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http://careerlauncher.com/gpspeaks/?p=192
Now let us understand what each of these six columns stand for:
Good Shot: Good you not only identified the easy question but also got them right. You need to ensure that these question types
are not missed in any paper.
Unforced Errors: This is criminal, easy questions that you messed up. Questions that should have boosted your score have
ended up reducing it. You need to identify the reason for these silly mistakes. The reason could be that you rushed through the
question and missed a couple of words or loss of concentration or calculation errors or plain carelessness.
Missed Opportunities: How could you miss these sitters? Was it because you were busy playing Risky Shots & Double
Negative?
Risky Shot: How much time did these take? Was it worth the effort? Hope these were done in R3.
Double Negative: These questions are responsible for your poor performance. By attempting these questions not only have you
wasted time but also earned negative marks. The time that you wasted in attempting these questions could have been better
utilized in attempting the Missed Opportunities (Column 3 questions).
Well left: Good work, you could identify the questions that are beyond you.
Here are some things that will help you evaluate your performance once you have categorized your questions in the table Ive
chalked:
1) Ideally most of your questions should be in two columns Good Shot & Well Left. If this is the case, then you are safe and
probably have a good score in the section.
8/26/2012 3:56 PM
Are you choosing the right questions in your Mock CATs? | GP SPEAKS
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2) If there are questions in the middle four columns then we have work to do.
3) If you have a large number of questions in Missed Opportunity, Risky Shot & Double Negative then your question selection is
atrocious because you are trying to solve the difficult (for you) questions in the test and in the process missing out on the easy
questions (Missed Opportunity).
4) A large number of questions in Unforced Errors indicate lack of revision and carelessness.
Now, what does your sheet look like?
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7 THOUGHTS ON ARE YOU CHOOSING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS IN YOUR MOCK CATS?
ASHUTOSH KUMAR
on August 6, 2012 at 7:01 am said:
gaurav
on August 7, 2012 at 3:41 am said:
SUHAS
on August 8, 2012 at 6:00 pm said:
EXCELENT sir!!you are showing what everyone tends to miss during an analysis.We expect your
unwavering guidance throughout our preparation.
Shikhar Dixit
on August 11, 2012 at 6:29 am said:
Superb , i have read and tried the way you explained categorizing ques. smartly will be using it today in
8/26/2012 3:56 PM
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important questions from these papers and hence not only do they commit unforced errors and are unable to work fast in the
paper.
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mallika
on August 7, 2012 at 5:24 am said:
thank you sir your posts are really helpful i always analyse the mock but not in this way, its just a
quick analysis.. i hope ur analysis method will help me to improve my score
siddharth
on August 7, 2012 at 4:23 pm said:
smart.let me try it
Arpita
on August 9, 2012 at 1:49 am said:
Do we need to follow any timing constraints, while, solving the QA paper again ?
GP
on August 9, 2012 at 4:57 am said:
While going thru the paper again, you do not need to follow any time constrains for the QA and
VA questions. However for the unattempted RC passages, DI sets and AR sets it would be
advisable to attempt in 8 minutes for a 3 question set, if you are unable to solve them within these
8 minutes, try them again without any time constraints.
Arpita
on August 9, 2012 at 5:18 am said:
ok , thanks sir !
8/26/2012 4:00 PM
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My Comfort Level: These are my areas of strength; Ill usually not make a mistake in these questions. I work on Elimination of
choices in Parajumbles. I try to identify the opening or closing or a logical pair and successively eliminate the incorrect choices.
Critical Reasoning and Para completion questions can be attempted only if you understand the logic, elimination of choices is
can help you reach the answer faster but the logic is essential.
My Comfort Level: These are my weakest areas in usage. Ill typically glance thru the passage; if it looks understandable, Ill
attempt the question else leave it.
Logical/Analytical reasoning questions are similar to the reasoning questions of DI and hence are a boon for students who are
weak in language but good in QA/DI.
My Comfort Level: This works for me most of the time however I always exercise caution in these questions because many a
time the questions are deceptive and time consuming.
Unlike QA or DI, where most of the time it is visible that the question can or cannot be solved by us, in English all questions
look solvable and hence we end up attempting all questions and end up with a high number of incorrect answers. Hence in
English it is advisable not to go in for guesswork.
