The 80:20 Rule!!!!!!!!

Dear student,

Vidyalankar would like to contribute positively in helping you achieve the success. You are only a month away from your exams; hence the most important thing now is how you manage your time to get the best results.

This is neatly summed up by the '80:20 Rule'.

This argues that typically 80% of unfocussed effort generates only 20% of results. The remaining 80% of results are achieved with only 20% of the effort. This ensures that one achieves the greatest benefit within the limited amount of time spent.
Concentrate on results, not on being busy.

Many people spend their days in a frenzy of activity, but achieve very little because they are not concentrating on the right things at the right time.

Find out How Much Your Time is Worth

The first part of your focus on results should be to work out how much your time costs. This helps you to see if you are spending your time profitably. Calculate how much your time is worth. This helps you to work out whether it is worth doing a particular job’.


Vidyalankar wishes you

‘The Very Best for CAT’.

7 Essential Skills for Employment

In this highly competitive economy, employers are looking for workers who can do more than just fill a vacancy - they are looking for people who can help them grow. While any job has a specific skill set associated with it, companies want workers with "evergreen" job skills that are always useful in changing times.

1. Research skills
Nobody has all the information they'll ever need in their head (or on their desk) already, but if you know how to do research, you'll always be able to find the information in a timely manner.

2. Logic and reason
Every company runs into problems, and those problems need to be solved. A firm grasp of logic and reason will make you an invaluable asset.

3. Technological literacy
Computers have taken over the workplace, and every worker needs to have at least a basic level of skill and comfort with modern technology, just to be able to function.
You don't need to have a degree or special training in computers or information technology, but you'll be expected to have a basic level of ability to work with computers.

4. Communication skills
Every job will require you to communicate with other people, in speaking and often in writing as well. Employers are interested in workers who can express themselves clearly in their dealings with supervisors, underlings and co-workers.

5. Organization
A messy desk may be acceptable (though it is never recommended), but a messy approach to your work is never something an employer is looking for. You'll probably have to do a lot of different tasks, each with a different schedule and deadline, and being able to organize your work is crucial.

6. Interpersonal skills
Every workplace has people in it, and those people often have different personalities and temperaments. Being able to work well with others, and communicate across barriers of culture and personality is necessary.

7. Career-minded orientation
If you don't know where you're headed, neither does your company. Having a plan for your own career will make your employer more willing to help you achieve your goals since they will benefit from your growth.

These skills aren't the only ones that you'll need for your specific job, but they are skills that will make you an asset to any employer, and serve you well in any position that you'll find yourself in.

Concentration Techniques

1.Jot down things that are on your mind before you study.

2.Study at the same time each day. A regular schedule can help you frame this as “study time”.

3.Set a timer for an hour, don't allow yourself to stop studying until it goes off.

4.Take breaks. A three minute break for every 30 minutes of study is a good guideline. Take a longer break after 90 minutes.

5.When you have met one of your study goals, reward yourself with a short break. Then, return to your study area.

6.Study in an area away from distractions such as a library, study lounge, or an empty classroom.

7.Make sure you have everything that you need before you begin.

8.Make sure your environment is conducive to studying, no TV, no telephone, no roommate, no boyfriend/girlfriend.

9.Combine different kinds of study into one session, e.g. reading, writing, taking notes, memorizing, etc.

10.Identify how what you are studying is relevant to your life. Draw connections between things you already know.

11.Insure that you are sleeping enough, eating well, and getting regular exercise. Your mind will be more alert,and you will be less likely to fall asleep or daydream.

Time Management Tips

“Lost time is never found again.”
Benjamin Franklin

Time is the biggest asset for us and we should utilize it effectively and productively. These are just some simple ideas that can save your time and help you work more effectively.

1. Utilize “productive procrastination”
Procrastination doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing if you use it to delay working on low priority tasks that may not need to be done at all. Wait until a task becomes important enough to deserve your time before you work on it.

2. Ask questions
Asking questions can be an effective tool to help keep you on track. Whenever you are unsure of what to do next, just ask yourself “What is the most valuable use of my time right now?”

3. Apply the 80/20 rule
The 80/20 rule states that 20% of your tasks account for 80% of the value in your to-do list. Some tasks have a much greater return on your investment of time and energy than others. Use prioritization to identify and focus your time on these high payoff tasks.

