All set to bell the CAT today

Ahmedabad: At least 9,000 aspirants from Gujarat will be taking the Common Admission Test (CAT) on Sunday which is expected to be the last competitive examination for Indian Institutes of Management taken using the conventional pen and paper.
Confident about tackling CAT for the first time, Priyam Shah, 23, says, "Right now, I am going through last year's CAT papers.I expect out of out of the three section to be tough. And, it is quite important to clear the sectional cut-offs in all the three sections."
The number of CAT applicants from the state has also increased from 5,000 to 9,000 in the last four years. In Ahmedabad alone, there are 11 CAT test centres.
Faculty in charge of the post-graduate programme admissions at IIM-A, Satish Deodhar, says, "CAT-2008 will be conducted at 23 centres across India of which four Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Jaipur and Nagpur are taken care of by IIM-A where around 51,000 students will take CAT."
So, what should one expect from the CAT this year? Yakub Mansuri, centre manager of IMS Learning Centre, says, "It is difficult to predict the CAT, but we are hopeful that same pattern will be followed like the last year. Already, premier IIMs have announced their cut-offs for the IIM call, so it is important to clear the sectional cut-offs."
"One should keep a cool head, knowing their strengths and weakness and also plan well on taking decisions on tricky questions. Conceptual clarity will clinch the deal for the aspirants," adds Mansuri.
With the rise in number of applications from 1.72 lakh in 2006 to 2.07 lakh aspirants who took the test last year, this year it touched 2.76 lakh across the country.
Another CAT aspirant and a charted accountant by profession, Parth Desai says, "I am bit relaxed about the exam and going through my daily routine. There is no need to worry at the last moment. I am only gunning for the top management institutes."