As CAT 2018 examination is just round the corner, it is the time to give a final touch to your preparations. As the exam is going to be held on 25th November 2018, you must find out your weak links and fix them as early as possible because you don’t have much time. One of the best ways to check your preparation or to make your preparation strong is the analysis of previous year papers, so you must check the pattern, type of questions asked in previous years CAT examination. Looking at the importance of previous year papers, we are here with an analysis of CAT 2017 paper. Here, we will provide you important tips based on CAT 2017.
Before starting with the tips, let’s have a look on the exam pattern for CAT 2018 examination. CAT 2018 will have 3 sections i.e. Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension, Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning and Quantitative Aptitude of 300 marks. The total time allotted for the exam is 180 minutes i.e. 3 hours out of which each section has time duration of 1 hour. For each correct answer a student gets 3 marks and deduction of 1 mark is made for each incorrect answer.
Now let us know the tips to be picked up from CAT 2017.
Focus on Non-MCQ Questions
As CAT 2017 examination saw around 26 non-MCQ questions; students should focus on these types of questions. These non-MCQ questions are an extra advantage for students as questions do not have any negative marking. So, these questions do no harm your score even if you give a wrong answer. CAT 2018 is also expected to have 24-26 non MCQ questions. So, you should be prepared to attempt these questions.
Time Management
As each section has a time limit of 1 hour, you should be able to divide your time in such a way that you are able to attempt all the questions. For this, you can practice tests which will give you an idea of actual examination.
Learn to skip Questions
CAT 2017 saw some tricky questions and many students were trapped in them. Most of the students wasted their valuable time on such questions which resulted in less number of attempts by them. While attempting CAT 2018 exam, you must be able to recognize the questions that should be skipped by you in order to save your time.
Subject-wise Analysis and tips for CAT 2018
Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension
This section was of moderate level in the CAT 2017 exam. The section had 5 Reading Comprehensions out of which 3 passages had 6 questions each and 2 passages had 3 questions each. All these passages were moderate in difficulty level, so you should practice passages for CAT 2018 examination as command on the topic can help you fetch good marks in the section. The other questions in the section included para jumbles and summary, so you should practice these types of verbal ability also.
Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning
This was the toughest section of CAT 2017 exam, so you must have a great strategy for this section. The section saw 16 questions from DI and 16 questions from logical reasoning. Practicing different types of DI questions can help you ace the section as CAT 2017 also saw different DIs like data table DI, Text and data DI, etc.
When we talk about logical reasoning, puzzles and seating arrangements can help you score maximum marks so should focus on these topics.
Quantitative Aptitude
This was surprisingly the easiest section of CAT 2017 exam and we may expect the same pattern in CAT 2018. There were 9-10 questions from speed and distance, Time& Work, Ratio & Proportion, Profit & loss. So, you should have major focus on the arithmetic questions. Other questions included topics like series, geometry, algebra, number system, etc.
At the last, we would like to recommend that every aspirant should give proper time for revision and should practice more and more mock tests in order to ensure his success in CAT 2018.
