CAT 2022 exam is an open test for all the students who completed their graduation or for the working professionals. Most of the students who apply for the CAT exam have an educational background in engineering. At the same time, the remaining are from non engineering backgrounds such as Commerce, BA, LLB, B Com, etc. Here comes the question, “Can a non engineer crack the CAT exam?” the answer is yes; indeed, a non engineer can ace the CAT exam and get into the top IIM colleges. Let us see how it is possible.
Non engineers Free Resources For CAT preparation
The first step toward getting admission into top MBA colleges is taking the Common Admission Test (CAT) exam. Try checking out the CAT previous year papers which are the non engineers free resources to know about the level of questions that appear in the exam. Also, taking a free CAT online mock test will help them in gauging their strengths and weaknesses. Also one must consider the CAT 2022 syllabus and the examination pattern which is given in the following section.
CAT 2022 Exam Pattern
| SECTION | EXPECTED DURATION | EXPECTED NUMBER OF QUESTIONS |
| Verbal Ability | 40 minutes | 24 |
| Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning | 40 minutes | 20 |
| Quantitative Ability | 40 minutes | 22 |
|
Overall |
120 minutes | 66 |
Each correct answer is awarded 3 marks and each wrong answer carries a penalty of -1 mark. No marks are awarded for unattempted questions. And, there might be a sectional time limit of 40 minutes for each section and candidates are not allowed to switch between the sections.
Can A Non Engineer Crack the CAT Exam?
Yes, a non engineer can ace the CAT exam. In IIM Ahmedabad, the current 2020-22 batch constitutes 23.72% of non engineers. By this one can understand there are many non engineer CAT success stories of cracking the CAT exam and getting placements in top IIM colleges. There is no secret behind their success, just the efforts they kept in their CAT preparation. The only thing a non engineer must consider during the CAT preparation is to have a perfect preparation strategy to ace the exam.Â
Non Engineer CAT Success Stories
One can watch the below excellent interview videos by Cracku for the non engineer CAT topper who cracked the CAT exam with above 99 percentile and get into the top MBA colleges. 
CAT Preparation Strategy For Non-Engineers
The preparation strategy for every CAT aspirant is almost common, even for students with an engineering or non-engineering background. Let us see the CAT preparation strategy for students with a non-engineering background. The only difference in the preparation strategy for non engineers compared to the engineering students is just focusing more on the Quantitative aptitude section. So, one must need a section-wise study plan that helps you do best practices and maintain balance in all the three sections of the CAT 2022 exam. The following study plan is prepared for five months, which is essential to start the preparation now.
CAT Preparation Strategy for Quant (For Non Engineers)
Quantitative Aptitude – The Quant basics will play a crucial role in this Quantitative Ability section. The aspirant must spend at least 1-2 months learning the quant basics. Most of the Candidates will neglect to view the quant basics during the preparation. You can follow the given study schedule for preparing the Quantitative Ability section. You can customize the schedule according to your strengths and weaknesses in this section.
| Topic | Number of days |
| Number Systems | 2-3 |
| Ratio and Proportion, Percentages, Averages, Alligation, Profit Loss and Discount | 10-12 |
| Simple Interest and Compound Interest | 1-2 |
| Time, Speed and Distance | 2-3 |
| Time & Work | 2 |
| Linear equations, Quadratic equations | 6 |
| Inequalities | 2 |
| Logarithms, Functions | 6 |
| Progressions and series | 3 |
| Surds and indices | 1 |
| Geometry & Mensuration | 10-11 |
| Basic trigonometry | 1-2 |
| Co-ordinate Geometry | 2 |
| Permutation and Combinations | 4 |
| Probability | 3 |
| Set Theory | 2 |
| Miscellaneous | 4-5 |
CAT Preparation Strategy for VARC (For Non Engineers)
Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension – Try to focus on reading for 1 hour every day. It will help you to develop a viewpoint on a variety of issues. In the initial days of your preparation, solve at least one RC every day. The following is the schedule one can follow. You can adjust this depending on the time available during the day, and based on your strengths and weaknesses.
| Topic | No. of days |
| RC’s | 10-12 |
| Para Summary | 5-6 |
| Para Completion | 5-6 |
| Para Jumbles | 5-6 |
| Odd sentence out | 5-6 |
| Grammar, Sentence Correction, Fill in the blanks, Verbal Reasoning, Facts / Inferences / Judgements. | 10 |
CAT Preparation Strategy for LRDI (For Non Engineers)
Logical Reasoning And Data Interpretation – As we know, CAT has moved away from the traditional LRDI sets, it’s imperative to practice the non-traditional type of sets. The sets that are appearing are more logic-based (and relatively less data-intensive in nature). Try to spend around 1 hour every day on the DI / LR concepts. Also, try to solve 2 sets every day (one DI set and one LR set).
| LR Topics | No. of days |
| Arrangements (Linear, Circular, etc) | 3 |
| Puzzles (Einstein puzzles, constraint-based etc) | 3 |
| Networks, LR based on picking coins | 5 |
| Games and tournaments | 3 |
| Scheduling | 3 |
| Blood relations, family tree, Truth-liar concept | 7 |
| Cubes | 3 |
| Others (2D Space LR’s, etc) | 5-6 |
|
DI Topics |
No. of days |
| Bar Graphs, Line Charts, Pie Charts, Unconventional charts (radar chart, bubble chart etc) | 10-12 |
| Tables | 4 |
| Venn Diagrams | 4 |
| Others (DI Based on growth over years, Data Sufficiency, Caselets, etc) | 9 |
Aspirants who are having non-engineering backgrounds are advised to concentrate as much as possible on the quantitative aptitude section as mentioned earlier. Hope this study plan will help the students from non-engineering backgrounds to crack the CAT 2022 examination.
Thank you and all the best.
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