4. Avoid attempting to do too much
While it is good to balance important long-term projects with urgent tasks, you can take this too far. If you spread your time and energy over too many different projects, you may not be able to make meaningful progress on any of them. Good time management often requires that you focus your time on a smaller set of objectives.

5. Use your energy cycles
We all have times in our day when we feel productive and other times when we feel sluggish. Use these highs and lows to your advantage. Get complex and mentally challenging tasks done during your energy highs. During the lows, take care of low priority, routine, or non-challenging tasks.

Life Skills!!!!!

Self-awareness is useful to us throughout our lives and the ability to self-reflect is particularly useful in an educational environment.

In simple terms self-awareness is about trying to understand who we really are and why we do the things we do, in the way that we do them. By becoming a bit more self-aware we can gain a greater degree of control over how we are operating in the present, instead of reacting to something conditioned by our past.
Much of the learning we undertake these days encourages us to look at our responses to the work we do, reflect upon them, and then develop our ideas further.

By understanding ourselves better we can:

•gain more control
•be more flexible and confident in our approach
•help ourselves deal with challenges in a more positive and less anxious way
•interact better, communicate more effectively, and understand our relationships with others more fully
•make better decisions
•reduce our stress levels
•get more out of life

Some steps to gaining self-awareness

•Talk to friends and other people whose opinions we value.
•Make a list of our strengths and weaknesses: knowing more about ourselves including our weaknesses can often allow us to turn them into strengths. Listing our strengths can help us feel good about ourselves!
•Start recognizing different ‘parts of yourself’: we are made up of many different feelings, thoughts and behaviors depending upon the situation; it can be helpful to think, beforehand, about the way we might respond to a given situation. Also it can be valuable to reflect, or think about our responses
• It can be useful if we can put ourselves in another person’s shoes and try to look at what is happening from their point of view. This can help us try to understand how the other person might be viewing something, and help us when we communicate with them.
• Think about body language and those other subtle messages we send and pick up. If we are with someone, what are we communicating by the way we are: do we try too hard; are we a bit diffident or uninterested; or do we appear confident and comfortable?

Top Ten Stress Relievers for Students!!!!!!

Most students experience significant amounts of stress, but with all of the activities and responsibilities that fill a student’s schedule, it’s sometimes difficult to find the time to try new stress relievers to help dissipate that stress. That’s why we’ve compiled the following list of stress relievers that are most appropriate for students: relatively easy, quick, and relevant to a student’s life and types of stress. They’ll help you to function at your best, and enjoy the journey.

1. Power Naps
Students, with their packed schedules, are notorious for missing sleep. Unfortunately, operating in a sleep-deprived state puts you at a distinct disadvantage. You’re less productive, you may find it more difficult to learn, and you may even be a hazard behind the wheel!

2. Visualizations
This one is easy, effective, and can help you to do better in school. Visualizations can help you calm down, detach from what’s stressing you, and turn off your body’s stress response. You can also use visualizations to prepare for presentations, to stress less and score higher on tests by vividly seeing yourself performing just as you’d like to.

3. Exercise
One of the healthiest ways to blow off steam is to get a regular exercise program going. Students can work exercise easily into their schedules by doing yoga in the morning, walking or biking to campus, or reviewing for tests with a friend while walking on a treadmill at the gym. Starting now and keeping a regular exercise practice throughout your lifetime can help you live longer and enjoy your life more.

4. Breathing Exercise
When your body is experiencing a stress response, you’re often not thinking as clearly as you could be. A quick way to calm down is to practice breathing exercises. These can be done virtually anywhere to relieve stress in minutes, and are especially effective for reducing anxiety before or even during tests, as well as during other times when stress feels overwhelming.

5. PMR
Another great stress reliever that can be used during tests as well as before bed (to prepare for sleep), or at other times when stress has you physically ‘wound up’, is something called Progressive Muscle Relaxation, or PMR. This technique involves tensing and relaxing all muscles until the body is completely relaxed. With practice, you can learn to release stress from your body in seconds.

6. Music
A convenient stress reliever that has also shown many cognitive benefits, music can help you to relieve stress and either calm yourself down or stimulate your mind as your situation warrants. Students can harness the benefits of music by playing classical music while studying, playing upbeat music to ‘wake up’ mentally, or relaxing with the help of their favorite slow melodies.

