Learn to organise data to improve your CAT score
Take practice tests to crack the data and reasoning sections
FROM
THIS YEAR ON, STUDENTS DO NOT HAVE THE LUXURY OF TIME. MAKE SURE YOU
HAVE HAD ENOUGH PRACTICE OF DATA INTERPRETATION SETS THAT INVOLVE
INTENSE CALCULATIONS
The
change in pattern of the common aptitude test (CAT) will mean that
the number of questions of DI (data interpretation) and LR (logical
reasoning) will go up. They are also likely to be a shade easier
than the earlier lot. So it becomes imperative that the strategy to
handle these “grouped” questions is very clearly drawn out, else
you can get stumped by the pressure of time. There are three
critical things that you should do in data interpretation.
The
key to increasing attempts in the data interpretation section is to
use smart approaches — estimate the answers, without necessarily
working out the exact solution.
The
first is a conscious speeding up of your calculations. If you look
at the past five years of the CAT, students had time at their
disposal. That is not likely this year. So make sure that you have
had sufficient practice of the sets of DI with intense calculations.
A thorough analysis of questions and intelligent guesswork are keys
to improve your scores in these questions. Just as in the case of
quant, the key to increasing attempts in DI is by using smart
approaches — estimating the answers and not necessarily working
out the exact answer.
The
second is getting sufficient exposure to a variety of LR and DI
sets. The logical reasoning type DI questions can be very tricky.
The ability to organise data depends on creating enough templates in
your mind for managing the infor mation. There are various types of
LR questions. Some of them are assignment type questions,
arrangement t ype questions and mathematical reasoning type of
questions.
The
third type of questions is the DS (data sufficiency) type of
questions. DS is likely to make a comeback this year. It is likely
that you would find three to five DS questions this year. So
conceptually if your quant skills are good, you would find that
there can be high accuracy in the DS questions.
To
crack the DS questions, it is important not to solve the questions.
You need to solve only when you realise that the number of
“solutions” or “cases” are “limited”. There could be a
catch in the solutions that makes it an imperative t hat you solve t
hem. Otherwise DS questions are not to be solved but to be analysed
only for the “sufficiency” of the information. Compiled by HT
Education
and
Career Launcher
No comments:
Post a Comment