| shailly:Sir...if i have a consistent performance of above 95%ile in all the mock cats i have given so far.. what are my chances of getting arnd 99%ile in CAT |
K B Sharma : Pretty good only if you benchmark yr performance in the last three years real CAT exams also
|
| Sunay Jain:Hi,
Please advise on what to do to clear English cut-offs.I am never able to clear them.
Thanks,
Sunay |
K B Sharma : DO NOT TRY TO FINISH OFF ONE SECTION in one go even if it is yr strength. Suggest 30 min on each section to answer the relatively easier qs in all the sections. Also don't keep RCs for the last half an hour. Preferably attempt one RC, go to another section, and come back later for the second
|
| Sripathi V :Even Jumble Para ..... i tend to misjudge ....2 sentences and is proving costly What can id for this |
K B Sharma : Already answered
|
| DANISH KHAN:i am a biochemistry UG keen on givin CAT? am i at advantg. or disadvntg. also, in VA section whats better, question ist, para later OR para ist, question later APPROACHES? Thanks. |
K B Sharma : At least you are not at adisadvantage. B schools look for people with diverse backgrounds. But you need to study subjects other than yrs. Second question already answered
|
| dileep:WHERE TO USE HAD , HAVE HAD,HAD, AND HAD HAD??? |
K B Sharma : Has/have/ had are auxiliry verbs as well as possessives/proper verbs. If the sentence needs aux verb as well as possession, use two. I have had my lunch. Have here is aux, had is possessive/verb to indicate 'taken'.
|
| Hariharan:Sir, what technique do you suggest for approaching Reading Comprehensions-read and then proceed to the questions or vice versa? |
K B Sharma : Choose what is best for you. I would suggest one minute pre-reading to include glimpse of the psg and the question STEMS only, before you actually start reading. It is always better to know in advance what you are going to read
|
| Hariharan:Sir, can you explain the basic difference between a Judgement and Inference in J,F,I type of questions ? For most of the time, I find it pretty difficult to distinguish between the two. |
K B Sharma : Judgement is an opinion about what is good or not good. It is not based on given facts. INFERENCE IS YR INTERPRETATION OF FACTS
|
| Lokesh:Should we use common knowledge related to the info given in a passage but not itself mentioned in the passage to answer a question. For eg, a correct answer option was 'haemoglobin deficit' but in the passage only 'anaemia' was mentioned ? |
K B Sharma : Common knowledge can help understand the psg, but cannot be used to answer the question. Answers have to be based on contents of the psg, unless questions are application based (assumption, Strengthen/weaken etc)
|
| Sriram:Hi Sharmaji,
Could you please tell me the tips for Facts,Inference and Judgements as well as tips on picking the best passage from the options which convey the meaning of the passage in the question ?
thanks in advance. |
K B Sharma : I have already given my comments reg FIJ. Theme based psgs require you to get a theme that is all inclusive and yet has nothing extraneous, extreme or 'too obvious'
|
| mohit:I am very bad at grammar and usually get 60% accuracy in paragraph completion questions,but still i am able to score above 90 percentile in Time's aimcats because of the RCs.But in CAT RCs will be very tough and it might be difficult to score.What approach would you suggest for me? |
K B Sharma : Benchmark your RC against last three yr CAT RC. It is not so difficult after all
|
| shrikant:Is it possible for us have less important to verbal section and concetrate more on the remaining and do better in others. Whats is the minimum we can do about the verbal section?
