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Posted on August 5, 2012 by GP

Are you attempting the right questions? Most of the time the reason for poor performance is not lack of knowledge but poor

question selection. To check if your question selection is upto the mark or not, take the last Mock CAT attempted by you and

place each question of the paper in one of the cells in the table given below. You have to , based on your strengths & weakness,

decide if a particular question should or should not have been attempted by you and then place it in the appropriate cell.

This table has to be filled for each section separately.

Performance Summary

Now let us understand what each of these six columns stand for:

Good Shot: Good you not only identified the easy question but also got them right. You need to ensure that these question types

are not missed in any paper.

Unforced Errors: This is criminal, easy questions that you messed up. Questions that should have boosted your score have

ended up reducing it. You need to identify the reason for these silly mistakes. The reason could be that you rushed through the

question and missed a couple of words or loss of concentration or calculation errors or plain carelessness.

Missed Opportunities: How could you miss these sitters? Was it because you were busy playing Risky Shots & Double

Negative?

Risky Shot: How much time did these take? Was it worth the effort? Hope these were done in R3.

Double Negative: These questions are responsible for your poor performance. By attempting these questions not only have you

wasted time but also earned negative marks. The time that you wasted in attempting these questions could have been better

utilized in attempting the Missed Opportunities (Column 3 questions).

Well left: Good work, you could identify the questions that are beyond you.

Here are some things that will help you evaluate your performance once you have categorized your questions in the table I’ve

chalked:

1) Ideally most of your questions should be in two columns – Good Shot & Well Left. If this is the case, then you are safe and

probably have a good score in the section.

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7 THOUGHTS ON “ARE YOU CHOOSING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS IN YOUR MOCK CATS?”

2) If there are questions in the middle four columns then we have work to do.

3) If you have a large number of questions in Missed Opportunity, Risky Shot & Double Negative then your question selection is

atrocious because you are trying to solve the difficult (for you) questions in the test and in the process missing out on the easy

questions (Missed Opportunity).

4) A large number of questions in Unforced Errors indicate lack of revision and carelessness.

Now, what does your sheet look like?

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ASHUTOSH KUMAR

on August 6, 2012 at 7:01 am said:

good one…keep rocking GP….

gaurav


really helpful strategy!…. thanks

Rakesh chandra raushan


very helpful strategy

SUHAS

on August 8, 2012 at 6:00 pm said:

EXCELENT sir!!you are showing what everyone tends to miss during an analysis.We expect your

unwavering guidance throughout our preparation.

Shikhar Dixit


Superb , i have read and tried the way you explained categorizing ques. smartly will be using it today in

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2 of 3 8/26/2012 3:56 PM


After you’ve classified your questions in the categories I suggested (refer my post on ‘Are you choosing the right questions in

your Mocks’, this is the second part of things you must do after every mock you take. Students focus on writing the Mocks and

some even go to the extent of a taking a Mock CAT every day. After the paper they check their scores and move on to the next

paper. To understand how the Mock CATs should be handled we need to first understand the purpose of Mock CATs.

If you are feeling feverish you will use a thermometer to check your temperature and if it shows undesirable result, then after

analyzing the situation the doctor will advise corrective action – medicines, diet control, rest etc. If you do not take the

corrective action your condition will deteriorate.

A Mock CAT is similar to a thermometer - it tells you your current situation and highlights the areas where you need to take

corrective action. Just as checking your temperature every couple of hours without taking corrective action will be of no use,

taking a Mock CAT without analyzing the paper and identifying the corrective action for the desired output is a waste of time.

After you have taken the paper and checked your score, the real work starts. Go through all the questions and solve them again.

QA Questions:

Solve the question again and compare your solution with the one given in the solution booklet.1.

If you were unable to solve it, go through the solution and ask yourself if you would like to attempt this type of question in

future. If the answer is no, forget this question.

2.

Check if there are any other shorter or faster methods to solve the question.3.

Check if the incorrect choices can be eliminated on the basis of logic.4.

Check if approximation or calculation short cuts get you to the answer faster.5.

Any question in which you have been able to identify an alternate method or a calculation short cut or a question has

helped you understand a concept is an IMPORTANT question and needs to be REVISED every week.

6.

DI & AR Question sets:

Attempt all data sets that you did/could not attempt during the test.1.

Identify the questions that could have been solved with the help of choices and revise them every week.2.

Identify the questions in which calculation short cuts can be applied and revise them every week.3.

Identify the type of data sets that you should definitely attempt or not attempt in future.4.

Identify the data sets that you should revise every week.5.

RC Passages:

Attempt the RC passages that you did not attempt in the designated 70 minutes and then decide if the decision of not

attempting these passages was correct.

1.

Find the meaning of the words that you have come across for the first time.2.

The questions for which you marked incorrect answers, find out the reasons.3.

Verbal Ability Questions:

In vocabulary & sentence completion question find out the meaning of all the words in the choices and revise the difficult

ones every week.

1.

Go through all the grammar questions again and mark for weekly revision the ones you got wrong.2.

Go through all the para jumble, para completion and critical reasoning questions to understand why each choice is correct

or incorrect. Revise the difficult questions every week.

3.

Now that you have analyzed the paper we need to get to the next step: Revision. This aspect of preparation is ignored by a large

number of students. Most students practice a lot, they take a Mock CAT or a section test every day but do not revise the

Things you must-do after every mock you take | GP SPEAKS http://careerlauncher.com/gpspeaks/?p=205

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21 THOUGHTS ON “THINGS YOU MUST-DO AFTER EVERY MOCK YOU TAKE”

important questions from these papers and hence not only do they commit unforced errors and are unable to work fast in the

paper.

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mallika


thank you sir… your posts are really helpful… i always analyse the mock but not in this way, its just a

quick analysis.. i hope ur analysis method will help me to improve my score…

siddharth


smart….let me try it

Arpita


Do we need to follow any timing constraints, while, solving the QA paper again ?

GP


While going thru the paper again, you do not need to follow any time constrains for the QA and

VA questions. However for the unattempted RC passages, DI sets and AR sets it would be

advisable to attempt in 8 minutes for a 3 question set, if you are unable to solve them within these

8 minutes, try them again without any time constraints.

Arpita


ok , thanks sir !

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Posted on July 21, 2012 by GP

Understanding of a Paper (or a section) along with the understanding of own strengths and weakness are the two essential blocks

of deciding the strategy for attempting it. To understand the section, let us look at the question types that appear in English or the

VA section of MBA entrance test and look at the skills required to answer them and also simultaneously look at my comfort level

with each of these question types.

Reading Comprehension passages or what were called “unseen passages” in school are the nemesis of a large number of

students because of poor (or lack of) reading habit. The passages can be from different areas and the questions can be factual or

inferential. The good thing is that length of passage in Computer Based CAT has decreased as compared to its paper & pencil

version. It is advisable to attempt those passages first that are from a subject you are comfortable with. If you are not good in

Critical Reasoning, then it is okay to leave the inferential questions will help you cut down on the negative score.

My Comfort Level: Throughout my school & college years and even today, I read a lot because of which I am by and large

comfortable with most kinds of RC passages. However, I do not find inferential, philosophical, literary, medical or biological

passages enjoyable and hence avoid them in the paper. I prefer factual passages and the RC passage topics that I prefer

attempting in the paper are business, economics, current affairs, politics, history, mythology.

Vocabulary questions, synonyms, antonyms & analogies, are knowledge based questions and can be answered correctly only if

you know the meaning of the word and/or the choices. Hence a good vocabulary is essential to well in these types of question.

The good thing about these questions is that they consume very little time – a single reading of the question and the choices is

enough to determine if you can/cannot answer the question. Reading the question or the choices again and again will not give you

the answer. It is advisable to leave these questions if we do not get the answer in a single reading.

My Comfort Level: I am fairly okay with vocabulary and even with an approximate idea of the word; I am able to get the

correct answer by elimination of choices. However if I do not know the meaning of the word, I’ll leave the question.

Grammar, like vocabulary, is knowledge based. If you do not know the rule of grammar to be applied, you are unlikely to get it

correct and hence the question should be left un-attempted. However if you have good reading habit, you should be able to get a

3 out of 5 questions correct by instinct/gut feel.

Grammar and Vocabulary typically contribute to most to the negative score of the students because of our propensity to

mark an answer without being sure of the answer. Guesswork should be avoided in all knowledge based questions. Suggest that

you read the question once, if you know the answer mark it else move on to the next question.

My Comfort Level: This is my weak area. I do not know grammar however because of my reading habit many times I am able

to identify which part of the statement is incorrect. So simple questions of grammar will be attempted but if the complexity of a

grammar question is high, I will leave the question.

Sentence completion questions are based on knowledge of vocabulary as well as grammar but can be worked out based on the

context and elimination of choices especially if the question has more than one blank. It is worthwhile reading the question

statement 2 – 3 times as guesswork based combination of knowledge and elimination of choices usually works in these

questions.

My Comfort Level: Because of my reading habit, the contextual meaning of a word comes very easily to me and this helps me

in sentence completion fill in the blanks. I usually attempt all sentence completion questions.

Para-jumbles and Deductive logic are logic based questions and no prior knowledge of any area is required. Hence you can

you can work your way thru in these questions even if the logic is not completely clear. Also the choices are of great help in

these questions. It is advisable to move back and forth between the question and the choices to get to the correct answer. For

example, in Para-jumbles, identify the opening or closing or a logical pair and eliminate the choice that does not adhere to it.

