Arithmetic for CAT 2018
The below article is brought to you by SDA Bocconi Asia Center and written by Dr Shashank Prabhu to help aspirants in their test prep. He is a CAT 100 percentiler, CET Rank 1, IIFT 100 percentile. He had a scaled score of 249/360 in NMAT BY GMAC 2016 and 99 percentile in each of the sections and overall score. SDA Bocconi Asia Center accepts CAT, NMAT, GMAT, GRE for its International Master in Business. A common trend ever since the CAT became computer based is the reduction in the number of concept-based questions in favor of application based ones. Over the last decade or so, the Quantitative Ability section in CAT has become perceptibly easier. This has got a lot to do with the absence of theoretical concepts like division, factorials, base systems, complex probability based questions. These questions have been compensated by slightly deeper arithmetic questions that have a few traps. These traps are easy to miss and even the best of the candidates can get them wrong under the pressure of time and their performance in the preceding two sections. Arithmetic primarily involves questions based on the concepts of averages, percentages, ratios, mixtures, growth/interest rates, time-speed-distance, time-work, profit-loss, and simple word problems. These topics should ideally be your priority especially if you are not that great at QA and end up with underwhelming scores. In this article, I will solve a few good questions from past year CAT papers to understand these traps and techniques. Q1. A man leaves his home and walks at a speed of 12 km per hour, reaching the railway station 10 minutes after the train had departed. If instead, he had walked at a speed of 15 km per hour, he would have reached the station 10 minutes before the train’s departure. The distance (in km) from his home to the railway station is A: This is a classic time, speed, distance question. The most technical way to solve this is by using a variable x to denote distance and take the original time as t hours. So, we get x = 12(t + 1/6) = 15(t* 1/6) x = 12t + 2 = 15t * 2.5 t = 1.5 hours and x = 12 * 1.5 + 2 = 20 km, which would be the answer. It is very easy to miss the fact that we are looking at 12t + 2 or 15t 2.5 and substitute it directly in 12t. With no options involved, misplaced eagerness would have led to a loss of 3 marks. Another thing to note in this context is that the problem could have been solved mentally if one were good at the basic time, speed, distance relationships. The distance remains the same, which means that the speed is inversely proportional to the time taken. The speed increases from 12 km/hr to 15 km/hr or in other words, it becomes 5/4 times the original speed (12 * 5/4 = 15). So, the new time will become 4/5 times the original time. The reduction in time taken is by 1/5 times the original time taken. But, the question says that the second case was covered in 20 minutes fewer than the first case. So, 1/5 of original time taken corresponds to 20 minutes. So, the original time taken was 100 minutes. The original speed was 12 km/hr and so, the distance would have been 12 + 2/3rd of 12 or 20 km. Q2. Ten years ago, the ages of the members of a joint family of eight people added up to 231 years. Three years later, one member died at the age of 60 years and a child was born during the same year. After another three years, one more member died, again at 60, and a child was born during the same year. The current average age of this eight members joint family is nearest to: a. 23 years b. 22 years c. 21 years d. 25 years e. 24 years A: Now it is probably one’s first instinct to solve this question using elaborate flowcharts and by writing down as much data as is possible. However, if you are good at looking at the bigger picture (duh!), it is much easier than that. The data talks about 10 years ago for 8 members. So, the present age should have been more than the combined age back then by 80 years. We are practically removing two people of 60 years each and replacing them by two fresh people. So, the sum should be short by 120 years. So, effectively there have been 40 years subtracted from the original sum or in other words the average is 191/8 which will be approximately 24 years. Q3. On a 20km tunnel connecting two cities A and B there are three gutters. The distance between gutter 1 and 2 is half the distance between gutter 2 and 3. The distance from city A to its nearest gutter, gutter 1 is equal to the distance of city B from gutter 3. On a particular day the hospital in city A receives information that an accident has happened at the third gutter. The victim can be saved only if an operation is started within 40 minutes. An ambulance started from city A at 30 km/hr and crossed the first gutter after 5 minutes. If the driver had doubled the speed after that, what is the maximum amount of time the doctor would get to attend the patient at the hospital? Assume 1 minute is elapsed for taking the patient into and out of the ambulance. PS: I am skipping the answer options in this case. A: If you are one of those who says the answer is 15.5 minutes, you have overlooked a major data point in the question (and have solved way too many time, speed, distance questions if I may add). The key thing to understand here is that the hospital is located in city A and the patient
Cracking the toughest LRDI sets at the CAT?
