One Click Prep | Sujoy Kumar Datta

Does CAT have a Pattern? Trying to predict the CAT One of the first thing that strikes someone preparing for the CAT is which IIM will conduct the test and how difficult will it be?  In this article, I have listed down the pattern for the past few CATs and tried to see whether we can predict what the next CAT, i.e. CAT 2023 would be like (Unless some major changes happen, the results would also be valid for CAT 2024 and beyond). Which IIM next? What will be the difficulty?  The table below shows the IIMs that have conducted the CAT over the past few years and the difficulty levels of individual sections. Note the color coding: Red means difficult, yellow-orange means moderate and green means easy. (Note: when I say easy, its not that anyone can just walk into the test and solve all the questions in 30 mins!) As you can clearly see:  Which IIM conducts the test Ahmedabad 2015 Bangalore 2016 Lucknow 2017 Calcutta 2018 Kozhikode 2019 Indore 2020 Ahmedabad 2021 (pattern ...

Vocabulary for the GRE In the GRE, vocabulary plays a very important role. The Verbal Reasoning section contains a wide range of words. These are some of the words that are most commonly used in native-English speaking countries. You will need a strong vocabulary to be able to answer questions on Reading comprehension – to be able to comprehend passages on a wide range of complex topics Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence – these questions directly test your vocabulary in context in the GRE are vocabulary based. To complicate matters, there are so many GRE vocabulary lists available – some with 300 words while some with 1000. But the question is – How does one remember so many words? Is it possible to remember all the words and that too, in context? A decent strategy We can follow the following steps: Try to understand the roots of words instead of memorizing the words themselves – that way, you can try to make out a meaning of the word even if you aren’t familiar with that word. ...

CAT 2025 – a 9 month journey Expected format of CAT 2025 How to prepare for CAT 2025 With another 9 months left for CAT 2025 (expected to be held towards the end of November), how should you start your preparation? We know that the CAT tests skills in three areas – Quantitative Aptitude, Logical reasoning & Data Interpretation, and Verbal Ability. Thus, to excel in this test, you need to devote time equally to each of the three areas. How to effectively do that is what we will discuss. Take stock of the situation Those who have already started preparing for CAT 2025 sometime back, would be aware of exactly what sort of skills are required to excel in these three areas. They would also be aware about which area they are particularly weak in. Needless to say, you need to devote the major part of your preparation to overcome your weaknesses. However, those who have decided to start just now for CAT 2025, don’t worry! You are not late in starting your preparations. But, first you need ...

  GMAT & GRE Time Management Strategies Well, this article is kind of an antithesis, really. Students focus a lot on what the correct  time management strategies  for a test like the GMAT or GRE should be. And why do students focus on a strategy? The answer is simple – these are  timed  tests. Had it not been so, there would not have been any talk about strategy. But let us pause for a moment and try to answer this question:   “If the concepts are themselves weak, can a test-taking strategy help?” So, we start with the most important part of time management strategies –  concepts ! 1. Get your concepts right I understand that it isn’t that easy for everyone to learn all concepts of Quantitative and Verbal and excel in that. I am not asking anyone to do that either.  All I am saying is make sure that you go through the different topics and try to learn all the “ basic concepts ” properly – at least this will help you to understand the diff...

GMAT Focus Official Practice test 1 walkthrough Sharing the walkthrough for the GMAT Focus Official practice test #1. I have explained each question is detail while I answered them (its a bit of a challenge to keep your focus and explain your approach while attempting a test real-time, so made a few careless mistakes). This walkthrough is to give you a feel of how to pace your test and how to strategize your approach. You must attempt the test before you watch the walkthrough (though in all probability, the questions will be different). There are 3 links, one for each section (included the Verbal, though I don’t mentor the section). My order of attempting was Quant – Verbal – Data insights. In the first video, I have explained how to decide the order – start with your strength (simple!). Note: I have mentioned the correct answers of the questions that I got wrong in the description of the YouTube videos. I have shared the score report of both practice_test_1 and practice_test_2 – to s...

Prepare for the GMAT Focus Edition What is the Focus Edition? Focus on Quant Focus on Data Insights Focus on Verbal Resources Prep Strategy About the Focus Edition The GMAT focus edition is a concise and compact version of the earlier GMAT classic edition. It has 3 sections – Quantitative Reasoning, Verbal Reasoning and the Data Insights (no essay!). It is roughly a 2 hours 15 min test and scored from 205 to 805. The test structure is as follows: Quantitative reasoning – 21 questions, 45 minutes What is tested: Arithmetic, Number properties, Algebra, Inequalities and Combinatorics (counting methods, probability) Verbal reasoning – 23 questions, 45 minutes What is tested: Reading comprehension, Critical reasoning Data insights – 20 questions, 45 minutes What is tested: Data Sufficiency and Integrated reasoning Focus on Quantitative Reasoning Improve your calculation speed – remember that calculators aren’t allowed in this section and calculations may be the weak-link! In the early stag...