CAT 2014 Making a U Turn to 2006 pattern: 4 questions on FIJ in VA section; Get the tips

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MBAUniverse.com News Desk |
November 6, 2014
It is the `aspirant friendliness` of CAT 2014 that it has pre-declared the changed pattern of the exam comprehensively enumerating the number of changes and anticipated surprise elements
CAT 2014 Mock test shows that there might be 4 questions again on Facts, Inference and Judgment in Verbal Ability section as appeared in CAT 2006

Critical Reasoning questions in CAT are an integral part of Verbal Ability section. It is the ‘aspirant friendliness’ of  CAT 2014 that it has pre-declared the changed pattern of the exam comprehensively enumerating the number of changes and anticipated surprise elements on the actual exam days on November 16 and 22, 2014. On the other hand when CAT 2006 introduced a new type of critical reasoning question on ‘Para completion’ which required inserting the last sentence of paragraph, it took the candidates off guard.

CAT 2006 had many surprises

Other surprising questions on critical reasoning in CAT 2006 included the questions to classify the statements among Facts, Inference and Judgement. Instead of regular random type of jumbled paragraphs, 4 questions on fact-inference-judgement were placed. The questions were more based on logical and critical reasoning than the contents of verbal ability.

Apart from questions in Logical Reasoning in Verbal Ability section these questions also needed the application of logical instincts. CAT however, later on forgot to ask more such questions in Verbal Ability especially after it began conducting Computer based Test.

Prof S K Agarwal Expert on Verbal Ability and mentor for CAT preparation shares the tips on FIJ type of questions that are expected to appear in CAT 2014.  If by any indication, according to Prof S K Agarwal, CAT 2014 practice test means business, it would be going back to the CAT 2006 pattern. CAT 2014 Mock test shows that there might be 4 questions again on Facts, Inference and Judgment in Verbal Ability section as appeared in CAT 2006.  CAT 2014 practice test has FIJ questions on the pattern of CAT 2006. The way they are presented it appears that Verbal section will need more brains than quant section. 

No doubt the contents and difficulty level may be different on the actual exam day, as suggested by Important Notification from CAT Centre 2014. These 4 questions out of 50 will sure play an important role in scoring a good percentile in Verbal Ability section as well as in scoring overall percentile in CAT 2014.  No candidate can afford missing to prepare them well

FIJ: The question contents

The question on Fact-Inference-Judgment, as shared by Prof S K Agarwal, expert on Verbal Ability in CAT preparation consists of usually 4 sequentially ordered statements, as is also specified in the direction to approach the answer option. These sentences despite having separate entity are on a same topic.

Although the direction describes all the 3 aspects i.e. Facts, Inference and Judgment, it is not necessary that there should the sentences of all the 3 types. There can be one or more than one sentence of one type and another type might be missing.

Direction is good in CAT exam to attempt the FIJ questions

Prof S K Agarwal shares that the question to select the statements based on Fact-Inference-Judgment as appears in CAT, is supposed to share good deal of understanding direction for the benefit of test takers to remove their confusion before proceeding to attempt the question and select the most appropriate answer option.

The direction not only describes what is to be done but also defines the difference among Fact, Inference and Judgment so that candidates could avoid the avoidable mistakes while answering the question.   

Fact: Facts, which deal with the pieces of information that one has heard, seen or read, and which are open to discovery or verification.  The answer option to choose the appropriate statement conforming to Fact indicates the statement with ‘F’
 
Inference: Inferences are the conclusions drawn about unknown, on the basis of the known. The answer option indicates such statement as ‘I’.

Judgement: Judgements, which are opinions that imply approval or disapproval of persons, objects, situations and occurrences in the past, the present or the future. The answer option indicates such statement as ‘J’.  

The trio shared above is described as ‘FIJ’ that leads to pick the right statement.
 
How to ascertain and approach now

The candidate has to carefully understand the language given in the direction. Fact is something demonstrated to exist or is known to have existed.  Another aspect is that the ‘Fact’ is a piece of information known to people, but it may or may not be true. If you get the answer to the question ‘whether the contents in statement can be verified’ in affirmative, it sure is a ‘Fact’, if not it can be either of the other two. In case statement contains statistical data, it is going to be the Fact in nine cases out of ten.

While classifying the statement as judgement based, Prof S K Agarwal shares suggests the aspirants to  remember that Judgements are personal opinions and are therefore subjective.  It will be a directly stated opinion on persons, objects, or situations. The statement may reflect approval or disapproval. You are not able to verify this statement as fact. The statement would therefore be classified as Judgement.

If you find certain words in the statement like would, should, could, might, the statement in all probability is going to be Inference based. Inference can be the result of some action or incident taken place, it can also indicate expectations, possibilities of some happening occurred as a result of some action or event.

How to arrive at the answer option

After understanding what the statements state, focus on elimination round. Try to remove the irrelevant but closely presented answer options. Check the key words used, try to get the answers to verify the statement type. If you can get one correct the other two will be easier to nail.
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Example questions

Following example questions which also appeared in earlier CAT exams will be of good help to the aspirants.

Direction: Each of the following questions has a set of four sequentially ordered statements. Each statement can be classified as one of the following-

Fact: Facts, which deal with the pieces of information that one has heard, seen or read, and which are open to discovery or verification.  The answer option to choose the appropriate statement conforming to Fact  indicates the statement with ‘F’

Inference: Inferences are the conclusions drawn about unknown, on the basis of the known. The answer option indicates such statement as ‘I’.