Now on to my rules for attempting the English section:
1. A paper is not a place for R&D, hence a new type of question will be looked at only if I can peg it to an existing question
type.
2. I read the choices along with the question as it helps in elimination of choices.
3. In my weak areas, when in doubt I leave the question without marking the answer.
4. In Round 1 (R1) I sequentially attempt the following question types:
a. Vocabulary and sentence completion,
b. Grammar,
c. Deductive Logic,
d. Parajumbles.
5. In R1, Ill also glance thru the RC passages to understand the length, subject and the question type of the passage.
6. In Round 2 (R2) I will attempt logical reasoning, critical reasoning, para-completion & summary questions and the RC
passages.
Try these in your next and youll see that English is not such a funny language after all!
Liked this post? Also read 7 Rules to Excel in QA
Recommended next read: How I attempted Mock 4: VA-LR
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8/26/2012 3:57 PM
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Ofcourse, this preference is based on my strengths and weaknesses and will differ for everyone.
Rule 7. I read the choices along with the question as it helps in deciding the amount of calculation, elimination of choices and in
substitution.
Heres a link to the Quant section of CLs Proc Mock 4. See if you can attempt it keeping these rules in mind.
More on these rules and how they can be effectively applied in this mock test in my next post!
Liked this post? Also read: 6 Rules to Excel in VA
Recommended next read: How I attempted Mock CAT 4: QA-DI
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utkarsh
on July 19, 2012 at 4:02 pm said:
Sir can you also discuss about how to attempt the VA and LR/Di sections
GP
on July 20, 2012 at 5:38 pm said:
Sameer
on July 19, 2012 at 9:45 pm said:
Thanks a lot, I had the same problems and my areas of interest are quite similar to the above mentioned.
So I hope this technique helps me too in future.
pranav garg
on July 20, 2012 at 3:53 am said:
sir,i gave cat last year too and last year i was able to solve quant very easily.as in atleast in the quant
section my percentile was above 90 and i was able to do the questions in time.but now this year when i
am attempting the section,i am doing it all wrong.i am very scared as to how can this happen.i am like
not able to do anything.not even 50 percent of the questions most of them turn out to be wrong.kindly
help me sir.i am facing a lot of problem with the timing sir
8/26/2012 4:02 PM
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Start with past papers of CAT & XAT and the current Mock CATs. After finishing these papers you can consider moving on to
IIFT and FMS papers.
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Dwaipayan
on August 12, 2012 at 8:36 am said:
Shubham
on August 12, 2012 at 1:23 pm said:
Nikhil
on August 12, 2012 at 11:12 pm said:
Good tips! I really hope to bump into you one day Ill have a lot to talk to you about. And a lot of
questions, of course.
A question, though: what does GP expand to in its full-form?
Cheers!
Nikhil
CL, Satya Niketan
Arjun
on August 13, 2012 at 6:07 am said:
8/26/2012 4:00 PM
The Ultimate Guide to the VA-LR section: Make every single minute coun...
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85%ile.
The table below suggests the target attempts and the time distribution for different types of students. This is only
suggestive and you should based on your own strengths and weakness work out the break up of time between EU, LR and RC and
the target attempts. Test it in a copuple of papers and refine it based on how it works for you.
Sequencing of Question Types: Until and unless there are strong reasons to the contrary, it is advisable to start this section with
EU questions then move on to AR questions and attempt RC in the end. The subjectivity is RC is greater than that in AR and
hence while you can be sure of the answer in AR, in RC most of the times surety of answer is much lower.
CAUTION: It is important to remember that in EU as well as RC there should be NO Guesswork, the rule When in Doubt
Leave has to be strictly adhered to. Focus on accuracy and not on attempts.
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28 THOUGHTS ON THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO THE VA-LR SECTION: MAKE EVERY SINGLE MINUTE COUNT.
Tanya
on August 18, 2012 at 2:19 pm said:
Excellent analysis I was in great need for such a thought process. Would be really helpful for everyone
8/26/2012 3:55 PM
The single, most unpardonable, gravest sin you can commit in the CAT |...
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The single, most unpardonable, gravest sin you can commit in the CAT |...
