The Common Admission Test (CAT) is a computer based test held in India. This test scores a person on the bases of quantitative ability, data interpretation, verbal ability and logical reasoning. The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) started this exam and use the test for selecting students for their business administration programs. The test is conducted every year by one of the IIM's based on a policy of rotation. The best part now is that many top reputed B-Schools other than the IIMs use the CAT scores for selecting the candidates. 

 If you have decided to walk through CAT 2014 for getting yourself a seat in top management Institute for an MBA degree, you must have started to search for the coaching centers and guidance tips for clearing the test. Passing out means you can stand out in the crowd and have the ability to seek and explore the dimensions of management studies with wider aspects. 

 

 Strength & Weakness: You should have a thorough knowledge of the CAT syllabus before starting the studies. If possible try to get the previous year's paper to get some ideas about the exam. You certainly are aware of your strengths and weaknesses and knowing your syllabus will obviously help you realize what you are able to do and what not. Work on the areas needed to be overcome and improve in what you are good at. 

 

 Time Management Time management is one of most important part of the CAT testing with prioritization of questions becoming one of the key areas to success. As you go on attempting questions during your CAT paper, make sure that you compromise very little on accuracy. While speed is important to increase your number of attempts, maintaining a higher level of accuracy is even more important to convert your attempts into your score. Also, achieving a higher level of speed without a high level of accuracy result in negative marking also, making it a double loss proposition with your time spent on the question reducing your overall score by 1 marks. CAT has negative marking pattern with 3 marks awarded for every right answer and 1 mark reduced for every wrong answer. 

 

 Mock Test: Try to attempt as many mock tests as you can for passing out CAT. The more you go for the mock tests the more you become used to the CAT environment. Regular practice with a scheduled stretch will not only help increase you question solving speed but also make you habitual to sit for about 3 hours during your CAT paper. 

 

Set Target :  As you already know the expected CAT pattern for Quantitative Aptitude and Verbal Ability, you should have targeted minimum and maximum number of questions that you will be attempting during CAT paper. Though around 20 questions in each the sections can take you to around 98 or 99 percentile in CAT, you should not relax despite reaching your target as last few attempts can bring you much advantageous edge over competitors. 

 

CAT exams have been changing in some way or the other every year. But still a mixture of strategy, planning and implementation always helps in scoring well in this test.