The below article is brought to you by SDA Bocconi Asia Center and written by Dr Shashank Prabhu to help aspirants in their test prep. He is a CAT 100 percentiler, CET Rank 1, IIFT 100 percentile. He had a scaled score of 249/360 in NMAT BY GMAC 2016 and 99 percentile in each of the sections and overall score. SDA Bocconi Asia Center accepts CAT, NMAT, GMAT, GRE for its International Master in Business. This was arguably the most difficult set in the second slot of CAT 2017. Although it was almost impossible to solve this set during the test, I would strongly suggest that you give it a try once and see for yourself the thought process that separates an easy set from a difficult set. As I have already mentioned elsewhere, the difficult sets in CAT are not un-attemptable because of conceptual depth, but because of the reluctance of average aspirants to write down cases and muscle through the cluttered information. Here we go: Eight friends: Ajit, Byomkesh, Gargi, Jayanta, Kikira, Manik, Prodosh and Tapesh are going to Delhi from Kolkata by a flight operated by Cheap Air. In the flight, sitting is arranged in 30 rows, numbered 1 to 30, each consisting of 6 seats, marked by letters A to F from left to right, respectively. Seats A to C are to the left of the aisle (the passage running from the front of the aircraft to the back), and seats D to F are to the right of the aisle. Seats A and F are by the windows and referred to as Window seats, C and D are by the aisle and are referred to as Aisle seats while B and E are referred to as Middle seats. Seats marked by consecutive letters are called consecutive seats (or seats next to each other). A seat number is a combination of the row number, followed by the letter indicating the position in the row; e.g., 1A is the left window seat in the first row, while 12E is the right middle seat in the 12th row. Cheap Air charges Rs. 1000 extra for any seats in Rows 1, 12 and 13 as those have extra legroom. For Rows 2-10, it charges Rs. 300 extra for Window seats and Rs. 500 extra for Aisle seats. For Rows 11 and 14 to 20, it charges Rs. 200 extra for Window seats and Rs. 400 extra for Aisle seats. All other seats are available at no extra charge. The following are known: 1. The eight friends were seated in six different rows 2. They occupied 3 Window seats, 4 Aisle seats and 1 Middle seat 3. Seven of them had to pay extra amounts, totaling to Rs. 4600, for their choices of seat. One of them did not pay any additional amount for his/her choice of seat 4. Jayanta, Ajit and Byomkesh were sitting in seats marked by the same letter, in consecutive rows in increasing order of row numbers; but all of them paid different amounts for their choices of seat. One of these amounts may be zero 5. Gargi was sitting next to Kikira, and Manik was sitting next to Jayanta 6. Prodosh and Tapesh were sitting in seats marked by the same letter, in consecutive rows in increasing order of row numbers; but they paid different amounts for their choices of seat. One of these amounts may be zero The key to cracking this set does not lie so much in the drawing the entire layout and writing down numbers on your sheet than it does in understanding the significance of the extra charges. Consider this: there are 8 people out of whom, 7 paid extra charge for the seat of their choice. These 7 people together paid Rs. 4600. Which means that the per head spend was slightly more than Rs. 650. If we look at the extra charges, we can see that the various numbers are Rs. 1000, Rs. 300, Rs. 500, Rs. 200 and Rs. 400. A basic understanding of averages (the average lies between the highest and the lowest quantity) will tell us that the per head cost of approximately Rs. 650 is not possible if none of the passengers paid Rs. 1000. So, there exists at least one person who paid Rs. 1000. If we remove this person from the overall charge, we have to account for Rs. 3600 among 6 people. The per head average still comes out to be Rs. 600 which needs another person to pay Rs. 1000 to be viable. If we remove another 1000 from the Rs. 3600 that we had earlier, we have to distribute Rs. 2600 among 5 people. Again the per head average comes out to be Rs. 520 which indicates that at least one more person would have paid Rs. 1000. If we remove this person from the tally as well, we get Rs. 1600 to be distributed among 4 people. This is possible in multiple ways and so, we can leave it at that. We have inferred till now the fact that there exist at least 3 people who would have paid Rs. 1000 each. Now coming to the paid seats, we can see that the ones that don’t need any extra payment are the middle seats in rows 2 to 11 and from 14 to 20. The seats beyond row 20 had no extra charge. The most prominent point is the seating of Jayanta, Ajit and Byomkesh. As can be understood, we need 3 consecutive rows where there is a disparity in the prices. This can be seen only in case of rows 10, 11 and 12. So, Jayanta, Ajit and Byomkesh are sitting in rows 10, 11 and 12 respectively. From point number 5, we can see that Jayanta and Manik are sitting together and hence Manik will also be sitting in row 10. There are two cases from here onwards (given that there are 3 Window seats,
Update from Admission Desk on PGPB Application Round 2
Date: 3rd Jan 2017 | From Admission Desk Last month we welcomed our first set of students from round 1 of the Class of 2019 to the MISB Bocconi Family! We’re now turning our attention to all you Round 2 applicants. Please note: The Round 2 deadline is 25th January. Applications are read on an ongoing basis as you submit them. Once shortlisted, you will get a call from the admissions team regarding scheduling your interview or if there is a need for you to take the Bocconi Test. We have a webinar coming up that I encourage you to attend if you have any last minute questions: Decoding PGPB Admissions – Applying with NMAT by GMAC & CAT scores. To Register for Webinar- click here This week we have Professor David Bardolet who will be teaching Corporate Strategy to the first year students. For NMAT by GMAC, you can submit with current scores and later on email your retake results. In some cases, you might be requested to take Bocconi Test. Face To Face Interview Dates For Earlier Submissions: 14th – New Delhi 15th – Bangalore 21st – Hyderabad 22nd – Chennai 29th – Kolkata 29th – Pune Mumbai – Ongoing Interviews Other cities – Online Interview Complete Your Application MISB Bocconi Team – 022 4086 7024 PS: For a Personal Profile Evaluation, Submit Your CV to info@sdabocconiasiacenter.com