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have time for these questions because you were not willing to leave those 5-6 speed breakers. This means that CAT forces you to
leave questions, the difference between an IIM call getter and one who does not is:
IIM call-getter: Exercises choice attempts the easy questions, leaves questions that are difficult to crack and thus would have
been a waste of time. Because (s)he picks and chooses questions to leave, he does not miss out on the easy sitters and scores
precious marks.
Misses out on IIM call: Attempts whatever comes his/her way and is forced to leaves 10 odd questions anyways some of
these are bound to be easy sitters that lost him precious marks, while critical time was wasted on difficult questions which may
or may not have gotten any marks.
The Proof
If we consider CAT papers since 2009, when CAT went online, to clear the sectional cutoff for all the IIMs, one needed to:
Get around 21 correct answers or attempt around 23 25 questions with 2 4 incorrect answers in QADI.
Get around 18 correct answers or attempt around 21 22 questions with 3 4 incorrect answers in EULR.
For the paper as a whole, an attempt of 46 50 with 42+ correct answers would have ensured interviews calls from the
IIMs
Leaving around 6 8 questions in each section was not a problem! Given that every question carries equal marks, you should be
leaving the most difficult question types to ensure zero time wastage.
Why is it difficult to leave questions?
There are four reasons because of which many of you fight on foolishly to win the battle and in the process loose the war. Here
are my top four reasons which stop you from taking the right steps.
When the obstacle becomes a challenge
Most of you have a very good academic record and have been among the toppers in school and college due to which you are in
the habit to attempting all questions correctly in exams. So when you come across a difficult question that under time pressure
you are unable to solve correctly your EGO takes a big hit and you consider the question as a Challenge that has to be conquered
and not an obstacle that has to be side stepped to reach the goal.
The fear of what lies ahead:
For those of us who were not good in academics, when we see a question which we think is solvable we are thankful and start
working on it even if we are not sure of solving it is as if we believe that all the subsequent questions will be more difficult than
this one.
Youve gone too far to return
There are some questions that we honestly feel that we can solve but after spending a couple of minutes do not reach anywhere,
yet we continue spending time in the hope that investing more time will get us the answer. This misplaced optimism is nothing
but throwing good money after bad money.
Flirt with danger; dont start a relationship with it
Many a times, some of us who are academically inclined fall in love with the question. We start admiring the elegance with
which the QA question has been framed, get blinded by the beauty of the logic, we get emotionally involved with the issues
raised in the RC passage or the para completion or the para jumble question. We forget that our job is to flirt & move on and not
to commit and settle down. Why waste time over an unresponsive person when there are many other fishes in the pond.
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The single, most unpardonable, gravest sin you can commit in the CAT |...
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The next logical question is how to know whether a question is a strength or weakness? Will it add to your score or waste your
time? More on this in my next blog.
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13 THOUGHTS ON THE SINGLE, MOST UNPARDONABLE, GRAVEST SIN YOU CAN COMMIT IN THE CAT
Arpita
on August 21, 2012 at 4:58 pm said:
Thanks for making us conscious and giving awesome knowledge about our exam.
THANKS A LOT???
Anivesh
on August 21, 2012 at 6:08 pm said:
GP
on August 22, 2012 at 8:39 am said:
Thanks for pointing out the miss in the article, have updated it.
For the paper as a whole, an attempt of 46 50 with 42+ correct answers should ensure
interviews calls from the IIMs.
GP
on August 23, 2012 at 1:26 pm said:
8/26/2012 3:58 PM
The single, most unpardonable, gravest sin you can commit in the CAT |...
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Anivesh,
For the paper as a whole, an attempt of 46 50 with 42+ correct answers would have ensured
interviews calls from the IIMs. Thus it is assumed that you would be scoring more than the
minimum cut off in at least one of the two section. This can also be gauged by the fact that while
the sectional cut off is typically not more than 95%ile the overall cutoff is in the region of
98.5-99%ile for general category candidates.
Anurag Mukherjee
on August 21, 2012 at 9:42 pm said:
Nice article !
Ankit
on August 22, 2012 at 3:41 pm said:
Neeraj
on August 22, 2012 at 4:55 pm said:
Exactly.
