The Common Admission Test CAT is a well-known entrance exam in our country. Among the various entrance exams for MBA aspirants, the CAT exam is a very popular choice of the students. There are lakhs of students every year who are aiming to clear the CAT exam. The CAT exam is known to be a computer-based test that is conducted in online mode. There is a unique aspect of the CAT exam: it has a sectional time limit of 40 minutes. The overall exam time for the CAT exam is 120 minutes, but each section is divided into 40 minutes of sectional time limit that eventually makes it difficult for students somewhere to complete every section within the 40 minutes given. Once the sectional time limit is over, students can't move back and solve any of the questions of the previous section. So, students must be committed and manage their time well while studying for the exam.

Knowing the question typology also becomes important for the students. There are two types of questions that are asked in the CAT exam. The majority of the questions are multiple-choice questions which have four options each, and students have to choose the most appropriate option as their answer. Then the other type of questions are the 'type the answer' type questions. There are questions given, and students have to type what they feel is the most correct answer. The marking scheme of the CAT exam also holds importance. Students should know about the marking scheme as well while they're preparing for the exam. There are three marks that are awarded for every correct answer in the CAT exam, and there is a negative marking of 1 mark deducted for every incorrect answer. The type in the answer-type questions does not have any negative marking. All these aspects are of importance to the students to know while they are preparing for the CAT examination.

CAT Sample Papers 

For every entrance exam, students are preparing in different ways. Usually students initially try to complete their syllabus. This is a very important aspect because students wouldn't be able to solve any question if they don't have conceptual clarity of the topics of the syllabus. Therefore, while preparing for the exam, the first step that becomes essential for the students is to know all the information regarding the syllabus and then move towards learning the various topics of this syllabus. After that, students move on to the preparation through different tools that are available. One of the very helpful tools is the CAT exam sample papers. These practice papers are basically model question papers that replicate the exact same pattern of the CAT exam. What these CAT sample papers do, essentially, is provide a lot of practice to the students and give the students the real-time experience of attempting the original CAT exam. With the practice of these, students are able to get to know what it would feel like to give the actual CAT exam. Students are also able to work on many aspects of their preparation with the help of CAT model question papers.

Aspects that CAT Sample Papers Help the Students In

1. Knowing the exam pattern 

One of the main reasons why students try and solve the CAT sample papers is because it provides them clear knowledge about the CAT exam pattern. While students are preparing for the exam, it becomes essential for them to know the sections of the exam, the time limit of the exam, the other aspects of the exam, the marking scheme and important things that students need to take care of. All of these aspects the sample papers make the students very familiar with. When students start solving the CAT sample papers, they get to see the format of the exam question paper. This becomes really helpful for the students.

2. Helps in time management 

As already mentioned above, another very important aspect that the students definitely have to put a lot of effort into learning is how to manage their time efficiently. Usually students can learn all the syllabus and have conceptual clarity and, in the main exam, know the answers to the questions. But if they don't work on their time management, they will lose out on a lot of questions. Essentially, each section is 40 minutes; therefore, students have to keep in mind that they have to solve all the questions of each section within that time. Students should not be able to solve only the initial questions and leave the rest. Or students cannot even hurry because they might lose out on the accuracy of their answers if they're trying to be really fast in giving their answers. Therefore, students should always try to solve many CAT sample papers because it will give them the practice of reading as many questions as possible and then answering the questions after understanding.

3. CAT sample papers provide revision

It varies how the students have to use the CAT sample papers. Many of the students also use the sample papers from the point of view of revision. As the students in their initial few months of preparation for the CAT exam learn about the syllabus, many topics can be skipped from the students' minds when the exam comes near. Students want to make sure that they are in touch with every aspect and that they know all the topics of the syllabus; therefore, getting a lot of revision from the sample papers becomes important. Each sample paper will have different questions and different difficulty levels. Therefore, when students are trying to solve many sample papers, they're able to revise almost all the topics of the syllabus, which is really beneficial.

Conclusion 

Students for the CAT exam actually have to invest a lot of their time. Preparation does not come very easily to the students. Aligning your mind and blocking out all the distractions is not very easy. But when students understand the importance of their goal, they are able to block out all the distractions. A few months of genuine and sincere preparation will really help the students get the best results possible. When students get amazing percentiles as their CAT results, they will be able to see themselves in their dream institutions. There is no better feeling than your hard work paying off. Therefore, students should try to do really well in their preparation.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How many sample papers should students solve?

Students should try to solve at least 10 sample papers before their exam.

2. Do the sample papers have the same exam pattern as the actual CAT exam?

Yes, the sample papers have the same exam pattern as the CAT exam.