I f you are looking to prepare for CAT exam without shelling out a penny, then look no further as this page is a one-stop shop with all the resources you’ll need. This is a compendium of all the free CAT study material that 2IIM offers. Every year we get emails from a bunch of students mentioning they have gotten into a great b-school using our free resources and it puts a smile on our faces. We thought why not make it more accessible and make CAT aspirants’ life a bit easier and hence the page. We hope you take great value from this and nail the CAT Exam. Enough of this introduction, let’s get started!
All about CAT exam
Before we get into the preparation resources, many of you would be new to the CAT exam and might not know the head and tail of it. Below are few pages which'll help you understand what CAT is all about.
To know about CAT exam pattern, eligibility, selection process etc., head over to this page – What is CAT exam?
To know about the syllabus of CAT exam, head over to this page – CAT Syllabus
To know how to go about your CAT preparation, head over to this page – How to prepare for CAT Exam?
2IIM's Free CAT Study Material
Above are the list of free CAT study material that 2IIM offers without any Signup (for almost all of them). Watch the above video where Bharathwaj(IIT-M) gives a walkthrough on how to access these resources. Go through this page to know what you'll be getting from these resources and how to take maximum value out of this.
Free CAT Study Material #1: 2IIM’s CAT Previous Year Paper Solutions
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If you ask anybody who has prepared for CAT exam, they’ll unanimously say that CAT previous year papers are the best free CAT study material available at your disposal. Solving these will give you a sense of the level of difficulty and type of questions that’ll come in the CAT exam. Also, it helps you structure your preparation as to what topics you need to focus on. 2IIM’s CAT Question bank provides you CAT previous year papers presented in a very user-friendly manner with detailed video and text solutions. You can also download CAT 2017 to CAT 2021 papers as a pdf and solve them.
Free CAT Study Material #2: 2IIM’s Question Bank (Topic wise)
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As an aspirant, you might want to prepare for a specific topic in quant or solve just RC’s or solve a pie-charts type DILR set. This page helps you do just that. We have provided a sliver of our own content with detailed solutions across all sections neatly categorized. Apart from this, the page also has previous years XAT and IIFT Question Paper with detailed solutions.
Free CAT Study Material #3: Bharath’s Reading List
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The major preparation one has to do for VARC is to Read, Read and Read away to glory. Great many struggle with CAT RC because of a lack of reading habit and this is where Bharath’s reading list comes into the picture. This page gives you a compendium of curated, handpicked articles from various genres (from philosophy to politics to science etc.) across various magazines and websites. We post 1 article every day on all our social media platforms. We also post questions on the posted article on our instagram story, which’ll help you gauge your comprehension of the article. The above page will be updated once a week with all the articles posted on that week.
Follow us on Instagram, Youtube, Facebook page, Telegram group. Subscribe to any or all of them to get notified when we post an article or to know about many other updates in the MBA World.
Free CAT Study Material #4: Blitzkrieg
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Solving good quality questions, topic-wise, in quant will help us understand our gaps in the topic and also acts as a good practice to master the topic as well. What better way to do that than solving questions from CAT previous year papers, right?
We pick one topic every week and collate questions that have come in the past CAT papers and provide it as a pdf. You can download the pdf and solve them or take it as a 45 min test inside our platform by signing up for free. Every week on Sunday, we’ll be having a live session on our Youtube channel discussing the solutions in detail. Make use of this and conquer quant one topic at a time!
Free CAT Study Material #5: Daily Quiz
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2IIM releases one quiz every day, which has a set of hand-picked questions across topics and sections. All these questions will have detailed solutions, and several will have video solutions in addition to text-based solutions. Unlike others, we provide the entire repository of questions i.e., you can choose a date and take the quiz that was put up on that day. Essentially, you will be getting tons of practice questions from all 3 sections at a click of a button.
You can use this in a multitude of ways. If you are just beginning your preparation, then this can become a starting point that’ll motivate you to prepare daily. If you have already started preparing, then you can use this to get some practice.
Free CAT Study Material #6: 2IIM’s CAT Preparation Blog
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When preparing for this exam, many questions will arise at various stages of your preparation. It varies from prep strategy to how to overcome fear to improving your mock scores etc. It’s not always possible to reach out to someone and get these questions answered. We at 2IIM understand this more than anybody else as all our employees take CAT every year. 2IIM's CAT blog covers all questions under the sun with regard to the preparation journey of an aspirant. Head over to this page, and you will surely find an article addressing your concern with some solutions.
Free CAT Study Material #7: 2IIM’s Preparation Schedule
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Starting your CAT Preparation could be quite overwhelming. You might be lost as to where to begin and how to plan your preparation. Worry not! We have created an elaborate schedule based on whether you are a fresher or have work experience and your strengths. You can use this as a framework and do necessary tweaks as per your requirement and then you’re good to go. Head over to this page, download your customized schedule, and kick start your CAT Preparation today!
