Is the verbal section of CAT getting you down?

Are you unable to make any progress in Quant?

Do you find your DI performance deprassing?

To help you improve your skills and better you performance in the CAT, experts from Career Launcher hosted a chat with readers on September 19. For those of you who missed the chat, here's the unedited transcript:

shivakumar says, Welcome to this rediff chat session with Saugata, Gautam and Shivku

shivakumar says, Try to identify which are the problem areas in verbal section. Is it RC or Grammar or Logic-based questions.Try to focus on these areas and revise your fundamentals. Also try to spend more time on the sections that you are strong in and maximise scores there. But remembr to spend enough time on the areas of your strength.

HelpMe asked, Hey Could you please help me what are the main topics in the verbal to prepare..???

shivakumar answers, Reading comprehension, parajumbles, paracompletions, vocab-based questions

mayank asked, what should be my strategy for the preparation of cat 09??

shivakumar answers, There could be three steps for the preparation. One: Spanning next six to seven months (October-May)work on your fundamentals, basics without worrying about the speed. Two: Practice mock tests (June-September/October) and gain speed at the same time Three: Fine -tuning your test-taking strategies and getting prepared mentally ofr the final day

niks asked, Hi, can u tell me some good sources to prepare for DI? any books etc? will Arun sharma for DI help?

shivakumar answers, Generally there are not very good books avaialble for DI which is relevant to CAT.What you can do is to Pick Career Launcher LRDI books/MOCK CATS/ FLTS which will give you enough exposure to LRDI towards CAT.

HelpMe asked, Actually i appeared last year in CAT and scored 93 percentile the only thing where i got screwed is English....and although i am trying to improve and reading editorials and all but unable to see any improvement so please help me in english..???

shivakumar answers, It is good to be focused in your preparation for English. Reading editorials and journal articles is a good habit. butalso try to revise grammar from your high school books. Try to solve actual CAT papers or mock tests and focus on the areas which actually come in CAT. The more questions you solve the more you will learn by trial and error method

VishalG asked, what should be my strategy for the preparation of cat 08??

shivakumar answers, Take at least 1-2 mock test every week. spend a lot of time analysising the tests. Locate where are you commiting so called silly errors and rectify the same when you take the next Mock Test.

HelpMe1 asked, This is in continuation to My Last Question.. But when u never know why it is right or wrong then hw will it help to improve when u "r not logically convinced?"

shivakumar answers, The important thing therefore is to keep on testing your mettle through taking more and more tests.The more you pracitse the more you learn through trial and error

Gaurav asked, What is the minimum percentage required at graduation level to apply for IIMs?

shivakumar answers, 50%

ceg asked, wat s the best way to tackle rc?rc passages r very dry too? finding rc very difficult..

shivakumar answers, RC passsages in CAT are becoming increasingly complicated and it is important to be able to shift through the language and identify the main idea of the passage. Once you do that, tackling questions become easier.

sknjain asked, Hi. Can u suggest me some tips for Maths

shivakumar answers, I assuming you are preparing for CAT-2008. To me quant section in is basic application of of your commensense. If you go through CAt-2007 or CAT-2006 papers , you will find 30-40% of qustions can be solved without any pripr knowledge. I feel if you have practice a good number of questions over the period of time and strategise well during the exam you can do well.

Charu asked, in RC is it better to read the passage first and then the questions or the questions first and then the passage to answer the questions?

shivakumar answers, This depend not only indiviual but also the type of passage. But keepin in the mind last two years CAT pattern which contained RC passages with logic bias , it is suggested that one should go through the passages first than only the questions.

kk asked, How much should i get the GMAT score to get admission in ISb hyderabad. I have two years of full time exp. Please ADVISE

shivakumar answers, Generally the consider the scores in the range of 690+.

aea asked, I have to go abroad on official purposes, is there a possibility to change/reschedule the GD/PI Dates of IIMs/MDI/SPJain to march

shivakumar answers, Generally these institutes don't entertain the change of dates. I suggest you send a mail diretcly to them.

afiful asked, DI is troubling me a lot.the marks are flactuating a lot..gimme some tips on it.mainly how to choose the question??

shivakumar answers, It is very important to undersatnd that cut off in DI section can be cleared by just attempting 2 sets One: spent 3-5 minutes in the DI section scanning and then only decide which two Di sets you want to solve. Two: spend concentarted 12-15 minutes on each of the picked set Three: Dont get baffled if the set is taking time to get cracked at the time leave the set if you realize after few minutes that it is not my cup of Tea.