Improve your DI-LR scores in less than 30 Days
How to improve your scores in the DI-LR section for CAT 2016 over the next few days If we are to conduct a short survey regarding the section that would be the most unpredictable and difficult to prepare, we are pretty sure that Data Interpretation (DI)- Logical Reasoning (LR) would be the undisputed winner. This is simply because there is no fixed topic or subtopic that you can focus on or even a rigid structure to the section as such. How do you tackle something that you have no idea about? Something that has no pattern? Well, if these questions haunt you, rest assured that they will be haunting all the other aspirants too. That is precisely the way to tackle this section. Most DI-LR battles are decided in your head rather than on the exam table. In QA or VARC, you are always thinking about how would YOU solve a particular question and if you have worked enough to cover your weakness but in DI-LR, it is a matter of judgment of whether the majority of the test takers would be able to solve it or not. If we look at CAT 2015, there were 4 doable sets, 2 difficult ones and 2 scorchers. If one would have attempted just the 4 doable sets and had got around 45-50 marks out of 96, one would have been on track to a 97+ percentile in the section. Even then, a lot of students fumbled and ended up getting a lot less than they should have. This could be attributed to panic and an inability to differentiate the doable sets from the rest. Picture this: you could have easily finished the 4 sets in 45 odd minutes but then you would have another 15 minutes to kill. That is when panic takes over and even the most prepared aspirant ends up doing something which s/he hadn’t intended to. So the bottom line is, if you know exactly which sets/questions are to be solved and which ones don’t deserve to be, you should be fine. Regular practice would of course help you get better at selecting the right questions. Sources for practice Past year CAT papers are rich sources of the various question types that could appear in CAT. So, I would recommend that you solve each and every set however trivial it might seem to be. The past 20 year CAT papers are easily available for free and you can download and solve them if you haven’t already. Second best source would be the mocks that you solve. Given the legacy of most of the popular mock test providers, at least 50% of the section would be difficult and it would be a bit far-fetched to expect that you would be able to solve the set even if you know how to solve it. So, it would be advisable to focus on only the easy-moderate graded sets and let go of the difficult ones. If you have missed the easy and moderate ones during the actual test, you might want to check those again. If you are doing just fine with the easy and moderate ones, you are on track to get a strong score in the section. Avoid sectionals and books as much as possible as: 1) The institute would rather deploy its best resources on mocks rather than sectionals and so, the quality of sectionals might not really be to your liking 2) Books don’t allow you to time yourself (however hard you may try) and the level of questions is either too easy or too difficult in most of the cases If you are struggling to make cases and read between the lines when it comes to LR sets, you can catch hold of a copy of The Great Book of Puzzles and Teasers by George Summers and/or Shakuntala Devi’s books on mathematical puzzles. Plus, engaging yourself in popular puzzles like SuDoKu, Kakuro, Bulls and Cows, etc. would help you in questions involving logical games and arrangements. Attempts vs. Accuracy The short answer is accuracy. Especially in LR, you cannot waste time on tackling questions that you know are outside your comfort zone. What you can do is keep aside 5 minutes to make sure that you re-check your calculation/working and correct your silly mistakes, if any. We had a student last year who had focused on what he knew, had solved just the 4 easy sets and got a 98.xx percentile with a 99.87 percentile overall. Even if it means sitting pretty for a good 10 minutes without solving a question post that, you should be fine. Which ones to attempt? As the questions are not rigidly segmented as is the case with QA and VA-RC, it is almost impossible to prioritize and skip questions in a fixed manner. However, the entire syllabus can be divided into these sub-topics and depending on your performance in the mocks, you can figure out the types that make you comfortable and the ones that make you uneasy: 1. Critical Path: You will be given a lot of ways of doing an activity from point A to point B. You have to find either the best way of doing the activity with/without some constraint. If you are great with cases and can back yourself to find the optimum path quickly, you can go ahead. If data makes you nervous you may want to push this type to the end. 2. Arrangements: The bread and butter of LR. If you are not comfortable at all with arrangements, you may very well wave your chances of cracking this section goodbye. Having said that, not all arrangements questions are easy. You can set individual benchmarks and make sure that you stick to them (more than 8 characters, more than 2 characteristics, inward and outward facing mixed circular arrangements, arrangements coupled with a family tree and so on are a strict no-no). 3. Logical Conditions: There would be a few conditions that need to
