COURSE IS COMPLETED BUT HAVE ENOUGH TIME BEFORE CAT EXAM?
pradeeppandey : Doubts Clearing Session - Yes. Please speak to your center for revision session.

shivi : HELLO, I AM FACING DIFFICULTY IN DI AND QUANT. IN QUANT I AM UNABLE TO SOLVE QUESTIONS WITHOUT ANG HINT. AND IN DI I AM B ABLE TO UNDERSTAND HOW TO SOLVE THE GIVEN QUESTION AND IT TAKES LOT OF TIME
pradeeppandey : I suggest you to start every chapter of Quant from Special Support Booklet of Quant then move to the Main SM Booklets.Make Arithmetic as your strength it will help you in Quant as well as in DI. This is just your starting phase you will gradually attain a good pace in problem solving provided you are regularly practicing the SM Booklets and Sectional tests.

thaara : IN SM MOST OF THE QUESTIONS I AM DIFFICULT TO SOLVE AM NOT UNDERSTAND THE CONCEPT WHAT CAN I DO SIR
mandar : Practice.