7. Staying Organized
It’s a fact that clutter causes stress, and can decrease productivity and even cost you money! Many students live in a cluttered place and even have cluttered study areas, and this can have negative effects on grades. One way to reduce the amount of stress that you experience as a student is to keep a minimalist, soothing study area that’s free of distractions and clutter. It’s worth the effort!

8. Eat Right
You may not realize it, but your diet can either boost your brain power or sap you of mental energy! While a healthy diet isn’t generally thought of as a stress management technique or a study aid, it can actually function as both! Read more on the consequences of a poor diet, and learn how to relieve stress with a healthy diet. It takes virtually no extra time, and can keep you from experiencing diet-related mood swings, light-headedness and more.

9. Self Hypnosis
Students often find themselves ‘getting very sleepy’ (like when they pull all-nighters), but—all kidding aside—self hypnosis can be an effective stress management tool and a power productivity tool as well. With it, you can help yourself release tension from your body and stress from your mind, and plant the seeds of success in your subconscious mind with the power of autosuggestion.

10. Positive Thinking and Affirmations
Did you know that optimists actually experience better circumstances, in part, because their way of thinking helps to create better circumstances in their lives? It’s true! The habit of optimism and positive thinking can bring better health, better relationships, and, yes, better grades. Learn how to train your brain for more positive self talk and a brighter future with affirmations and other tools for optimism.

Source-Internet

HOW TO CRACK COMPETITIVE EXAMS???

Fortunately or unfortunately, competitive exams have become a strict norm for selection to various professional courses in our country. The need to win or succeed in competitive exams is a must to have a successful career in developing countries like India. The competition is intense for exams. In such a scenario, everyone wants to succeed.

Some crack these competitive exams with ease and confidence. But to many success is not guaranteed even after repeated attempts attended with hard preparation. This indicates more emphasis towards the mindset besides hard work required. We also need a proper approach and strategy for the preparation.

Keeping this background in mind, let us explore how one can succeed in these competitive exams:-

1) Definite decision to target or achieve the goal:-
As a foremost thing, set up a desired score (say-99%) or the order of rank (say within-1st to 10th rank) you wish to achieve in the competitive exam. This step brings a clear clarity of what marks or score you need to achieve in the exam.

2) Definite plan to make up the target:-
Once the target is set, assess how much of target or score you can make up by your present or current standards. This can be affirmed by solving a previous exams paper of i.e. past papers within the stipulated time. Once you solve them, evaluate the answers yourself honestly by referring to previous answers i.e. key released after previous exam.

Having known your standards, know the syllabus you need to cover in entirety for the competitive exams. Fix up a time to cover the syllabus and maximum possible number of times to revise the covered syllabus.

3) Amendment of plan to achieve target:-
One should cover the subjects keeping syllabus in to consideration. Some chapter may appear tough and time taking to process, then you cover it as briefly as possible and go to next. The briefly covered chapters become easy for your minds to process next time.

4) Revise and Revise:-
Once syllabus is covered go for revision as many times as possible with constant evaluation of your standard by solving previous question papers after each revision.

Have A Right Mindset!!!
Happy Preparing!!!

Be a Flexible Reader!!!

To become a flexible reader, you need to know how to select and use a reading style that is consistent with your purpose for reading. There are three important reading styles you should learn to use. Each has its own purpose. Knowing when and how to use these three reading styles will make you a flexible reader. Read to learn about the three reading styles used by flexible readers.

Study Reading is the reading style used by flexible readers when their purpose is to read difficult material at a high level of comprehension. When using the Study Reading style, you should read at a rate that is slower than your normal reading rate. Further, as you read you must challenge yourself to understand the material. Study Reading will often require you to read material more than once to achieve a high level of comprehension. Sometimes, reading the material aloud will also help you improve your comprehension.

Skimming is the reading style used by flexible readers when their purpose is to quickly obtain a general idea about the reading material. The Skimming style is most useful when you have to read a large amount of material in a short amount of time. When using the Skimming style, you should identify the main ideas in each paragraph and ignore the details in supportive sentences. Because you are only looking for the main idea in each paragraph you read, a lower level of comprehension is to be expected than when using the Study Reading style.

Scanning is the reading style used by flexible readers when their purpose is to quickly locate a specific piece of information within reading material. The piece of information to be located may be contained in a list of names, words, numbers, short statements, and sometimes even in a paragraph. Since you know exactly what you are looking for, move your eyes quickly over the reading material until you locate the specific piece of information you need to find.

