5 tips to improve your time management during the CAT 2023 exam

Effective time management can be a crucial determinant of success or failure in a high-pressure setting, as seen in competitive exams. This principle holds true for the Common Admission Test (CAT), which ranks among the most competitive and demanding exams in the country.

Successful management of time becomes an important skill when facing the challenge of attempting a set of questions with the added pressure of time constraint. If carefully strategised, time management can help candidates tackle a significant number of questions with confidence and accuracy.

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Here are five tips to strategise your time while appearing for the CAT 2023 exam:


Use sectional time management to your advantage
In CAT exam, sections are separated to prevent candidates from spending too much time going back and forth the entire length of the paper. It also steadily raises the chance of a candidate getting higher scores in a given section, because they are only meant to attempt one part at a time. Additionally, setting aside a buffer time of roughly ten minutes for each section helps students finish the exam earlier and with more time available for revision.

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Divide to conquer
In CAT 2023 during an ongoing exam session, shifting between different sections is prohibited.

However, maneuvering between questions within a section can diminish your scoring prospects. To streamline this, dividing each section into three stages can facilitate the process.

In the first round, tackle questions that you find exceedingly simple and are fully confident about.

In the second phase, attempt those questions that you believe you can handle. For the final round, engage with time-consuming questions that demand deeper concentration.


Begin with questions that you find easier to answer
For any examination it is ideal to begin with the easier questions, as they tend to be less time-consuming. This holds true for CAT exam too. In order to effectively manage which questions to attempt first, avoid looking at the timer unless only a few minutes were left. Rather focus on the questions that you are confident of answering without spending too much time to solve them.


Avoid challenging and time-consuming questions
It is an important technique to score higher. Leave out the difficult questions while you can focus on the simpler ones that yield better results. Remember that haphazardly answering doubtful questions can lead to a negative marking, which will ultimately reduce your overall CAT score.

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Allocate time for reviewing
Revision of answers is extremely important for CAT aspirants. Once you have completed the test, double-check your answers to ensure that you have chosen the options accurately. Reserve a minimum of 10 minutes at the end of each section for thorough revision of each question you attempted. It is ideal to prioritise attempting questions you are confident of, for the rest of the duration, focus on revising accurately for each response that you’ve given.
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