Less than two months are left for CAT 2020, and the recent pattern change notification by IIM Indore has created a havoc in the mind of all aspirants. Many of my friends and juniors who are preparing for CAT this year called me the next day the notification was out, and the first question was, “Already I am not scoring good in the quant section. What next?”. Well, my reply was simple and informative. I shared my approach with them and what helped me
score a 99+ percentile in quant. Below are some suggestions you all can follow(engineers and non-engineers) and work on it for these two months.
- The pattern has changed for all—so no need to panic. Either the number of questions may go down, and the level of difficulty will remain the same, or the number of questions may remain the same, and the level of difficulty will go down.
- As many of you might be done with all the topics, so start solving Quant Sectional Test.
- Those who are still on the way to cover all the topics or have just started the preparation should start focusing on important concepts so that you get a fair chance to revise all the important topics before the D-day.
List of all the important quant topics, the respective number, and level of questions you can expect in CAT (if the total questions in the quant section are still 34)
| Concepts |
Questions Expected |
Level of Difficulty |
| Number System |
5-8 |
Moderate |
| Geometry( Includes Mensuration) |
6-7 |
Moderately Difficult |
| Algebra |
5-6 |
Moderate |
| Probability, P&C |
3-4 |
Moderate |
| TSD |
2-3 |
Difficult |
| P&L |
2-3 |
Moderately Easy |
| Time and Work |
2-3 |
Difficult |
| Trigonometry, Logarithms, and Surds |
1-3 |
Easy |
- Go through all the questions once and identify easy, moderate, and difficult questions. Spend at least 5-10 seconds on determining the level and start solving the problems in that format only. This will help you maximize your attempts.
- Don’t get stuck on any tricky or challenging question. If you think you can do the question, then do not entertain the problem for more than two minutes.
- Make a notebook for all the formulas you have encountered while learning the concept or solving the mock/sectional. This technique will help you solve formula-based questions and do not require more than 20 seconds. You can expect many questions of these types in the quant section.
- Try not to use calculators for basic calculations. Most of the options have a massive value difference among them. So, try to do rough estimates in mind, and you can mark the option that is closer to the rough calculation. This technique will at least save your 10-15 seconds in a question.
- Sometimes, the questions are lengthy but try to backtrack the problems. Start with eliminating options. Try applying the answer choices to the given problem. This technique will help you save time in complicated and lengthy questions.
- Even if you aren’t able to fully solve or stuck on the TITA type questions, then take a guess and fill that guessed answer.
If you follow all these suggestions by heart, then scoring 99+ percentile in the quant section will be a piece of cake for you. Many of you guys might be following all the above suggestions, and if you find helpful, please share it with your friends who are struggling in the quant section. These suggestions mentioned above will help them in boosting their score.
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