I am Ayush Mishra, and this is my first attempt at the CAT exam. I scored 98.37 overall and 99.98 in the Quantitative Aptitude (QA) section. I'd like to share some tips and tricks, especially if you're aiming to improve your CAT 2024 Quantitative Aptitude score from 90 to 99.xx.
Overview of the QA Section
This year, the QA section was the toughest ever in CAT history, making it a make-or-break section for many candidates. Here’s a detailed breakdown of my personalized exam strategy that helped me ace the QA section:
| Section |
Total
|
||
| Quantitative Aptitude | |||
| Scaled Score | Percentile | Overall Scaled Score | Overall Percentile |
| 41.87 | 99.98 | 70.13 | 98.37 |
My Personalized Exam Strategy
1) The 8-6-8 Strategy
Since the question order is random, you cannot predict when you will encounter easy questions. One of the biggest mistakes candidates make is not reviewing every question. However, looking at all the questions at once can be intimidating, especially if the paper is tough.
My strategy involves distributing the time into three sets of 10 minutes each, plus an additional 10 minutes at the end. Here’s how it works:
- First 10 minutes: Spend up to 2 minutes reviewing the first 8 questions. During this time, write three columns on a piece of paper labeled Easy, Maybe, and Hard. Categorize each question accordingly. Aim to solve at least 4 questions from this set.
- Next two sets of 10 minutes each: Repeat the above process for the next two sets of 8 questions each.
- Last 10 minutes: Focus on completing any pending questions from the Maybe category. Only attempt Hard questions if you have time remaining.
Disclaimer: This approach requires practicing at least 10 mock tests before you see significant improvement. Initially, time management may be challenging, but this method helped me move from scoring in the 30s to consistently achieving 40s and sometimes 50s in mock tests.
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2) When to Give Up on a Question
A major hurdle is getting stuck midway through a question or not finding the correct option. If you follow the above approach, you know you are time-bound to ten minutes per set. Here’s my take:
- Quickly review your solution to check for calculation errors.
- If you can't find the error, mark the question for review.
- If you don't identify the error on the first review, it’s rare to find it later. It's best to leave that question for the last ten minutes.
3) Shortcuts
To achieve a 99.9+ in QA, knowing a few tricks and tweaks is essential. While coaching classes teach some shortcuts, you should also watch YouTube videos and create your tricks. Some useful techniques include:
- Option elimination of extremes
- Rounding off
- Substituting 1 or 0 in algebra
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4) Reading Questions Efficiently
Consider the following question:
"Rahul, Rakshita, and Gurmeet working together, would have taken more than 7 days to finish a job. On the other hand, Rahul and Gurmeet, working together, would have taken less than 15 days to finish the job. However, they all worked together for 6 days, followed by Rakshita, who worked alone for 3 more days to finish the job. If Rakshita had worked alone on the job, the number of days she would have taken to finish the job cannot be:"
Reading this question at a normal pace may waste time. Focus on the quantities and the final requirement. Initially, this may cause errors, but once you get the hang of it, you will save a lot of time.
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5) Plan B
There might be situations where your mind goes blank due to pressure from other sections or nervousness. You can't always control this, but here’s what you can do:
- Take a one-minute break, drink water, and decide to restart.
- Abandon all plans and specifically look for easy questions.
- If you find a flow, you may stick to your original plan. Otherwise, target 8-10 questions to ensure you clear the section. This happened to a few of my friends, and this approach helped them manage their time better.
That’s it from my side! I hope you learned something from this article. Do comment if you want more articles on how to target specific sections of Quant. Best of luck for CAT 2024!
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