Strategies to score a 97+ percentile in Quantitative Ability
Now that we are entering the final phase of CAT prep, it is important to make sure that we are in our best shape come the d-day. Now, all of us are preparing for the day when everything would go according to plan. But what about those days where you will find it extremely difficult to move ahead? The important thing to understand here is that you should be so prepared that you hit the mandatory 97 percentile in a section irrespective of the contents of the test, your frame of mind and other factors that are beyond your control. Let’s look at the sub-section wise things that you could do to be extremely strong on the defensive front. With regard to the topic wise split, as would be fairly obvious by now, Arithmetic and basic Algebra would be the main topics that would lead your siege to a 97%ile. Let’s look at the important topics and how to improve them. Arithmetic The important question types here will be Time, Speed and Distance, Time and Work, Interest and Growth Rates, Ratios, Percentages, Averages and Mixtures. You simply cannot afford to take one or many of the topics lightly. A lot of aspirants we know tell us that they are fairly confident about Arithmetic but somehow end up not performing well at the actual test. This is because there is a sense of Arithmetic being easy and not glamorous. This topic is underrated by many an aspirant and so, you might not be aware of the subtle traps that could be present in the questions. As a benchmark, there would be around 13-15 questions from the above mentioned concepts (which are fairly interlinked to be honest) out of which, at least 10 would be doable. Sample this: A scaled score of 45 marks corresponded to a 97%ile in CAT 2016. Considering that there was minimal scaling, you would score 30 marks simply because you had paid attention to Arithmetic. The best sources to practice good Arithmetic questions are past year CAT, XAT, IIFT papers. However easy the sum might seem to be, however pointless you think the compound interest calculation might be, it would make perfect sense to solve these questions well. Also, even if you have solved a particular question, try looking at it from other points of view to figure out the trends and/or other questions that might accompany the said question. Algebra The second most important topic in QA. As a matter of principle, any question that involves variables is compartmentalized as an Algebra question. The important topics here would be: simple linear equations involving 2 or 3 variables, quadratic equations and basic concepts (sum of roots, product of roots, and sum of coefficients), polynomials (coefficient of a particular term), functions, series, progressions, inequalities, modular algebra, sets, logs, surds and basic graphs. Even if you are fluent with linear and quadratic equations you should do fine. Typically, there would be somewhere around 10 questions from Algebra out of which 5-6 could be classified as easy-moderate and hence, doable. Substitution, working backwards from the options, eliminating options would be the best approach in most cases and should work fine. An important factor here would be to understand what exactly has been asked. If you don’t read the question properly, you will end up in big trouble most of the time. Geometry The issue with Geometry is that, everything looks doable and the questions are fairly straightforward. However, most of the scorchers in past year papers have been from Geometry. The sheer number of concepts and formulas you would need to learn to get better at Geometry would demotivate a lot of aspirants. However, it has been observed that there around 4-5 questions that appear from the topic (out of 34 questions) and they are split into 2-3 easy, 1-2 moderate and 1-2 difficult questions. So, choosing the easier ones becomes extremely important in this particular context. Generally, the questions based on lengths and angles are easy, the ones on areas and volumes fairly moderate and the ones having a mixture of concepts (typically volume + time and work or volume + time, speed and distance) are better left alone. The effort : output ratio is pretty skewed here and unless you are good at remembering all the formulas, you may skip at least the difficult ones from this sub section. Number Theory A lot of aspirants spend disproportionate amount of time solving questions from this particular topic. Complex division (Euler, Fermat, Wilson, and Chinese Remainder Theorem), unnecessarily complex base system questions and outright stupid questions on LCM and HCF form the bulk of your mocks and practice questions. However, the questions that have appeared over the years have been extremely limited and check your fundamentals when it comes to Number Theory. If you are good with basics of factors, factorials and basic base systems conversion and knowledge, you should be good to solve a question or two from this topic. Typically, there would be 3-4 questions based on core Number Theory. Probability, Permutations and Combinations A lot of aspirants skip this topic by default which is not really recommended. A quick glance at past year papers will tell you that the questions are fairly straightforward and candidates miss out on the subtleties simply because they are making assumptions or not being able to fix the starting point properly. I would strongly suggest you to get better at linear arrangements with and without conditions, with and without repetition at the very least. Spending a disproportionate amount of time on complex question types fromdistribution of objects, conditional probability and Bayes theorem will not do you any good and so, is better left alone. Typically, you will have around 3-4 questions from PnC and Probability and so, if you can manage a couple of questions, it should be perfectly fine. How to get better at the section? A lot of time, you will figure out that you are not able to
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,