Successively eliminate the incorrect choices to get the correct answer.

6 Rules to Excel in CAT VA | GP SPEAKS http://careerlauncher.com/gpspeaks/?p=103

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10 THOUGHTS ON “6 RULES TO EXCEL IN CAT VA”

My Comfort Level: These are my areas of strength; I’ll usually not make a mistake in these questions. I work on Elimination of

choices in Parajumbles. I try to identify the opening or closing or a logical pair and successively eliminate the incorrect choices.

Critical Reasoning and Para completion questions can be attempted only if you understand the logic, elimination of choices is

can help you reach the answer faster but the logic is essential.

My Comfort Level: These are my weakest areas in usage. I’ll typically glance thru the passage; if it looks understandable, I’ll

attempt the question else leave it.

Logical/Analytical reasoning questions are similar to the reasoning questions of DI and hence are a boon for students who are

weak in language but good in QA/DI.

My Comfort Level: This works for me most of the time however I always exercise caution in these questions because many a

time the questions are deceptive and time consuming.

Unlike QA or DI, where most of the time it is visible that the question can or cannot be solved by us, in English all questions

look solvable and hence we end up attempting all questions and end up with a high number of incorrect answers. Hence in

English it is advisable not to go in for guesswork.

Now on to my rules for attempting the English section:

1. A paper is not a place for R&D, hence a new type of question will be looked at only if I can peg it to an existing question

type.

2. I read the choices along with the question as it helps in elimination of choices.

3. In my weak areas, when in doubt I leave the question without marking the answer.

4. In Round 1 (R1) I sequentially attempt the following question types:

a. Vocabulary and sentence completion,

b. Grammar,

c. Deductive Logic,

d. Parajumbles.

5. In R1, I’ll also glance thru the RC passages to understand the length, subject and the question type of the passage.

6. In Round 2 (R2) I will attempt logical reasoning, critical reasoning, para-completion & summary questions and the RC

passages.

Try these in your next and you’ll see that English is not such a funny language after all!

Liked this post? Also read ‘ 7 Rules to Excel in QA’

Recommended next read: How I attempted Mock 4: VA-LR’

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Posted on July 17, 2012 by GP

In this season of Mock CATs, most of the students struggle with the problem of low attempts (and low scores) in QA despite

having good knowledge. Many students are unable to choose the right questions while attempting the paper and end up attempting

difficult questions that not only take time but also get them negative marks.

However after the paper, while analyzing it or going through the solutions, you suddenly discover that there were easy questions

that you tend to not notice while attempting the paper. Over the years, watching so many make the same mistake I’ve realized that

this usually happens because either you’re not aware of your strengths and weaknesses in different topics of QA or you’re just

plain afraid of leaving questions!

When you’re taking a competitive exam like the CAT, it’s not important whether you know more than the others. How you attempt

the paper makes all the difference. I’ve always achieved very high scores in QA and cleared many competitive tests due to the

way I attempt the section. I’ve devised seven simple rules for myself – and they work every single time! Here’s how:

Rule 1. I believe that a paper is not a place for R&D; hence I attempt only those question types that I am familiar with. I do not

want to attempt any new kind of question in the paper R&D has to be done at home and not inn the examination hall.

Rule 2. I believe in attempting the QA section in 3 Rounds starting with the easiest questions and am not afraid of leaving

difficult questions unattempted.

Rule 3. In Round 1 (R1), I will go through the questions sequentially but will attempt only those questions:

a. That are from my area of interest or topics that I am comfortable with

b. That are not lengthy

c. That do not confuse me in the first reading

d. That can be attempted in about 75 seconds

Rule 4. Lengthy or difficult questions from my area of interest will be marked in Round 1 and attempted only in Round 2 (R2).

Rule 5. If time is available, I will attempt remaining questions Round 3 (R3).

Rule 6. My attempt preference in the QA section is:

a. Number system and rest of Arithmetic

b. In Algebra, I am partial towards progressions, inequalities, quadratic equations, maxima-minima and operators.

c. In Algebra, I prefer solving questions by substitution of choices and avoid questions that have to be solved by the conventional

methods.

d. Maxima – minima questions, I usually solved them by differentiation.

e. I attempt most of the Mensuration questions.

f. I avoid questions from Geometry and P & C in Round 1unless I have solved a similar question earlier.

g. I also attempt Probability questions that do not require funds of P&C.

h. I usually attempt Grouped questions in R2 since logic has be cracked in most cases which can be time consuming.

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34 THOUGHTS ON “7 RULES TO EXCEL IN CAT QA”

Ofcourse, this preference is based on my strengths and weaknesses and will differ for everyone.

Rule 7. I read the choices along with the question as it helps in deciding the amount of calculation, elimination of choices and in

substitution.

Here’s a link to the Quant section of CL’s Proc Mock 4. See if you can attempt it keeping these rules in mind.

More on these rules and how they can be effectively applied in this mock test in my next post!

Liked this post? Also read: ‘ 6 Rules to Excel in VA’

Recommended next read: ‘How I attempted Mock CAT 4: QA-DI’

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utkarsh

on July 19, 2012 at 4:02 pm said:

Sir can you also discuss about how to attempt the VA and LR/Di sections

GP


Utkarsh, will be sharing my views on these too shortly.

Sameer


Thanks a lot, I had the same problems and my areas of interest are quite similar to the above mentioned.

So I hope this technique helps me too in future.

pranav garg

on July 20, 2012 at 3:53 am said:

sir,i gave cat last year too and last year i was able to solve quant very easily.as in atleast in the quant

section my percentile was above 90 and i was able to do the questions in time.but now this year when i

am attempting the section,i am doing it all wrong.i am very scared as to how can this happen.i am like

not able to do anything.not even 50 percent of the questions most of them turn out to be wrong.kindly

help me sir.i am facing a lot of problem with the timing sir

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2 of 9 8/26/2012 4:02 PM


With only about 60 days to go for CAT ’12, most CAT aspirants hit the panic button. Actually, this is the time to keep a calm head

and make the best of these remaining days! Here’s the first post in a new series: Countdown to CAT ’12. This series will bring

you special strategies, tips, do’s and don’t's, devised by me especially for these last 60 days.

In VA section, Vocabulary and Grammar typically contribute to around 6 questions in CAT. Attempting these 6 questions takes

around 10 minutes but normally leads to 2 correct and 4 incorrect answers.

In other words, for many of us, attempting Vocabulary and Grammar questions leads to 2 marks in 10 minutes!

Why does this happen? The reasons are known to all of us:

We did not pay attention to Grammar in school because we felt speaking English confidently was more important than

speaking Correct English. What we often tend to overlook is that many people around us speak incorrect English

confidently.

1.

We did not develop a reading habit which would have ensured at least a contextual vocabulary if not the exact meaning of

the word.

2.

Vocabulary was never tested in school and college exams hence we never bothered about it.3.

With exactly 60 days for CAT, how do we ensure at least 3 or preferably 4 correct answers out of 6 these questions?

To ensure maximum utilization of the available time, let me start with what you should not do.

Do not pick up Wren and Martin or any other grammar book. The right time to go thru this book was when you were in

school. You cannot cover up for this dereliction of work in school in the next 60 days without adversely impacting your

preparation of other areas.

1.

Do not worry about mugging up the word list from the vocabulary builder. You should have started using the

vocabulary builder at least 6 months ago, if you have not done it till now, you are unlikely do it in the next 2 months. In fact

you would not lose much if you throw it away.

2.

How then should you prepare for Vocab and Grammar?

With only about 2 months available, we need to be selective and intensive and focus on those words and grammar statements that

have a greater probability of appearing in CAT. Where will you find these high probability words and statements?

These are available in past CAT, XAT, IIFT & FMS papers, Mock CATs and FLTs. So no prizes for guessing what I expect you

to do. You need to mug up word and grammar statements from these papers.

From the past papers of CAT (1991 – 2008), XAT, Mock CATs and FLTs focus on the following type of questions:

Synonyms & Antonyms: It is not sufficient to know the meaning of the word in the question you should know the meaning

of all the words in the choices.

1.

Fill in the blanks: These are important for both Grammar and Vocabulary. A question with two blanks has 8 words in the

choices make sure you know the meaning of all of them.

2.

Grammar questions in which a part of the statement is incorrect, identify and try to remember the error.3.

Grammar questions with 4 statements in which we need to identify the grammatically incorrect statement(s), try to

remember the reason why each statement is correct or incorrect.

4.

You need to mug up all the words and the grammar questions from these papers. In each paper identify the words and the

grammar statements that you have a problem remembering, mark these words and statements and revise them every

week, this will ensure that you will be able to answer correctly at least 4 out of 6 vocabulary and grammar questions

Crack Vocab & Grammar in 60 days | GP SPEAKS http://careerlauncher.com/gpspeaks/?p=224

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19 THOUGHTS ON “CRACK VOCAB & GRAMMAR IN 60 DAYS”

Start with past papers of CAT & XAT and the current Mock CATs. After finishing these papers you can consider moving on to

IIFT and FMS papers.

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Dwaipayan


Extremely helpful , I think a kind of speed preparation

Will start this today and shall follow up with you in case I face any issues or for further suggestions with

this approach.

Shubham


Thanx sir for all ur help.

