Introduction To CAT Exam Syllabus
The following article provides an outline for CAT Exam Syllabus. CAT (Common Admission Test) is a national-level examination conducted by IIMs (Indian Institute of Management) as a prerequisite exam for management studies. This exam makes a pathway for the candidates to get admissions in the top premier management colleges across India which include IIMs, XLRI, FMS, ISB, SPJIMR, etc. These colleges offer an MBA (Master of Business Administration) and doctoral programs through the CAT exam. It’s a computer-based test (CBT) that consists of MCQs (Multiple Choice Questions) and objective questions to evaluate the candidate’s aptitude and reasoning skills. The syllabus mainly consists of Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC), Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR), and Quantitative Ability (QA).
Topics For CAT Syllabus
The following table gives detailed topics for CAT syllabus:
Best Books
Below are the best books for CAT Exam for 2021:
- Arun Sharma: https://amzn.to/3auqTYH
- Top coaching institutes books: Carrier launcher, TIME, IMS, etc.
Tips For Preparing A CAT Exam
CAT exam syllabus on a broader scale will be on aptitude and reasoning. It’s essential to improve them over time and understand the topics to the core.
Following are the tips for preparing for the CAT exam:
1. Create your timetable: Preparing your timetable and executing it gives a sense of discipline and completion of the syllabus can be predicted.
2. Study the exam and then the syllabus: The major objective of all the candidates is to clear the CAT exam with a good percentile and the best way is to understand the exam pattern, percentile evaluation, hardest among 3 sections, previous years’ cutoff, number of seats, etc. After gathering this information, understand the detailed syllabus, study from good materials, and find a common source to clear the doubts.
3. Learn to use the tricks: CAT is exam is all about solving most of the questions correctly than solving all the questions. Due to time constraints, solving all the questions will be difficult thus learning tricks to solve the questions will help a lot.
4. Tricks don’t work on tricky questions: It’s always recommended to clear the basis of the topics first and then go on to find tricks to solve fast. There might be a chance that questions can be tricky and normal tricks may not work.
5. Quick reading and fast solving: It would be good to know some quick math calculations and question reading capability (especially for comprehension). It saves a lot of time and will have some left in the end to solve more questions.
6. Revision creates the difference: The syllabus of CAT has vast topics and it difficult to remember all of them on the first attempt and thus periodic revision will help in getting good touch with it.
7. Previous years question papers: Solving previous years questions are known to be the trump card for most of the toppers as these will help to get to know the question patterns and difficulty levels.
Some of the good books for previous years solved papers:
- Solved papers 1990-2018: https://amzn.to/3nKHdso
- Section-wise & topic-wise solved paper 2020: https://amzn.to/37DxxtV
- Study material with 15 years past papers & 5 mock tests: https://amzn.to/37BntBy
8. Taking mock exams: This will help to understand the type of questions need to attend and optimize your time management. The official website does provide mock exams and it’s recommended for candidates to take up them and find other sources to solve more mock exams on the Official website.
Some of the good books for giving mock tests:
- CAT preparation books & mocks (30 papers): https://amzn.to/2WwIcjT
- Mock tests for CAT: https://amzn.to/2J7TlnZ
- Study package with mock tests: https://amzn.to/37CY22u
CAT is one of the toughest exams in India and candidates need to organize themselves with proper material and practice with mock tests and question papers. Repeated practice and revision would give confidence in facing the exam. It is to be noted by the candidates that just cracking an exam will not be enough and need to be in the top 1-2% for getting a call in the top colleges and need to face the final interview before getting the seat.
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This is a guide to the CAT Exam Syllabus. Here we discuss the introduction to CAT exam syllabus, its topics and tips for preparing a CAT exam. You can also go through our other suggested articles to learn more –
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