Best Books For CAT Preparation

                Best Books for CAT Preparation

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:

1.       Word Power Made Easy– Norman Lewis (Published by Goyal Saab Publishers)

2.       All About Words – An Adult Approach ToVocabulary Building --- Nurnberg, Rosenblum

3.       High School Grammar and Composition ---- By Wren and Martin

4.       Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary – Edited by A B Cowie, Published by Oxford University Press (Latest edition)

                                               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

All these books should be used before you get hold of other books for CAT preparation.


Besides this you can create a Free Guest account @ http://mba.hitbullseye.com/CAT-Mock-test-Papers

Here you will get 22 Mock test for CAT and online study material for CAT 2014 Preparation.
You can also check your all India rank in CAT Test Series.