I’ll make sure that i follow all ur suggestions

Nikhil


Good tips! I really hope to bump into you one day — I’ll have a lot to talk to you about. And a lot of

questions, of course.

A question, though: what does ‘GP’ expand to in its full-form?

Cheers!

Nikhil

CL, Satya Niketan

Arjun


@nikhil: Does Gautam Puri ring a bell??

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VALR section in CAT is an interesting section because it has approximately 10 questions each from 3 different areas, English

Usage Logical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension, because of which even if you are comfortable in only 2 out of these 3

areas you can hit the jackpot because an attempt of around 22 with around 3-4 errors would result in clearing the sectional

cutoff of all the IIMs.

Topic 1: English Usage

The 10 questions of English Usage consist of around 2 questions each from Grammar, Phrasal Verbs, Sentence

Completion, Para Jumbles and Para Completion. Let us look at each of these question types separately.

Phrasal Verbs: Maximum of 1 minute per question is recommended because if you do not know the answer you will not get it

by multiple readings of the question also.

Grammar: You should spend about 2 minutes for each of these questions because they typically have 4 statements and you may

need to read the statements carefully two times. If even after reading the statement twices you are unable to conclude if it is

correct or incorrect, leave it and move on to the next statement. Every time you identify a statement to be grammatically correct

or incorrect, move on to the choices to eliminate the incorrect choice(s).

Sentence Completion: These questions can be comfortably done in about 1.5 minutes each. Here too you need to keep

eliminating choices with every blank.

Para Jumbles: It is okay to spend about 3 minutes in each of these questions because identifying the mandatory pair or opening

statement or closing statement can take time. If you do not rush thru these questions you can get them right most of the time.

Para Completion: In these questions that you read the paragraph carefully and move on to elimination of choices. You may need

to go back and forth between the paragraph and the choices hence up to 3 minutes per questions is acceptable.

The total time that is recommended for the 10 EU questions is 15 – 20 minutes, based on your comfort level with the various

question types. Less than15 minutes will imply rushing thru the questions and making silly mistakes while more than 20 minutes

will lead to time wastage and increase your errors due to hair splitting.

Topic 2: Reading Comprehension

RC typically has 3 passages with 3 – 4 questions per passage. For most of the students the default plan for RC should be to

attempt only 2 passages in 15 minutes which would translate to about 5 – 6 attempts.

If you are pathetic in RC then choose carefully and attempt only one passage in 10 minutes. It is however important that you are

comfortable with the passages that you choose to attempt. Also it is not necessary for you to attempt all the questions from the

passages that you choose, it is better to leave a question than to get mark an incorrect answer and get negative marks.

If RC is your strong point then you should target all 3 passages in 20-25 minutes.

Topic 3: Analytical Reasoning

These 10 questions can be broken into 3 data sets of 2-3 questions and 3 single questions. Most of the students should target

around 6-8 out of 10 AR questions in 25 minutes. For those of you who are strong in QA but dread RC these 10 are must do

questions. You can afford to spend up to 35 minutes for these 10 questions but should ensure 100% accuracy. In fact in CAT

2011, students who attempted all AR questions and left rest of the EULR questions un-attempted had a score of over

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28 THOUGHTS ON “THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO THE VA-LR SECTION: MAKE EVERY SINGLE MINUTE COUNT.”

85%ile.

The table below suggests the target attempts and the time distribution for different types of students. This is only

suggestive and you should based on your own strengths and weakness work out the break up of time between EU, LR and RC and

the target attempts. Test it in a copuple of papers and refine it based on how it works for you.

Sequencing of Question Types: Until and unless there are strong reasons to the contrary, it is advisable to start this section with

EU questions then move on to AR questions and attempt RC in the end. The subjectivity is RC is greater than that in AR and

hence while you can be sure of the answer in AR, in RC most of the times surety of answer is much lower.

CAUTION: It is important to remember that in EU as well as RC there should be NO Guesswork, the rule When in Doubt

Leave has to be strictly adhered to. Focus on accuracy and not on attempts.

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Tanya


Excellent analysis… I was in great need for such a thought process. Would be really helpful for everyone

Thanks a lot Sir!

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Here is the ugly truth that no one tells you about taking the CAT – in your quest of attempting as many questions as you can, you

are actually giving yourself more chances to screw up. The more questions you attempt – the greater the risk of a double

negative, a missed opportunity or an unforced error. Which brings me to the most unpardonable sin you can commit in the

CAT – the greed of attempting more and more questions.

To address this, you will have to attain nirvana from this greed of “I will attempt as many questions as possible” or “I will

attempt all 30 questions”. And for this I present to you a simple solution: Leaving questions improves your score.

Of course, like everything else in life, this is not as easy as it sounds. You cannot indiscriminately skip questions and hope to

improve your score. To make this work for you, we’ll first have to analyze your performance pattern in the last few mocks.

What you’ve been doing till now

The number of attempts for most students averages around 12-15 in each section and the number of correct answers around 8-9.

But this means you are not even able to get 90% accuracy even after spending almost 5 minutes per question. There’s your next

serious problem – the definition of an attempt.

Most define attempts as the numbers of questions for which an answer was marked. What then are:

• The QA questions in which over 1.5 minutes were spent in forming equations, doing calculations and no answer marked?

• The DI/LR sets in which after unsuccessfully making the table you abandoned set without marking any answer?

• The RC questions whose answer were not marked after reading the passage?

• The Para Completion & Para Jumbles question that were left unmarked after 2-3 minutes of working?

The correct definition of Attempts is the number of questions in which you spent at least 1.5 minutes, whether you marked

the answer or not. In each section there would be around 5-6 such questions hence most of the students are attempting around 20

questions with 8-9 answers marked correctly, 5-6 incorrect answers and 5-6 question for which the answers were not marked

even after spending time.

Pick up any Mock CAT that you attempted recently and identify the questions that you spent the most time on, you will be

surprised to discover that:

• The 8-10 questions that were answered correctly took only around 20 minutes.

• The 5-6 questions that were answered incorrectly also took around 20 minutes and at least half of these were unforced

errors (or silly mistakes) that happened because of rushing through the question or the calculation. Spending another 30 sec in

understanding the question or in calculation would have converted a -1 to +3

• The remaining 5-6 questions for which no answer was marked even after spending time took around 30 minutes. These

were the speed breakers that derailed you. Most probably, if these questions had not been attempted, the unforced errors would

have vanished.

But what the remaining 10 odd questions?

What about the remaining 10 odd questions which also include 4-5 sitters that you did not notice in the paper? You did not

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have time for these questions because you were not willing to leave those 5-6 speed breakers. This means that CAT forces you to

leave questions, the difference between an IIM call getter and one who does not is:

IIM call-getter: Exercises choice attempts the easy questions, leaves questions that are difficult to crack and thus would have

been a waste of time. Because (s)he picks and chooses questions to leave, he does not miss out on the easy sitters and scores

precious marks.

Misses out on IIM call: Attempts whatever comes his/her way and is forced to leaves 10 odd questions anyways – some of

these are bound to be easy sitters that lost him precious marks, while critical time was wasted on difficult questions which may

or may not have gotten any marks.

The Proof

If we consider CAT papers since 2009, when CAT went online, to clear the sectional cutoff for all the IIMs, one needed to:

• Get around 21 correct answers or attempt around 23 – 25 questions with 2 – 4 incorrect answers in QADI.

• Get around 18 correct answers or attempt around 21 – 22 questions with 3 – 4 incorrect answers in EULR.

For the paper as a whole, an attempt of 46 – 50 with 42+ correct answers would have ensured interviews calls from the

IIMs

Leaving around 6 – 8 questions in each section was not a problem! Given that every question carries equal marks, you should be

leaving the most difficult question types to ensure zero time wastage.

Why is it difficult to leave questions?

There are four reasons because of which many of you fight on foolishly to win the battle and in the process loose the war. Here

are my top four reasons which stop you from taking the right steps.

When the obstacle becomes a challenge

Most of you have a very good academic record and have been among the toppers in school and college due to which you are in

the habit to attempting all questions correctly in exams. So when you come across a difficult question that under time pressure

you are unable to solve correctly your EGO takes a big hit and you consider the question as a Challenge that has to be conquered

and not an obstacle that has to be side stepped to reach the goal.

The fear of what lies ahead:

For those of us who were not good in academics, when we see a question which we think is solvable we are thankful and start

working on it even if we are not sure of solving it is as if we believe that all the subsequent questions will be more difficult than

this one.

You’ve gone too far to return

There are some questions that we honestly feel that we can solve but after spending a couple of minutes do not reach anywhere,

yet we continue spending time in the hope that investing more time will get us the answer. This misplaced optimism is nothing

but throwing good money after bad money.

Flirt with danger; don’t start a relationship with it

Many a times, some of us who are academically inclined fall in love with the question. We start admiring the elegance with

which the QA question has been framed, get blinded by the beauty of the logic, we get emotionally involved with the issues

raised in the RC passage or the para completion or the para jumble question. We forget that our job is to flirt & move on and not

to commit and settle down. Why waste time over an unresponsive person when there are many other fishes in the pond.


2 of 5 8/26/2012 3:58 PM

13 THOUGHTS ON “THE SINGLE, MOST UNPARDONABLE, GRAVEST SIN YOU CAN COMMIT IN THE CAT”

The next logical question is how to know whether a question is a strength or weakness? Will it add to your score or waste your

time? More on this in my next blog.

