Study material is the most important resource in your preparation. Some students can prepare without any support of a faculty, but NO student can prepare WITHOUT a good study material. This post talks about the pros and cons of the various QA related self-studying options available in the market.
The study material available in the market can be grouped into 3 types –
Study Material of national level coaching classes (like Career Launcher, IMS and TIME),
Books that can be bought from a book-store (like Arun Sharma, Nishit Sinha, Sarvesh Verma),
Assorted online sources – Youtube videos, Forums (like Pagalguy) or FaceBook Groups (like iQuanta), Online Courses (like 2IIM, HandaKaFunda, Oliveboard, Unacademy, etc)
These different sources rank differently on the different aspects of self-study – Learning concepts, Practicing questions, Clearing doubts, Test Series. The following is my OPINION about the various options ……
Books from a bookstore
These are the cheapest sources (approx. Rs. 500 for complete Quant). And what you get is also the least (in comparison to other sources). The theory that is explained is mostly just solved examples or procedures (do this and get your answer). There is very limited elucidation of concepts. They are like traditional printed text-books, that get referred to after attending a class where concepts are taught/explained. Thus, for someone depending on self-study, these are not a good option to depend on for learning concepts.
Also needless to say, these sources rank abysmally on clearing doubts or test series. Then what goes for these books? Apart from the cost, two books (Nishit Sinha and Sarvesh Verma) have a good number and quality of questions for you to practice. So if you are well versed with concepts and want questions to practice, then this is the most cost-effective option to practice questions.
Which book?
The most popular book here is Arun Sharma (Tata Mcgraw Hill), because this is the book that started the trend of CAT-prep books. Unfortunately, the book has hardly any explanation of theory, very poor solutions to the exercise questions and is very lop-sided in its question bank (i.e. covers a few varieties that is totally irrelevant for CAT and lacks other varieties), has unusually weird questions in LOD III category. My personal opinion is avoid it.
The other two books that are popular are Nishit Sinha (Pearson) and Sarvesh Verma (Arihant). These books have a good number of questions for practice and cover a pretty wide range. The level of difficulty rises pretty fast in Nishit Sinha and many questions are twisted and turned needlessly to make them difficult. Having difficult questions helps in increasing sales, but may not be so relevant to exams. My personal favourite is Sarvesh Verma which has a good coverage of relevant difficulty and also few challenging ones.
Study Material of National Level Coaching Classes
These material win hands down in terms of their coverage and volume. The study material comes only as a complete package i.e. QA, VA, DI & LR (which I don’t view as any drawback, finally you have to do well in all three sections of CAT). The study material has levels – Fundamentals, Practice, Test Series. So the study material will suffice in your entire preparation journey.
This study material is built by a organisation – a group of people, rather than an individual. The organisation also has more resources to analyse the tests and update content regularly. Hence it has the accumulated wisdom of many and the strength of an organisation. So I find it surprising when books from a book-store are preferred over this source. The probable reason would be that these material require more money (ranging from Rs. 10,000 to 18,000). But this price also includes the Test Series (itself about Rs. 2000 to Rs. 8000), which you would invariably have to purchase if you are studying from some book off the book-store.
These offering also include some sort of online doubt solving, but I have not experienced it to speak about its efficacy.
Which one is better?
Both, Career Launcher and IMS, are pretty much at par, very little differentiates the two. TIME got very popular due to its Test Series. However it study material is the worst of the three as far as explaining theory goes. The so called Basic Study Material is just a show – list of formulae types, no explanation of any sort is provided. Also the questions in this Basic Study Material are very basic in nature. And then suddenly the level of questions in Practice Tests or Test Series increases to a very high level. Nevertheless, their Test Series is the most popular among the three. While in recent years, TIME Test Series has taken a beating due to its unusually tough or easy papers and CL and IMS has caught on with it, TIME Test Series still remains the most popular one.
Assorted Online Sources
The biggest drawback of these sources is that none of these provide a comprehensive & structured study material to practice. They have their advantages, but not for the ones struggling in their self-study. These sources are best suited for either those who rank among the top 5% (in prior knowledge of Quant) or who have already already exhausted other sources last year.
YouTube videos are mostly free. But then you waste time in sifting through the numerous available videos, most of them being incomplete in their coverage. And then the videos can only help you learn the concepts. They do not have anything to offer for Practice or Test series.
Online learning platforms like Unacademy or Oliveboard are woefully inadequate for CAT, as of now.
Facebook Groups or Forums score very high for what they are – social networks. You can discuss doubts, share good questions, talk to someone if feeling demotivated, etc. But will the Forum or Group act as a substitute for study material. Absolutely no.
Thus, none of these assorted online sources can be a dependable source for your planned methodical preparation. Don’t get me wrong – I am a big fan of online learning. E.g. I love https://brilliant.org. But that is for my love of Math. And I can learn online, it is very unstructured learning. Not everyone can. So these resources can suffice, provided you are already excellent in your theoretical knowledge or are a great online learner and can discern good stuff from useless stuff.
What is best?
IF YOU HAVE NOT JOINED ANY CLASSES and are depending on self-study, I think you do need a good set of study material from any one of the national level coaching classes (CL, IMS, TIME). Do not chase ‘quantity’. Take any ONE set and chase the completion of it.
While going through the study material, make use of online resources very judiciously – YouTube videos for learning concepts (just follow any one channel, DON’T click Suggested Links and waste your time), and Facebook Group or Forums for clearing the doubts (ask your doubt and get offline, don’t dabble in unconcerned stuff, now is not the time). Remember online resources are a time-killer. Get offline quickly (if your practice material is online, then close all other browser windows and focus on the pencil work on the paper at hand).