|
K B Sharma : If you are looking for a v good B school, you have to clear sectional cut offs in verbal, say 25% score. Top schools look for people who are not just good in one field
|
| Hima Bindu:Good evening Sir,is there any logic for questions dealing with Upstream,Downstream questions and also logic reasoning ? i usually get confused in that particular area. Thankyou. |
K B Sharma : Upstream downstream questions basically check yr ability to find out what shoule precede or come after, what is the main point of the argumant etc. Likewise LR questions check how good you are at drawing inferences
|
| surendra: I am weak in English. what type of books do you suggest to improve my skills |
K B Sharma : Start with Norman Lewis for vocab and Wren and Martin for grammar. Join TCYonline free Basic English programme
|
| Umamaheswaran:What is the purpose of having JFIF and Upstream, downstream kind of Questions.. irrritating htey are |
K B Sharma : They check yr reasoning ability and yr ability to sift fact from fiction
|
| jAX:Sir, What would you suggest for last 10 days preparation in VA section; what percentage of time shall I give to VA? |
K B Sharma : Strictly one third of the time that you devote for CAT. Last two days should be days of relaxation, going for a movie etc. CAT is such an exam where last few days 'intensive' preparation does not help much. I will say not more than six-seven hours per day for all three sections. Discussions with peers and with seniors are very imp. Clear yr doubts. Analyze yr mock CATs
|
| sasi:how many questions should be attempted if accuracy is very low? |
K B Sharma : 15 out of 25 questions in verbal with 75 - 80 % accuracy
|
| alok kumar:how can i keep my attitute positive during cat examination |
K B Sharma : CAT is but only an Exam It is not the end of everything. Be cool. Do your best and forget the rest
|
| Santosh Kumar Patro:how to tackel with the jumbled up sentence s
|
K B Sharma : First look for word connections like Noun-pronoun connection (sentence containing pronoun can only come after sentence containing noun); Article connection (a, an will come before the); negative positive connection. Link up sentences by making arrows. Then look for the leading statement. The leader will begin (sometimes conclude) the para but will not come in between
|
| sairam:How to improve Critical reasoning skills. |
K B Sharma : Understand the argument and look for an option rejection of which will render the argument irrelevant
|
| Srikanth:is there any book to improve Reading comprehension? |
K B Sharma : No single book can improve yr comprehension. Reading of 100 diff topics will
|
| Malony Fausta Alphonso:i take a long time to read and folow the comprehensions what to do? |
K B Sharma : Don't read for words. Try readind in stages - five min stage, four min stage, thrtee min stage etc. Challenge yourself. Understand that you are only to get thje basics of the psg
|
| nitin bakshi:Sir, At this stage how many hours should one devote to building up RC strength in order to scoring good percentile in the CAT exam. Thanks. |
K B Sharma : It is not how much you read, but what you read. Read articles that you don't understand easily. Read topics that you normally consider as 'boring'. Reading of newspaer editorial page is a must
|
| gundeep:Sir,I face lot of problem in solving FIJ's so is there any hardcore logic for that |
K B Sharma : There could be some statements that you are not sure about. Look first for the statements that you are sure about. Look for a sure 'fact' and a sure 'judgement'
|
| gaurav:Good evening sir. How can i strengthen my analytical and verbal skills? Thanks in advance. |
K B Sharma : Proceed not by selection, but by rejection. If you get an answer wrong, find out the right answer and analyse how it was better. Look for the picture, and not the dots that make the picture
|
| Geetanjali:Sir, please guide me in what way newspapers are important in our RC and vocabulary |
K B Sharma : The most imp part in the newspaper is the editorial page that has imp news with views and analysis. Also the vocab used here is a little difficult. But newspaper reading alone won't do. Read abstract topics by choice on net
|
| Ashish:Nouns like 'team' sometimes take a singular verb and sometimes a plural verb. Can u differentiate b/w the two with a few examples? |
K B Sharma : Remember the 'fist' and the 'fingers'. When the fingers are separate they are plural, when they are joined in a fist they are one. Same with 'team' If there is singularity of purpose and unanimity, it is singular
|
| varun:How should one prepare in the last few days before the main test ? |
K B Sharma : By now you should be through with main concepts. Concentrate on revision and one mock plus one real CAT every week. Always reassess yr strategies
|
| Ankush:Could you give me tips to solve RC in adequate time and accuracy?? |
K B Sharma : Three readings as earlier explained in max five minutes. Predict the main theme before going to the questions. Proceed to look NOT FOR THE RIGHt answers, but for the wrong answers. PRocess of Progressive Elimination
|
| danish:which approach is good: reading para before questions or questions before para? |
K B Sharma : The first reding or pre-reading should include a look at the question stems also, BUT NOT the answer options
|
| chiatu: At this point of time still around a 50 days left for CAT what should be the way of planning?? how many mock tests do i need to write every week ?? and i am weak in verbal .. how to get on with RC's? how many Rc's do i need to practice in a day? and also how many hours do i need to put on for CAT daily? plzz answer |
K B Sharma : One mock CAT a week plus one of the previous year's CAT paper. Analysis of yr attempt - what you didn't do right is more imp. Visit TCYonline.com to read as many free RC psgs as you can. Answering is imp, but reading is more imp
|
| Sandy:Sir, my RC is the main problem. Kindly give me some tips how to improve it and also my VOCABulary at this stage when hardly over a month it left for the CAT exam... thanx |
K B Sharma : Your RC will remain poor as long as you take reading as a burden. Take diversified reading as apleasure. For vocab look for any good site on 'vocab roots' on net
|
| vipul:What is the cure for inconsistency in this section? From my past cat and Mock CAT experiences, I am pretty confident about my QA/DI skills, but VA is always fluctuating. Sometimes I am among the 99+% lers in this section, sometimes I am unable to even clear the cutoffs? |
K B Sharma : Be more consistent in RC. That will solve much of yr problem
|
| aky:What do you predict as the trend in the verbal section for cat08, no of questions, any new types |
K B Sharma : 80% of the questions in the verbal section are based directly or indirectly on your reasoning skills (including RC). CAT is being incresingly patterned on GMAT. Expect emphasis on reasoning with three-four questions each on Para jumbles and grammar.