Tweet 0 ShareShare

Arpita


Awesome take sir !

Thanks a lot !!

Dipak kumar singh


Thanks for making us conscious and giving awesome knowledge about our exam.

THANKS A LOT???

Anivesh


Thanks for a brilliant post!

Sir, (according to your post) attempting a total of 39 questions would help in clearing the overall cutoff

too?? Or that by attempting 21-18 questions in respective sections would result in clearing the sectional

cutoffs ONLY???

If your answer is no to the first question then please tell that in the past three years of the online total cat

how many total attempts have been required to get an IIM call??

Please reply.. awaiting your answer

GP


Thanks for pointing out the miss in the article, have updated it.

For the paper as a whole, an attempt of 46 – 50 with 42+ correct answers should ensure

interviews calls from the IIMs.

GP


Like 5


3 of 5 8/26/2012 3:58 PM

Anivesh,

For the paper as a whole, an attempt of 46 – 50 with 42+ correct answers would have ensured

interviews calls from the IIMs. Thus it is assumed that you would be scoring more than the

minimum cut off in at least one of the two section. This can also be gauged by the fact that while

the sectional cut off is typically not more than 95%ile the overall cutoff is in the region of

98.5-99%ile for general category candidates.

Anurag Mukherjee


Nice article !

Ankit


Thank You Sir for your advice..

But Sir.. As you have mentioned that for IIM Calls we would need to ensure 42+ correct answers. I

would assume you mean to say that 42+ correct answers would ensure that we get a 99%ile plus in the

actual CAT.

Then Why is that in the CL Mock Papers people are getting 99+ with just 35 or 36 correct answers? Isn’t

that kind of misleading to us all?

Neeraj


Exactly.

Does that mean that MOCKS don’t give us the clear picture???

Is CAT easier than CL Procs ??

Also, how much difference is there in CL percentiles and actual CAT percentile on an average …

Would love to know about these things sir..

Waiting for your reply..

GP


Ankit,

Absolute score is a function of degree of difficulty of the paper and the level of preparation while

percentile score is the rank. You can get the same rank at different scores. The degree of

difficulty of CL Mock CATs is by design around 10-12% more than that of CAT hence you will get

a higher percentile at a lower score. Unlike others including “He Who Should Not Be Named” CL

does not believe in giving very difficult papers as such papers would be irrelevent and students

would end up wasting time in doing things that are ulikely to appear in CAT.

To ensure we are able to create Mock CATs which are very close to the actual papers, almost all


4 of 5 8/26/2012 3:58 PM

faculty members of CL take CAT every year to understand it especially because since CAT 2009

the paper/questions are not available in the public domain.

Neeraj


What a fab article… !!!! While reading this, UNFORTUNATELY, i could soooo much relate myself to all

these things.. Every single line that you mentioned Sir, holds true for me..

The problem is that i am facing most of the time in R1 questions and getting stuck on some of them as u

pointed out correctly.. Just needs to reduce this and make them into solvable questions.

Waiting for the next post when you actually tell us on how to fight this problem..

mansi


very helpful sir..thanx

sir can i know what exact is 42+ cutoff..?? for single iim call or 99%ile.. yet confused.. !!

Abhishek


42+ correct answers for 99%ile is required for iim call. somebody plz correct me if am wrong

GP


99%ile plus.


5 of 5 8/26/2012 3:58 PM


GP recommends that you read these before this post:

’7 Rules to Excel in QA’

’6 Rules to Excel in VA‘

How to identify questions of R1, R2 and R3 has given a lot of you, a lot of misery. Many of you have marveled at my ability to

identify and segregate questions in Mocks among these three rounds instantly. If you’re one of them, then I have some good news

and bad news for you.

The bad news is that I cannot tell you which questions to attempt in which round. The good news is that there is someone who

can do it for you – yourself. Of course, we will work together in identifying the questions. I have a simple and effective

technique that will help you identify your R1, R2, R3 questions in no time.

Truth is these are based on your own strengths and weaknesses, and no one can help you in this better than your own self. Here’s

how:

The first step is to go through the attached Strength Finder form which lists down the types of question that can be asked in CAT

and other MBA entrance exams. Based on your comfort level, decide which of the three columns each question type belongs to.

What does each column mean?

• Column I should contain all those question types that you are able to attempt correctly most of the time or you mark the correct

answer in at least 80% of the questions. These are your strengths.

• Column III should contain all those question types which in which you mark the incorrect answer most of the time or you mark

the incorrect answer in about 80% of the questions. These are your weaknesses.

• Column II would hence be home to the remaining question types. These are what I call the grey areas where you get the right

(and also wrong) answer in 50% of the questions. This grey area needs work/ practice for the next 4-5 weeks, by the end of

which you should be able to place it either in the ‘strengths’ or in the ‘weakness’ category

• In an ideal situation, Column II should be empty, all question types should be present either in Column I or III

Ok, so all of your columns are filled. Now what?

• If a Question Type is present in Column II then it indicates that either your fundamentals are not in place or these question type

have not been practiced and revised sufficiently. You need to consider each question type in Column II and push it to either

Column I or III

• Do not waste any time now trying to work on Column III topics. The reality is, if you haven’t been able to improve on it by

now, no miracle will take place in the next 4 weeks. Leave it and move on. You are not to attempt the Column III question

types in CAT. Remember you win matches on the basis of your strengths and by not being unduly worried about your

weaknesses. This is the time to ensure that you will not make a mistake in whatever you know.

• CAT is not a knowledge based test, but an aptitude based. It is about your ability to identify and focus on our strength areas,

coupled with your ability to identify and leave questions which are not do-able. This art of leaving questions will eventually

separate the men from the boys come CAT day.

Decoding R1, R2, R3 Questions

The Mystery of R1, R2, R3 Solved: Presenting the ‘Strengths Finder’ | ... http://careerlauncher.com/gpspeaks/?p=348#comment-573

1 of 3 8/26/2012 3:57 PM

6 THOUGHTS ON “THE MYSTERY OF R1, R2, R3 SOLVED: PRESENTING THE ‘STRENGTHS FINDER’”

• Column I questions that can be solved in about 1.5 minutes should be attempted in R1

• Column I questions that are not solved/attempted in R1 should be attempted in R2

• Column II questions should be attempted in R3 if time is available

So, on CAT day, it should not take you more than 15-20 seconds to determine if the question is from your area of expertise/

strength. If it is, get cracking; if not, skip and move on to the next one. Any question where you have a doubt, leave it for now and

come back to it in round two after you have attempted all questions in your strengths category.

Obviously this means that you will not attempt Column III question types in CAT or any other entrance exam, which is fine

because in any case you will get them wrong most of the time. This will also ensure that you do not waste time in Risky Shots

and Double Negatives.

Time to be spent on each round

This is a function of how comfortable are you with the section and how many questions can you attempt comfortably. Let me give

you 3 different scenarios:

Scenario 1: If your target attempt in QADI is 25-26 question, then R1 could be around 25 minutes for around 10-12 attempts,

R2 could be 25 minutes for another 8-10 questions and in the balance 5 – 6 questions in the remaining 20 minutes in R3.

For some of you R1 and R2 may consume about 30 minutes each with 10 -12 questions in each round and a couple of questions

in 10 minutes of R3.

Scenario 2: If your target attempt in QADI is around 20 questions, then R1 could be around 25 minutes for 8-10 questions, R2

could be 35 minutes for another 8-10 questions and 2-3 questions in the balance 10 minutes of R3.

Scenario 3: If your target attempt in QADI is around 15-17 questions, then consider attempting 7-8 questions in two rounds of 30

minutes each and another couple of questions in the remaining 10 minutes.

Needless to say this is only indicative and you will need to create your own strategy based on your strengths & weaknesses and

the target attempts. Unlike me, you could choose to attempt DI and AR sets in R1. There are no fixed rules and your R1, R2,

R3 question types can be completely different from the next person’s or mine.

Download the Strengths Finder Form here.

Liked this post? Also read ‘What to do after every Mock you take’

Tweet 0 ShareShare

Arpit


Thanks a lot sir , this is really very helpful……..i will stick to the form…….

Saral

Like 2

The Mystery of R1, R2, R3 Solved: Presenting the ‘Strengths Finder’ | ... http://careerlauncher.com/gpspeaks/?p=348#comment-573

2 of 3 8/26/2012 3:57 PM

Para Completion is not Rocket Science if you Know these 4 Rules Posted on August 15, 2012 by GP

If a poll was conducted among CAT aspirants on the most hated question type in CAT English

section, possibly Grammar and Para Completion would top the charts. Unfortunately the prerequisite

for doing well in both these question types would mean going back in time and inculcating a “good

reading habit”. You will rarely find someone who has been reading regularly not doing well in these

question types. Obviously, going back in time is ruled out and since we are targeting CAT 2012

“develop a good reading habit” is stupid advice.

While I have already written in one of my earlier posts on how to improve your scores for MBA

entrance exams in Grammar, and hopefully you have already started implementing the suggestions,

let me shift my focus to the other monster – Para Completion.

First let us understand how most of the Para Completion questions are framed.Typically, the

question creator will take a short paragraph from a book or an article and remove the last sentence

and your Para Completion question and the correct answer choice are ready. The only thing missing

are the three incorrect choices. Now creating three good, but incorrect, choices is not only hard work

(who wants to work hard?) but also requires the content creator to think like the author, which is not

easy, so he/she will usually be able to create only one good/close choice and two not so good

choices.