Improve your Verbal Ability scores in less than 30 Days
How to improve your scores in the Verbal Ability section over the next few days With about few days to go for CAT, it’s panic stations for a lot of aspirants. However, this need not be the case. It is imperative that aspirants keep a cool head on their shoulders and work systemically at plugging the gaps in their preparation. Here’s an article to help you do so in the Verbal Ability (VA) section of CAT. I’ll go through each topic in VA systematically and look at how you can improve your score in the short period of time remaining. The Article is written by Sriram Krishnan is a 4 time CAT 99+percentiler, CET 99.99 percentiler, and GMAT 760 (99th percentile). He has worked in strategy, finance, media and IT roles with SEBI, Shree Renuka Sugars, HT Media, and Accenture. An avid quizzer, he has been the national champion of CIIInquizzite, NHRD Quiz; National runner-up of Mahindra AQ and Business Standard Quiz and Mumbai champion of Tata Crucible. 1. Reading Comprehension Let’s start with probably the most important topic in the VA section Reading Comprehension (RC). RC has been an integral part of CAT for the last 20 odd years. I can’t recollect a single year of CAT in which RC questions have been missing. If we take the case of CAT 2015, there were 24 questions on RC which was single-handedly the heaviest weighted topic in the entire exam even ahead of Arithmetic. This should convey to you the importance of the RC questions in the exam. While a lot can be written about solving RC questions, I’ll keep it crisp and simple in this article by discussing 3 points: a. Picking Picking RC passages is extremely important in the CAT exam and it is something that a CAT aspirant normally ignores. Out of the 5 odd passages present in CAT, it is essential that you choose the best one to start off things with. The first passage should be chosen based on several parameters: Length of the passage: Choose the passage that is shortest in length. Subject Matter: Choose the passage that has a topic that will be a comfortable read for you. For instance, I prefer passages based on science/nature and prefer to skip passages based on philosophy. Question Types: Choose the passages that has descriptive questions at the end of the passage and skip the ones that have inferential questions. These are 3 parameters that you should keep in mind when selecting passages. b. Reading The most important thing, as logical as it sounds, in RC is comprehension. If you can’t comprehend the passage, then there is no way you can get answer the questions. Hence, when reading it becomes important that you understand what the passage is talking about. A lot of candidates get dragged into the trap of speed reading and end up reading the passage so fast that they have no clue what they have read by the end. What I would suggest is reading the passage at a normal pace with focus on comprehension. Read the first paragraph slowly as it lays the ground for what the author wants to say. You can speed up while reading the rest of the passage. Also, one technique that works for comprehension is to paint a visual picture of what the author is saying. The more one imagines, the more likely it is for the passage to stick in memory. c. Eliminating Learn the art of eliminating options. Options with extreme opinions are generally incorrect. When stuck between 2 options, always choose the milder of 2 options. Also, ensure that you read all the words in the options. A tempting option will be one in which the entire sentence will be correct barring the last word which changes the meaning of the sentence completely. This is a generic trick used by paper setters to tempt candidates into picking the wrong answer option. Also Read: Improve QA in less than 30 days | Also Read: PGPB Faculty from 8 different nationalities 2. Parajumbles/ Odd sentence out Paragraph Jumbles (PJ) questions and their derivative odd sentence out questions are the 2nd most common question type in CAT. Here are a few useful methods to help you decode these question types: (i) Pronouns/shortened name/surname/nickname: If there is a pronoun in a sentence he/she/it/they etc. there should be a preceding statement that introduces the subject in most of the cases. Paper setters try to negate this strategy a fair bit when they make sure that there are two subjects in a particular parajumble with one being named after the pronoun for the other is exhausted thereby confusing aspirants. The way to work around this trap is by making sure that you identify the subject and the action it is performing. In most of the cases, there will be a difference between the deeds of the two subjects which will make you choose the right link by simply maintaining continuity of thought. (ii) Tenses: Ideally, all the sentences will be in the same tense. If there is a reference to a past incident, you have to make sure that all the statements involving the past incident are adjacent to each other. If there is a present and a futuristic scenario being told, you need to make sure that all the arguments of the present point towards the future and so on. This is not a difficult thing to do and once you have sufficient knowledge of tenses, you should be good to go. (iii) Transition Words: Words such as ‘but’, ‘therefore’, ‘hence’, etc. are transition words. Sentences starting with these words generally give an idea as to which sentence comes before this sentence. For example, for sentences starting with ‘hence’ and ‘therefore’ among others, the sentence coming before this current one will convey the same idea as the current one. On the other hand, sentences starting with ‘but’ and ‘however’ among others, will convey an opposite idea to the
CAT Exam : Improve Quantitative Ability scores in less than 30 Days
