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The Maharashtra MBA CET, is an out and out speed test. The one who persists with nailing the questions one after another, as opposed to spending time just reading them all, will survive the test. The attitude to solving the test should be that of a charging bull who knows nothing more than demolishing anyone who comes in his path. But is there a method to this madness? Can there be atleast a rough plan of how to go about things? Can one go with a mindset? Let’s find out.
The mindset
As is the case with any entrance test, one cannot and should not go into the examination room, thinking of a predetermined number of attempts, marks, cut-offs. But this does not mean one cannot go with a strategy. One can always prepare for a few topics to be attempted at the end and a few topics to be solved at the start. Also, there can be a predetermined number of questions one can plan to go through in a given time. Going through the questions doesn’t necessarily mean that one has to attempt them.
First two minutes
Although one needs to save every possible second one can during the test, it is always a good idea to see the paper once, just take a glance at the types of questions asked and plan a strategy as to how to go about the paper. The important areas to see would be the Visual Reasoning questions if they look easy, the Quant questions if they are lengthy or straightforward, the Reading Comprehension questions if the pattern is similar (15 questions, 1 RC), and any other new type of question which one has not come across earlier.
No Negatives
While attempting, one has to remember that there is no negative marking in CET. So, even if one is half-sure of an answer, one can mark an answer and move forward in case there is no time left.
Round 1 and Round 2
If someone is attempting the questions from 1-200 without any particular preference, one can try to solve the entire paper in two rounds.
In the first round, one can attempt all the questions one is comfortable with or those which can be done quickly and leave the other question sets for another round. This strategy would help to get some confidence under the belt before attempting the difficult ones and also with more time in hand to solve those.
Well begun is half done
Many a time, I have been asked about the drop in intensity levels as the paper progresses. People tend to rock the first hour, then, hit an imaginary hurdle and barely manage to go through all the questions. The reason might be inability to maintain concentration throughout the entire duration of the test. This can be improved by practice. It is tiring to solve the entire paper at a stretch for few, in which case, we can use another strategy.
Divide and conquer
If one is not comfortable with the ‘solve everything at one go’ strategy, one can use another strategy commonly used by people, who want to improve their speed. One can break the paper into five parts of 40 questions each, solving and marking the OMR sheet for each part in 30 minutes. What this will do is help one keep a track of the time and also, form an illusion that it is not one big paper of 200 questions but 5 short papers.
Not getting stuck
As soon as you feel that you are getting nowhere with the question, it would be a wise idea to leave the question and go for the next one. One cannot afford to get stuck at any point in time during the test. The time which one can invest in a question before leaving it can be somewhere around 25-30 seconds. If after 30 seconds, you are not sure of what is asked and how are you going to go about the question, it’s better to leave it.
When to mark the OMR sheet?
You can mark it page-wise, in bursts of 40 questions or the entire thing at the end. The marking is to be done by a black ball point pen and so, is irreversible. So, you have to be careful about what you mark.
What about the wrong ones?
Last year, there were a couple of questions which were printed wrongly. There is nothing said if marks will be awarded to all the people who attempt those questions or if the questions would be discounted for the entire test-taking population. In case you feel there are wrong questions, you can mark the closest option or a random option if there is some gross misprint.
All the articles posted on CET 11 prep can be accessed through this link.
Cracking Maharashtra CET 2011
Next up will be the last article addressing the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). If anyone has any particular query pertaining to any topic/strategy, it would be answered. You can send across the queries to editor@pagalguy.com