Does that mean that MOCKS dont give us the clear picture???
Is CAT easier than CL Procs ??
Also, how much difference is there in CL percentiles and actual CAT percentile on an average
Would love to know about these things sir..
Waiting for your reply..
GP
on August 23, 2012 at 1:58 pm said:
Ankit,
Absolute score is a function of degree of difficulty of the paper and the level of preparation while
percentile score is the rank. You can get the same rank at different scores. The degree of
difficulty of CL Mock CATs is by design around 10-12% more than that of CAT hence you will get
a higher percentile at a lower score. Unlike others including He Who Should Not Be Named CL
does not believe in giving very difficult papers as such papers would be irrelevent and students
would end up wasting time in doing things that are ulikely to appear in CAT.
To ensure we are able to create Mock CATs which are very close to the actual papers, almost all
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faculty members of CL take CAT every year to understand it especially because since CAT 2009
the paper/questions are not available in the public domain.
Neeraj
on August 22, 2012 at 5:00 pm said:
What a fab article !!!! While reading this, UNFORTUNATELY, i could soooo much relate myself to all
these things.. Every single line that you mentioned Sir, holds true for me..
The problem is that i am facing most of the time in R1 questions and getting stuck on some of them as u
pointed out correctly.. Just needs to reduce this and make them into solvable questions.
Waiting for the next post when you actually tell us on how to fight this problem..
mansi
on August 23, 2012 at 6:50 pm said:
Abhishek
on August 25, 2012 at 8:35 am said:
42+ correct answers for 99%ile is required for iim call. somebody plz correct me if am wrong
GP
on August 26, 2012 at 7:49 am said:
99%ile plus.
8/26/2012 3:58 PM
The Mystery of R1, R2, R3 Solved: Presenting the Strengths Finder | ...
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Column I questions that can be solved in about 1.5 minutes should be attempted in R1
Column I questions that are not solved/attempted in R1 should be attempted in R2
Column II questions should be attempted in R3 if time is available
So, on CAT day, it should not take you more than 15-20 seconds to determine if the question is from your area of expertise/
strength. If it is, get cracking; if not, skip and move on to the next one. Any question where you have a doubt, leave it for now and
come back to it in round two after you have attempted all questions in your strengths category.
Obviously this means that you will not attempt Column III question types in CAT or any other entrance exam, which is fine
because in any case you will get them wrong most of the time. This will also ensure that you do not waste time in Risky Shots
and Double Negatives.
Time to be spent on each round
This is a function of how comfortable are you with the section and how many questions can you attempt comfortably. Let me give
you 3 different scenarios:
Scenario 1: If your target attempt in QADI is 25-26 question, then R1 could be around 25 minutes for around 10-12 attempts,
R2 could be 25 minutes for another 8-10 questions and in the balance 5 6 questions in the remaining 20 minutes in R3.
For some of you R1 and R2 may consume about 30 minutes each with 10 -12 questions in each round and a couple of questions
in 10 minutes of R3.
Scenario 2: If your target attempt in QADI is around 20 questions, then R1 could be around 25 minutes for 8-10 questions, R2
could be 35 minutes for another 8-10 questions and 2-3 questions in the balance 10 minutes of R3.
Scenario 3: If your target attempt in QADI is around 15-17 questions, then consider attempting 7-8 questions in two rounds of 30
minutes each and another couple of questions in the remaining 10 minutes.
Needless to say this is only indicative and you will need to create your own strategy based on your strengths & weaknesses and
the target attempts. Unlike me, you could choose to attempt DI and AR sets in R1. There are no fixed rules and your R1, R2,
R3 question types can be completely different from the next persons or mine.
Download the Strengths Finder Form here.
Liked this post? Also read What to do after every Mock you take
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6 THOUGHTS ON THE MYSTERY OF R1, R2, R3 SOLVED: PRESENTING THE STRENGTHS FINDER
Arpit
on August 22, 2012 at 8:22 pm said:
Thanks a lot sir , this is really very helpful..i will stick to the form.
Saral
8/26/2012 3:57 PM
is out of scope, it is discussing issues or subjects that are different from those in the passage. Out of
scope can be loosely translated as out of syllabus.
