Every year amongst the many CAT topper stories, there are some stories of aspirants who stand out due to their exceptional performance against all odds! Such is the story of Ashish Yadav, an Instrumentation & Control Engineer from NSIT, Delhi who aced CAT 2021 with a 99.74%ile and also a perfect 100%ile in the LRDI section. His remarkable performance enabled him to convert IIM Calcutta despite his low past academics. The LRDI section of the CAT exam is generally considered the Achilles heel for many aspirants due to its difficulty and increasing unpredictability year on year. Read on to know Ashish’s strategy for acing the LRDI section.
My Strategy To Score A 100%ile In DI-LR
How I Built My Basics?
My CAT journey began in April 2020 when I enrolled in a year-long program at the T.I.M.E Institute for CAT 2021. Initially, I focussed on building concepts for all the sections. Specifically for LRDI, there are about 10–12 different topics in both DI and LR which are important from the perspective of the exam. These topics would be available in any material that you are referring to. You can approach the various topics in the following steps-
- Step 1 – Read some concepts from each topic from the material you are referring to.
- Step 2 – Solve 2–3 sets. Focus more on accuracy and understanding the logic behind the set. You might end up spending a lot of time initially but it will teach you how to approach such sets.
- Step 3 – Solve a couple of difficult sets on the same topic when you get comfortable with the topic. This way you’ll easily cover around 4–5 sets on each topic.
During this phase, you will know what are the topics you are more comfortable with, in LR and DI. Apart from this, I also played Kakuro and other mind games to get comfortable with abstract and logical thinking.
Over the past few years, the sets coming up in the LRDI section have been very unconventional and this makes the section unpredictable for the aspirants. To handle such sets it’s imperative to practise a wide variety of sets and develop logical acumen.
The easiest and the most reliable source for practising LRDI are the mocks and the past year's question papers. They are the best ones to put your learning to the test. Focus on the structure of the sets and try to pick hints from them to crack them open. Spend time on understanding the best approach to solve the set.
Other than the previous years’ papers, you can use the material you have and select sets randomly, or even solve sets available online for free! You can start with the free Mini Mock Tests by InsideIIM, to amp up your practice.
DI-LR In Mocks
Try to attempt as many sectional tests as possible. This is the most important aspect of preparation for LRDI. This helps in finalising a strategy for the section and also gives a fair idea of your strength areas.
I took 120 full-length mock tests and around 100 sectional tests for LRDI. The huge number of tests got me comfortable with the section.
How I Approached The LRDI Section In The Mocks?
- Step 1 – After you read a set, see if you can figure out where to start from. Spend a couple of minutes understanding the set to judge its difficulty level. Leave the set if you think it is difficult. While appearing for a mock, choosing a set is the most important thing.
It can be based on different parameters –
- Set familiarity and comfort
- Conditions given- Deductive/Direct
- Type of questions- Open-ended/Closed-ended
- Step 2 – Follow step 1 until you find a set that you can solve easily There are around 1–2 sets that are easily solvable and sometimes even more. Try attempting as many questions as possible. It is okay to solve only 2 out of 4 questions in a set. As choosing a set is important, choosing the questions is equally important. Don’t stick to a question thinking that you have spent time on the set and hence you must solve all four. Sometimes, the set has only 2 or 3 easy or solvable questions.
- Step 3 – Once you have solved the easy sets and you still have some time in hand, go back to the sets you couldn’t get in the first round. In such situations, solving individual calculation DI based questions helps in comparison to cracking an entire LR puzzle due to paucity of time.
How To Analyse The DILR Section?
After taking a mock, it is equally important to analyse a mock, note down your mistakes and fix them before the next mock. Specifically, in LRDI, pay attention to the hints the paper setter had dropped for you to crack the set. Read very carefully! Coaching institutes also give video solutions to the sets. It is advisable to go through them to know the mentor’s way of solving sets. There are certain tricks to make a table in order to control various variables while solving a set. It’s important to know how to make it and present your data. Note down the questions you should have attempted and the reason why you couldn’t do it in the exam scenario.
The secret to passing the CAT is to complete as many mock exams as possible. You'll be able to execute the above-mentioned techniques successfully with enough practice, and therefore improve your LRDI section.
Practice as much as possible and complete as many practice exams as possible. Remember that if you score highly in an area, say around the 99th percentile, it will help you raise your overall percentile. The same happened with me as the 100%ile in the LRDI section helped me compensate for the 86%ile in VARC and eventually score a whopping 99.74%ile overall!
My D-Day Experience
As mentioned earlier, my performance in the VARC section was not as per my expectations but as the section ended, I made sure to start the next section with a calm state of mind. I was in the first slot of CAT 2021. The number of questions and sets had reduced in the section and this came as a surprise to me. I couldn’t crack the first set and soon realized the difficulty level of the section. I decided not to waste any more time on the set and moved on to the next. Aspirants should not let their emotions and ego affect them during the paper. Leave a set if you are not able to see any ray of light from it! The next one turned out to be pretty doable and I cracked it in no time. This helped me regain my confidence and I went on solving three sets at a stretch. Finally, I decided to come back to the first set and cracked one question in it. It was then that I knew that all the practice had paid off!
Advice To CAT 2022 Aspirants
For LRDI, the only mantra, in my opinion, is practice, practice, practice. It’s like developing the mental muscle over time. It is very common to remain stuck in a question if there is no outcome, it can be very demotivating. In most of the questions, you will realise that if you are going in the right direction, you will start feeling in the first 5-7 minutes that you are close to the solution. Be thorough with your calculations, avoid silly mistakes and ace the section with great poise!
Read: How Tough Is The DI-LR Section Really? - Analysing Past Five Years' CAT Papers
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