Before you begin your next reading assignment, identify your purpose for reading. Decide if you are reading for a high level of comprehension, trying to get a general idea about what you are reading, or looking for specific information. Then use the reading style that is appropriate for your reading purpose.

Power Studying Tips for College Students

The following tips have proven to be extremely powerful guides for organizing, thinking, studying, and learning in college. They represent the best advice of successful college students. The can also work for high school students.


Study Space

Tip: Your study space should be as quiet and comfortable as possible. Avoid studying in noisy places such as cafeterias, recreation rooms, or lounges.
Tip: When studying, keep a waste basket handy.
Tip: Have a consistent place for everything, and above all, keep it there!
Tip: Have everything needed for study handy beforehand. Don't waste valuable time looking for books, notes, of other information. After you have assembled the items you need, put them where you can reach them easily.


Study Habits

Tip: Begin study no less than 30-90 minutes after a meal.
Tip: Never study within 30 minutes of going to sleep.
Tip: Prioritize! Make a list of what you intend to study, prioritize the list, and stick to it!
Tip: If possible, study no more than 30-40 minutes at a stretch. Many students retain more by studying for short periods with breaks in between. It all depends on what you're trying to study, but generally, after a period of study, take a break.
Tip: Take study breaks away from your desk or wherever you are studying. Let the break be a time to think about other things. Use some break time to reflect, not constantly review what you have just studied.

The Classroom

Tip: Distractions in the classroom are deadly. To help avoid distractions, sit near the front of the class. You're less likely to miss something important, and there are far less distractions at the front than any other location.
Tip: Think! Thinking is one of the most important things you can do in class. If you just sit there passively, and not think, class can be deadly. Think about what the teacher is saying BEFORE writing down anything. Writing down each word is a WASTE OF TIME. Reorganize in your mind what the teacher says, and then write it down. This way you will be connecting the teacher's words with HOW you think. If you do this, your notes will make a lot more sense later on.
Tip: Pay attention to the course outline or syllabus. Generally, important points and materials are referenced here and repeated. Don't be afraid to ask the teacher if there is something you don't understand. Most teachers will be glad to clarify for you.

Preparing for Class

Tip: Efficient students do not underline! Underlining is not a productive way to emphasize textbook material. It's best to use a highlighter.
Tip: Read the table of contents of your texts carefully. If the textbooks have chapter summaries, read them first! If you don't understand the material from the summaries, go back and highlight. Take notes on what you have highlighted and review your notes. Tip: Break study material into short segments of length dependent on its difficulty. Remember, concise notes are more powerful than copious notes. Think about the material! Then take notes on what you don't know or are not sure of.


Test Taking

Tip: For essay examinations, try the "memory dump" technique. If permitted, write down everything you've memorized - facts, names, dates, ideas, events, and so on BEFORE you do anything else. Sometimes reading through the essay questions can distract you from what you've studied. The "memory dump" technique requires that you write down everything possible BEFORE you begin writing essay answers. This way, you are less likely to forget something important.

A Final Word

The study skills presented here depend on one thing, and that is your willingness to WANT to improve and do well in school. If you really don't want to make the effort and sacrifice, no amount of suggestions, ideas, or outlines can help much. You are the one who is responsible for your education, and effective study skills can help you. To that end, one last word of advice -- work smart, not hard.

6 Great Ways to Start Your Day!!!

The way you spend your morning can add a certain flavor to the rest of your day. Here are some healthy lifestyle habits to incorporate into your morning routine that can leave you better able to handle the stress you experience. Try one or several, and experiment until you find what suits you.

Put On Some Music: -

Music therapy has been shown to reduce stress and have a positive effect on health. But you don't need a therapist to enjoy some of the benefits music has to offer. Listening to music as you get ready and start your day will create positive energy and a soothing sense of peace (or a sense of fun, if you play party music). Music can compliment other healthy lifestyle habits, adding a sense of peace to a yoga workout, putting a spring in your step on a morning walk, or stimulating your mind as you write in your journal.

