ROHAN KACHALIA
Par 100 posts (V.I.P)
With just a few weeks left for the CAT, this is the time when most test-takers are in the final phase of their preparation. My experience tells me that at this stage of preparation, test takers can broadly be divided into the following categories:
Category 1 : I know that I stand a very good chance to make it to the IIMs (Test takers, who have consistently been getting over 99 percentile in their tests).
Category 2 : I am around there, but everything depends on the day (Test takers, who have been consistently getting in the range of 90 percentile plus in their tests).
Category 3 : Looks like I am not making it to the IIMs this year (Test takers, who are consistently getting less than 90 percentile in their tests). Their typical thought process as the month of October passes through, is either resignation to the thought, "The IIMs are out of my reach" or "I need to look beyond this year."
A common concern for students of all three categories (especially category 3), at this point of time is: "Can I improve my test scores at this stage?" The answer to this question is a resounding yes!
In order to improve your scores, you need to concentrate on two broad lines of work - ‘test taking behavioural improvement’ and ‘belief improvement’.
Let’s first take a look at the test taking behavioural improvement strategies. Let me start off by asking you a few simple questions.
Whenever you finish taking a test:
a) Do you end up finding questions, which you had read during the test and were unable to solve while taking the test? However, the moment you reflected back to the question after the test got over, the answer immediately struck you. (We will call such questions ‘Knew, but did not strike’)
b) When you analyse your answers, do you find yourself cringing at some of the silly errors that you have done. How many are they?
While identifying silly errors that you have committed, look out for the following types of errors:
i) Errors of calculation (An IITian I once trained had committed the error of 3x3 = 6 in his paper)
ii) Process-based silly errors (A single step error in solving a question)
iii) Reading errors (You get questions incorrect due to the fact that you have not read it properly)
c) Do you end up finding questions, which you think you could have solved easily had you seen them during the test? We will call such questions, ‘Knew, but did not see during the test’ questions.
At the same time, do you regularly have time zones inside the test paper where you get no return/negative return out of the time invested in trying to solve a question/a group of questions? (Typically, this occurs when you have spent a substantial amount of time in the examination without having got an answer or having got a wrong answer)
These three categories of errors (ie ‘Did not strike’, ‘Silly errors’ and ‘Knew, but did not see during the test’) give you your immediate ‘Score Improvement Potential’. Obviously, in around your last month of preparation, your concentration for preparation should be on at least minimising (if not eliminating) these error categories. Even if there are only 10 questions that come under these error categories, there is a ‘Score Improvement Potential’ of about 50 marks (Under the +4, -1 marking pattern of CAT 2006). My experience with test takers has shown me that on an average, there will be a ‘Score Improvement Potential’ of about 75+ marks even at this late stage. A look at the CAT 2006 score percentile correlations will give you a clear idea of what is possible at this stage.
A student who scored 70 marks in CAT 2006 would have ended up with a percentile of about 60-70 percentile. At the same time, the percentile score at 110 marks was 99 percentile. With the +4, -1 marking pattern, 40 marks could have meant just about eight errors.
Ask anybody who got 60 percentile in the CAT last year as to how many questions fell into each of the above categories of errors, and you will find most of them coming up with aggregates of 15-20 questions, which would mean score improvement potential of 70-90 marks, and that too with their existing knowledge levels.
Yet, in spite of this logic, most people who end up getting scores of 60 percentile tend to think that the CAT was never meant for them.
The message for you is then loud and clear. Whatever tests you are taking, after every test find out your ‘Score Improvement Potential’ by analysing how many questions fell into each of the three categories mentioned. In the subsequent test(s) that you take, desist from repeating the same error types.
Well, as I told Mritunjay (my IIT student): "No one can help you if you insist on a 3x3 = 6 or 4/2 =1 in the test paper."
The writer is a popular CAT trainer and is the author of bestselling books on 'How to prepare for the CAT' published by McGraw-Hill Education India
Source:TOI-Education.
Category 1 : I know that I stand a very good chance to make it to the IIMs (Test takers, who have consistently been getting over 99 percentile in their tests).
Category 2 : I am around there, but everything depends on the day (Test takers, who have been consistently getting in the range of 90 percentile plus in their tests).
Category 3 : Looks like I am not making it to the IIMs this year (Test takers, who are consistently getting less than 90 percentile in their tests). Their typical thought process as the month of October passes through, is either resignation to the thought, "The IIMs are out of my reach" or "I need to look beyond this year."
A common concern for students of all three categories (especially category 3), at this point of time is: "Can I improve my test scores at this stage?" The answer to this question is a resounding yes!
In order to improve your scores, you need to concentrate on two broad lines of work - ‘test taking behavioural improvement’ and ‘belief improvement’.
Let’s first take a look at the test taking behavioural improvement strategies. Let me start off by asking you a few simple questions.
Whenever you finish taking a test:
a) Do you end up finding questions, which you had read during the test and were unable to solve while taking the test? However, the moment you reflected back to the question after the test got over, the answer immediately struck you. (We will call such questions ‘Knew, but did not strike’)
b) When you analyse your answers, do you find yourself cringing at some of the silly errors that you have done. How many are they?
While identifying silly errors that you have committed, look out for the following types of errors:
i) Errors of calculation (An IITian I once trained had committed the error of 3x3 = 6 in his paper)
ii) Process-based silly errors (A single step error in solving a question)
iii) Reading errors (You get questions incorrect due to the fact that you have not read it properly)
c) Do you end up finding questions, which you think you could have solved easily had you seen them during the test? We will call such questions, ‘Knew, but did not see during the test’ questions.
At the same time, do you regularly have time zones inside the test paper where you get no return/negative return out of the time invested in trying to solve a question/a group of questions? (Typically, this occurs when you have spent a substantial amount of time in the examination without having got an answer or having got a wrong answer)
These three categories of errors (ie ‘Did not strike’, ‘Silly errors’ and ‘Knew, but did not see during the test’) give you your immediate ‘Score Improvement Potential’. Obviously, in around your last month of preparation, your concentration for preparation should be on at least minimising (if not eliminating) these error categories. Even if there are only 10 questions that come under these error categories, there is a ‘Score Improvement Potential’ of about 50 marks (Under the +4, -1 marking pattern of CAT 2006). My experience with test takers has shown me that on an average, there will be a ‘Score Improvement Potential’ of about 75+ marks even at this late stage. A look at the CAT 2006 score percentile correlations will give you a clear idea of what is possible at this stage.
A student who scored 70 marks in CAT 2006 would have ended up with a percentile of about 60-70 percentile. At the same time, the percentile score at 110 marks was 99 percentile. With the +4, -1 marking pattern, 40 marks could have meant just about eight errors.
Ask anybody who got 60 percentile in the CAT last year as to how many questions fell into each of the above categories of errors, and you will find most of them coming up with aggregates of 15-20 questions, which would mean score improvement potential of 70-90 marks, and that too with their existing knowledge levels.
Yet, in spite of this logic, most people who end up getting scores of 60 percentile tend to think that the CAT was never meant for them.
The message for you is then loud and clear. Whatever tests you are taking, after every test find out your ‘Score Improvement Potential’ by analysing how many questions fell into each of the three categories mentioned. In the subsequent test(s) that you take, desist from repeating the same error types.
Well, as I told Mritunjay (my IIT student): "No one can help you if you insist on a 3x3 = 6 or 4/2 =1 in the test paper."
The writer is a popular CAT trainer and is the author of bestselling books on 'How to prepare for the CAT' published by McGraw-Hill Education India
Source:TOI-Education.