We need to hence remember that the correct answer choice in Para Completion is an extension

of the passage and is written by the same person who wrote the passage, so there have to be

similarities between the paragraph and the correct answer choice. If we are able to identify the

similarities or dissimilarities between the paragraph and the choices we have tamed the monster.

Identifying similarities is usually more difficult than identifying dissimilarities and it I have my 4

Rules to identify the incorrect choices. Obviously eliminating 3 incorrect choices will give us the

answer.

4 Rules to Master Para Completion

Rule 1: Scope of passage and answer choice should be the same

Scope loosely refers to the subject of the passage and the issues discussed in it. Scope of the correct

answer choice should be the same as that of the passage. For example, if the passage discusses the

benefits of Nuclear Energy, choices discussing Solar Power are unlikely to be correct. When a choice

http://careerlauncher.com/gpspeaks/?p=251

http://careerlauncher.com/gpspeaks/?author=2

is out of scope, it is discussing issues or subjects that are different from those in the passage. Out of

scope can be loosely translated as out of syllabus.

Rule 2: Scale of the passage and answer choice should be the same

Consider a passage on the outbreak of bird flu in a city, the correct answer choice will also focus on

the city, it will not significantly change the scale (or size) of the problem. Thus any choice that

extends the bird flu problem of the city to the country or reduces it to a small part of the city is

unlikely to be correct. In other words the size of the problem will be the same in the paragraph

and the correct answer choice.

Rule 3: Tone of the passage and the answer choice should be the same

If the author of the paragraph has a favourable opinion on an issue then the correct answer choice

should also reflect it. The tone of the passage and the correct answer choice has to be the same. If the

passage is laudatory, it is not possible for the correct answer choice to be critical.

Rule 4: Continuity

Just as Ganges flows from Gangotri to Rishikesh to Varanasi and cannot reverse its direction, an

issue that has been discussed and closed in the paragraph will not be taken up again, remember from

Rishikesh Ganges can flow only to Varanasi and not to Gangotri. It is the last thought or issue that

has to be taken forward and not something that is dead and buried.

How to apply these 4 Rules?

Obviously you start by reading the paragraph and going thru the choices. Check each choice for

similarity with the passage on account of Scope (syllabus), Scale (size) Tone and Continuity (flow).

Any choice that does not adhere to these four has to be incorrect and eliminated.

1. If you are able to eliminate 3 out of 4 choices the remaining choice is the answer.

2. If you are able to eliminate 2 out of 4 choices, compare the two remaining choices and the one

which is closer to the paragraph in terms of scope, scale, tone and continuity is the answer.

3. If you are able to eliminate only 1 out of 4 choices, move on to the next question.

4. If you are unable to eliminate any choice – obviously this need not be discussed.

To help you understand the application of these rules I have discussed 4 Para Completion question

below. After going thru these examples try applying these rules to Para Completion questions of

Mock CAT past CAT papers.

These rules will also work for Summary and Critical Reasoning questions and inferential

questions in RC passages.

Application of 4 Rules to a few questions for better understanding:

Q1. Teaching creationism in American public schools has been outlawed since 1987 when the

Supreme Court ruled that the inclusion of religious material in science classes was unconstitutional.

In recent years, however, opponents of the theory of evolution – first developed by Charles Darwin,

have regrouped, challenging science education with the doctrine of “intelligent design”, which has

been carefully stripped of all references to God and religion. Unlike traditional creationism, which

claims that God created the earth in six days, proponents of intelligent design say the workings of

this planet are too complex to be ascribed to evolution. There must have been a designer working to a

plan – that is, a creator. _____________________

(a) However, these kinds of teachings are unacceptable to the American public.

(b) However, there are many schools that are in favour of teaching traditional creationism to the

students.

(c) However, such beliefs are not substantial enough to convince the American courts to allow

teaching the subject in its schools.

(d) However, the American government believes that the students must have the knowledge of

traditional creationism, as well as, intelligent design.

(e) However, some believe that parents should decide what subjects should be taught to their children

Choice (a): Incorrect, change of scope, the paragraph does not discuss the views of the American

public.

Choice (b): Incorrect, change of scope, the paragraph does not discuss the views of the schools.

Choice (c): Could be correct, scope is view of American courts, and the tone is the same as the

view is the same in another similar situation.

Choice (d): Incorrect, change of scope from view of American Courts to views of the American

Government.

Choice (e): Incorrect, change of scope from view of American Courts to views of the parents.

Correct answer: Choice (c)

Q2. The Ninth Schedule was created by Jawaharlal Nehru’s government as a vessel to protect

agrarian reform legislation. Nehru’s vessel became a constitutional dustbin for Indira Gandhi’s and

later governments to provide immunity for any kind of legislation relating to elections, mines and

minerals, industrial regulation, requisition of property, monopolies, coal or copper nationalisation,

general insurance, sick industries, acquiring the Alcock Ashdown company, Kerala Chitties Act,

Tamil Nadu reservations of 69 per cent and so on. _____________________

(a) This misuse is only characteristic of the political situation in India.

(b) Protection has become a veil for rampant corruption.

(c) No principle underlies this selection.

(d) Theoretically, all state and Union legislations lack substance.

(e) The dustbin was of limitless capacity.

Choice (a): Incorrect, scale (or scope) has changed from Indira Gandhi’s and later Governments to

entire political class.

Choice (b): Incorrect, change of scope, corruption has not been discussed in the paragraph and

hence out of syllabus

Choice (c): Could be correct, it has a tone of disapproval like the paragraph and it talks about all

kind of legislation (no principle) but introduces a new concept – principle and hence the scope is

possibly different.

Choice (d): Incorrect, scale has changed to encompass all legislations and scope has changed by

including both state and the Union.

Choice (e): Correct on account of tone (disapproving) and continuity (dustbin) and does not have a

problem of either scale or scope.

Correct answer: Choice (e)

Q3. The digital-storytelling movement started in the early 1990s with performance artists such as San

Francisco-based Atchley. But the technique is just beginning to take hold in the world of e-business.

At last fall’s national Digital Storytelling Festival in Crested Butte, Colo., nearly half of the people

signed up represented corporations. “The stories that people are telling on the Web around corporate

brands are astounding,” says Atchley. “Knowledge is best shared and remembered through a good

story, and companies are just starting to catch on to all that this can mean.”__________________

(a) If so, digital storytelling will see that computer prices continue to plummet.

(b) If so, digital storytelling will link high-speed data lines and more people to the Web.

(c) If so, digital storytelling will help companies to know more than what they knew earlier.

(d) If so, digital storytelling will only become more popular.

(e) If so, digital storytelling will only become less popular.

Choice (a): Incorrect, change of scope – Computer prices out of syllabus.

Choice (b): Incorrect, change of scope – High speed data lines & web are not discussed in the

paragraph.

Choice (c): Incorrect, change of scope – The focus of the paragraph is on digital storytelling and not

on how it will help companies.

Choice (d): Correct, on account of Scope & Continuity. The focus of this choice is on digital

storytelling and also takes forward the impact of interest of companies – more popularity.

Choice (e): Incorrect, change of tone – the paragraph talks only of increasing popularity while the

choice is making digital storytelling less popular.

Correct answer: Choice (d)

Q4. No fewer than 70,000 workers would have been needed to lug limestone blocks from desert

miles away to the building sites of the pyramids. Yet there is little evidence that the pharaohs had to

coerce their subjects to leave their fields and families in order to build a monument whose

completion any single worker would certainly never see. All people apparently willingly participated

in the pageant of immortality-made-real. With no hope of a berth for themselves in the tomb, the

workers nonetheless must have taken comfort from knowing that their king, their earthly

representative, would live on for them in perpetuity.

(a) Here was a culture that would persist, just as its pharaohs would live on in their silent palaces.

(b) The Egyptian hoi polloi became immortal by proxy.

(c) King Tut — and ended the brief experiment in monotheism in favour of the older religion with its

promise of an afterlife.

(d) The solemn bearing of these great structures reminds people today of the way an entire culture

fashioned a collective immortality in astonishing stone.

Choice (a): Incorrect, culture is not mentioned in the paragraph, out of scope.

Choice (b): Could be correct on account of scope, workers or common people, and continuity from

last statement.

Choice (c): Incorrect, on account of scale reducing from Pharoahs in general to King Tut in

particular and the scope changing to religion.

Choice (d): Incorrect, scope is workers and not the structures

9/29/12 How I attempted Mock 9 QA | GP SPEAKS

1/24careerlauncher.com/gpspeaks/?p=743#more-743

How I attempted Mock 9 QA

Posted on September 28, 2012 by GP

First off, I know this has been long due. Attempted and written on a train ride to Varanasi, this was one of the Mocks I

enjoyed a little more than the others. I was traveling by myself, and instead of reading the paperback that I’d picked up,

thought would try doing a Mock. Works out pretty well, if you ask me. So here’s Mock 9 written during my SQC Bharat

Darshan

Section – I

Q1 . Two articles were sold at a profit of 25% each. The ratio of the profits made on the two articles was 6 : 7. If the average

selling price of the two articles was `3510, what was the absolute difference (in `) between the profits earned on the two

articles?

