Sharpen your Reasoning skills & data Interpretation

Often this section is confused with arithmetic calculations, but it is mostly about understanding and interpreting things in a logical manner. Experts suggest how to go about CAT 2009 while dealing with the DI & LR section to crack the online CAT 2009 exam. “Data interpretation is not data calculation. The focus is on analysis of data,” says Gejo Sreenivasan, Principal Consultant, Career Launcher.

Preparing for DI & LR

Manish Saraf, COO of PT Education feels that DI & LR section needs thorough knowledge of basic maths and quick maths. “A very simple, but effective way to improve your speed with numbers is to observe the numbers that appear in a year and make all possible combinations with the four numbers – ratio of first two and the last two, total of the four digits, inverted ratio, etc. Another method is to do calculations using mobile numbers, pin codes, etc. The idea is to make oneself comfortable with numbers,” he suggests.

Preparation Material

Saraf suggests a list of books for the DI & LR for CAT 2009 preparation. They are: ‘How to Prepare for Data Interpretation for CAT’ by Tata-McGraw Hill, ‘How to Prepare for Data Interpretation for CAT’ by Arihant Prakashan, ‘Verbal & Non Verbal Reasoning’ by R.S. Agarwal (S. Chand Publications), ‘Course In Mental Ability and Quantitative Aptitude’ by Edgar Thorpe, ‘Analytical and Logical Reasoning’ by B.S. Sijwali (Arihant Publications), ‘Reasoning and DI for MBA Exam’ by Arun Sharma, ‘Fundamental of Reasoning: A Logic Book’ by Robert M. Johnson.

Practicing DI & LR

In order to excel in DI & LR, you need to do more and more practice. Experts suggest, you should read business articles in the daily newspapers or business magazines and try to analyze and interpret the data.

For practice purpose, Saraf suggests taking a couple of tests in speed math everyday. However, one thing that should always be kept in mind while preparing for these sections is that along with speed, accuracy is also important. So make sure that you do not lose track of accuracy while concentrating on speed,” says Saraf.

“I would suggest that you should solve enough DI & LR question sets, maybe one to two sets per day leading to CAT 2009 preparation to help build the confidence that is required to face the section in the actual CAT entrance exam,” says Vinayak Kudva, Product Head of IMS Learning.

Manish Gulati, CEO and Co-founder of the MBA coaching website topCATcoaching.com suggests practicing this particular section from CAT exam papers of the last four to five years. Analyzing them will let you know where you stand and what extra preparation you need to do regarding the DI & LR section. “Analyze and evaluate your approach with reference to every question, including the ones which you solved easily,” he says.

For DI & LR, you do not need to get hold of proper subject-wise material. You will find enough practice materials around you. As experts suggest, you should read business articles in the daily newspapers or business magazines and try to analyze and interpret the data. “Refer to the graphs and other data provided in the business newspapers and magazines. This will help you to identify techniques to solve questions that require time-consuming calculations,” says Kamlesh Sajnani, Managing Director, IMS Learning. You should also sharpen your skills for drawing graphs, charts, tables and analyzing them etc.

A fun way of preparing for this section of CAT entrance exam is by solving puzzles like Sudoku, Crosswords etc. “Solve puzzles from puzzle books easily available in the market, and puzzle sites on the Internet to improve reasoning skills and speed,” said Aziz Manva, Content Head, Testfunda.com.

Problems and solutions

One of the problems which most of you face in DI & LR section is spending too much time on the caselets. Sreenivasan provides the solution: “Spending too much in reading a caselet question can get you stuck. The key is to move on.”

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Sreenivasan also provides a solution for problems while dealing with LR questions. “There are some questions where you need to solve each question independently, unlike those where all the questions can be solved just by cracking the logic. You have to practice these kinds a little more,” says Sreenivasan.