How to improve your scores in the Quantitative Ability section for CAT 2016 over the next few days? When it comes to CAT, a lot of aspirants simply dread at the sight of a math question or end up questioning the existence of such an activity when it would be of little use to your future corporate job. While a few are pretty natural when it comes to crunching numbers, recalling concepts and making connections, a lot of people are not great at it. In this post, I will be having a look at a few things that can be done so that you improve your chances when it comes to cracking the Quantitative Ability section in CAT 2016.The Article is written by Sriram Krishnan is a 4 time CAT 99+percentiler, CET 99.99 percentiler, and GMAT 760 (99th percentile). He has worked in strategy, finance, media and IT roles with SEBI, Shree Renuka Sugars, HT Media, and Accenture. An avid quizzer, he has been the national champion of CII Inquizzite, NHRD Quiz; National runner-up of Mahindra AQ and Business Standard Quiz and Mumbai champion of Tata Crucible. Identifying the areas of improvement To begin with, as an MBA aspirant, you need to have a strong command over analysis and have to exhibit a fair level of awareness. This process starts from the day you start preparing for the CAT. If you are unaware of your strengths and weaknesses and are short of ideas when it comes to improving on them, chances are high that you will not make it to a good b-school. So, get to know yourself well before you form an opinion on the various topics and subtopics and your competency when it comes to tackling these areas. You should ideally be able to answer the question: Why didn’t you score to your potential in the QA section succinctly. A half-baked answer like I am not great at geometry or I got stuck on a question would not take you anywhere. To solve a problem, you have to first define what the problem is and the more precise you are, the better off you will be. The ideal level of awareness would be achieved when you can simply look at a question and figure out whether you will be able to solve it or not. And trust me, 50 days is enough to reach to 70-80 percent of the level which should be enough to crack CAT 2016. Just that, you need to have incredible resolve and discipline to improve with each passing day. Which topics to focus on? Over the last few years, CAT has gradually moved away from administering difficult questions that require a lot of intermediate steps to smart questions that require you to think a bit outside your comfort zone. The onus has always been on good selection and if you can make sense of around 70-80 percent of the paper then your job is done. So, it becomes important to attempt what exactly you know rather than trying to solve each and every question that is thrown at you. Looking at the trends, the important topics that you need to finish off (from the highest to the lowest priority) are: Arithmetic (around 50-55% weight) Averages (additions, deletions, and replacements) Simple Interest and Compound Interest (direct questions, questions on differences, installments, compounded on a quarterly, every four month, half yearly basis, etc.) Mixtures (single/multiple replacements and removals) Alligations (two or more items with varying concentration/price to be mixed) Ratios and Percentages Profit, Loss, and Discount Proportion and Variation Time, Speed and Distance Time and Work Algebra (around 15-20% weight) Linear equations (up to 3 variables) Quadratic equations (sum of factors, product of factors) Maxima and minima Concepts of AP, GP and HP Polynomials (sum of factors, product of factors) Functions and Graphs (graphs is not really required and functions can easily be solved through generalization; in-to, on-to functions are pretty rare and it makes sense to not break your head on these topics) Geometry (10-15% weight) Basics of points, lines, angles, and planes Triangles (basic properties, area, perimeter, similarity, and congruence) Circles (angles, arcs and sectors and a bit on cyclic quadrilaterals and polygons) Quadrilaterals (areas and basic properties of parallelograms, rectangles, squares, rhombuses, trapeziums and kites plus a few basic things on cyclic quadrilaterals) Polygons (diagonals, angles internal/external, and areas) Coordinate geometry (not very important but might be useful to know the distance formulas: between two points, a point and a line and two lines and the concept of slope) Trigonometry (can be skipped entirely; if you feel like, you can go for basic formulas for sin/cos/tan (90+x) or (90-x) and sin/cos/tan (a+b) or (a-b)) Number Systems (5-10% weight) Types and properties of numbers LCM and HCF Remainders and division using LCM Base systems Factorials Successive division Euler’s/Fermat’s/Wilson’s/Chinese Remainder Theorems (practically useless yet glamorous; I haven’t seen an aspirant not preparing it, I haven’t seen a question requiring it) Modern Math (probably the least important topic; can be skipped if you have a serious phobia of any of the topics mentioned below) (around 5% weight) Permutations and Combinations Probability Set theory Series and Progressions Binomial theorem If you are starting your preparation now, you need to be extremely focused on the first three topics mentioned above. Only once you are comfortable with Arithmetic, Algebra and Geometry should I recommend you to go for the remaining topics. If you have covered pretty much everything from the above-mentioned topics and still do not have the scores to show for it will have to deal with the strategy and application part of it. How much to practice? Anything around 50 questions a day for 5 days a week for 7 weeks should be enough. Just that, make sure that you do these questions from credible sources and not get into marketing gimmicks. Mock taking is also essential to build a base and we recommend an upside of 30 mocks to a serious aspirant. So in total,
Things to Keep In Mind Before Submitting Your PGPB Application.
