How To Prepare For Different Sections Of CAT - Abhinav Sahni

·        Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (32 questions)

·        Quantitative Ability (34 questions

The majority of the questions are multiple-choice, with four answer choices.

However, a couple of questions are non-multiple-choice: students will type within the answer, usually numeric.

Let us now go section by section analysis and ways to improve your accuracy with the right preparation.

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Verbal and Reading Comprehension

Now the big question has always been whether to read the passage first and then go the questions or read the questions first and then go to the passage. The problem with reading the whole passage first is that it's an excellent strategy for those that are exceptionally good and cozy with reading long texts. What does being exceptionally good and comfortable mean?

1. The ability to read through the whole passage without losing concentration and the thread of the passage

2. The ability to answer the primary purpose, the central idea or other summary questions (questions that test your understanding of the passage as a whole) without going back to the passage

3. The ability to remember the exact part of the passage to go back to find the answer to a specific question

With most Indian test-takers the primary ability itself is suspect. While they might start with the best of intentions, by the time they reach of the middle of the passage they

* start losing interest

* start sneaking a peek at the questions

* somehow manage to reach the end or

* start going back and forth between the questions and the passage

My Recommendation: What I would recommend to most test-takers is Paragraph to Question Approach. This is how it works –

1. Read one paragraph, check if there is any question related to it. If there's then solve it immediately — this may increase your accuracy on specific questions since you'll have just read the precise a part of the passage.

2. If there is no question related to it then go-ahead to the next paragraph and repeat the exercise.

3. Solve all Summary Questions at the end

4. If the paragraphs are short in length, say 4 lines or fewer, you can read two at a time and then go to the questions

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Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning

 

In this section, generally, you will get 8 data sets with 4 questions each to solve. The key in this section is to choose the right set and solve it in the minimal time possible.

Take 8-10 minutes in the starting and go through all the sets and choose the first 3 sets which look the easiest and start solving them. Remember, well begun is half done!

An unwisely chosen set can mean getting stuck for 20 minutes and wasting another 18 months of your life at another CAT attempt. The key is to look deeper when you look. It boils down to operating at higher levels of concentration. It is the difference between spending 30 seconds and viewing the surface of the question and spending 45 seconds and seeing through to the bottom of it.

Once you choose the right set, some questions might be tough and time-consuming. Here you have to do the simple questions first and move on to the next set. You can do the tough questions of that set in the end if time permits.

Now understand which set is tough or easy. When test-takers say they are finding a DI or LR a set tough, what they mean is that they are not seeing the following in the sets they encounter:

• closed DI sets around pie-charts, graphs, tables
• LR sets around arrangements with simple plugin conditions

What stumps most people, is sets that are NOT direct calculation and NOT direct arrangement. These sets are usually, Open Sets, which we defined in the previous post, that blur the line between DI and LR and require you to be able to venture into territory beyond what is typical DI and LR — numerical & algebraic reasoning.

Once you have changed your outlook and are willing to explore these non-standard lines of reasoning and explore the use of algebra you will take your DI-LR skills to the next level.

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Quantitative Ability

Each of the topics on CAT QA may be a different ballgame altogether and one can’t club it all under an enormous Math umbrella. This in itself indicates how each topic on Math finishes up testing a special quite mental skill set, making the QA section almost like a Heptathlon or Decathlon, which requires you to be good at 8 and 10 different events.

It goes without saying that to succeed at such an occasion you would like to be above average altogether events and great at a couple of , success on the CAT requires something very similar — you would like to understand the fundamentals of all the topics and be competent enough to unravel Easy and Medium questions from all of them.

To ace this section, you should revise your basics and get a strong hold on it. Once the fundamentals are in situ, the three building blocks to urge better at CAT QA are Accuracy, Selection & Speed. Irrespective of the how many concepts you know, if you have an error rate of 35% then you are always going to be performing below par.

What should you focus attempts or accuracy?

Obviously, accuracy since you'll always look to squeeze the utmost out of each dollar invested.

What do you think is easier to achieve?

• an increase in attempts from 20 to 30 or
• an increase in accuracy from 55% to 85% The table below will give you more than enough reasons to focus on accuracy than attempts.

The table below will give you more than enough reasons to focus on accuracy than attempts.