Stretch in the Shower: -

The hot water will loosen up your muscles, so it’s easier to get a good stretch. The act of stretching will help to release stored tension and enable you to start the day feeling more relaxed, at peace, and ready to handle what comes your way.
Eat a Balanced Breakfast: -

For those of you who start the day on a bagel and coffee, read this! Breakfast is known as ‘the most important meal of the day’ for a very good reason: a healthy meal in the morning can balance your blood sugar levels and give you the sustenance you need to handle physical and mental stress. Without it, you will be less resilient, both physically and mentally. Be sure to have plenty of protein and fruit, not just caffeine and empty calories!

Drink Green Tea: -

Sipping a warm cup of tea is a soothing activity that will help you prepare for the day ahead and feel nurtured. Green tea is loaded with antioxidants, so it’s a delicious and healthy lifestyle choice.

Write in Your Journal: -

Journaling has many health and stress management benefits, and can also lead to increased self-awareness. Writing once a day can help you feel focused, process negative emotions, and solve problems.

Morning Walk: -

Walking has so many health benefits, the stress management benefits are practically just gravy! A morning walk can get you ready for your day, help you sleep better at night, lower your stress level, and reduce your risk of numerous health conditions. And if you bring a dog with you, you’ll be lavished with attention as well!

Yoga: -

For a healthy body and peaceful mind, few activities give as much ‘bang for your buck’ as yoga. Combining all the goodness of several stress management techniques, such as diaphragm breathing, meditation, stretching and more, yoga provides some of the best stress management and health benefits you can find in a single technique. A good way to start your morning is by doing a series of yoga poses called Sun Salutations.

Source- Internet

Plan Your Career Now!!!!!!!!

Before you set goals for your career sit with a paper and a pencil and do the SWOT analysis of your own self. Ask yourself the below mentioned questions because that will help you to find the right path to achieve success and will drive you straight towards success.


Strengths

What are the positive aspects of me and my present position?

• What qualifications have I got?
• What specialist knowledge have I got?
• What skills do I possess?
• What resources do I have?
• What are the strong points of my character and personality?
• Have I any strong, specific interests or beliefs, at work or outside?
• What are the sources of my motivation and drive?
• Under what circumstances have I felt happiest and most fulfilled?
• Under what circumstances have I made the most valuable contribution?
• What kind of work have I done, and for how long?
• Do I have any other strength that I have not listed?

Opportunities

What aspects of the present or foreseeable future situation could I use to my advantage?

• What all entrance exams of my interest area are there?
• Which all colleges I can apply for?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of different colleges who provide courses in my interest area?
• Are there any opportunities for career counseling?
• Are any prizes, scholarships or bursaries available?
• Are there sponsorship opportunities?
• Are there inventions or ideas or new ways for preparing that I could put to use?


Weaknesses

What are the negative aspects of mine and my present position?

• What limits me?
• Are there important gaps in my qualification, experience or knowledge?
• Have I financial difficulties or pressures?
• What are the weak points of my character and personality?
• In so far as I have done less well than I would have liked, what has held me back?
• Under what circumstances have I felt most frustrated and unhappy?
• Am I vulnerable in any way; financially, legally, physically etc?
• Have I any other limitations that I have not listed?

Threats

What aspects of the present or foreseeable future may operate to my disadvantage?

• Potential financial problems.
• Rivalry or opposition from others.
• Physical deterioration of property or assets.
• Forthcoming eligibility or other rules & regulations.
• Unfavorable changes in national or local economic conditions.
• Inflation.
• Obsolescence of my skills or knowledge.

Building Vocabulary: Use Context Clues to Learn Word Meaning

In order to build your vocabulary, you can use context clues so that you can comprehend with the new words. There are six types of context clues which help the students to understand the meanings of words. An example is provided for each.

1. Definition context clue

One can include a definition to reader understand the meaning of a word. In the following example, "tainted" is defined as having a disease.
The people of the town were warned not to eat the tainted fish. The local newspaper published a bulletin in which readers were clearly told that eating fish that had a disease could be very dangerous. This was especially true for fish caught in Lake Jean.

2. Synonym context clue

One can include a synonym to comprehend the meaning of a word. A synonym is a word that means the same as or nearly the same as another word. In the following example, the synonym "pity" helps the reader understand the meaning of "compassion."
After seeing the picture of the starving children, we all felt compassion or pity for their suffering.

3. Antonym context clue

One can also include an antonym to understand the meaning of a word. An antonym is a word that means the opposite of another word. In the following example, the antonym "eager" helps the reader understand the meaning of "reluctant."
Joe was reluctant to take on the position of captain of the basketball team. He was afraid that the time it would take would hurt his grades. On the other hand, Billy was eager for the chance to be captain. He thought that being captain of the team would make him very popular in school.

