How should students who prepared for CAT prepare for MBA CET

What next after CAT? The answer will differ from person to person. Some will say that I will focus on only CAT and if not try next year. Some others will say that let's try for GMAT. Others will say let's look at exams like XAT, SNAP etc. I will try and write an article on these options. Right now this article is focused on MBA CET preparation and how is MBA CET different from CAT.

Let's understand this that though the two exams are similar with respect to the syllabus that is covered, but the way you prepare and write the two exams are quite different. CAT is logic based exam whereas CET is a speed based exam. The difference is that for each question of CAT you need to think logically to get the answer whereas in CET you need to be as fast as possible to crack it. So in CAT you have 180 minutes to solve 100 questions which is almost 2 minutes on an average per question, in CET you have 150 minutes and 200 questions which is 45 seconds per question. So the change that has to be brought about is speed. You can't waste time in CET in thinking how to solve the sum. The moment you see a sum you need to be familiar with how to solve it. this familiarity will come with a lot of practice which is required in CET.

So how do you prepare for CET given that you have written the CAT exam? For that let's start by understanding the exam. CET has 200 questions which are broadly broken into the following areas:

Math (20 to 40 Qs)

Visuals (25 to 30 Qs)

Data Intepretation (10 to 25 Qs)

Reading Comprehension (10 to 20 Qs)

Verbal (50 to 70 Qs)

Reading Comprehension (5 to 20 Qs)

Logic (50 to 65 Qs)

First thing is to recognize the new type of questions in CET as compared to CAT. Visuals is a complete new area. A lot of questions in Logic and Verbal are quite different from those of CAT. So these are the initial areas that a person who has prepared for CAT should prepare on for CET. Steps recmmended to prepare for CET are:

1. Can start with writing a mock CET paper. This will help to understand what is the syllabus of CET and the questions that are different. 

2. Prepare those areas which are new in CET. this will include Visuals, Logic and Verbal questions. this can be done from different books that are available in the market. Banking Exam books can be looked into for preparation.

3. Once the preparations are over, focus on writing mocks at regular intervals. In CET, the more the mocks you write the better, as it gives you familiarity with the test. This is important for speed based test. 

4. After each test analyse your strategy and your strengths and weakness. Identify the areas which you can improve. Practice those areas before you start writing the next test.

These steps can be followed for a proper preparation for the exam. I will be writing more articles on preparation of various areas in CET.

Patrick D'souza is an alumni of JBIMS. He has secured Rank 1 in CET in 2011 and 2012. More than 120 of his students secured admission in JBIMS in the last 6 years.

To join the WhatsApp Group with regards to CET Prep with Patrick WhatsApp your name to 9821316764. 

We do conduct CET Test Series (Starting December 13th), CET Crash course and CET Shortcuts Workshop (Starting in January).

We also conduct test series for SNAP, CMAT, TISS and workshop for XAT.

For details contact: 25394777 / 67120221.