Rule 2: Scale of the passage and answer choice should be the same
Consider a passage on the outbreak of bird flu in a city, the correct answer choice will also focus on
the city, it will not significantly change the scale (or size) of the problem. Thus any choice that
extends the bird flu problem of the city to the country or reduces it to a small part of the city is
unlikely to be correct. In other words the size of the problem will be the same in the paragraph
and the correct answer choice.
Rule 3: Tone of the passage and the answer choice should be the same
If the author of the paragraph has a favourable opinion on an issue then the correct answer choice
should also reflect it. The tone of the passage and the correct answer choice has to be the same. If the
passage is laudatory, it is not possible for the correct answer choice to be critical.
Rule 4: Continuity
Just as Ganges flows from Gangotri to Rishikesh to Varanasi and cannot reverse its direction, an
issue that has been discussed and closed in the paragraph will not be taken up again, remember from
Rishikesh Ganges can flow only to Varanasi and not to Gangotri. It is the last thought or issue that
has to be taken forward and not something that is dead and buried.
How to apply these 4 Rules?
Obviously you start by reading the paragraph and going thru the choices. Check each choice for
similarity with the passage on account of Scope (syllabus), Scale (size) Tone and Continuity (flow).
Any choice that does not adhere to these four has to be incorrect and eliminated.
1. If you are able to eliminate 3 out of 4 choices the remaining choice is the answer.
2. If you are able to eliminate 2 out of 4 choices, compare the two remaining choices and the one
which is closer to the paragraph in terms of scope, scale, tone and continuity is the answer.
3. If you are able to eliminate only 1 out of 4 choices, move on to the next question.
4. If you are unable to eliminate any choice obviously this need not be discussed.
To help you understand the application of these rules I have discussed 4 Para Completion question
below. After going thru these examples try applying these rules to Para Completion questions of
Mock CAT past CAT papers.
These rules will also work for Summary and Critical Reasoning questions and inferential
questions in RC passages.
Q2. The Ninth Schedule was created by Jawaharlal Nehrus government as a vessel to protect
agrarian reform legislation. Nehrus vessel became a constitutional dustbin for Indira Gandhis and
later governments to provide immunity for any kind of legislation relating to elections, mines and
minerals, industrial regulation, requisition of property, monopolies, coal or copper nationalisation,
general insurance, sick industries, acquiring the Alcock Ashdown company, Kerala Chitties Act,
Tamil Nadu reservations of 69 per cent and so on. _____________________
(a) This misuse is only characteristic of the political situation in India.
(b) Protection has become a veil for rampant corruption.
(c) No principle underlies this selection.
(d) Theoretically, all state and Union legislations lack substance.
(e) The dustbin was of limitless capacity.
Choice (a): Incorrect, scale (or scope) has changed from Indira Gandhis and later Governments to
entire political class.
Choice (b): Incorrect, change of scope, corruption has not been discussed in the paragraph and
hence out of syllabus
Choice (c): Could be correct, it has a tone of disapproval like the paragraph and it talks about all
kind of legislation (no principle) but introduces a new concept principle and hence the scope is
possibly different.
Choice (d): Incorrect, scale has changed to encompass all legislations and scope has changed by
including both state and the Union.
Choice (e): Correct on account of tone (disapproving) and continuity (dustbin) and does not have a
problem of either scale or scope.
Correct answer: Choice (e)
Q3. The digital-storytelling movement started in the early 1990s with performance artists such as San
Francisco-based Atchley. But the technique is just beginning to take hold in the world of e-business.
At last falls national Digital Storytelling Festival in Crested Butte, Colo., nearly half of the people
signed up represented corporations. The stories that people are telling on the Web around corporate
brands are astounding, says Atchley. Knowledge is best shared and remembered through a good
story, and companies are just starting to catch on to all that this can mean.__________________
(a) If so, digital storytelling will see that computer prices continue to plummet.
(b) If so, digital storytelling will link high-speed data lines and more people to the Web.
(c) If so, digital storytelling will help companies to know more than what they knew earlier.
(d) If so, digital storytelling will only become more popular.
(e) If so, digital storytelling will only become less popular.