Free CAT Study Material #8: 2IIM’s Youtube Channel
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One of the best platforms where you’ll get tons of free CAT study material is our Youtube Channel. We at 2IIM have 400+ live sessions, 1700+ videos, 100 playlists and a vibrant community on Youtube. We have videos addressing everything related to a CAT aspirant’s preparation journey from why you should go online for CAT preparation to how to structure your preparation to Live Mock attempt by Rajesh Sir(4 time CAT 100%iler) to tons of questions in all 3 sections(taught by IIT-IIM graduates) to everything about interview preparation and MBA applications.
Head over to our youtube channel and you will definitely find a video addressing your questions and preparation needs. While you are there, hit that subscribe button and bell icon so that you get notified every time when we post a new video.
Free CAT Study Material #9: Mocks [Free Sign-up Required]
![Mocks [Free Sign-up Required]](https://online.2iim.com/figa/free-CAT-study-material/2IIM-mocks.jpg)
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Mocks are the most important part of your CAT Preparation. It helps you get comfortable with the test setting and gets you exam ready. 2IIM provides 2 previous year CAT papers as mocks [1 mock each from 2 hour and 3 hour format] and 1 XAT Mock for free. Click on the below link, signup as a trial user, and take a mock today!
Free CAT Study Material #10: GDPI Preparation
GDPI is the next phase of preparation after CAT exam. Clearing the CAT exam is one thing but attending interviews is a whole other game. To get geared for this phase, head out to the above page to know various components of GDPI and what you should do to prepare for it. Also, do check out our YouTube playlist which has around 60 videos covering various aspects of GDPI preparation.
This is Great! I'm interested to enroll
If you liked our free resources and might be interested to join us for your CAT Preparation, click the below button to signup as a trial user and check out 40 hours worth of course content for free. Sign-up takes less than 30 seconds and you can start your first free lesson in under 60 seconds. The Proof of the pudding is in the eating. Try it out yourself, before you decide on an Online CAT Coaching for CAT exam.
Classroom Batches Starting Now! @Gopalapuram and @Anna nagar
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Important facts that you should know about Online CAT Coaching
1. How has the CAT DI LR changed in the past few years?CAT DI LR started becoming markedly tougher from CAT 2015 onwards. Till CAT 2014, we knew where DI ended and LR began. These days, we find two growth rates with percentages and suddenly we have missing numbers in a grid that we have to puzzle out. 13-14 correct answers would have fetched one a score of ~99.5th percentile in CAT 2015, CAT 2016, 2017, CAT 2018 or CAT 2019. We saw a pattern change in CAT 2020 and CAT 2021 due to the pandemic. 10-11 questions correct will fetch you 99+ percentile.
2. What is 2IIM's teaching philosophy?Check out this page - 2IIM Philosophy
We strongly believe on the Quote by Abraham Lincoln “If I had nine hours to chop a tree, I’d spend the first six sharpening the axe.” We start from scratch giving a stubborn focus on fundamentals so that the student gets the opportunity to learn by discovering ideas. The plan is to provide a framework for students to handle tougher questions.
We demystify this exam and break every idea into small digestible chunks which is categorised as theory, exercise and CAT-level questions. The basic idea is to provide a structure with simple questions and 'push' students to discover some thought processes while handling CAT-level questions. We would always love to ensure that the students have enough fun and enjoyment, preparing for CAT Exam.
i. Consistency is a vital plus where all the teaching is done by a narrow set of teachers in an online course. The teacher and the pedagogy matters the most.
ii. The Teaching in a classroom course could vary from City to City and week to week whereas it isn’t in the case of Online.
iii. In Classroom, Travel and specific timings won’t be suitable for all but in an online course you have an option to learn anywhere, at any time, at your own pace and in order that you would like to learn.
iv. There are three components for actual teaching part - the material, the pedagogy and the teacher. In a good online course, the designing and teaching are done by the same person or group. In a classroom course, the question is created, the idea transmitted are by different groups and then the teacher usually delivers to this script.
P.S: This does not necessarily mean that all online courses are good. You must do a thorough research on the following to find a good Online Course:
1) It has to be modularized so that you can learn at your pace.
2) It has to be on a very good LMS (Learning Management System) that will give you sound analytics and helps you both to learn and to assess where you are.
3) A chance to check out large sections of the course that is available in the course UI, not merely on Youtube channel.
Check out this Quora link for more details: Quora Answer
One more Quora Answer: Quora Answer
Youtube Link - Watch Video
Youtube Link - Watch Video
Of course, the answer is YES and you can crack CAT by preparing from August onwards. And it’s even possible when you begin from September 15ᵗʰ too. Always remember that the Quality matters more than Quantity. Finding 400 hours from somewhere and prepare feverishly in those 400 with good quality will suffice which will end up getting a decent percentile.
P.S: Get out of Quora, Facebook etc. for 4 months and most of them can find their 400 hours. Cheers!
Check out this Quora link for more details: Quora Answer
5. How can I make CAT preparation enjoyable? I can’t understand what relevance the entrance exam has with respect to management.
This Question can be answered in 2 parts:
Making CAT Preparation Enjoyable:
• First of all remember that CAT exam tests basic intelligence of class VIII, IX and X level in a standardized format.