4. Description context clue

One can include one or more descriptions in order to remember the meaning of a word. In the following example, descriptions of President Kennedy as having charm, enthusiasm, and a magnetic personality help the reader understand the meaning of "charismatic."

John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th president, improved human rights and equal rights for all people. He was a very charismatic president. People were attracted to his charm and enthusiasm. His personality was described as magnetic.

5. Summary context clue

Teachers and students can make a number of statements that help the students to understand the meaning of a word. In the following example, statements about being rude, showing no respect, having poor manners, and being impolite help the reader understand the meaning of "impertinent."
Andrea was a very impertinent young lady. She was so rude that she talked while her teacher was explaining a lesson. She showed no respect for other students. Her manners were very poor. Even her parents thought that Andrea was impolite.

6. Visual context clue

One can include a picture, drawing, chart, graph, or other type of visual to understand the meaning of a word. For example, the picture of a joyful girl and its caption that is close to the sentence helps the reader understand that "exultant" means great joy.

Using the context clues you can learn the meaning of many new words.

Join Vidyalankar for CAT-CET classes and get FLASH CARDS and DICTIONARY free to enhance your vocabulary!!!

Facing Problem with Reading Comprehension???

Solution- The REDW Strategy for Finding Main Ideas

REDW is a high-quality strategy to find the main idea in each paragraph of a reading assignment. This strategy will help you to comprehend the information contained in your assignment. Each of the letters in REDW stands for a step in the strategy.

Read

Read the entire paragraph to get an idea of what the paragraph is about. You may find it helpful to whisper the words as you read or to form a picture in your mind of what you are reading. Once you have a general idea of what the paragraph is about, go on to the next step.

Examine

Examine each sentence in the paragraph to identify the important words that tell what the sentence is about. Ignore the words that are not needed to tell what the sentence is about. If you are allowed to, draw a line through the words to be ignored. For each sentence, write on a sheet of paper the words that tell what the sentence is about.

Decide

Reread the words you wrote for each sentence in the paragraph. Decide which sentence contains the words you wrote that best describe the main idea of the paragraph. These words are the main idea of the paragraph. The sentence that contains these words is the topic sentence. The other words you wrote are the supporting details for the main idea.

Write

Write the main idea for each paragraph in your notebook. This will provide you with a written record of the most important ideas you learned. This written record will be helpful if you have to take a test that covers the reading assignment.

Use REDW to help you understand the information in your reading assignments.


Source-Internet

Important Tips to Crack Any Competitive Exam:

* If you have enough time for the exam, pick a chapter you are weak in and one that is important from the exam standpoint.

* Or if you do not have enough time, pick a chapter that you are comfortable, have not practiced enough and that is an important chapter.

* Any day give priority to important chapters if you have not revised them or not practiced enough questions on them.

* If exams are just approaching, leave out any new chapters because it will create a lot of stress and anyway you cannot master it enough for the exam.

* Keep in mind important milestones coming up, like mock tests or school exams, festivals or family functions.

CAT 2011 Exam Pattern!

Change in the duration of the test from Check in Procedure till the end of the examination in new CAT 2011:-
The Check in procedure has been reduced to one and a half hour from Two hours. You will have 15 minutes of tutorial before the start of the exam. So, the complete duration of the exam will be now 2 hrs and 35 minutes including 15 minutes of tutorial.

Key Change in the Test Pattern of CAT, 2011:-

The major change in the Test pattern of CAT, 2011 is that now there will be only TWO Sections rather than Three. The two sections will comprise of:

Section 1:- Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation.

Section 2:- Verbal Ability & Logical Reasoning.


Time Limit for Each Section in CAT, 2011 is now 70 minutes: - Another key change in the pattern of CAT 2011 is the sectional time limit which is 70 minutes for each section and both the section will have 30 questions each. The first section is Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation section followed by Verbal Ability & Logical Reasoning.

There will be no option to end the first section of the test before the full duration of 70 minutes is up. While in the second section, if you are ready to end your test even if there is still time remaining, you can click on ‘Quit Test’ at the bottom of the screen. If there are incomplete questions, you will be prompted by a pop-up box. If you wish to end the test click ‘YES’ or ‘NO’ in order to complete the unanswered questions. Also, once you are over with 70 minutes you will be automatically moved to your next section. You can not come back to the previous section.

