CAT 2007: What NOT to do in the last week

The final week has finally arrived. All the months of work, anticipation and tension are going to come to an end in a short while. There may still be some concerns, doubts and apprehensions that bog your mind, and to help you sort through them, here's what you should or should not be doing in the last six days.

Please remember that what you did not do the past few months cannot be done in one week, hence DO NOT take too many mock CATs at this stage. What is important is to gain vital confidence before the main exam. A long time back we had said this, take every mock CAT as if it is the actual CAT, but now the reverse is true. Once you get to CAT 2007 take it just like you would another mock test.

There is a tendency to overdo things just before the exam. Get keyed up, more than mildly, but don't lose sleep over CAT unnecessarily. You need a good frame of mind to crack this exam.

• CAT 2007: What you should be reading

Let's look at what you should do for each of the test areas.

Quantitative
~ Formulas: By this point I think you would agree that just formulas will help you zero per cent in the CAT, yet there are questions where once you decipher the reasoning behind you need those formulae to solve it. So, revise your formulas from all the topics. No matter how well you know them, remember to write the formulas out just to freshen up your memory.

~ Revision: Don't forget to revise the "typical" questions, that you might have marked in your material, which had taught you a unique concept. Also revise the basic material by glancing through the solved examples. There is NO POINT looking at or trying to solve new questions at so late a stage.

Data Interpretation
~ Calculation: Again pure calculation speed will not help you at all in the CAT. But, total lack of practice will make leave you in an uncomfortable spot on the day of the CAT when you might have to solve one case-let with slightly large calculations.

• Take a Mock CAT

So try playing with numbers (normal multiplication, addition, division and subtraction) for approximately 20 minutes in a day spread across two stints of 10 minutes each (one in the morning and one in the evening).

~ Analysis: DO NOT try solving new graphs or reasoning problems. Sit with your old mock AIMCATs and just spend some time discussing the case-let. Try looking at the macro picture like what a particular question was about, how were the 2 or 3 graphs linked in a question. Just spend time analysing each AIMCAT's DI section for 30 minutes each. So over 10 hours you revise all the 20 mock CAT DI questions spanned across three days.

English usage
Just revise the errors of your 20 AIMCAT papers. That would be enough preparation for the next four days.

Reading comprehension
~ 3 Editorials: Just read the editorials of three general (not business) English newspapers. Try reading newspapers whose editorials are of good quality. And it's important to read them back-to-back.

~ Only RC, NO Test: Just read the articles from your RC tests or RC Basic books without solving the questions. Read them not like a novel, but the same way you read it in a test, just without solving the questions.

What else?
Take two mocks this week just to keep match practice. Yes, you don't want to go into the main exam without a trial. However, don't take a test everyday either. That would mean wasting at least five hours for each exam (2 ½ hrs for the exam and another 2 ½ for reviewing it). Think of it, 25 hour for exams at this stage. Instead, you can do a quick revision on all the math formulas, DI/logic sets, a review of grammar rules and read tons of RC passages.

Tell yourself that you are good 23 times a day. You will start believing it. It will automatically lead to a better performance on the day of the CAT.

Get some mundane things out of your mind. Get to know your exam centre, make sure you have the hall ticket, pencils, erasers, sharpener, watch, etc ready.

• Taking the CAT? Eat right!

This week is no different from the 51 weeks prior to this except that there is an exam at the end of this week. And this time it's the real thing! Concentrate on what you know and only revise (REVISE) what you know; leave out all that you didn't understand or you do not know.

When you are going into a big match, you need to keep yourself physically fit, so if required, go on a jog every evening and eat right.

It's just another exam and you have written so many of them already! Have the belief in yourself and don't think about the outcome. Just go crack the CAT!

ARKS Srinivas is alumnus of IIM Calcutta and is the Director of T.I.M.E. Mumbai.