Q4. No fewer than 70,000 workers would have been needed to lug limestone blocks from desert
miles away to the building sites of the pyramids. Yet there is little evidence that the pharaohs had to
coerce their subjects to leave their fields and families in order to build a monument whose
completion any single worker would certainly never see. All people apparently willingly participated
in the pageant of immortality-made-real. With no hope of a berth for themselves in the tomb, the
workers nonetheless must have taken comfort from knowing that their king, their earthly
representative, would live on for them in perpetuity.
(a) Here was a culture that would persist, just as its pharaohs would live on in their silent palaces.
(b) The Egyptian hoi polloi became immortal by proxy.
(c) King Tut and ended the brief experiment in monotheism in favour of the older religion with its
promise of an afterlife.
(d) The solemn bearing of these great structures reminds people today of the way an entire culture
fashioned a collective immortality in astonishing stone.
Choice (a): Incorrect, culture is not mentioned in the paragraph, out of scope.
Choice (b): Could be correct on account of scope, workers or common people, and continuity from
last statement.
Choice (c): Incorrect, on account of scale reducing from Pharoahs in general to King Tut in
particular and the scope changing to religion.
Choice (d): Incorrect, scope is workers and not the structures
9/29/12
Ho I attempted Mock 9 QA
Posted on September 28, 2012 b GP
First off, I know this has been long due. Attempted and written on a train ride to Varanasi, this was one of the Mocks I
enjoyed a little more than the others. I was traveling by myself, and instead of reading the paperback that I d picked up,
thought would try doing a Mock. Works out pretty well, if you ask me. So here s Mock 9 written during my SQC Bharat
Darshan
Section I
Q1. Two articles were sold at a profit of 25% each. The ratio of the profits made on the two articles was 6 : 7. If the average
selling price of the two articles was `3510, what was the absolute difference (in `) between the profits earned on the two
articles?
(a) 100
(b) 108
(c) 132
(d) 120
Margin = 20%
Q2.
How many ordered pairs (a, k) are there for which the system of equations 3x + ay = k and
(b) 1
(c) 2
(d) Infinite
From
From
we get
we get k = 4a
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Dir ections for ques tions 3 to 5: Answer the questions on the basis of the information given below.
The bar chart given below shows the revenue (in ` lakhs), the expenditure (in ` lakhs) and the number of employees (in 00) of a
company that produces wheels, from the year 2006 to the year 2011.
Q3.
In each of the given years, the number of units of wheels produced by the company was ten times the number of
employees. In which year was the expenditure incurred per unit of wheel produced the lowest?
(a) 2008
Q4.
(c) 2010
(d) 2011
The total expenditure of the company during the given period was what percent of the total revenue?
(a) 75%
Q5.
(b) 2009
(b) 66.67%
(c) 80%
(d) 87.5%
In which of the following years was the percentage increase in the revenue as compared to the previous year the
highest?
(a) 2008
(b) 2009
(c) 2010
(d) 2011
Q6.
E as y number s
To be attempted
Rene cuts out a square of the maximum possible area from a piece of paper which is in the shape of a quadrant of a
circle of radius
cm. She then rolls the square sheet along one of its sides to form a cylinder. Find the radius (in cm) of
the cylinder.
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
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Side of square =
Circumference of cylinder
in the denominator
(a) 20
(b) 24
(c) 36
(d) 16
Q8.
Pie Chart I shows the percentage break-up of the scoring shots played by the Indian Cricket team during a test
innings while Pie Chart II shows the percentage break-up of the scoring shots played by Sachin Tendulkar during the same
innings.
A total of 12 sixes were hit during the Indian innings and 3 of them were hit by Sachin Tendulkar. What was the ratio of the
runs scored by the team through 4 s to the runs scored by Sachin Tendulkar through 2 s?
(a) 4 : 1
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(b) 4 : 3
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(c) 2 : 1
Q9. In the figure given below, SC is a tangent to the bigger circle. If AC is the diameter of the bigger circle, what is the
measure of QPR?
(a) 30
(b) 40
(c) 70
(d) 60
10!
(b) 7
(d) 4
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N1, N2 and N3
(b) 15
(c) 18
(d) 21
M appr oach: Number S s tem will need to mak e cas es , mar k ed for R eview to be attempted in R 2.