We’ve all been there: hand hovering over the mouse, pointer finger at the ready, Submit button within reach. Whether you’re at this pivotal point or just starting to think about applying to MISB Bocconi, we encourage you to keep a few things in mind before clicking that fateful button to send your PGPB application spiraling through the internet to us here at MISB. Give It Your All The quality of your application can make or break your candidacy for admission to the PGPB. After all, you can be the most promising candidate in the world, but if your application fails to convey that promise, we have no way of knowing. While filling out a yet another school application may not be your idea of a good time, putting in the effort is a critical part of the process. Take a minute to consider whether your application is accurate, thorough, and says everything you want it to say in the way you want to say it. Did you proofread? Have you checked and double-checked all dates and deadlines? All of these pieces add up to a complete and compelling application. You should strive for nothing less. Know Your Options By now we hope you’re aware that we don’t view you as a set of test scores but as a holistic candidate. This means that we use all of the components of your application to derive a profile-based, big picture view of you as a candidate. Because of our commitment to diversity, we have built flexibility about tests and test scores into the decision process. In addition to accepting CAT, GMAT, GRE scores, we also offer our internal Bocconi Entrance Test (BET). While the latter is not a requirement, we strongly urge applicants to consider taking it. Why? Because our admissions process factors in your best test scores. In other words, whether you take the BET prior to or following another test, doing so increases your chances of getting into the PGPB because it gives you another chance to rack up an admissions-worthy result. In either case, you can submit your application first, then follow up later by reporting your test scores. However, your application will not be evaluated until we receive them. Be Early, Stay Organized We encourage you to apply early to the PGPB, as doing so can help you better position yourself for admissions success. But did you know that you can submit your application even if you don’t yet have all of your documentation? While some materials are required at the time of submission, others can be added at a later date and/or brought along to your personal interview. Please note that your essay responses, which you will receive after submitting your application, must be compiled prior to the interview. Congratulations on getting this far on your journey toward joining the PGPB at MISB Bocconi. We look forward to reviewing your application and learning more about your potential to make a contribution within our extraordinary community.
7 Days to CAT – Schedule For Aspirants
If you are a serious CAT aspirant, my best wishes are with you. I would have said that I empathize with you, but that would be a lie. Working with CAT aspirants, I have somehow become a little detached with my students, and I am not proud of it. But I guess, it helps me remain objective about the goal of helping them do better in CAT, and that is what I am trying to achieve via this post. The mantra, which is true for most serious endeavours in life, is Keep Calm and Carry On! I know that it is easier said than done. Here is a plan for the exam week. Also, in the last week you should never pressurize yourself to study for more than 5 hours. Monday – Take a hard look at all the data that you have and by data I mean your performance and results in mocks. After looking at the data, you should be able to answer the following questions: a) What should be the time split in Reading Comprehension and the other Verbal portion? b) On an average, am I stronger in Logical Reasoning or Data Interpretation or at a similar level in both? These two questions should shape the way you attempt these two sections in CAT. Obviously, you need to remain flexible in the CAT 2015 exam but having a clear idea will help. This entire exercise should not take more than 3 to 5 hours. Tuesday – Take a full length mock test. You should take the test in the same time slot that you have the exam scheduled in. It will condition your body and your brain to function at a full 100% during the exam. You should then relax for the rest of the day Wednesday – Solve all 100 questions of the mock test that you had taken yesterday without any pressure of time. It is perfectly fine if you are not able to solve all 100 questions or even 75 questions. The idea is that after looking at the solutions of those questions, you should be comfortable with solving all of them. Thursday – If the mock test that you had taken on Tuesday were lesser than your average mock score, you should take another mock. It will help you face the CAT 2015 exam with confidence. If you did well in the Tuesday mock, then probably you should pick up one particular topic that has bugged you throughout your preparation it could be para jumbles, it could be set theory, it could be Geometry and just solve questions on that particular topic from previous mocks. Probably, you will not be able to solve too many of them but after looking at the solutions you will gain the confidence to solve easy questions on that particular topic. It is a psychological battle that you should try to win before the exam. Friday – Revise all Quantitative Aptitude formulas. While there isn’t much to revise in sections like Logical Reasoning and Verbal Ability, QA has a large number of formulas/tricks that you should revise. I have compiled a PDF of important quantitative aptitude formulas that you can download. It will be a quick revision of all the important stuff. You might have forgotten some of it. It will all come rushing back to you once you see it. Saturday – Probably the best way to spend the last day before the exam is to hang out with friends and go to bed early. Have a healthy diet at home and probably you should stay away from beer as well. It will be a good idea to check out the exact location of the examination center. Figure out how much time it takes actually to travel from your home location to the venue. You might be unlucky if it is in a different city (it has happened to quite a few of my students located in the NCR) then you should try and reach the city of the venue on Saturday itself. The most important thing for you to understand is that you cannot do much to boost your score significantly in the last week. You have been preparing for CAT for a long time now, and hard work rarely goes to waste. Although, trying flashy stuff in the last week might not be a good idea. So, as I said at the beginning of the post Keep Calm and Carry On! Ravi Handa, an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur, has been teaching for CAT and various other competitive exams for around a decade. He started online courses on his website Handa Ka Funda in 2013 and 10000+ students have subscribed for them since then.
