Just as I wanted to be an IITian in my school days, I also wanted to give the CAT (Common Admission Test) for entry into the IIMs. So now that I am in my final year at IIT, I finally ended up giving CAT a few days back.
Now that I am done with it, I thought I will still make an exhaustive list of books and write down some general advice for those who want to prepare for CAT in the future. All the opinions expressed are personal and made after a lot of study and research.
Coaching-
For non-engineering students
I recommend, they take up classes at any national level institute like TIME or IMS or Career Launcher. I feel a lot of them would not have a liking for Maths and will find it difficult to understand topics like probability and number theory, without guidance. So good teachers ( usually drawn to metros for better offers) will definitely help.
Also some coaching institutes rotate their best faculty across the country. So you could still have good guidance if some good teacher is shuttling between centers in the country. Keep that in mind.
For engineering students
Maths should not be a problem unless they become complacent with topics they studied during their engineering entrances. Topics like number theory would be new to most of them too. So, these topics ought to be studied properly. Special emphasis on English and Verbal skills needs to be made as most engineering background students struggle in this regard.
I feel that unless you are living in a metro or if your local institute has exceptional teachers, there is hardly a point in taking classroom training as the teachers might not be up to the mark.
Despite my aversion towards classroom training, I feel giving mock exams is very important. I suggest one join a coaching institute of national repute. I joined T.I.M.E. AIMCAT series for the simple reason that they have the largest number of exam takers. For example, the number of AIMCAT takers (TIME mocks) varies between 10 to 20 thousand. This gives you a very good idea of where you stand among the serious candidates.
I.M.S, and Career Launcher come in close second and third. Test Funda is also good for practice mocks.
But be wary of the percentiles in mocks. These percentiles depend heavily on the number of test takers and their preparation level at that time. It is very common for your actual CAT percentile to be more or less than what you get in these tests. Just remember, these numbers are only suggestive. Your performance relative to the other exam takers on D-day will give you your actual percentile. Not the past history of your mock percentiles.
Specific Books and Material (The ones I will recommend)-
QA (Quantitative Aptitude)
Quantum CAT by Arihant- I used this book to make my theory notes on QA in addition to T.I.M.E material. Very Exhaustive. Excellent for starters.
TIME material for QA is also a must for preparation. Always remember in QA that it is not important to just practice, but also to look for better solutions to questions that you could solve.
This will help save time in the paper.
DI (Data Interpretation)
Unfortunately, there is NO good book for Data Interpretation. The best D.I. sets are saved for the Mocks. So, solving DI from AIMCATs, SIMCATS, CL Mocks, etcs from the past will help.
One can also try DI sets from old CAT papers, but remember that those sets were designed for different time limits and had a different difficulty level. Also in the earlier CAT papers one was supposed to make a judicious choice between sets. So scaling the time directly will also not be useful to you.
VA (Verbal Ability)
IMS material is excellent for verbal.
Also, CAT is increasingly trying to become more like GMAT and other international management entrances so using GMAT books is also helpful.
I would recommend Manhattan GMAT Sentence Correction Guide, Manhattan GMAT Reading Comprehension Guide and Manhattan GMAT Reading Comprehension Guide for this purpose.
Don't use GMAT books for QA as the level is higher in CAT.
LR (Logical Reasoning)
Using material of any of the above mentioned coaching institutes should help to give one a fair idea of the questions that can come. I would also like to recommend some special books for sequencing and arrangement questions, which constitute a major number of questions.
The books for LSAT where a major portion is Logic Games are suitable for this practice.
In my opinion, Powerscore Logic Games is the best book for this purpose.
It helps you diagram all these questions in a systematic and non-ambiguous manner and also aids your thinking.
General Books (Ones you can study if you are done with the above!) -
Arun Sharma's books - Decent for CAT, haven't used it but have tried a few questions and flipped through the text.
Nishit Sinha's books- Again a decent book for preparation. I haven't used this one either but it is a common practice book.
Prof. Jagdeep Vaishnav - Cracking the CAT- I liked this book. The author definitely sets your thinking in the right direction.
Think without Ink- Read reviews of it and was interested. Sadly, this is too general for CAT candidates.
Remember the Ten Commandments for CAT (as given by an expert at IMS)
I. You shall not put pen on paper unless required; the mind is mightier than the pen.
II. You shall not leave a question based on its length.
III. You shall not leave a question based on its area.
IV. You shall not try to fill up empty DI‐LR tables without looking at the what the question is
asking.