|
| promila verma:Sir,
I am very weak in my vocabalary.please give me some value able tipes to improve me vocab. also tell me important is vocabalary in cat examination.
Thanks
|
K B Sharma : Start with 'Word Power made Easy' by Norman Lewis. It will change the very way in which you look at the words. Look for the commonalities in words. Also try to use new words.
|
| jasmeen:Sir, Is it necessary to prepare verbal section through coaching and anybody could also prepare it him/herself?
|
K B Sharma : Yes you can. But yoyr effort has to be a little more focussed. You can learn about strategies from a free test preparation site like TCYonline.com
|
| keyur nayak:Is there any way to remember those completely weird words, their synonyms, antonyms? |
K B Sharma : There is something called 'sandhi and sandhi vichhed' We try to get meaning of new words in colloquial languages by splittin up the words but we don't do it in English. It is not possible to learn the dictionary by heart. But it is always much easier to split up the words and link up parts. For example look for the commonality in curser, current, currency, incursion, excursion, cursory. If we know the common link 'cur' that means 'run' we find it easier to get the near meanings. Look for 'vocab roots' on any good site.
|
| harvir:Sir,as seen from last CAT papers it comprises 70% RC questions so, if a person is not having good comprehension power then what is the secret so that he can atleast reach near a cutt-off as RC cannot be improved in a months |
K B Sharma : Students fear Rc only because they don't want to read. We Indians in particular are always discouraged to read something that doeas not connect with our curriculum. But if you are aspiring to be a top notch manager, you have to read and read a lot. The only thing sureshot in CAT verbal is RC. Make it yr friend. It is much easier than you may like to think. If you are very good at vocab, reasoning, grammar, but dont attempt RC, you may still fall short of cut off
|
| Ashok Reddy:will the verbal ability help us in clearing the GD |
K B Sharma : To an extent yes. Let me say there is one panacea for several ills that the students face:
regular diversified reading. It improves yr vocab (diff topics have diff vocab); it improves yr RC; it improves yr knowledge for all oral and wrirtten expression
|
| Harvir:Sir, please give me a strategy on how best to prepare for RC questions. |
K B Sharma : Advance preparation for RC : The most imp thing is increase your comfort level with such abstract readings. Read articles on philosophy, literature etc, in short any topic that you are not conversant with. Only 30 min daily. Read editorial page of any good paper on a daily basis. Good readers are invariably more comfortable with RC
|
| ramakrishna:what are the different approaches to attempt RC questions in short span of time? |
K B Sharma : Hi Rama. First of all we have to understand that the term RC itself is a misnomer. It does not mean 'read for detail'. It only means get the focus of the argument. suggested strategy:
1. Pre-reading - take one minute to glance thro the psg, particularly the beginning, the first line of every para and the concluding lines. Now ask yourself what is the author trying to tell us
2. Second reading - two-three minutes. Fast read, but slow down if you find something imp. At the end of this reading ask yourself the same question
3. Third reading - 30 seconds - look for the repetitive words and phrases. These could be part of the theme.
Now proceed to answer the questions keeping the theme at the back of yr mind. The right answers to most questions will revolve round the main idea. After ans. last question based on the psg, check up whether most answers are linked
|