(a) 100 (b) 108 (c) 132 (d) 120

My approach:Q1. PLD, R1

Average SP of the two articles = Rs 3510, thus total SP = 2 x 3510 = Rs 7020

Profit = 25% Margin = 20%

Total profit on sale of the two atricles = 20% of 7020 = Rs 1404

Ratio of Profit on the two articles = 6 : 7

Difference in profit of the two articles =

Correct Answer : Choice (b) 108

Q2. How many ordered pairs (a, k) are there for which the system of equations 3x + ay = k and

ax + 12y = 48 will have infinite solutions?

(a) 4 (b) 1 (c) 2 (d) Infinite

My approach: Equations , R1

For infinite solutions:

From we get

From we get k = 4a



Thus there will be two sets values of (a,k)

Correct Answer : Choice (c) 2

Directions for questions 3 to 5: Answer the questions on the basis of the information given below.

The bar chart given below shows the revenue (in ` lakhs), the expenditure (in ` lakhs) and the number of employees (in ‘00) of a

company that produces wheels, from the year 2006 to the year 2011.

Q3. In each of the given years, the number of units of wheels produced by the company was ten times the number of

employees. In which year was the expenditure incurred per unit of wheel produced the lowest?

(a) 2008 (b) 2009 (c) 2010 (d) 2011

Q4. The total expenditure of the company during the given period was what percent of the total revenue?

(a) 75% (b) 66.67% (c) 80% (d) 87.5%

Q5. In which of the following years was the percentage increase in the revenue as compared to the previous year the

highest?

(a) 2008 (b) 2009 (c) 2010 (d) 2011

My approach: Q3-5. DI set, R2

Noted on the rough sheet under DI:

Q 3–5 Multiple bar chart Easy numbers To be attempted

Q6. Rene cuts out a square of the maximum possible area from a piece of paper which is in the shape of a quadrant of a

circle of radius cm. She then rolls the square sheet along one of its sides to form a cylinder. Find the radius (in cm) of

the cylinder.

(a) (b) (c) (d)

My approach: Q6. Mensuration, R1

For a square of maximum area, Diagonal of square = radius of the quadrant =



Side of square = Circumference of cylinder

Moved to the choices at this stage,

The correct answer should have in the numerator and in the denominator

Correct Answer : Choice (d)

Q7 . In the figure given below, and AC : BC = 3 : 2. If the area of the triangle ABD is 20 cm2, what is the

area (in cm2) of the triangle BDC?

(a) 20 (b) 24 (c) 36 (d) 16

My approach: Geometry, marked for Review to be attempted in R2

Q8. Pie Chart – I shows the percentage break-up of the scoring shots played by the Indian Cricket team during a test

innings while Pie Chart – II shows the percentage break-up of the scoring shots played by Sachin Tendulkar during the same

innings.

A total of 12 sixes were hit during the Indian innings and 3 of them were hit by Sachin Tendulkar. What was the ratio of the

runs scored by the team through 4’s to the runs scored by Sachin Tendulkar through 2’s?

(a) 4 : 1 (b) 4 : 3



(c) 2 : 1 (d) Cannot be determined

My approach: P ie Chart, Calculation based, R1

For Sachin: Number of 6 scoring shots = 3, thus Number of 2 scoring shots = 9

For the Team: Number of 6 scoring shots = 12, thus Number of 4 scoring shots = 18

Ratio of runs scored by team in 4s to runs scored by Sachin in 2s = 18×4 : 9×2 = 4 : 1

Correct Answer : Choice (a) 4 : 1

Q9 . In the figure given below, SC is a tangent to the bigger circle. If AC is the diameter of the bigger circle, what is the

measure of ÐQPR?

(a) 30° (b) 40° (c) 70° (d) 60°

My approach: Geometry, marked for review to be attempted in R2

Q10 . If (24)k is a factor of 5! × 10! × 15!, what is the largest possible integer value of k?

(a) 5 (b) 7 (c) 11 (d) 4

My approach: Numbers R1

24 = 2 x 3, hence to find the highest power of 24 that will complete divide 5! x 10! x 15! we will need to find the highest power

of 2 or (highest power of 2) / 3

Highest power of 2 that will completely divide 5! = 3



Highest power of 2 that will completely divide 5! x 10! x 15! = 3 + 8 + 11 = 22

Highest power of 2 that will completely divide 5! x 10! x 15! = 22/3 = 7


3

3

3



Q11 . The product of three natural numbers – N1, N2 and N3 – is twelve times their H.C.F. How many ordered triplets (N1,

N2, N3) are possible?

(a) 12 (b) 15 (c) 18 (d) 21

My approach: Number System will need to make cases , marked for Review to be attempted in R2.

Q12. The product of the first five terms of an increasing arithmetic progression is . If the 1st, 2nd and 4th terms of the

arithmetic progression are in geometric progression, what is the sum of the 1st term and the 5th term of the arithmetic

progression?

(a) 4 (b) 2 (c) 6 (d) 8

My approach: Progress ion looks calculation intensive, marked for Review to be attempted in R2

Q13. A circle is inscribed in a regular hexagon and the regular hexagon is inscribed in a circle. By what percentage is the

area of the bigger circle more than that of the smaller circle?

(a) 25 (b) 30 (c) 40 (d) None of these

My approach: Mensuration R1

Let the side of the regular hexagon = 2x = radius of outer circle

Area of outer circle = 4ʌr

Radius of inner circle = half of distance between parallel sides

Side of hexagon will make a 30, 60, 90 right triangle as shown.

Thus radius of inner circle = r¥3

Area of inner circle = 3ʌr

Hence area of bigger circle is 33.33% is more than that of the smaller circle.

Correct Answer : Choice (d) None of these

2

2



Q14 . The mean, median and mode temperatures of the seven days of a particular week in a city were 5.429°C

(approximately), 7°C and 9°C respectively. If the temperature (in °C) on each of the seven days was a positive integer, then

which of the following could not be the temperature (in °C) on any of the seven days? (The data set contains only one mode)

(a) 1 (b) 3 (c) 2 (d) None of these

My approach: Numbers, R1

5.429 =

Thus the sum of temperature of the week =

Median = 7 and Mode = 9, thus 9 is the temperature for at least 2 days

Option 1 is not acceptable because it leads to two modes – 2 and 9 while the question mentions that there is only one mode.


Q15. Given below is the Speed-Time graph of a car.

Find the average speed of the car in the first 50 seconds.

(a) 25 m/s (b) 30 m/s (c) 37.5 m/s (d) 50 m/s

My approach: TSD Graph, R1

Distance covered by the car = area under the graph

Area under the graph = Area of 2 triangles + area of rectangle

Area under the graph = 375 + 1000 + 125 = 1500 m

Average speed = 1500/50 = 30 m/s

Correct Answer : Choice (b) 30 m/s



Q16 . Find the product of all the real roots of the quadratic equation x2 – |x| – 12 = 0.

(a) 9 (b) –12 (c) – 36 (d) – 16

My approach: Quadratic Equation, R1

x – |x| -12 = 0 x – x -12 = 0 and x + x -12 = 0

x – x -12 = 0 x – 4x + 3x -12 = 0 x = 4 and -3

x + x -12 = 0 x + 4x – 3x -12 = 0 x = -4 and 3

Substituting x = and in x2 – |x| -12 = 0 we find that only satisfies

Thus product of real roots = -16

Correct Answer : Choice (d) -16


The table given below shows the GDP (in Rs crores) of five Indian states and the percentage contribution of E-business to their

GDP in FY 2011-12. The line graph shows the contributions (in Rs crores) of the three major components of E-business – ‘E-

Commerce’, ‘Internet Advertising’ and ‘Freelancing’ – for each state in FY 2011-12.

2 2 2

2 2

2 2



Q17. For which state is the sum of the contributions made by the three major components of E-business third highest

among the five states in FY 2011-12?

(a) Bihar (b) Gujarat (c) Karnataka (d) Rajasthan

Q18. The sum of the contributions made by the three major components of E-business is expected to grow by 10% in FY

2012-2013 over the previous year in Gujarat. By what percentage should the contribution of the rest of the components of E-

business change so that the percentage contribution of E-business to the GDP in FY 2012-2013 remains the same as that in

FY 2011-2012?

(a) 6.31 (b) 11.11

(c) 9.09 (d) Cannot be determined

Q19 . Freelancing contributes approximately what percent to E-business for Karnataka in

FY 2011-12?

(a) 7 (b) 11 (c) 17 (d) 23

My approach: 17-19. DI set, R2


17–19 Multiple line chart Easy numbers To be attempted

Q20. What is the number of solution(s) of the equation (e = 2.72)

(a) 1 (b) 2 (c) 3 (d) 4



My approach: Not sure how to solve this question may need to make cases marked for Review to be

attempted in R2.

Q21 . During one of the shows in ‘Jemini’ circus, four hats are picked randomly from a trunk that contains 3 red hats, 5 black

hats, 4 blue hats and 6 yellow hats, and are given to four dwarfs such that each dwarf gets exactly one hat. All the dwarfs

throw their hats in the air simultaneously. Then each dwarf comes under exactly one of the hats, not necessarily the one

thrown by him, such that the hat fits snugly on his head. What is the probability that at least two dwarfs are wearing the hats

of same colour now and no dwarf has the same hat on his head that he had thrown in the air?

(a) 45/136 (b) 91/136 (c) 83/272 (d) None of these

My approach: I will most probably not be able to solve this , leave. R3

Q22 . In how many ways can 4 boys and 5 girls be seated in a row such that no two boys sit together?

