Yep... It worked!

I expected around 97 percentile in previous week's aimcat, but i had to adjust with a 94 (damn my pathetic va score). So I made some amends on how i should approach the va section and implemented them in this week's aimcat and it worked. Not only I just cleared the cutoff in va, it landed me in the much coveted 99+ league. Just before the exam, I had no expectations, only idea was to implement the inter-sectional strategy in va, and be my usual self in DI and quant. So I started the paper with va and attempted almost 8 questions in the starting 10 mins itself. I was not sure whether they were correct or wrong, but only thing I can say is that I had given my best shot and they were my confident attempts. This has helped to ease down the pressure off me and this way I could attempt rc questions with more confidence and concentration. Majority share of my marks in language section came from the rc's with 7 correct out of 9. In total, 16 questions were attempted out of which 10 were correct giving me a score of 34. Now I think I should find a way to increase my attempts. Until now what I was doing if i got stuck in between 2 options of a question in Language section was that I spend more time in deciding the answer. But I feel that the art of leaving the questions, which is very important in quant and di sections, should also be implemented in language section because even after spending much time in deciding the answer, most of the time it turns out to be wrong for me. So, it is better to quickly move to another question after marking both these options in the question paper. In the end when I mark the answers in the OMR, I should give a final shot in deciding the answer between the two marked choices in less than 10 seconds for a question. This way I think I should be able to attempt more number of questions in language section.

Preparation point of view, I have been doing DI sets from pagalguy thread and regularly doing some puzzles from George Summers book. Also I am hanging out in the va thread where I'm getting hold of very useful information. And I'm planning to read articles from diverse topics, the links of which are provided by a user in the rc thread. Coming to quant, of late I feel that I'm totally ignoring it. Although I'm doing well and it's my strength, I think it needs more practice to do more questions by increasing my speed. So it's time to hang in quant thread too.

Getting a 99+ needs real hard work. But maintaining it requires even more. This is the time to consolidate my confidence. Go bangaram go!!!

verbal woes call for inter-section strategy

With cat just 3 months away from now, I wish I have been scoring great in the aimcats but the verbal woes still continues for me. I have started the aimcat series with a 97.xx and 98.xx but overconfidence and complacence led my scores plummet to a miserable 86.xx in the next one. Then I came to know that I am not so priveleged to have a seat reserved for me in the prestigious IIM built by my grandfather :D. I had(have) to work hard and that's the only way I can reach my goal. There's no substitute whatsoever. Now that I'm to back to my basics, I'm consistently scoring 97+ for the past few aimcats, yet to enter the esteemed 99+ league. I experimented with the strategies. Some clicked, some backfired and I think I almost zeroed in on a strategy after writing 7 aimcats.

I start the paper with the lang section, do it for half an hour and quicky move to DI section. This has proved to be a tremendous advantage for me. In earlier aimcats, I used to attempt DI section in the last 50 mins. Though it clicked sometimes, it proved to be a bit risky job as I am not so comfortable with DI. It was just like an innings played by sehwag, either hit or miss. If I keep DI to the last and if I wont be able to solve a caselet even after 15mins into the DI section tension gets built up which ultimately leads to a disaster. In this tension you dont choose the set and start with some random caselet. This should not at all be done as a lot of mind is required to choose the caselets and the questions in DI. Then I spend a good 50-55 mins in DI section and then move to quant, my strength. In the previous year mocks and cat'07, I used to have a notion to start with my strong area i.e. quant. But now I've discovered that I score the same in quant regardless of whether I attempt it in the beginning or at the end. I have learnt the art of picking the easier questions and leaving the difficult one's. I'm still looking forward to gain more expertise in this art. And in the last half an hour, I come back to lang section again for10-15 mins. This way I'm able to attempt more number of questions in quant as I do in a hurry. Previously I used to attempt only 35-40 questions in a typical 75 question paper. But now I attempted 46 questions in the previous aimcat and I'm quite happy about increasing attempts in quant and DI. Lang section proved to be nemesis for me as I record a new abysmal score. After I had a discussion with my friend, who apparently did well in this section, I have decided to experiment with in this section in the next aimcat. I'm planning to change the order in which I attempt questions in lang section. Earlier I started the paper with RC's. But now I've decided to start the paper with some verbal questions and then move to RC's after 10-15 mins. This way I'll get into the groove quickly than liesurely starting with the (news)paper. Lets see what happens the coming sunday.