Mock Strategies for CAT 2022

Disclaimer: This blog on mock taking strategies for CAT 2022 will seem rather heavily instructive. Please bear with our gyan.

While there are a hundred mock taking strategies available, the strategy that’ll work for you is the one that YOU built, by tweaking several aspects of your approach to mocks. In essence, the strategy should be personalized to your situation and according to the results of the previous mock that you attempted.

But before we get into different strategies, if you’re waiting to complete your syllabus before attempting a mock, it’s my duty to inform you that you’re believing a myth. Remember that most people can have a reasonable go at CAT but what makes it tough is the Competition. Your mocks give you a sense of where you are in terms of the competition.

So, take your mock today.

Now let’s jump into the strategies part. The aim of trying out different strategies is to maximize our scores in each section. We’ll discuss the strategies for each section below.

VARC Mock Taking Strategies CAT 2022

VARC is the first section in CAT and there are just 2 approaches to this section.

1. RC First

2. VA First

1. RC First

In the RC First approach, you attempt RCs initially and then move to VA questions. Many people (even I) use this strategy because we think RC is the big daddy in this section, therefore you cannot skip this part and possibly think of getting a good percentile in the section. Note that this does not mean that you attempt all the questions in RC and then move on to the VA section nor does it mean that you have to attempt all questions in an RC set. Feel free to merrily skip the tougher questions.

2. VA First

In the VA First approach, it’s just the other way around. You attempt the VA questions first. You might think that by employing this strategy in the mock, you do all the VA questions in less time than if it were a RC set. But this is very subjective. In an RC set you spend a large amount of your time reading the passage and then you answer the questions that follow, together. The time spent in reading the RC is split across multiple questions, thus your time spent per question comes down.

Note that with this strategy, you might very well end up having 5 minutes at the end, but you still have 1 RC left to be attempted. In that case the available time might very well be not enough to read the whole RC and then attempt all the questions that follow. Choose this strategy if you really think that it will work for you.

We would suggest you try both the strategies in a mock, see what works for you then choose a strategy that maximizes your results.

Read this blog on tips to ace the VARC section.

DILR Mock Taking Strategies CAT 2022

CAT has stopped testing DI and LR separately in recent years. Almost all the questions in the DILR section are a mix of DI & LR in various forms and proportions. It is very much possible some sets might seem like a DI set but end up being a LR set and vice versa.

In DILR, familiarity is the key.

Most people attempting DILR cannot attempt all the questions in the section.

So the strategy is to attempt the questions that you’re familiar with first, rather than attempting newer types of sets. Note that this strategy might not always work for everyone. I remember Rajesh saying, “There are no guarantees in life except death and taxes”. There is always a chance that the DILR set that you’re familiar with is the most difficult set in the section. So, change your strategy accordingly.

QA Mock Taking Strategies CAT 2022

This is the most interesting Section in CAT as aspirants usually prepare intensely and longer for this section. There are multiple strategies that one can follow.

1. Follow the sequence
2. Rounds Approach
3. Favorites first
4. 2IIM’s favorite one – See the ball? Hit the ball!

1. Follow the sequence.

In the first strategy, just as the name suggests, you follow the sequence. Which means, you go through all the questions and try to solve them in the same sequence that appears in the CAT exam for you. You try to solve all questions sequentially. This method works for people who have covered all the topics/syllabus in CAT. But, note that you can get succumbed in a question and end up not attempting the questions that come later in the sequence.

2. Rounds Approach

In the second strategy, you see the question and solve the problems in sequence that are both easier and quicker to solve and skip the rest. After you’ve reached the last question, you go back to the first question that you skipped and start solving the easier but slightly more time consuming questions and skip the rest. After completing the 2nd round of solving and you have some more time left, then you start solving the difficult questions in the 3rd round – thus the name third round. This method works for people who have covered all the topics/syllabus in CAT. This approach has its own set of flaws though.

3. Favorites first

In the third strategy, You attempt all the questions that you like and skip the rest. But this approach has a catch. Quite often than not, you can find the question from your favorite topic being tough and you spend a lot of time trying to crack it. This method is not fool-proof and so we would not recommend it to the aspirants.

4. See the ball? Hit the ball!

In the fourth strategy, You try to skip as many questions as possible.
Let me explain.

You set hard rules to skip questions. Instead of telling yourselves “I am gonna attend all questions in Geometry”, You can tell yourself that you should skip all questions from Coordinate Geometry Or Skip all questions from Number Theory. After you reach the end, You go back and start the second round. In this way even if you skip the easier questions you’ll not regret it as you should have attempted most questions that were right up your league/ally in the first round and you would have not wasted time in any topics that were completed. 

What is the Verdict then?

The verdict is a big and resounding “It depends”.
Choose your strategy in each topic depending on who you are, what your strengths are, and where you are in terms of your preparation. What works for you works for you. Now the ball is in your court.
Let us know you follow any different strategy – The comment section of the blog is all yours.

Ohh! Also make sure that you fill the CAT Application form on time.

Muhatashim Aaqib works for 2IIM. Apart from Teaching & Solving interesting math questions, he likes to chat about Politics, Productivity and loves to watch F1.