(a) 3600 (b) 2880 (c) 43200 (d) 362880

My approach: P&C, have done this k ind of questions ear lier , R1.

5 girls can be seated in 5! ways = 120 ways

There are hence 6 places for 4 boys to and they can sit in 6 x 5 x 4 x 3 = 360 ways.

Hence total number of ways = 120 x 360 = 120 x 120 x 3 = 1440 x 3 > 42000


Q23 . The number of positive integer solutions of the equation is:

(a) 2 (b) 3 (c) 4 (d) More than 4

My approach: Tr ignometry, can be solved by substituting values of “n” , could take time hence marked for

review for attempt in R2.

Q24. Which of the following numbers cannot be expressed as the product of two prime numbers that lie between 30 and 45?

(a) 1147 (b) 1333 (c) 1779 (d) 1591

My approach: Numbers , R1

The prime numbers between 30 and 45 are 31, 37, 41 and 43

The product of these numbers will have a unit digit of 1 or 3 or 7, hence 1779 is not possible.




Q25. The diagonals of a quadrilateral ABCD intersect at O. If AO : OC = 2 : 3, BO : OD = 2 :1, DO : OC = 1 : 2 and ,

what is the ratio of the length of side AB to that of side CD?

(a) (b) (c) (d)

My approach: Geometry with lots of data will check in R3 only.

Q26. (x + 1)(x + 1) is a factor of (1 + x + x + x + x + « + x ), where x, p and q are positive integers. What is the maximum

possible value of (p + q)?

(a) 25 (b) 30 (c)40 (d) None of these

My approach: Algebra bionomial expansion, marked for Review to be attempted in R2

Q27.

If x is an integer, what is the value of x?

(a) 2 (b) 1

(c) Either (a) or (b) (d) Cannot be determined

My approach: Logs question to be solved by substitution of choices , R1.

Substitute x = 2 in the equation, LHS = RHS= 0 satisfies

Thus, Choice (d) is incorrect

Substitute x = 1 in the equation, we find that base of Log on LHS = 1 which is not possible

Thus, Choice (b) and (c) are incorrect.

Correct Answer : Choice (a) 2

Q28. If f(n) represents the sum of the digit(s) of n for n = 1, 2, 3, 4, «, find the remainder when f(1) + f(2) + f(3) + f(4) + « +

f(100) is divided by 90.

(a) 1 (b) 11 (c) 46 (d) 0

My approach: Numbers – digit sum, R1

p q 2 3 4 39



Digit sum has a cyclicity of 9 and digit sum of any 9 consecutive integers is a multiple of 9.

Thus, Sum of digit sum of first 99 natural numbers will be a multiple of 90.

and Remainder will be on account of f(100) = 1 only

Correct Answer : Choice (a) 1

Directions for questions 29 and 30 : Answer the questions on the basis of the information given below.

Anil, Bala, Chinmay, Devesh and Esha went to different countries for vacationing. Each person carried some amount (in `)

with him/her to spend in the foreign country and got it converted into the currency of his/her destination country at the

foreign exchange counter of his/her respective departure airport in India. Similarly, after coming back to India from the trip,

each person got the amount left after the trip converted back into ` from the foreign currency at the arrival airport in India.

Table – I shows the amount (in `) carried by each person and the percentage of the amount left with him/her after converting

the leftover money back into `. Table – II shows the exchange rates of different currencies at which these persons bought/sold

the foreign currency.

Q29. How many Australian Dollars (approximately) did Bala spend on her trip?

(a) 9549 (b) 8750 (c) 8854 (d) 9444

Q30. What percentage of the total amount (in `) carried by the five persons together was left after they came back from their

respective destinations and converted the leftover money back into `?

(a) 12.5 (b) 15 (c) 14.71 (d) 11.11

My approach: DI set, R2 .

This set has data on currency rates of different currencies and is likely to be calculation intensive. Can be attempted but this

is my last preference and will be attempted only after I have gone thru the other sets of DI.




Q 29–30 Multiple tables Likely to be calculation intensive Attemptable

Thus in Round 1, in about I have:

Attempted 13 questions – Q 1, 2 , 6 , 8 , 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 22, 24, 27 & 28. These are, for me, the easiest QA

questions in the paper and will ensure a decent score in the section.

Identified 7 QA questions for R2 – Q 7, 9 , 11, 12, 20, 23 & 26 .

Identified that all three DI sets , Q 3 – 5, Q 17 – 19 and Q 29 – 30 are attemptable but the last set appears

to be calculation intensive and would be attempted after attempting the first two sets.

Identified that Q 21 should not be attempted and Q 25 to be considered only after attempting all other questions.

Round 2:

First the DI sets , as explained above I s tarted with Q 3 – 5


The bar chart given below shows the revenue (in Rs lakhs), the expenditure (in Rs lakhs) and the number of employees (in ‘00)

of a company that produces wheels, from the year 2006 to the year 2011.

Q3. In each of the given years, the number of units of wheels produced by the company was ten times the number of

employees. In which year was the expenditure incurred per unit of wheel produced the lowest?

(a) 2008 (b) 2009 (c) 2010 (d) 2011

Q4. The total expenditure of the company during the given period was what percent of the total revenue?

(a) 75% (b) 66.67% (c) 80% (d) 87.5%

Q5. In which of the following years was the percentage increase in the revenue as compared to the previous year the

highest?

(a) 2008 (b) 2009 (c) 2010 (d) 2011

My approach to questions 3 – 5: Multiple bar chart with the values given is equivalent to a table. The numbers are also

easy to handle. The graph gives the revenue, expenditure and the number of employees of a company from 2006 to 2011.

Q3. Since the number of wheels produced is 10 times the number of employees for all the years hence instead of checking

for ratio of expenditure to number of wheels produced, check for ratio of expenditure to number of employees for

each year mentioned in the choices .

Choice (a) 2008: Ratio = 175/6 § 5.8

Choice (b) 2009: Ratio = 205/50 = 4.1, thus choice (a) is incorrect.

Choice (c) 2010: Ratio = 195/40 § 5, incorrect, since Choice (b) is lower.

Choice (d) 2011: Ratio = 240/35 § 7, incorrect, since Choice (b) is lower.




Q4. I felt that finding the total expenditure and the total revenue for the 6 years could be time consuming hence decided to

check expenditure as a percentage of revenue for all the years .

Since E/R for all the years is between 77.5% and 84%, the average for all the years will also lie in this range.

Choice (a) 75%, incorrect as it is less than 77.5%

Choice (b) 66.7%, incorrect as it is less than 77.5%

Choice (c) 80%, could be correct as it is in the range

Choice (d) 87.5% incorrect as it is more than 84%

Correct Answer : Choice (c) 80%

Q5. Checked the choices for % growth in revenue over the previous year:

Choice (a) 2008: % growth = 2/9 § 22%

Choice (b) 2009: % growth = 1/11 § 9%, incorrect since Choice (a) is higher.

Choice (c) 2010: % growth = 1/24 § 4%, incorrect since Choice (a) is higher.

Choice (d) 2011: % growth = 6/25 § 25%, Correct as it is the highest.

Correct Answer : Choice (d) 2011


The table given below shows the GDP (in ` crores) of five Indian states and the percentage contribution of E-business to their

GDP in FY 2011-12. The line graph shows the contributions (in ` crores) of the three major components of E-business – ‘E-

Commerce’, ‘Internet Advertising’ and ‘Freelancing’ – for each state in FY 2011-12.



Q17. For which state is the sum of the contributions made by the three major components of E-business third highest

among the five states in FY 2011-12?

(a) Bihar (b) Gujarat (c) Karnataka (d) Rajasthan

Q18. The sum of the contributions made by the three major components of E-business is expected to grow by 10% in FY

2012-2013 over the previous year in Gujarat. By what percentage should the contribution of the rest of the components of E-

business change so that the percentage contribution of E-business to the GDP in FY 2012-2013 remains the same as that in

FY 2011-2012?

(a) 6.31 (b) 11.11

(c) 9.09 (d) Cannot be determined

Q19 . Freelancing contributes approximately what percent to E-business for Karnataka in

FY 2011-12?

(a) 7 (b) 11 (c) 17 (d) 23

My approach to questions 17 – 19: The table gives the GDP and the E-business contribution % for five different states

for the year 2011-12 while the multiple line chart gives the contribution in Rs cr of the three major components of e-

business.

Q17. Found the sum of the contribution of the three components of e-business from the multiple line chart and found that

Karnataka is the 3rd highest.

Correct Answer : Choice (c) Karnataka

Q18. Since GDP for 2011-12 or the growth rate of GDP over the previous year is not given hence the answer cannot be

calculated.

Correct Answer : Choice (d) Cannot be determined.



Q19. We need to calculate Freelancing as a percentage of e-business in Karnataka.

Freelancing in Karnataka = Rs 1440 cr

e-business in Karnataka = 7% of Rs 297964 § 7 x 2979.64 §7 x 3000

Freelancing as a % of e-business in Karnataka =

Correct Answer : Choice (a) 7%

Now that I have attempted two out of the three sets of DI and I am left with the one that is likely to be calculation intensive,

individual R2 questions – Q 7, 9, 11, 12, 20, 23 & 26. I decided to do the geometry questions after completing the other

individual questions.

