How to prepare for quants section for CAT?

Close to 2 Lakhs candidates appear for the CAT exam every year. Each candidate has his or her strengths and weaknesses. Some are good at verbal. On the other hand, some are good at quants or LRDI sections. However, for many candidates, especially those not belonging to the engineering background, the Quantitative Aptitude section remains their arch-nemesis. The candidates have to tackle the different questions testing various concepts of quants. Also, the quants section is the last section to be attempted in the CAT exam. Many candidates get somehow mentally exhausted after attempting the first two sections and then reaching this section. Due to all this, the candidates get nervous about attempting the quants section in CAT. Moreover, they lose their confidence. They think that they will not be able to score well in it. But with the right guidance and hard work, anyone can achieve his or her desired scores in Quants – Or, In fact, score the perfect 100 percentile in it. And why not score well in it? After all, it will help you to have an overall good CAT score. Moreover, this will help you to have a good overall CAT percentile. And just in case, your score drops a bit in any of the other two sections, then that low score can be compensated by a good quant score. 

So, to provide you the right guidance, we have dedicated this entire article to CAT quants preparation tips. This detailed blog will walk you through some essential Quants preparation tips, which will be very helpful for you in your entire preparation journey. 

CAT Quants Preparation Tips 

Following are the CAT Quants preparation tips which can be very helpful for your overall CAT preparation-

1. Clear your Quants Concepts 

As we all know that CAT tests your understanding of the majority of concepts. So, it is always advisable to clear each and every basic concept of quants. Having a good hold of concepts will help you a lot in building a strong foundation for the Quantitative Ability section. Now, while building your foundation for quants, make sure that you build a strong one. Don’t just memorize the textbook definitions of concepts and formulae just for the sake of it. Remember that CAT does not test your ability to memorize. Instead, it tests your ability to understand and apply concepts. Be sure that you know a concept thoroughly. Think and analyze how a particular formula was derived or how it can be used to solve a particular question. This way, your learning will be enhanced. 

2. Practice a lot 

Once you are done with the concept building part, make sure to take as many sectional tests and topic tests as you can. Since CAT also tests your concept application skills, it is always better to practice questions of various difficulty levels. 

After learning a concept or topic, start taking topics tests to strengthen that topic. Start with the easy level questions and then steadily move on to the difficult ones. In the meanwhile, you can go through previous years CAT papers and analyze the type of questions asked. 

3. Try all test-taking strategies in sectional tests & mocks 

Once you are done with the topic tests, start taking sectional tests of quants. These sectional tests will prepare you for the final one-hour-long Quants section in CAT. Once you are done with this, you need to completely focus on mocks. Mocks are a great source of learning for all CAT aspirants. Try to sit and take three-hour-long mocks. They will help you to gain endurance for the D-day and to perform well in the quants section, irrespective of it being the last section. 

In the mocks, test all your test-taking strategies and finalize the one best suited for you. Do you like to first go through the entire section and shortlist the easy and medium questions? Or Do you like to tackle the questions in a set of five to ten and tackle the easier ones? Or Do you just like going with the flow while not spending more than 2 minutes on a question and leave the difficult questions for later? Whatever your test-taking strategy is, make sure you do all the trials in the mocks and narrow down to one. Do remember, mocks are a great way to experiment with all the test-taking strategies. 

And don’t get bogged down by the mistakes you make in the mocks. They are a great source of learning. And obviously, it is always better to make all the mistakes in the mocks rather than on the D-day, isn’t it? Also, you can easily narrow down the questions in which you get stuck. So, always keep practicing and improving while taking mocks.

4. Create a notebook of all tough & tricky questions

 While practicing and taking mocks, you will come across a number of tough questions. It is better to write them down in a separate notebook. This will be helpful before the CAT exam, as you can revise them. In fact, you can have a look at them just before taking a mock and try to tackle those questions in the upcoming mocks. Also, in that notebook, you can write some new formulae or tricks which you have come across while studying. Moreover, you can write down those questions which you mostly answer wrong. This way, you will revise those questions more often, and the chances of you making a mistake will be reduced. 

Quants section is one of the easiest sections to tackle once you are completely prepared for it. Trust your quant preparation and go for the CAT exam. You will definitely score well in it. Especially for the CAT exam; it does not matter how many concepts you know more than the others. What matters is how well you perform on the D-day despite all the surprises thrown at you by the CAT exam. Therefore, it is always advisable to stay calm while attempting your CAT exam.  All the above tips come handy for your CAT quant preparation.