V. You shall not read entire RC passages twice.
VI. You shall not make wild guesses in VA.
VII. You shall not multiply and divide using methods taught in school.
VIII. You shall not have unread questions at the end of 70 minutes.
IX. You shall not panic; if it is tougher for you it is tougher for everyone else.
X. You shall not go unprepared and expect a miracle
Now that I am done with it, I thought I will still make an exhaustive list of books and write down some general advice for those who want to prepare for CAT in the future. All the opinions expressed are personal and made after a lot of study and research.
 |
| CAT MBA Entrance |
For non-engineering students
I recommend, they take up classes at any national level institute like TIME or IMS or Career Launcher. I feel a lot of them would not have a liking for Maths and will find it difficult to understand topics like probability and number theory, without guidance. So good teachers ( usually drawn to metros for better offers) will definitely help.
Also some coaching institutes rotate their best faculty across the country. So you could still have good guidance if some good teacher is shuttling between centers in the country. Keep that in mind.
For engineering students
Maths should not be a problem unless they become complacent with topics they studied during their engineering entrances. Topics like number theory would be new to most of them too. So, these topics ought to be studied properly. Special emphasis on English and Verbal skills needs to be made as most engineering background students struggle in this regard.
I feel that unless you are living in a metro or if your local institute has exceptional teachers, there is hardly a point in taking classroom training as the teachers might not be up to the mark.
Despite my aversion towards classroom training, I feel giving mock exams is very important. I suggest one join a coaching institute of national repute. I joined T.I.M.E. AIMCAT series for the simple reason that they have the largest number of exam takers. For example, the number of AIMCAT takers (TIME mocks) varies between 10 to 20 thousand. This gives you a very good idea of where you stand among the serious candidates.
I.M.S, and Career Launcher come in close second and third. Test Funda is also good for practice mocks.
But be wary of the percentiles in mocks. These percentiles depend heavily on the number of test takers and their preparation level at that time. It is very common for your actual CAT percentile to be more or less than what you get in these tests. Just remember, these numbers are only suggestive. Your performance relative to the other exam takers on D-day will give you your actual percentile. Not the past history of your mock percentiles.
Specific Books and Material (The ones I will recommend)-
QA (Quantitative Aptitude)
Quantum CAT by Arihant- I used this book to make my theory notes on QA in addition to T.I.M.E material. Very Exhaustive. Excellent for starters.
TIME material for QA is also a must for preparation. Always remember in QA that it is not important to just practice, but also to look for better solutions to questions that you could solve.
This will help save time in the paper.
DI (Data Interpretation)
Unfortunately, there is NO good book for Data Interpretation. The best D.I. sets are saved for the Mocks. So, solving DI from AIMCATs, SIMCATS, CL Mocks, etcs from the past will help.
One can also try DI sets from old CAT papers, but remember that those sets were designed for different time limits and had a different difficulty level. Also in the earlier CAT papers one was supposed to make a judicious choice between sets. So scaling the time directly will also not be useful to you.
VA (Verbal Ability)
IMS material is excellent for verbal.
Also, CAT is increasingly trying to become more like GMAT and other international management entrances so using GMAT books is also helpful.
I would recommend Manhattan GMAT Sentence Correction Guide, Manhattan GMAT Reading Comprehension Guide and Manhattan GMAT Reading Comprehension Guide for this purpose.
Don't use GMAT books for QA as the level is higher in CAT.
LR (Logical Reasoning)
Using material of any of the above mentioned coaching institutes should help to give one a fair idea of the questions that can come. I would also like to recommend some special books for sequencing and arrangement questions, which constitute a major number of questions.
The books for LSAT where a major portion is Logic Games are suitable for this practice.
In my opinion, Powerscore Logic Games is the best book for this purpose.
It helps you diagram all these questions in a systematic and non-ambiguous manner and also aids your thinking.
General Books (Ones you can study if you are done with the above!) -
Arun Sharma's books - Decent for CAT, haven't used it but have tried a few questions and flipped through the text.
Nishit Sinha's books- Again a decent book for preparation. I haven't used this one either but it is a common practice book.
Prof. Jagdeep Vaishnav - Cracking the CAT- I liked this book. The author definitely sets your thinking in the right direction.
Think without Ink- Read reviews of it and was interested. Sadly, this is too general for CAT candidates.
Remember the Ten Commandments for CAT (as given by an expert at IMS)
I. You shall not put pen on paper unless required; the mind is mightier than the pen.
II. You shall not leave a question based on its length.
III. You shall not leave a question based on its area.
IV. You shall not try to fill up empty DI‐LR tables without looking at the what the question is
asking.
V. You shall not read entire RC passages twice.
VI. You shall not make wild guesses in VA.
VII. You shall not multiply and divide using methods taught in school.
VIII. You shall not have unread questions at the end of 70 minutes.
IX. You shall not panic; if it is tougher for you it is tougher for everyone else.
X. You shall not go unprepared and expect a miracle
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