Q11 . The product of three natural numbers – N1, N2 and N3 – is twelve times their H.C.F. How many ordered triplets (N1,

N2, N3) are possible?

(a) 12 (b) 15 (c) 18 (d) 21

My approach:Since the product of the three numbers is 12 times their HCF, the product has to be a multiple of 12. Since we

need to find out the number of ordered triplets (N1, N2, N3) each case is equivalent to 3 ordered triplets and hence the

choices 12, 15, 18 & 21are equivalent to 4, 5, 6 & 7 cases respectively.

Decided to make cases:

HCF = 1 and Product = 12

(1,1,12), (1,2,6), (1,3,4), (1,12,12) 4 cases or 12 ordered triplets

HCF = 2 and Product = 24

(2,2,6), (2,3,4) 2 cases or 6 ordered triple

t

s

us I marked the answer as 18 and go it wrong because I missed out (2,2,3) where HCF = 1 and Product = 12, thus

missing out on 3 ordered triplets. The correct answer is 21.

Q12. The product of the first five terms of an increasing arithmetic progression is 40/81. If the 1st, 2nd and 4th terms of the

arithmetic progression are in geometric progression, what is the sum of the 1st term and the 5th term of the arithmetic

progression?

(a) 4 (b) 2 (c) 6 (d) 8

My approach: This appeared to be calculation intensive so tried to make cases but was unable to do so and hence decided

to solve this question by applying standard mathematical technique.



Assumed the first 5 terms of the AP to be: (a-2d), (a-d), a, (a+d) and (a+2d)

1st, 2nd and 4th terms are in GP, thus:

(a-2d) x (a+d) = (a-d)2 a = 3d

The product of the first 5 terms = 40/81

(a-2d) x (a-d) x a x (a+d) x (a+2d) = 40/81

d x 2d x 3d x 4d x 5d = 40/81 d =1/3

Thus, sum of 1st and 5th term = 6d = 2


Q20. What is the number of solution(s) of the equation (e = 2.72)

(a) 1 (b) 2 (c) 3 (d) 4

My approach: The question involves modulas hence most probably the number of solutions of the equation will be and

even number but I had no idea how to proceed further and left the question unanswered. Not to be

attempted again. R3

Q23. The number of positive integer solutions of the equation is:

(a) 2 (b) 3 (c) 4 (d) More than 4

My approach: Solved the question by substituting the value of n in the expression.

For n = 1, we get cos (4ʌ) + sin (4ʌ) = 1 + 0 = 1 satisfies

For n = 2, we get cos (5ʌ/2) + sin (5ʌ/2) = 0 + 1 = 1 satisfies

For n = 3, we get cos (2ʌ) + sin (2ʌ) = 1 + 0 = 1 satisfies

For n = 6, we get cos (3ʌ/2) + sin (3ʌ/2) = 0 + 1 = 1 satisfies

For n > 6 we will not get an integral multiple of ʌ/2 and so should not be checked.

In this I made a mistake, cos (3ʌ/2) = -1, thus n = 6 does not satis fy and the correct answer should be

Choice (b) 3



Q26. (x + 1)(x + 1) is a factor of (1 + x + x + x + x + … + x ), where x, p and q are positive integers. What is the maximum

possible value of (p + q)?

(a) 25 (b) 30 (c)40 (d) None of these

My approach:Tried solving the question by substituting the value of x and by finding the sum of the GP on the RHS but

unable to make any headway. While I was sure that p+q ≠ 40, I could not eliminate any other choice. The presence of “None

of these” also made my task difficult and hence left the question unatttempted.

Q7 . In the figure given below, and AC : BC = 3 : 2. If the area of the triangle ABD is 20 cm2, what is the

area (in cm2) of the triangle BDC?

(a) 20 (b) 24 (c) 36 (d) 16

My approach: No idea how to solve the question hence left it.

Q9 . In the figure given below, SC is a tangent to the bigger circle. If AC is the diameter of the bigger circle, what is the

measure of ÐQPR?

(a) 30° (b) 40° (c) 70° (d) 60°

My approach:Angle CBD = 60º = Angle CAD, Angles in the same segment of the circle

AC is the diameter of the circle and SC is tangent to the circle,

Angel SCA = 90º

Angle ASC = 30º

p q 2 3 4 39



Not sure how to proceed but ǻ SCA in the figure appears to be to scale, hence decided to take a chance. Compared the angles

felt that Angle RSQ � Angle QPR, and marked the answer as 30º and got it right.

Correct Answer : Choice (a) 30º

Moved to the remaining DI set Q29 – 30:

Directions for questions 29 and 30 : Answer the questions on the basis of the information given below.

Anil, Bala, Chinmay, Devesh and Esha went to different countries for vacationing. Each person carried some amount (in `)

with him/her to spend in the foreign country and got it converted into the currency of his/her destination country at the

foreign exchange counter of his/her respective departure airport in India. Similarly, after coming back to India from the trip,

each person got the amount left after the trip converted back into ` from the foreign currency at the arrival airport in India.

Table – I shows the amount (in `) carried by each person and the percentage of the amount left with him/her after converting

the leftover money back into `. Table – II shows the exchange rates of different currencies at which these persons bought/sold

the foreign currency.

Q29. How many Australian Dollars (approximately) did Bala spend on her trip?

(a) 9549 (b) 8750 (c) 8854 (d) 9444

Q30. What percentage of the total amount (in `) carried by the five persons together was left after they came back from their

respective destinations and converted the leftover money back into `?

(a) 12.5 (b) 15 (c) 14.71 (d) 11.11

My approach:

Q29 . Bala converted Rs 5,00,000 into A$ and after returning to India converted the remaining A$ into Rs 75,000 (15%of Rs

5,00,000)



Rs 5,00,000 converted into A$ @ Rs48 per A$ = 5,00,000/48 = A$10,417

Rs 75,000 were converted from A$ @ Rs 45 = 75,000/45 = A$ 1,667

Hence amount spent in Australia = 10,417 – 1,667 = 8750


Q30. Total amount carried by all 5 people = Rs 21,00,000

Amount left with the 5 people after returning from their trip = 3,09,000

% of amount left after the trip =

Correct Answer : Choice (c) 14.71%

Summary of Per formance



18 THOUGHTS ON “HOW I ATTEMPTED MOCK 9 QA”

�

TweetTweet � � ShareShare

Saurabh

on September 28, 2012 at 11:23 am said:

please post analysis of section 2

Ishan

on September 28, 2012 at 2:41 pm said:

sir please post VA LR section too

GP


Saturday evening or Sunday morning.

kanika pathela


Please explain trigo question

Thank You

Tushar


Hi kanika,

Like 0



There is a misprint in the solution- instead of cos(3π/2)= -1 it should be sin(3π/2)= -1. Hope this

clarifies your doubt.

Cheers

Richa Singh


Sir,

In ques 7 , I used SQC approach.

I made the figure proportinate and found that the required area is less than area of ABD.

Only one option is less than 20

GP


Richa, good show.

While analysing the paper identified another way of doing the question.

The area of triangle ABC is (1/2)x(AC)xh = 3xh/2 or the area of ABC should be a multiple of 3.

or Area of triangle ABD + BDC should be a multiple of 3

thus 20 + correct answer choice = multiple of 3, only Choice (d) 16 satisfies.

natasha


hello sir, as u said during SQC, i wanted to ask u tat in question no. 9 , looking at the figure we can easily

eliminate options c& d, as the angle cannot be 60 or 70 degrees, then moving on to the next options we

can analyse a bit and can mark the option as 30 degrees. Will it be gud or it would be better to leave the

question if u don’t get the idea to solve it correctly using the concepts?

GP


Natasha,

I will take my chances with 30 degrees based on visual observation.



Akash


Sir question 10 , can we , you got 22/3 and its the same thing I got ( probably in thrice the amnt of time) ,

but mulled over as was not getting an integral value , you have rounded off to 7, was this an error on the

part of setting answer, or such things should be factored in for CAT .i.e slight alteration in answers…..

Tushar


Hi akash,

google how to find the highest power of a prime number in a factorial you will get the answer to your

question.

Cheers

Shekher Nishank


Dear Sir,

In question no. 7 how did u reach that we should take .429 = 3/7

Shekher Nishank


ok sir i guess u reach by taking the fact since all the numbers are integers so that their sum must

also be the integer and in that case the mean multiplied by 7 must also be an integer.

GP


Shekhar,

1) I remember fractions so 0.429 = 3/7 was automatic without even reading the question

completely.

2) 5.429 is the average of 7 numbers so 0.429 has to be x/7, 1/7 = 0.143 thus 3/7 = 0.429



Shekher Nishank


Dear Sir,

can you tell me any technique so that i can avoid the mistakes done by not reading the question properly.

Like in Question 17 i marked the Gujrat without reading that the question is not asking for the highest but

is asking for the third highest.

Thanks and Regards,

Shekhar

GP


Shekhar, the only technique for this is to read the question carefully and not rushing thru it and not

starting calculations without reading the question and the choices. Read the question and the

choices without a pen/pencil in hand.

Shekher Nishank


Sir,

How do you mark these R1, R2 and R3 and how do you remember which question is marked with which

means whether you attached it with R1 or R2 or R3

GP


R1 questions are attempted when I come across them.

R2 single questions are marked for review so in R2 I look at only those questions that are marked

for review

R2 data sets – DI or AR, I note the Q.No and the kind of data set on the rough sheet.



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