Q12. The product of the first five terms of an increasing arithmetic progression is
arithmetic progression are in geometric progression, what is the sum of the 1st term and the 5th term of the arithmetic
progression?
(a) 4
(b) 2
(c) 6
(d) 8
M appr oach: P r ogr es s ion look s calculation intens ive, mar k ed for R eview to be attempted in R 2
Q13. A circle is inscribed in a regular hexagon and the regular hexagon is inscribed in a circle. By what percentage is the
area of the bigger circle more than that of the smaller circle?
(a) 25
(b) 30
(c) 40
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Q14. The mean, median and mode temperatures of the seven days of a particular week in a city were 5.429C
(approximately), 7C and 9C respectively. If the temperature (in C) on each of the seven days was a positive integer, then
which of the following could not be the temperature (in C) on any of the seven days? (The data set contains only one mode)
(a) 1
(b) 3
(c) 2
5.429 =
2 and 9 while the question mentions that there is only one mode.
(b) 30 m/s
(d) 50 m/s
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Q16. Find the product of all the real roots of the quadratic equation x2 |x| 12 = 0.
(a) 9
(b) 12
(c) 36
(d) 16
Substituting x =
x2 4x + 3x -12 = 0
x2 + 4x 3x -12 = 0
and
x = 4 and -3
x = -4 and 3
satisfies
Dir ections for ques tions 17 to 19: Answer the questions on the basis of the information given below.
The table given below shows the GDP (in Rs crores) of five Indian states and the percentage contribution of E-business to their
GDP in FY 2011-12. The line graph shows the contributions (in Rs crores) of the three major components of E-business ECommerce , Internet Advertising and Freelancing for each state in FY 2011-12.
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Q17. F
EFY 2011-12?
( )B
( )G
( )K
( )R
Q18. T
E-
2012-2013
10%
.B
FY
E-
E-
GDP
FY 2012-2013
FY 2011-2012?
( ) 6.31
( ) 11.11
( ) 9.09
( )C
Q19. F
E-
FY 2011-12?
( )7
( ) 11
( ) 17
( ) 23
DI:
Q20. W
( )1
E as y number s
( )
( )2
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( )3
To be attempted
( = 2.72)
( )4
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M appr oach: Not s ur e how to s olve this ques tion may need to mak e cas es mar k ed for R eview to be
attempted in R 2.
Q21. During one of the shows in Jemini circus, four hats are picked randomly from a trunk that contains 3 red hats, 5 black
hats, 4 blue hats and 6 yellow hats, and are given to four dwarfs such that each dwarf gets exactly one hat. All the dwarfs
throw their hats in the air simultaneously. Then each dwarf comes under exactly one of the hats, not necessarily the one
thrown by him, such that the hat fits snugly on his head. What is the probability that at least two dwarfs are wearing the hats
of same colour now and no dwarf has the same hat on his head that he had thrown in the air?
(a) 45/136
(b) 91/136
(c) 83/272
M appr oach: I will mos t pr obably not be able to s olve this , leave. R 3
Q22. In how many ways can 4 boys and 5 girls be seated in a row such that no two boys sit together?
(a) 3600
(b) 2880
(c) 43200
(d) 362880
M appr oach: P &C, have done this k ind of ques tions ear lier , R 1.
5 girls can be seated in 5! ways = 120 ways
There are hence 6 places for 4 boys to and they can sit in 6 x 5 x 4 x 3 = 360 ways.
Hence total number of ways = 120 x 360 = 120 x 120 x 3 = 1440 x 3 > 42000
Cor r ect Ans wer : Choice (c) 43200
(b) 3
(c) 4
is:
M appr oach: Tr ignometr y, can be s olved by s ubs tituting values of n , could tak e time hence mar k ed for
r eview for attempt in R 2.
Q24. Which of the following numbers cannot be expressed as the product of two prime numbers that lie between 30 and 45?
(a) 1147
(b) 1333
(c) 1779
(d) 1591
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ha i he a i
fa
ad i a e a ABCD i e ec a O. If AO : OC = 2 : 3, BO : OD = 2 :1, DO : OC = 1 : 2 a d
f he e g h f ide AB
(a)
ha
(b)
f ide CD?