Judgement: Judgements, which are opinions that imply approval or disapproval of persons, objects, situations and occurrences in the past, the present or the future. The answer option indicates such statement as ‘J’.

Select the answer option that best describes the set of four options

Q.1 

1. Given the poor quality of service in the public sector, the HIV/AIDS affected should be switching to private initiatives that supply anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) at a low cost. 

2.  The government has been supplying free drugs since 2004, and 35000 have benefited up to now - though the size of the affected population is 150 times this number.

3.  The recent initiatives of networks and companies like AIDS Care Network, Emcure, Reliance-Cipla-CII, would lead to availability of much-needed drugs to a larger number of affected people. 

4.  But  how ironic it is that we should face a perennial shortage of drugs when India is one of  the world‘s largest suppliers of generic drugs to the developing  world. 

(1)  JFIJ    (2)  JIIJ    (3)  IFIJ    (4)  IFFJ    (5)  JFII
 
Q.2

1.  So much of our day-to-day focus seems to be on getting things done, trudging our way through the tasks of living- it can feel like a treadmill that gets you nowhere; where is the childlike joy?  

2.  We are not doing the things that make us happy; that which brings us joy; the things that we cannot wait to do because we enjoy them so much.  

3.  This is the stuff that joyful living is made of – identifying your calling and committing yourself wholeheartedly to it.  

4.  When this happens, each moment becomes a celebration of you; there is a rush of  energy that comes with feeling completely immersed in doing what you love most. 

(1)  IIIJ     (2)  IFIJ      (3)  JFJJ         (4)  JJJJ         (5)  JFII

Q.3

1.  Inequitable distribution of all kinds of resources is certainly one of the strongest and most sinister sources of conflict.  

2.  Even without war, we know that conflicts continue to trouble us - they only change in character.  

3.  Extensive disarmament is the only insurance for our future; imagine the amount of resources that can be released and redeployed.  

4.  The economies of the industrialized western world derive 20% of their income from the sale of all kinds of arms.

(1)  IJJI      (2)  JIJF      (3)  IIJF       (4)  JIIF    (5) IJIF

Answers:  Q.1 (1)       Q.2 (4)          Q.3 (2)

Expert Tips to arrive at the right answer option

Prof S K Agarwal, Verbal Ability expert and mentor on CAT preparation shares the tips ‘how to arrive at the right answer option for each of the above 3 questions. The need is to practice more which will be a great help to ace the Verbal Ability section

Tips for Q.1: Check which option provides the verifiable data and which provides the objective conclusion and which option is opinion based. If youevaluate the statement 1 ‘Given the poor quality of services in the public sector…’ it is more opinion based hence judgement. Despite knowing the poor quality of service in Public Sector, not every one might agree to it. Another part of the statement “should be switching to private initiatives” is again opinion based, hence qualifies for judgement. 

 Now find out how many options begin with ‘J’, you find 1, 2 & 5 begin with ‘J’. So eliminate other 2 options.   Now analyse the second statement which has some statistical data and numbers. The statement has the verifiable data hence is ‘Fact’ based. Now eliminate option 2 and focus on option 1 & 5. Since both the options state that statement 3 is ‘Inference’, it is better to move to statement 4 whether it is Judgement or Inference.  The statement begins with ‘But how ironic it is…’ is again purely opinion based and therefore is ‘Judgement’. While Option 5 does not conform to our answer, option 1 does. Hence option 1 is the right answer option. You no longer need to read the statement 3 as it is ‘Inference’ as stated in both the options.

Tips for Q.2:  Statement 1 does not approve of the focus on today’s life style where no child like joy exists. It surely is an opinion which may have different view points. Hence statement 1 qualifies to be the ‘Judgement.’  Now see how many options begin with ‘J’ and opt for elimination round. Now focus on options 3,4 and 5 while options 1 & 2 are to be eliminated.  
To find the right answer option, now focus on statement 2. This Statement “We are not doing the things that make us happy; that which brings us joy; the things that we cannot wait to do because we enjoy them so much” is again opinion of the author not necessarily agreed by all. Hence statement 2 is again Judgement.  Now see how many options have ‘JJ’ in beginning. We find only option 4 conforming to our answers.

Now you need not check other options as you can very well pick out option 4 as the right answer and save your time.  However let us see what other statements say. Statement 3, as you read it states the view point of the author, so again Judgement.  Statement 4 is one’s experience and individual parameter to measure the rush of energy. So statement 4 is also a Judgement. The correct answer is option 4 as we have found.

Tips for Q.3: Statement 1 is more subjective and opinion based when it uses superlatives like ‘strongest’ ‘Most sinister’. This is not verifiable. Hence an opinion and so a ‘Judgement’. While going the answer options, you can eliminate options 1, 3 and 5 as they do not begin with ‘J’. Now we have option 2 and 4. Both the options say ‘I’ for the second statement, so it is no use to focus on second statement. It will be better to analyse the statement 3, whether it is inference or judgement as it will help us arrive at the right answer option.

Clauses in statement 3 “Only insurance for our future” “Imagine…” are again opinions. You can not verify it. Hence it is again ‘Judgement’. Now we can eliminate option 4 and arrive at option 2 as the right answer.

Moving forward to statement 4 we find that it is a ‘Fact’ as it has the verifiable data. Option 2 as we have already selected is the correct answer.

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