Those words of my father still echoes in my mind when he used to say, “Love maths because Mathematics will follow you everywhere. Maths Humesha Kaam Ayegi.” I wonder how true he was and how wrong I was in not listening to him during my Class 10th Board exam preparations.
I didn’t take maths in my Class 11th as optional subject as I wanted to be as far away from mathematics as fire wants to be away from water. And this my friend, proved to be one of the fatal blows to my dream of being to IIMs.
You have been through similar situation, right! Well we all have, except those brilliant minds sitting in the first row whom we termed as book worms or nerds.
Now you wish you were a nerd as that would have helped you to score winning percentiles in Quant section of CAT 2014.
Yes, I am right. You don’t need to be an Einstein or Aryabhata to score 99+ marks in Quantitative section of CAT exams. You just need to know have the basic maths knowledge of Class 11th and 12th Mathematics. That’s it!
Quant is not a nightmare, no matter how much your CAT teacher makes you believe that. Yes, Quantitative aptitude is not easy but definitely it’s not so horrendous and frightening as it looks and as you believe it to be.
Now why would you believe that? Well, to start with try these simple tricks for your Quant preparation for CAT or any other exams and you will see the difference. You will find that few small changes can not only save your time in solving Quant questions but will also turn maths into a fun drill.
1. Where are you reading from?
Do you believe on everything that you find on internet, or everything you find is as per your required knowledge level? No, right!
Same thing applies in Quant preparation. Where are you reading from is of same importance as what are you reading. Choose books which have simple language or a language that you can understand. Don’t Buy books just because some other CAT aspirants has bought it. Remember, everyone is running their own race and hence you have to run as per your strengths.
Getting the right study material for Quant preparation of CAT exam is a basic requirement. Also choose a book with more examples on a topic and practice every example. One can start with the Class 12th R.S. Agarwal maths book and then gradually moving on to Quantitative Reasoning for CAT – Arun Sharma or Quantitative Reasoning – R.S. Agarwal.
2. Learn tables till 20
Yes, learning tables in very important and if you have not yet learnt, and then start doing it from today. This is very handy. Not only this, you should also try to learn squares up to 30 and cubes up to 20.
You will have to multiply almost everywhere in the quant section. The time spent by a student in Quant and DI section on calculation is about 20 per cent and the rest is spent on comprehending the concept of the question. So beside your basic concepts you should have to work more on your calculations.
For ex., you spend 4 seconds on carrying out a multiplication on the onscreen calculator, then say for 12 -14 questions you will spend about 48-56 seconds on just multiplication. By knowing tables by heart, you can save those precious one minute and use them to solve 2-3 problems or revise the answers to questions which you are unsure about.
3. Don’t leave any questions
Students tend to get irritated or bored after few minutes if they don’t get the solution of the problem. Don’t get frustrated, be calm and apply your mind or take help of the book. But don’t leave the question un-attempted during practice. Remember, if you don’t solve that question during practice it will always haunt you and you will always be afraid of this type or topic of the question.
Every type of question is important as you don’t know which one might appear in your set of paper on your exam day. Also try to solve as many different types of examples as possible. As everyone says, Practice is the key to success.
4. Your own personal Formulas book
Remember those half-yearly or sessional exams in schools. You could always find a classmate who used to right down all the key formulas on the last page of the answer sheet (Rough page) as soon as he got the answer sheet form the teacher. Why he do that? Just to remember the formulas in case it is needed in any question, as he might forgot it during exam tension.
Well, that was school exam and this Common Admission Test (CAT). You can’t repeat the school’s trick in CAT but what you can do is make your own formula notebook.
You may write down all the formulas in a book, all the key formulas from topics which are important and also those formulas which basically form the part of many solutions. This will make formula revision very easy and convenient.
5. Practice daily
You have to practice maths daily; you have to be in touch with solving quant problems daily even if it is only for an hour. That will do. But, make the full utilization of that one hour can focus on solving as many problems as possible.
Setting a routine, a time table for Quant preparation of CAT 2014 will help you reap benefits in the end. Choose a time where you are most comfortable too practice, it may be early morning or late night depends on your schedule.
6. Quant is not Tough, It Tricky
Don’t pre-assume any Quant question to be tough or very difficult. Quant questions are not tough, they are tricky. If you know the small tricks to solve various types of questions, you will be able to save ample amount of time in your CAT exam.
And these tricks are very easy to learn. For example,
- Eliminating the options or going with the options. This is always the best and quicker way to reach the required answer.
- Substitution of some values in the question. This method is very much useful for algebra problems
Also remember, that the options given in a MSQ (Multiple Choice questions) are there to help them out.
7. Shortcuts- It’s always there
A shortcut does not mean any erratic method which can be applied to any one or two problems only. Shortcut means a set pattern or method which can be used again and again to solve a particular type of question in a very quick period of time.
When you apply a shortcut, you will get the answer fast and in an easier way than by actually solving the problem.
For example:
When a person covers a distance between his house and office at 50 km/hr , he is late by 20 min. But when he travels at 60km/hr, he reaches 10 min early. What is the difference between his house and office?
Solution:
Let the distance be x km
Time taken to cover x km at 50km/hr is = x/50 hrs
Time taken to cover x km at 60km/hr is = x/60 hrs
Difference between time taken = 30 min
∴x/50-x/60 = 30/60
=> 6x-5x/300 = 1/2
=> x = 150 km
Shortcut:
Required Distance = Product of two speeds / Difference of two speeds * Difference between arrival time.
Short cut should written after solving every type of problem in a separate notebook, and remember it well. This kind of shortcuts saves a lot of time while solving problems. By following shortcut methods one can solve problems in time with high degree of accuracy.
Apply the above simple rules to get going with your CAT 2014 quant preparation. MBAuniverse.com will continue to provide to helpful tips and expert guidance on CAt 2014 quant preparation.
To get LIVE solution to your Quant questions, chat with our Quant expert of MBAUniverse.com forum anytime. Click Below:
CAT Quant Preparation with Expert
Geometry preparation for CAT 2014 with Quant Expert
CAT quantitative aptitude : Start with Number System
Get daily New CAT Quant Question of the day
For various other Preparation of CAT 2014, XAT 2015, Latest B-schools news, Placements, etc., Visit our new MBAUniverse.com Forum
Also Read:
CAT Topper 2013 Sneha Mittal shares her success story to Crack CAT 2014 exam
CAT Topper 2013: How Anubhav achieved 99.73 Percentile in CAT exam?
If you have any complains about B- schools, write here: Register your Complain about B-schools
Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more preparation article on CAT 2014 exam