How to improve your Critical Reasoning quickly
In CAT 2015, if the previous year patterns are anything to go by, Critical Reasoning is going to play a critical role. It is important that you understand it well and improve in it in the remaining time. Also, for reasons that I cannot understand, a lot of coaching institutes and books skip or do not pay adequate attention to critical reasoning as a topic while teaching. That makes it all the more important that you understand it from the basics. So, let’s begin. What does the term Critical Reasoning mean? The word critical has several meanings: Critical means precarious e.g. a patient’s critical condition Critical also means disapproving e.g. being critical of someone’s actions Critical also means dispassionately analytical e.g. critical analysis of a poem or a painting It is the third meaning that comes into effect in the term Critical Reasoning.’ To solve Critical Reasoning questions, the following steps are essential: Comprehend and use language with accuracy, clarity, and discernment Observe and apply relevant information from the facts of the case Recognise unstated assumptions and values Interpret data, to appraise evidence and evaluate arguments Recognise the existence (or non-existence) of logical relationships between propositions Draw warranted conclusions (Inferences), and generalisations Construction of an Argument: An argument consists of 2 essential components: Premise(s) the facts of the case Conclusion(s) the result reached through the facts An argument, however small, must have these two components. An argument may also be based on an Assumption(s), and may also lead to an Inference(s) What is an Assumption? An Assumption is a thought/idea taken to be true to arrive at the stated conclusion but has no supporting evidence in the premises. In other words, it is an implied premise, from which the conclusion is drawn For example: Premise – Jake’s fingerprints were found on the murder weapon Conclusion – Therefore he must be the killer Assumption – Nobody else touched the weapon before or after Jake did How to work out the Assumption? The Assumption is an implicit premise without which a conclusion cannot be reached Think of the argument as a simple sum: 2 (one premise) + 3 (another premise) + X (assumption) = 10 (conclusion) Be clear as to what the conclusion is Ask yourself what the writer of the question is trying to prove. As the conclusion changes, X must change For example: Premise – Jake’s fingerprints were found on the murder weapon Conclusion – Yet, he cannot be the killer Assumption – Some evidence of the involvement of another person exists What NOT TO DO when working out the Assumption: Premise – Philosophers play an important role in the intellectual development of society Conclusion – Therefore they influence people’s thinking Assumption 1 – Philosophers are crucial to the intellectual development of people (Incorrect – Rephrasing a premise does not make it an assumption) Assumption 2 – Society needs intellectual development (Incorrect – An irrelevant statement that does not support the conclusion is not an assumption Assumption 3 – Intellectual development of society may not happen at all (Incorrect – A statement that contradicts the premise cannot be the assumption) Assumption 4 – Society believes in what philosophers say (Correct – The assumption addresses and validates the conclusion) What is an Inference? An Inference is a statement logically derived from the premise, or the conclusion, or both together. In other words, it is an implied conclusion Let’s consider the first example that we saw: Premise – Jake’s fingerprints were found on the murder weapon Conclusion – Therefore he must be the killer Assumption – Nobody else touched the weapon before or after Jake did Inference – At some point Jake handled the weapon Another Sample Argument: It has been observed that due to poverty, many children from underprivileged families work in hazardous professions, such as manufacturing of fireworks Inference 1 – These children are deprived of education – (Incorrect – they may still be attending school) Inference 2 – Manufacturers of fireworks commonly employ child labour – (Correct) Inference 3 – Poverty forces poor families to take significant risks with their health – (Correct) The difference between an Assumption and an Inference: Assumptions have no supporting data in the facts of the case whereas inferences are fully supported by the facts of the case. Assumptions are needed to arrive at the conclusions if the premises are insufficient whereas inferences are not required to arrive at the conclusions; rather they may become evident as results of the conclusion. What NOT TO DO when working out the Inference: Premise – A recent survey established that obesity is rising among children Conclusion – Therefore, the principal of a leading school has decided to stop the sale of aerated drinks in the school café Inference 1 – Consumption of aerated drinks is a major cause of obesity among children (Incorrect – It is an assumption required to arrive at the conclusion) Inference 2 – The decision of the principal was based on the findings of the survey (Incorrect – Rephrasing a conclusion does not make it an inference) Inference 3 – The survey included only the children from affluent families (Incorrect – An irrelevant guess cannot be treated as an inference) Inference 4 – before this decision, aerated drinks were available in the school café (Correct – This inference can be logically concluded from the data provided) I hope you would have learnt something from this post about exam strategy for CAT Preparation. Do provide feedback about the same via the comments section on the blog. I look forward to your suggestions. Ravi Handa, an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur, has been teaching for CAT and various other competitive exams for around a decade. He started online courses on his website Handa Ka Funda in 2013 and 10000+ students have subscribed for them since then.
