We all have learned about the eight parts of speech in our school days. If you recall, these parts of speech form the building blocks of English grammar. But, how is it important for CAT? Well, learning about the various parts of speech and the related rules will help you answer the grammar-based questions accurately. Such questions may feature in form of error detection, sentence correction, fill in the blanks and word usage. In other words, the grammar section holds a crucial weight in CAT verbal ability. An interesting thing about words is that they can be of more than one type depen

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In the series on confusing words (Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3) we looked at words that sound similar or look similar but mean different things. There is another class of words you should be careful about - these are words that are often used interchangeably (and wrongly at that, I must add). This generally leads to bad writing than bad comprehension when used. You do not need to look far away for instances of not knowing the difference between these similar sounding words. Just ask any MBA aspirant whether have any preferences for specialization and a lot of them say ‘Marketing’. Just fol

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Reading a book is like falling in love: It must happen naturally; you cannot force it, and if you do, the relationship develops cracks in no time, and before long, there is a break-up. If you wish to later start afresh, the past memories, opinions, prejudices begin interfere with the present, and the effort to reconcile meets a tragic end. But…just like true love, reading must ‘happen’ to us at some point in our lives. And there could be no better time than when we prepare for the CAT. Compatibility is a major factor is our relationship with the books we read. I personally do n

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You got to admit - spending two years at a Bschool (or one year, if you study at ISB, Great Lakes etc.) will surely rank amongst your best academic experiences. From participating in multiple events, putting all-nighters before exams, forging amazing friendships, and getting the kick of THAT one dream job placement, your B-school journey is something that will stay with you for the rest of your lives. However, there will be times during your journey where you will go, "Woah! This is not what I expected". And that's okay. Most of us join with rosy images of our Bschool lives in our min

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There was a time when a job was something one would get in for life. Even if one would change jobs a few times, the target would be to remain loyal to one firm for as long as possible. Even the changes would be within the sector. Then we witnessed the period when options increased, so it was easier for people to move jobs. Now, we have moved on to yet another stage of employment trends, where people continue to remain loyal to companies, but not just to one at a time. The entire ecosystem is known as the Gig Economy. The term gig economy originates from rock bands and their guitarists,

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It is wise if you start preparing for Group Discussion and Written Ability Test for the IIMs. While there is no limit to the number of topics that you can and should go through for GD / WAT preparation, here is something that can help you get started: Topics for WAT and GD 1. The historical causes for rise of ISIS. What is the Levant? 2. Impact of falling commodity prices on world economy. 3. Chinese economic crash should be a warning for India. Our demographic dividend could turn into a demographic bomb 4. The rise of contract farming and corporate farming. 5. Role

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When I said in the previous post that you must write at least 100 essays, I was not joking. There are a number of reasons why this must be done. First, writing, unlike speaking or reading, is not a natural process we follow every day. Therefore, when we sit down to write, we are filled with self-doubt. Second, every writer, on most occasions, needs to motivate themselves to write. In the case of a WAT taker, the perceived disincentive for writing a bad essay outweighs the perceived incentive for writing a good essay. In other words, most WAT takers feel that a bad essay can do more damage

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First thing first, when it comes to essay writing, there could potentially be 700 deadly sins. However, space and time constraints dictate that I resist the perennial, evil temptation of writing another long-winded piece and confine myself to the top seven that lead the line-up. These seven mistakes feature routinely in majority of the essays that I assess, and often a single essay contains all of them in varying degrees. So here I go with the seven deadlies in no particular order of frequency or seriousness. Sin No 1: Irrelevance This one is a two-faced devil and both equally ugly. The

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If we all had the right guidance, the requisite reference material at hand, and unlimited time to write and revise the essays that we write, quite a few of us would eventually be able to produce satisfactory essays. The same task becomes infinitely more difficult when it is presented in the form of the WAT, which must be accomplished in approximately 15 minutes, and which must be produced entirely from references in one’s memory. When we are ultimately faced with the final WAT assignment and a blank paper, several factors begin to weigh heavy on our minds. There is the complexity of the t

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This is the second article in the series of posts that we are doing on ‘Reading for CAT’. The other ones can be read at the links given below: Why Building a Reading Habit is an important part of CAT 2021 Preparation?  How to develop a Reading Habit to help you with CAT 2021?  What should you read to help with CAT 2021 Preparation? (Will be published soon) Which novels / books should a CAT aspirant read in 2021? (Will be published soon) There are plenty of things that CAT aspirants differ about. For example, what is the right number of mocks to attempt or which coach

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