× logo

The Free 30-Day CAT RC Course

"It is designed to help you excel in the upcoming CAT 2024 exam"

-By Lavleen Kaur Kapoor. Over 2,00,000+ Subscribers

read more

No thanks >

-->

Quant & DI: 
 
Quant to DI questions was split about 18: 12. Overall, the quant questions were much tougher than the DI questions. You should be able to attempt around 20 questions in this section, with an aim of 25 to ensure success. Let us look at each of these sections.
 
Quant: 
 
The 18 quant questions were a mix of very easy formula application problems, and some very lengthy analytical questions. This section will clearly test you on your accuracy as well as speed. Since time will be short, knowing formulas or shortcuts to typical problem will give you a huge advantage over those who try to analytically solve the questions.
 
For e.g. knowing Fermat’s little theorem, or the formula for distance between two parallel lines will save you precious minutes over those trying to get at these during the exam. Time and Speed problems were again a favorite of the CAT-setters. Knowing how to quickly translate a problem into equations is essential.
 
If you gave the CAT last year, you will notice that the Quant questions this time around were much lengthier, and hence selectively attempting questions is important this year, much more than the last. Do try and look at all questions at least once, since there will be many easy questions interspersed between the tough ones. 
 
DI:
 
The DI passages were fairly easy. Most problems require simple looking up values in graphs, and multiplying/dividing to arrive at answers. Sometimes a passage may require skillful interpretation of the question, but once you spend 2 to 3 minutes on understanding how they have obscured the data, attempting each of the questions will require less than 30 seconds each. It would be wise to attempt all DI questions as you encounter them and ensure you score maximum on them, to cover up for the trickier quant questions.
 
Verbal and LR:
 
Test-takers will find this section has more than enough time for them to attempt, and hence the strategy would be high accuracy with high attempts. The split between verbal and LR was around 18 : 12.
 
LR :
 
The 12 LR questions were mostly passage-type questions which require about 3 to 4 minutes to solve and then less than 30 seconds for each subsequent question. None of the questions seemed to be very new or innovative and to the student who has practiced LR in mock tests, these will appear very easy. A good strategy would be attempt these first, build confidence and then move on to verbal questions.
 
Verbal:
 
The verbal section had 3 RCs, each of them about 400 words long. The topics were obscure and the questions required thorough understanding of the RC. 
 
Since time will not be a crunch in this section, it is recommended that students attempt these in the end, and use all available time to thoroughly read and understand the passage before attempting the questions. The questions required interpretation of the passage, but the options were not very well selected and one can easily eliminate 2 out of 4 options in most cases.
 
Those who have yet to take exam can practice with CAT 2012 MOCK TESTS  
 

Stay informed, Stay ahead and stay inspired with MBA Rendezvous