There are enough CAT preparation books available in India,
but none of them would be sufficient by itself to cater to all your test
requirements. Many CAT preparation books
are good in parts but probably we do not have a single, stand-alone book which
can be a one-stop guide. A major reason
for this apparent scarcity of books for CAT preparation is the CAT pattern,
which has undergone significant changes in the past 10 years. Prior to this,
the CAT exam used to be quite unstructured and unpredictable. The number of
test items, the weightage given to different areas and question pattern
differed from year to year. Thus it was
not possible for someone to write a reliable guide to
CAT preparation.
But ever since the test became online, an element of
structure and predictability has been introduced, much to the test-takers’
benefit as now, they know in advance about what they will face in the CAT exam.
Some of the best books for CAT in India are published by reputed publishers
like Pearson, Tata McGraw Hill and S. Chand.
Though bookshops are full of such books for CAT preparation, you need to
be careful while buying one of them. You may keep these points in mind while
buying books for CAT preparation:
1.
Buy a book published by a renowned publishing
house. Going in for cheap CAT preparation books published by relatively unknown
publishers are better avoided.
2.
Make sure that the books for CAT preparation you
intend to buy are up-to-date with the latest trends in testing. Preferably, try
to get hold of the latest edition of the
CAT preparation books.
3.
These days, most CAT preparation books are
accompanied by free CDs containing online practice tests. Please ensure that
the book is accompanied by such a CD otherwise your preparation is going to be
incomplete.
4.
The CAT preparation books you are buying should
have study chapters on different topics and tips for shortcuts.
Besides the
CAT preparation books you buy
to provide you an idea of the CAT mock test, we would recommend the following
classic base books to start your CAT preparation in case of verbal ability:
OR
Cambridge Advanced Learner’s
Dictionary (Latest edition)
Similarly, you may consult the following books for the Maths and
Reasoning parts of your CAT preparation:
1.
Puzzle Books ---- By Shakuntala Devi
2. Mathematics books for classes
6 to 10 – By NCERT (Review of basic concepts)
3. Practice
material for calculation work on
Tables (10-20)
Squares (upto 30) and
Cubes (15)
Conversion of decimal into fraction and vice-versa
Conversion
of fraction into percentage and vice-versa