Plan to complete entire study material, except Test Series, by July. Once all the topics are studied and practiced thoroughly, now look for alternate sources. Simultaneously start the Test Series.
If you prefer being online, then participate in FB Groups and Forums. Solve questions posted there. Become social with other worthwhile active members, share question sets and approaches, etc.
If you are not an online person, pick up Sarvesh Verma (or Nishit Sinha). Solve the questions of the books as a revision round.
All this while your Test Series is going on.
That’s it. You can also consider our paid course as an option for self-study. We are too modest to suggest it in such an article. Please can get in touch with us if you want to know more.
Hi Sir,
I am plannig to get the basic concepts cleared from your Fundabooks and then go to TIME material for practise. Just like you said in the article I did not find TIME material good in terms of providing Conceptual Clarity so I am planning to use Fundabooks for the same (already done with Arithmetics fundabook, Loved It).
Do you think this will work? I can get my hands on IMS study material if required with the help of some senior. Please Suggest Sir.
Waiting for your reply,
Your Student cum Fan
Dear Sir,
I want to join your online self study course. I just have one query. I have got books of Arun sharma all set and Sarvesh sharma for quant. If i join your course, will I need to have IMS or TIME notes also?
Sir why all the videos on your YouTube channel are private ?
Hello Sir, where can we get cat 2018 like Quant questions for practicing?
All standard study material talked in the article have CAT like questions.
I am not sure, I understand ‘CAT 2018 like Quant questions’, there was nothing special about CAT 18 questions.
sir can you tell us how to prepare for LR, since there is no proper syllabus, can you tell us how to learn and practice that section.
There is no syllabus, just keep attempting anything and everything that comes across the way.
No single source. Use last years mocks, aimcats, simcats. Will try to put a blog like this, as soon as I get time.
Chandra sir, i am really really inspired by your thoughts and teaching methods. I am always in seek for any kind of blogs if posted by you. I will be Really lucky, i can talk to you ever. 🙂 Thanks for the Quant section.
My pleasure. Thanks a lot.
sir can I get into 99 percentile if I go through the study material of takshzila and I am having the material of Ims too . sir am a bsc agriculture student from odisha preparing for cat 2019 . please sir help me . I really really want to get into fms delhi . I have started with arithmetic and I would complete this in d month of march only . then am thinking to do algebra n then geometry . n I would complete my syllabus till d end of june and start doing revision and mocks of sectional and full length . sir please guide me … am I in d right way ? please sir suggest ..
The material of any of CL, IMS, TIME (and even ours) is good and sufficient to get 99 %tile. If you have the complete material of IMS, then as suggested in the post, plan for thoroughly completing the material in hand, rather than getting more material.
If you need any help in understanding a topic, our videos are anyways free. And any any one set of material for practice is enough. So first finish the IMS material before thinking of another set of material.
You plan to finish Arithmetic, then Algebra, then Geometry and complete syllabus by June end is good enough. Make sure you also take care of other Sections. The key to 99 %tile lies executing the plan well enough, more than making the plan. All the best.
thank uh so much sir
sir how to prepare for VA and LR DI ? is it ohk if I prepare that from ims material only or what else I need to do .. plz suggest sir . sir I was never a reader before , I have started reading newspaper and some inspirational novels . sir what else can I do for verbal ability and I can not understand how to start LR DI . sir plz plz suggest ..
sir how to prepare for VA and LR DI ? is it ohk if I prepare that from ims material only or what else I need to do .. plz suggest sir . sir I was never a reader before , I have started reading newspaper and some inspirational novels . sir what else can I do for verbal ability and I can not understand how to start LR DI . sir plz plz suggest ..
Reply
For verbal start with:
https://www.takshzila.com/verbal-the-most-important-lesson/
https://www.takshzila.com/what-to-read/
https://www.takshzila.com/introductory-readings-on-various-topics/
I have watched every single video of Takshzila and now am well versed with the concepts, except few . I am trying and I think it will take some time because of being from Commerce background. So I am planning to buy Sarvesh+ sectional mocks+40 mocks. Would it be sufficient?
I haven’t purchased anything till now and learnt everything from Pdf books and Takshzila. I appeared for Cat last year and scored 55percentile. I had started in September with 40 mocks in hand but couldn’t perform well due to less analysis and lack of sectionals.
I want to know more about Takshzila sectionals. Like, how many questions are there in each topic and video solutions are provided or not.
Thank you.
2 points.
1. What about practicing while learning the theory? Once you have learnt a topic or sub-topic, please practice it immediately. So it is not a good idea to have watched all 600+ videos and then later pick a Sarvesh to practice. Learning theory and practicing what is learnt should happen simultaneously.
2. Sarvesh will take care of practicing Quant. What about Verbal, LR, DI? If your plan is that sectionals and mocks is where you will practice them, it is not a good idea. You should practice first and then attempt sectionals to evaluate your preparation.
For each course of ours, the number of questions for practice is mentioned in the course description, at https://takshzila.learnyst.com/
Our Test Series will not be very voluminous since we are just a couple of us and have a lot of work-load. There will be something on the lines of 8 sectionals for each section and 8 to 10 full length, starting from August.
I have religiously practiced Arun Sharma lod1 and 2 after watching Takshzila videos. I left algebra, logs, geometry, pnc, and all +2 class topics practice due to non-availability of good online source[Arun Sharma was too tough]. These topics really bother me and want to adopt the school methodology to practice. I understand whole logic in videos but when faced with +2 topic questions I get stumped.
For Lr now m practicing past mocks.
For Varc again past mocks are a good source.
My main concern is +2 maths. Because of +2 topics, I literally get paranoid. Sarvesh Verma would be fine? Or should I purchase a particular study material?