Practice papers on new exam pattern with Vidyalankar CAT-2011, Online Test Series @ Rs.1500/ only.

Common Personal Appearance Test of IIMS!!!

The 6 new IIMs coordinating the PA process 2012, viz., Kashipur, Raipur, Ranchi, Rohtak, Trichy and Udaipur, are together likely to call candidates for the PA process about 8-10 times their total number of seats, which is expected to be 670. However, in case any of the 6 older IIMs (Calcutta, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Lucknow, Kozhikode, Indore) are willing to share their PA scores with the 6 new IIMs, wherever IIM Rohtak’s (and other 5 new IIMs’) shortlist is common with the sharing older IIMs, the common candidates will not be required to appear for the PA process separately with IIM Rohtak (and 5 other new IIMs). The common candidates will be intimated, in due course of time, on the names of older IIMs sharing PA scores with IIM Rohtak (and 5 other new IIMs)

Source:-http://www.iimrohtak.ac.in/

EXAM PREPARATION STRATEGY!!!

Know your strength and weaknesses: - First and foremost important thing one needs to analyse his/her strength and weaknesses before you start your preparation for any competitive exam. E.g. one needs to know the areas where he/she has a strong hold and the area where they need to put in more efforts in order to succeed.

Plan Your Preparation: - It is rightly said that “It pays to plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark.” So, one needs to pay due attention towards planning when he/she wants to achieve goals of their lives. When you are preparing for any competitive exam it becomes all the more important to plan and climb the ladder of success. With Vidyalankar, we help you at each step to plan and succeed.


Practice Hard: - We all know that “Practice makes a man perfect”. So, practice hard to be a perfectionist in your area and achieve your goals. Merely, cramming of the chapters won’t take you anywhere it’s the logic and the knowledge which will help you to answer the questions based on applied knowledge in competitive exam.


Beyond Studies: - “All work and no play make Jack a dull boy”. So, along with the studies one should devote some time for the relaxation of their mind, body as well as the soul. This will help in improving concentration and focus to face intellectual challenges. A balanced and healthy diet is another factor one should keep in to consideration while preparing for entrance exams.

Source: - Sacheta Aneja

IITs to adopt CAT for MBA programmes!!!

The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have decided to adopt Common Admission Test (CAT) for their postgraduate management courses. The move will also ease pressure on aspirants, who are required to appear for an array of tests every year.

The six older IITs at Mumbai, Delhi, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Chennai and Roorkee have decided to scrap their own joint national management test (JMET) from next year. The six institutes run two-year, full-time postgraduate management programmes with an intake of about 600 students. The IIMs take in fewer than 3,000 students every year, but charge a substantially higher fee than the IITs.
“Yes, we have decided to do away with our test and will accept CAT (common admission test),” confirmed Deveng V. Khakhar, director at IIT Bombay, ending months of speculation. The IIT national test is almost similar to CAT, “so there is no point duplicating exams”, he said.
The move has come at a time when the Union government has suggested reducing the number of national-level entrance tests of similar nature to ease the stress on candidates, reports livemint.com

Besides CAT, other well-known entrance exams for management education are XAT by the XLRI School of Business and Human Resources, Jamshedpur, MAT (management aptitude test) run by the All India Management Association; NMAT conducted by the Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai; the Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad Admission Test; the Symbiosis National Aptitude Test and the Graduate Management Admission Test.

CAT 2011 starts on 22 October and ends on 18 November.

Change in Admission Policy of IIMS!!!

All Six new IIMS and IIM Lucknow and Khozikode in order to ensure gender diversity and subject diversity have decided to assign grace scores to female candidates and non-engineers. So, while IIM-Rohtak will give 20 marks to each girl and 20 to a non-engineer, IIM Raipur will add 30 marks to the overall scores of each girl-non-engineer. IIM Lucknow has decided to grant five marks to each girl and two to non-engineers.

Hence, apart from the CAT scores, academic performance in class X and at graduation level, work experience marks will be awarded for two diversity factors i.e. gender and academics.

The new IIMs have also decided to replace Group Discussions with a Written Ability Test.

IIT JEE 2011 Question Papers and Solutions

IIT JEE 2011 Question Papers and Solutions are available on our website. IIT JEE 2011 Question Papers and Solutions