Over two lakh MBA aspirants are expected to appear for the Common Admission Test (CAT) 2007 slated on November 18.

Deccan Herald spoke to IIMB students, who provided a few tips on last minute preparations.

Adithya M R, who scored 100 percentile in CAT 2006, said that when there are just a few days left for the exam, one should take as many  mock tests as possible. When a candidate takes the mock test the attitude should be to achieve the overall objective. "That is, to cross individual cut offs in each section and then, only then, to attempt maximising the overall score," he said.

He further said that time was a crucial factor.  "It's better to set aside a fixed time for every section and adhere to it. How much time is set aside for each section is a matter of strategy, that evolves with practice," he added.

On the quantitative ability front IIMB students were of the opinion that candidates should get their fundamentals and formulae in areas like quadric equations and percentages correct. "It is possible that quantitative questions are asked from a combination of areas. Hence, the candidate has to approach the exam with an open mind, without presumptions about how difficult or easy the paper could be," Adithya said.

Reading is the best method to improve verbal ability. "Reading newspapers will help a lot," says Sandeep Das, who scored 99.13 percentile in CAT 2006. "At least an hour and a half should be allotted for reading. One should try to cover all the sections – business, editorial columns etc. A good reading habit will gradually enhance the verbal ability," he added.

Echoing a similar opinion, Adithya said that the focus should be on interpretation. One should try to grasp the general idea of the passage and, "put yourself in the shoes of the person who wrote the piece and genuinely try to answer it," he suggested.

Practice is the key for data interpretation. "There are distinctive models that can arise from the data interpretation section. Therefore, one must be thorough with these and this can be developed only through practice. Doing sets of data interpretation questions with different models is preferable to doing five questions of the same type. This introduces some sort of variability and adaptability in the mind," explained Adithya.

Above all, Gautam Gurnani, who scored 99.49 percentile, said, "One has to be cool and calm while appearing for the exam. If a candidate is tense, there is the possibility of making mistakes. Even a single mark carries a lot of value at the CAT," he said.

He also added that candidates should concentrate on their strengths rather than their weaknesses.