How to improve my CAT Mock Percentile?

Updated on 12th June 2023 | 1:27 pm | #ImproveCATMock

Mock tests are an important part of your CAT preparation strategy. While they help you practice for the actual CAT exam, they also help track your progress, identify topics you need to work on and familiarize you with the exam pattern and syllabus. Thus, owing to the emphasis put on attempting mocks, it can be rather demotivating to notice your CAT mock scores constantly fluctuate. However, a decreasing score in mocks can be taken as a sign to adapt and modify the exam strategy.

While there is no one way of attempting and acing CAT, there are certain best practices that can improve your chances. Thus, when modifying or changing your CAT strategy, ensure that the points given below are kept in mind to see an improvement in your CAT mock scores progressively.

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Steps to Improve Your CAT Mock Percentile

Take a mock irrespective of prior preparation

The first thing you must do when starting CAT preparation is to take a mock test regardless of what you prepared so far. This will help you get acquainted with the test-taking environment, get an initial assessment of your position across test takers, and most importantly get first-hand experience of what lies ahead for the rest of the season.

Avoid questions you are not certain about

It is difficult to leave any questions, especially those you know but are not confident in attempting. But keep in mind that it is no less than a gamble and you may end up losing marks instead of gaining marks which will play against you in the percentile. For an exam like CAT, attempting questions that you are not sure of is hardly rewarding. Therefore, keep your eye only on questions that you are sure about.

Attempt questions you are confident about

Always take the first few minutes to skim through each section, especially Quant and DILR. Identify the sets and questions you confidently know you can answer with speed and accuracy. Ensure that you solve all the questions that you are confident about before you start testing your luck with other questions if there is time left.

Give enough mock tests for practice

The target should be to take at least one mock per week and towards October increase the same to two mocks per week. By following this routine, you will be effectively able to monitor your progress and develop a sound test-taking strategy.

Spend a few hours analyzing each mock

You must thoroughly analyze each and every mock you give and not repeat the same mistakes. Taking a mock without analyzing them is like shooting arrows without bothering whether they hit the target. It is imperative to thoroughly review each mock test for at least 3 hours or more. The analysis will help you identify which easy questions you missed out, questions that you should have left, and how you can better manage your time and maximize your score.

Section-wise Tips to Improve the CAT Mock Percentile

If you are scoring low in a particular section or believe that you must focus on one section alone, follow some essential tips to strengthen your preparation to improve the CAT mock scores. So based on your weakest or strongest section, you can focus on the section-wise tips to improve the overall percentile in mock tests.

Improve the VARC Mock Percentile

  • Focus on improving your basic verbal ability skills and expanding your vocabulary
  • Make reading newspapers, books, articles, etc an essential habit
  • Do not hastily skim through paragraphs, the aim should be to improve the reading speed.
  • Learn to identify, and understand the keywords and get the gist of RCs

Improve the DILR Mock Percentile

  • As this section is completely new, the easiest way to get familiar with and cover the ambiguous syllabus is by practicing puzzles and sudokus.
  • Attempt various sets and mocks to become familiar with the pattern and structure of the paper.
  • Ensure that you analyze the mock tests and focus on improving speed and accuracy in this section.
  • Review the past years’ papers so you can get an idea of the type of questions that can be asked in the exam.

Improve the QA Mock Percentile

  • You can improve speed and accuracy by memorizing the most commonly asked formulae.
  • Review the mistakes and missed questions to identify which of your basic mathematical fundamentals need more practice.
  • Try to find shortcuts and methods that help you reach the answer quicker.
  • If a question seems difficult or lengthy, leave it and come back later if there is time.

To get tips for DILR and Quant preparation, click here.

How to Analyze the CAT Mock Tests

After you have attempted a mock you can follow the given steps to analyze and improve based on your performance:

Step 1: Redo all the questions you got wrong or left unattempted in the paper

Step 2: Do a question-wise analysis, putting them into 6 categories (Good Shot, Risky Shot, Unforced Error, Double Negative, Missed Opportunity, and Well Left).

Step 3: Do a sub-section-wise analysis of the paper

Step 4: Identify the weak areas

Step 5: Solve questions from your weak areas. 3-4 days of the week should be dedicated to this

Step 6: You should watch the corresponding mock attempts by experts. Follow their techniques and you will see the difference in the result.

Step 7: Take the next mock!

If you have CL’s CAT Score Booster, then the question-wise analysis in Step 2 will be taken care of by that tool. Once you fill up the strength finder as per the topics that you find easy and difficult, you’ll get a personalized report after each mock in which all the questions of the mock will be categorized in one of the given 6 categories.

Attempt a free mock

Conclusion

Thus, at the end of the day, you can improve your CAT mocks with consistent practice, analysis, and attempts. One thing that you must remember is that you must consistently change and modify your test-taking strategy to make or observe any difference in the results. While no one method is correct to ace CAT, you must experiment and try the strategy that allows you to attempt the exam quickly and accurately in minimum time.

FAQs

Giving mock tests regularly for your CAT preparation is important for a number of reasons. Here are some of the most important ones:

  • You understand where you stand in your CAT preparation
  • It helps identify your weaknesses and strengths
  • You get familiar with the various types of questions and levels of difficulty
  • The analysis of each mock helps mark your progress and improve on weaker areas
  • They enable you to improve your speed and accuracy with practice

After giving a mock test, the candidate should spend time thoroughly analyzing the performance to identify weak points, strengths, and the exam pattern for CAT.

  • The candidate should redo all the questions that were left unattempted or were answered wrong. It will ensure that you can answer similar questions later on.
  • Identify the number of questions you answered, left, or answered incorrectly based on the topics or sections. It will narrow down the areas that require improvement.
  • Observe how CAT experts solve the same questions and papers. Learn from their methods and tricks.

Previous years’ CAT papers are easily accessible online. You can also find the past papers by clicking here.

While mock tests are an essential part of your CAT preparation, they are not a reflection of your actual CAT scores and percentile. While the mock scores can approximately depict your actual performance, their accuracy in predicting your actual scores is completely dependent on the institute whose mocks you are referring for practise.

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