Master the Secret of Acing in Quantitative Ability in CAT 2024

Quantitative Ability is a section where the CAT likes to experiment quite a bit every year. CAT 2016 topper Akshay Mehndiratta shares how to master the secret of acing QA. By Akshay Mehndiratta

CAT exam is not only about scoring an overall good score, but also about excelling in each of the three sections – VARC, LRDI and Quantitative Ability. To encourage the same, each management institute as well as CAT itself has kept sectional cut-offs since decades now. In the last 7-8 years, CAT exam has also incorporated sectional time-limit (40 minutes for each section) instead of overall time-limit as was the case earlier. This was done to ensure students not just aim to clear sectional CAT cut-offs, but also devote time equally between sections. In such a scenario, it becomes absolutely essential to master the secrets of even your weakest sections, so that you are able to manage time in CAT exam more effectively and score equally well in all sections. Afterall, it is well known that all top MBA colleges lay emphasis on sectional CAT scores as well. 

While, the pattern of VARC and LRDI remains the same year on year, i.e. maximum questions are based on RC passages, LR and DI have equal numer of questions,  Quantitative Ability is a section where CAT exam likes to experiment quite a bit every year and CAT 2024 may not be different. The unique attributes of the section are as follows:

1. Unlike VARC and DILR where we have individual set of four inter-related questions, each question in CAT Quantitative Ability is independent of the other.
2. Unlike VARC and DILR where the students can be confused between the options, QA limits the scope for this as most calculations will generally lead to one to two possible alternatives.
3. Each topic in QA section of the CAT can be gauged at numerous levels of complexity, helping the examiner to tweak the questions based on the level of difficulty he/she desires from each section.

Also Read: CAT quant topic wise weightage

As a result, the number of variations in questions are much more than what we see in the other two questions. This very unpredictability requires you to master the basics so that you are able to identify which question to attempt and which requires you to devote more time than the other. Here, we will be discussing the strategy for the same.

The whole preparation can be divided into three phases. Since each one of you have different bandwidths, instead of fixed time slots, I have mentioned the per cent of time that needs to be devoted to each of the three phases, as follows:

1. Master the basics (50 per cent)
2. Revise the formulas (15 per cent)
3. Master HOTS (higher order thinking + speed) with accuracy (35 per cent)

Quantitative Ability Preparation, Phase 1 – MASTER THE BASICS

Objective: 1) Understand how each formula is applied. 2) Concepts, shortcuts and typical problems related to each topic.

Study Material Recommended:

CAT Quantitative Ability Books by Nishit Sinha, Arun Sharma, etc.

Methodology:

First of all, treat each topic of Quant distinctly in this phase.

Next, each of the good material books available initially list out all the formulas and properties related to each topic. Develop an understanding of all the properties as nearly 95 per cent of the questions related to the topic test you on those. You may need not remember them by heart so instead focus on their application.

For each of these topics of CAT Quantitative Ability, practice 50-60 questions thoroughly from the question bank available in these books. After solving them, go through the solution of each of these questions, even if you got them correct in the first attempt. This is because the available solutions provide you with some excellent tips and tricks, which you might miss out through the normal formula based approach.

Remember, quality above quantity matters in this phase. You might not do a lot of questions. But developing an absolute clarity of concepts is critical in this phase.

Also Read:

• CAT preparation 2024: Tips, Tricks, Books and Strategy
• How to prepare for CAT Quantitative Aptitude 2024
• CAT preparation 2024: How to approach Quant section
• Six strategies for CAT Quant preparation 2024

Quantitative Ability Preparation, Phase 2 – REVISE THE FORMULAS

Objective – Repeated revision along with immediate application helps you learn the plethora of Quant formulas and properties, spread across different topics.

Material Recommended:

Formula sheet of your practice material or any good online material revising just the CAT Quant formulas 

Methodology:

Considering the number of formulas in CAT's Quantitative Ability section, it is nearly impossible to remember all of them in one go. Instead you must devote three to four hours of time every week/every three days, where you walk through (and not try to learn them by heart) all the formulas. Also ensure that you are devoting a similar time slot a day before your mocks, so that you remember the formula at the time of exam, which can greatly boost your confidence. This approach provides you with following benefits:

1. Ease out the process of learning of formulas. After four-five weeks of similar exercise, you will remember 90 per cent of the formulas every time, and the per cent improves with each iteration.
2. Don’t spend too much time on learning the formulas every time, as being humans, we may have a tendency to not recollect some of them every time.

Also Read:

CAT Quantitative Ability Preparation, Phase 3 - Master HOTS (HIGHER ORDER THINKING + SPEED) with Accuracy

Objective – Once we have a decent grasp of formulas, it is time to improve accuracy, speed and level of problem solving.

Material Recommended

Any national level CAT mock test series as they provide you with overall percentile.

Methodology:

Accuracy:  As mentioned before, the best part of CAT Quantitative Ability is that it provides limited scope of being confused between the options. The best test to accuracy is to check if your answer is equal to any of the possible options. If not, it is better to leave the question un-attempted. Imbibe this practice in your mocks.

Level of problem solving: This is one thing which can only be improved upon through repeated mocks. Not only the CAT mocks test you these skills during an actual examination environment, but also the solutions of each of these questions provide you with the number of ways of solving questions, which you might have missed in Stage 1. So try to give as many mocks as possible along with in-depth analysis of solutions of these questions.

Speed: Speed also increases significantly when you get used to solving 22 questions in 40 minutes during mocks

If you can combine these three techniques in a properly phased out time-table, I am pretty sure you will be able to improve your performance nearly by 50 per cent. Always remember that the performance can be improved only in an incremental manner. So don’t worry if this approach takes a bit of time. All the best!

Free CAT Mock Test by Shiksha

Check below free CAT Mock Test by Shiksha. These are based on actual CAT questions. You can attempt these mock tests and check your preparation level.

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About the Author:

Akshay Mehndiratta scored 100 percentile in CAT 2016 and joined the IIM Ahmedabad for the class of 2020. He completed BTech in Chemical Engineering from IIT Delhi.

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