CAT exam is scheduled for 24th of November this year. IIMÂ Kozikode has released the admit cards. With just few days to go, this is the correct time for aspirants to get serious at their preparation. In this article, let us have a look at the Mock percentile Vs actual CAT percentile comparison to know what one must be shooting for in the mocks.
CAT online preparation can help aspirants greatly to improve their scores within the short span available. Going through CAT previous year papers can help aspirants a great deal in knowing about the intricacies of the exam. Aspirants must supplement their preparation with CAT online mock tests to ensure that their preparation stays on track.
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Mock percentile Vs Actual CAT percentile:
The primary purpose of taking a mock test must be to know about the knowledge gaps in the preparation process. Usually, mock takers happen to be the most serious aspirants. Therefore, the percentiles in mock tests do not exactly mirror the performance of the candidate in the actual exam.
With that being said, we have to acknowledge that there exists a correlation between the mock CAT and the actual CAT percentile for the majority of aspirants. Around 20,000 aspirants take mock tests. So, a 99 percentile in a mock test translates to a rank of 200. On the other hand, a rank of 200 in the actual exam will fetch a percentile close to 99.9 provided the aspirant manages to replicate the performance. However, we have to factor in the students and veterans who do not appear for the mocks but turn up on the D-day.
The mock percentile vs actual percentile correlation for Dashcats is as shown in the table below:
Mock percentile Vs Actual CAT percentile
The variation between the mock scores and the actual CAT score reduces as we move up the ladder. At the lower percentiles, the variation is more pronounced. Also, the mock CAT scores of an aspirant during June/July (when most of the aspirants would still be preparing) and November (when most of the aspirants would have lost steam) are usually not representative of the actual performance. The mock percentiles during the period from August to October are the most relevant ones.
In general, a consistent score of 99+ percentile in the mocks can help aspirants get past the 99.5+ percentile mark. Aspirants who hit 98.xx percentiles in the mocks end up scoring entering the top 1 percentile league. A consistent 95+ percentile can help one breach the 98th percentile barrier. Students who manage to score 90-95 percentiles in the mocks manage to push themselves beyond the 95th percentile in the actual exam. Again, there will be exceptions to these rules based on how good/bad someone’s C-day goes.
How many mocks to take before CAT?
As the saying goes, the more the merrier. There is no fixed number of mocks that one must take. Serious aspirants usually take more than 30 mocks in a season. Aspirants must take at least a mock a week starting from June. By the end of August, aspirants must try to take around 2 mocks every week.
After taking the mocks, aspirants must spend an equal amount of time analyzing them. This will help them in knowing where they fell short of achieving the desired score. Also, mocks will help to identify the gaps in the preparation process. This, in turn, can help aspirants to bridge the same. Analyzing and reviewing mocks is as important as taking a mock itself.
Doing a SWOT analysis (as shown below) after the mock can help aspirants to know the areas they have to work the most on.
Also, aspirants must keep track of their progress through mocks and maintain a repository of the questions they usually falter at during the mocks. They should revise such questions from time to time to ensure that they do not end up making the same mistakes on the day
of the exam.
Cracku provides extensive tools to analyze the mocks after taking them. Take a free CAT mock to try out the interface.
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We hope that this article would have given you some idea about mock percentile vs actual CAT percentile comparison. For more useful articles, try reading how to improve mock CAT scores and how to get into IIMs with poor academics.