• There is Myth that says “Engineers have an advantage in CAT exam” but the actual scenario is that this exam gives Engineers absolutely no advantage and moreover the discrimination is against Engineers at every stage. The Idea that non-Engineers (or girls, or students from commerce background) have a disadvantage going into CAT Exam is Pish Posh.
• Learn math with a sense of joy. Learn from the basics and retain a sense of wonder about math as the way Archimedes did and who proved, “If learnt well, math is endlessly fascinating”. [P.S: Learn about how Archimedes ended his life in the link below and that story is perhaps apocryphal.
• Mathematics is considered to be the queen of the Sciences since it is a fabulous brain-exercise tool kit and is endlessly fascinating.
• Reading is one of the most joyful activities one can always find. If you can find the right set of books, you can lose yourself for days. It will make you realize that reading can get you out of a funk, prevent you from going into a funk, recharge you, inspire you and do many more wonderful things to the way you think. For a glorious reading list, click here - Reading List for CAT
Relevance of Entrance with Management: A Simple correlation concept will make you understand. There are students who are very smart but have not cracked CAT. And so we can say with reasonable certainty that someone who scores 99th percentile will be reasonably intelligent. The second 0ne is more relevant as far as the IIMs are concerned. CAT scores and general intelligence in most cases carry a high correlation. Check out this Quora link for more details: Quora Answer
6. What are some shortcuts useful in the CAT exam?There is famous saying, “There are no shortcuts to Success”. Shortcuts give an illusion of preparation more often and so Run from shortcuts with all your might.
Read more on Quora: Quora Answer
7. I am preparing for CAT but I hate quant, how can I start loving it?• Math is most definitely not this thing that you need to have a phobia about. Anyone afraid of math is someone who has not been taught math well.
• Learn math with a sense of joy. Learn from the basics and retain a sense of wonder about math as the way Archimedes did and who proved, “If learnt well, math is endlessly fascinating”.
• Mathematics is considered to be the queen of the Sciences since it is a fabulous brain-exercise tool kit and is endlessly fascinating. Learn from basics, learn with joy - the fear will go away.
[P.S: Learn about how Archimedes ended his life in the link below and that story is perhaps apocryphal.]
Check out this Quora link for more details: Quora Answer YouTube Video: Watch here
One should start your CAT preparation by starting to understand that CAT tests at max high school math, common sense and reading habit. • Prepare from first principles so that your basics become automated.
• Don’t just Wander around, don’t learn in a straitjacket.
• Be relentless - this is a marathon testing your temperament and not a sprint.
• Dont merely plan which is the easiest part, execute the damn thing.
• Read a lot with variety and read it all the time.
How to prepare for CAT 2023 - Youtube Video
There are students who attempted 29 questions out of 34 in Verbal Section and ended with 77ᵗʰ percentile, while there have been also been students with just 28 attempts ending upwards of 99.xxᵗʰ percentile. And the reason behind this is accuracy, which matters a lot.
Speaking about accuracy and students often end up with the “The last two choices problem”. That is students narrow it down to two choices in the VARC section and then end up choosing the one which they think is the right one. In the similar way they take chances in these questions but do not take sufficient effort to resolve this. The common mindset we often see is “It will be either of the two. If I attempt 10 questions like this, I will get 5 right. Let me not waste any more time and mark the one you think it’s right.” This line of thought in most of the cases is incorrect. The guys setting the exam paper have planted something in either choice B or choice D that will make it easy to eliminate that and locating that thing will be the key. This is an objective paper with one correct answer per question. When you practice mocks, fight against that last step resistance and work aggressively on improving accuracy will help you master this section. It is a common myth that reading speed and vocabulary are important for VARC while they both count for nothing.
Check out this Quora link for more details: Quora Answer
YouTube Link - Watch Video
YouTube Link - Watch Video.
YouTube Link - Watch Video.
YouTube Link - Watch Video
We all know that the DILR Section of CAT is becoming increasingly difficult with each passing year. It gets to a point where it’s hard to distinguish between DI and LR that appears in actual CAT, so we noticed that and chose to address this. All of us at 2IIM takes the CAT exam every single year to keep us updated and also to know where we stand. Every single year, we ensure that the interface is user friendly allowing students to make navigate easily. We also take one section and revamp that section by improving the Content, Video/Audio quality, etc.
Last year, we are have doubled the content available under the DILR section of our online course. Apart from that, we have also added a testing engine that will allow you to just come and solve a ton of questions (5000+) for practice in the form of tests. You will also have detailed solutions so that you can go back and fix your mistakes.
Check out this Quora link for more details: Quora Answer
11. What are the best Apps for CAT Preparation?2IIM has an Android App for CAT preparation. The app contains lessons, videos, slides and tests put together by a team of faculties who take up the exam year after year.
Read More about the App on Quora: Quora Answer.
12. What are the best books to ready for CAT preparation?We have an elaborative list of books for improving your reading habit. Check the links below. For a glorious reading list, Check out this link - CAT Verbal Reading List
YouTube Link - Watch Video YouTube Link - Watch Video
