One can be very superstitious about the CAT or perhaps some myths prevail in the mind which can let you bogged down and grip you in tension. Let go of the myths, rest assured, with the right preparation and right direction, you can actually ace the CAT exam. Please refer BYJU’S CAT College Predictor tool.
The level of preparation differs from person to person and there is no ‘one way’ to prepare for CAT. But there are a lot of myths that are faced by the aspirants. Here the most common myths revolving around the CAT exam are compiled and debunked.
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Girls cannot solve quantitative aptitude and hence there are a fewer number of girls in IIMs:
It should be noted that maths has nothing to do with gender. There have been many 100 percentile candidates in CAT who are girls and have aced the test to pursue their dreams. The proportion of girls and boys appearing on the test makes the classes of IIMs less gender diversified. In recent years, many institutes give weightage to gender diversity and so, the number of females in the MBA institutes have increased significantly. For example, IIM Calcutta had 16.5% females for the 2016-18 batch which increased to 31% for the 2017-19 batch. Similarly, IIM Ahmedabad had 21% female students in the 2016-18 batch which increased to a huge 32% for the 2017-19 batch.
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CAT is meant for IITs or engineering:
As mentioned in the first point, the CAT exam has nothing to do with the educational background of the candidates. Remember as long as you hold a valid graduate degree, you are eligible to appear for CAT and other managerial examinations. People from academic background other than engineering are equally good and have equal chances of getting selected by the IIMs. Though the percentage of engineers is more in IIMs, the percentage of non-engineers are also increasing over the past few years. A data of IIM A is given below which shows the increase in the percentage of non-engineers over the past few years.
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People with good public speaking or debating skills score well in the VARC section:
Though students who have a good hold over spoken English skills have an added advantage in the verbal section, you still need practice in verbal questions. The time limit and the closeness of options are confusing enough to choose. Even the best toastmasters falter because of a lack of practice and expertise. Questions for the verbal ability test can vary from being fill in the blanks type or cloze passages or jumbled words. More than 50% of the questions come from the Reading Comprehension section. So, if you are a good orator, then buckle up and start preparing for the exams and work in to improve basic grammar skills. Candidates can check the Mathematical approach to solve Reading Comprehension to learn effective tips to ace the reading comprehension section easily.
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People with work experience have an advantage over the ones who are appearing in their final year of graduation:
Even though work experience helps boost the overall selection procedure, one has to surpass the sectional cut-offs. We need to note that preparing for a job is a lot more difficult with all the targets, deadlines and job-related responsibilities. Whereas, the final year students usually have the leeway with fewer credit subjects and projects to cover, leaving more hours to prepare at their dispense.
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MBA is all about IIMs:
This is not actually true. A lot of non-IIMs have made it to the top MBA institutes in India. Colleges like S.P Jain, Narsee Monjee, FMS-Delhi, Symbiosis, and XLRI are just a few examples. Check the linked article for the detailed list of the top management colleges.
Stay tuned with BYJU’S to know the latest CAT notifications along with the CAT syllabus and pattern to strategize a proper preparation plan and learn effectively.