CAT 2010: Preparation strategy for Quant

Self-study and Preparation Material for Quant

Experts recommend that the focus should be on revising the old study material, rather than trying to get new books and prep-material into the CAT 2009 preparation plan at this late stage.

There is no use of learning the fundamentals afresh. "Do not waste time learning Quant fundamentals afresh," says Atul Prashar, Content Head (Online CAT), TCYonline.com.

You can refer to some books which are famous for the Quant section for CAT 2009. R Shiva Kumar, Director (R&D), Career Launcher suggests the following books: ‘How To Prepare For Quantitative Aptitude For The CAT’ by Arun Sharma (Tata-McGraw Hill), ‘Quantitative Aptitude for CAT’ by Nishit Sinha (Pearson Education) and ‘Quantitative Aptitude for MBA Entrance Examinations’ by Abhijit Guha (Tata-McGraw Hill) are some of the helpful books.

Practicing Quant Tests

Once you have a considerable amount of preparation, you would definitely like to test your preparation. The best way is to practice as much as possible from the practice materials provided to you by your MBA coaching institute, by going through the previous years’ CAT question papers and by taking Mock tests.

“I would suggest that you should solve Quant questions from past years CAT entrance exam papers and also similar questions that would be provided as a part of the course material by your MBA coaching institute,” suggests Vinayak Kudva, Product Head, IMS Learning.

Practice is also necessary for increasing the speed in Quant for the online CAT 2009. “You have to practice only the relevant chapters in which you are slow. For example, practice Number Theory and Algebra only for next 40 days to CAT 2009. Ideally you should attempt only 10 Quant questions without any mistake,” Shiva Kumar points out.

For getting more comfortable for the computer based CAT 2009 preparation, Shiva Kumar suggests that, “Take tests available in many MBA coaching institute’s websites like Career Launcher, TCYonline.com, and TestFunda.com etc.”

Topic wise problems in Quant

Within the section of Quantitative Ability of CAT entrance exam, there are various topics where you can face problems. Two such areas are Algebra and Geometry.

Algebra is basically ‘word problems’. According to Gejo Sreenivasan, Principal Consultant of Career Launcher, you have to first comprehend the problem and then solve it. “I would suggest that you read the question slowly, visualize the question (draw neat diagrams/flow charts) and then solve.

Remember to solve faster, you need to comprehend better. To comprehend better you need to read slowly. If you read slowly, you would understand the problem better and you would solve faster. This is especially the case with algebra,” suggests Sreenivasan.

Prashar suggested that while answering the questions, you should follow the Process of Elimination. “However, please note that sometimes putting numerical values help faster while in other cases you need to reach some formulated equation before trying the values. Preferred values are -3, -2, -1, 1, 2,” mentions Prashar.

As far as Geometry is concerned, Sreenivasan says that it is all about shapes and with shapes things will always be in proportion. “The best way to handle Geometry is to draw the figure to scale and then visually analyze the problem,” he says. “You still have good 40 days and there are only about four chapters in Geometry. Knock it off in one week and practice questions,” he added.

Choosing the right questions to attempt

It is very important to choose the right set of questions in the exams. The target should be to clear the CAT 2009 cut-offs in the weak section, for which questions has to be chosen wisely. “Number System, Algebra and a few topics from higher Math make up over 40 per cent of CAT Quant,” suggests Prashar.

Through Analysis of Mocks is Key

According to Prashar, at this stage, only the analysis of the tests you take can help you the most. Analysis of the Mock tests is very important here. “Check questions from the topics which eat up most of your time and still go wrong. Also, compare your choice of questions with those of good scorers in Quant,” says Prashar.