Ancilla wrote:My tutor and I have been focusing on specific areas to boost my practice CAT scores since they were weak areas (example: D/S, CR, SC). I would do more work and really learn aspects of that topic which means it takes time away from other areas that also need maintenance. I get frustrated because once I start seeing improvement in one area, another area suffers as a result of that.
Is this part of the process? I just want to know what it should "feel" like. Is it a continuous process of 'rinse and repeat' until it all comes together in cohesive unit? I would love to hear from people who have been in this situation and managed to work their way out of it.
First thing, watch out for that word and concept
frustrated. As far as I can tell it's pretty much useless. Success is about pressing on, figuring out how to succeed. Being frustrated has no part in that.
Everyone's situation is somewhat like yours in that we all have areas on which it makes sense to focus, and yes, that can mean temporarily losing a little of what one has gained in other areas.
Over time this gets solved as one gets skilled in all areas, and yes there is a certain cohesiveness to the test which figures in.
Another thing that happens is this. The first time you learn something you might get it just enough to solve a few problems, and then later you might not even remember what you did, but you are still familiar with what you learned. Then when you revisit that topic, you base what you are learning on that familiarity and take your skill and understanding to another level, and this time around you are more likely to retain what you have gained.
One thing I do wonder about is this. Are you really understanding what you are doing? or are you more memorizing formulas or strategies? Here's why. If you are mostly memorizing, I can see why you would relatively quickly lose skills that you had developed. All that stuff can be a lot to carry around. On the other hand, if you are really getting things conceptually and rather than mostly memorizing you are developing analytical skills and gaining real understanding of the logic of mathematical and language related concepts, then likely you will better retain the skills you have developed and the understanding you have gained.
For the most part this is a test of things like application of logic and of ability to use available resources to solve problems, so beyond a few idioms, some grammar rules, and some math basics, there really is not that much to memorize.
So there's another angle to consider.
Anyway, overall the answer is yes. Over time one goes from being a newbie to getting quite comfortable with the test and skilled in handling its various aspects.
One final thought is this. Isn't most of this obvious? What are you worried about? Maybe you wonder if you can rock this test? In case that is the case, I'll tell you right now that of course you can. In fact if you wanted to spend the time and energy to do so you could get to the point where you would get the highest possible score on each section, 6, 8, 800. Driving your score higher is just a matter of going at it and figuring out what to do to make it happen.