2 Friends, IIT Roorkee and 99 Percentile in CAT
Every business school aspirant dreams of getting 99 percentile in CAT, one of the most coveted management exams in India. However, only a handful of people realizes this dream. What drives these people? What motivates them? What does it take to be in the top 1 percent of India? Meet Nagendra Rawat and Yogesh Mehra, who would unveil these answers for you, and more! Nagendra and Yogesh are best friends from their engineering days at IIT Roorkee. Post their graduation, Nagendra started working for an infrastructure design firm followed by a political consultancy, and Yogesh for a civil consultancy. They both were extremely motivated about bagging a degree in business, but their approaches to that goal were poles apart. Presently they are pursuing their Post Graduation from MISB Bocconi Bocconi India, and love each moment there! When did you start your preparation for CAT? Yogesh: I always knew I wanted to do an MBA, so after a few years of working I decided, it is the right time to start with my preparation. As I was working simultaneously, I had limited time for preparation, so I made it a point to start early. Nagendra: Just like Yogesh, even I always wanted to do an MBA. Hence, I took CAT in 2013 and got a 98.98 percentile. However, I did not want to settle with that score, so I started studying right after the CAT result in January 2014. What was your strategy while studying? Yogesh: Systematic and structured scheduling was my strategy. I spent most of my time doing exercises rather than studying the concepts in these two areas. I devoted ample time to the verbal ability section to achieve the same degree of proficiency I had in the other sections. I finished my syllabus in September and invested the remaining months in taking mock tests, as that is an essential part of one’s preparation. Nagendra: My strategy did not have a strategy. I did not plan on what to study or have a schedule. I studied what I fancied that day, changed subjects when I thought I was getting saturated with one. I practiced only by the medium of mock tests, as that improved my accuracy as well as speed. Any cheat sheets that you could give to our aspirants? Nagendra: This is a trick that both Yogi and I followed, we made a special notebook in which we noted down each question that we felt was difficult, or applied a concept in a different way. Right, before we gave any mock tests we would go through this notebook. This was an excellent way to learn from your mistakes or keep a tab on all aspects of a concept. What were your mistakes while studying for CAT? Yogesh: I can speak on behalf of both of us about this. Being from one of the best institutes in India, you have a set standard in your head for your self. So while giving the mock tests we were very hard on ourselves, we developed ego issues with questions. We used to make a big deal out of missing out a single question in a test! Nagendra: (Laughing) I would just like to clarify, we both still attempted all questions in CAT hence we do not have bruised egos! Did you ever expect to get a 99 percentile? Yogesh: At the risk of sounding pompous, I knew I was getting a 99 percentile on the tenth question I attempted in the test. I would attribute this confidence only to my level of preparation and hard work and nothing else. Nagendra: By now you would know that I am not a thinker, hence I did not expect anything. Though, I was pleasantly surprised when I saw my score. What calls did you get? Yogesh: MISB Bocconi, New IIMs, FMS, MDI, JBIMS Nagendra: MISB Bocconi, XLRI, New IIMs, FMS, MDI, JBIMS What is your advice to the future aspirants? Yogesh: I would like to tell everybody to assess himself or herself. Do not follow anyone else’s strategy blindly. Each person is different and has different strengths and weaknesses. Make your own strategy. Nagendra has got the same score as I have, however if I had followed his strategy I wouldn’t have been where I am. Nagendra: Absolutely! Study hard and study smart. You can’t be accurate or fast, you need to be both! Why did you choose to join MISB Bocconi? Yogesh: MISB Bocconi is the only offshore presence of University Bocconi Milan which is one of the oldest and the most prestigious European University. MISB Bocconi’s Faculty comes from SDA, professors like Robert Grant the management guru of strategy, and guest lecturers from around the world visit the campus ! Further the exchange semester at Bocconi, Milano is an opportunity I did not want to miss out. MISB Bocconi believes in granting tuition waiver to all those who get an impressive score and have a strong profile. I received a very good tuition waiver. Hence, MISB Bocconi is a perfect choice for me. Nagendra: I agree with all the points put forward by Yogi. Besides those, I would like to add that the teaching methodology is in line with any international business school. The studies focus more on the application, teaching through case studies, lectures by guest faculty, etc. Also, lecturers from all prestigious business schools in India come to teach us different courses. It is like we have the best of both the worlds! Being situated in Mumbai, we get exposure to a lot of opportunities and do live projects, intern or work in the industry. DOWNLOAD BROCHURE This Post first appeared on InsideIIM