(c)
(d)
Q26. (
+ 1)(
+ 1) i a fac
f (1 + +
39
), he e ,
a d ae
i i e i ege . Wha i he
a i
ib e a e f ( + )?
(a) 25
(b) 30
(c)40
(d) N
e f he e
M appr oach: Algebr a bionomial ex pans ion, mar k ed for R eview to be attempted in R 2
Q27.
If i a i ege , ha i he a e f ?
(a) 2
(b) 1
(c) Ei he (a)
(b)
(d) Ca
be de e
i ed
e =2i
he e
Th , Ch ice (d) i i c
S b i
e =1i
ai
ec
he e
ai
, e fi d ha ba e f L g
LHS = 1 hich i
ib e
ec .
he
f he digi ( ) f
= 1, 2, 3, 4,
, fi d he e ai de
(b) 11
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(c) 46
(d) 0
digit s um, R 1
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Digit sum has a cyclicity of 9 and digit sum of any 9 consecutive integers is a multiple of 9.
Thus, Sum of digit sum of first 99 natural numbers will be a multiple of 90.
and Remainder will be on account of f(100) = 1 only
Cor r ect Ans er : Choice (a) 1
Dir ections for ques tions 29 and 30 : Answer the questions on the basis of the information given below.
Anil, Bala, Chinmay, Devesh and Esha went to different countries for vacationing. Each person carried some amount (in `)
with him/her to spend in the foreign country and got it converted into the currency of his/her destination country at the
foreign exchange counter of his/her respective departure airport in India. Similarly, after coming back to India from the trip,
each person got the amount left after the trip converted back into ` from the foreign currency at the arrival airport in India.
Table
I shows the amount (in `) carried by each person and the percentage of the amount left with him/her after converting
II shows the exchange rates of different currencies at which these persons bought/sold
Q29. How many Australian Dollars (approximately) did Bala spend on her trip?
(a) 9549
(b) 8750
(c) 8854
(d) 9444
Q30. What percentage of the total amount (in `) carried by the five persons together was left after they came back from their
respective destinations and converted the leftover money back into `?
(a) 12.5
(b) 15
(c) 14.71
(d) 11.11
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Attemptable
Q 1, 2, 6, 8, 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 22, 24, 27 & 28. These are, for me, the easiest QA
questions in the paper and will ensure a decent score in the section.
Identified 7 QA ques tions for R 2
5, Q 17
19 and Q 29
to be calculation intensive and would be attempted after attempting the first two sets.
Identified that Q 21 should not be attempted and Q 25 to be considered only after attempting all other questions.
R ound 2:
Fir s t the DI s ets , as ex plained above I s tar ted with Q 3
Dir ections for ques tions 3 to 5: Answer the questions on the basis of the information given below.
The bar chart given below shows the revenue (in Rs lakhs), the expenditure (in Rs lakhs) and the number of employees (in 00)
of a company that produces wheels, from the year 2006 to the year 2011.
Q3.
In each of the given years, the number of units of wheels produced by the company was ten times the number of
employees. In which year was the expenditure incurred per unit of wheel produced the lowest?
(a) 2008
Q4.
(c) 2010
(d) 2011
The total expenditure of the company during the given period was what percent of the total revenue?
(a) 75%
Q5.
(b) 2009
(b) 66.67%
(c) 80%
(d) 87.5%
In which of the following years was the percentage increase in the revenue as compared to the previous year the
highest?
(a) 2008
(b) 2009
(c) 2010
(d) 2011
5: Multiple bar chart with the values given is equivalent to a table. The numbers are also
easy to handle. The graph gives the revenue, expenditure and the number of employees of a company from 2006 to 2011.
Q3. Since the number of wheels produced is 10 times the number of employees for all the years hence instead of checking
for ratio of expenditure to number of wheels produced, check for ratio of ex penditur e to number of employees for
each year mentioned in the choices .
Choice (a) 2008: Ratio = 175/6
5.8
Choice (b) 2009: Ratio = 205/50 = 4.1, thus choice (a) is incorrect.
Choice (c) 2010: Ratio = 195/40
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ec A
Q4. I felt that finding the total expenditure and the total revenue for the 6 years could be time consuming hence decided to
check e
e di
e a a e ce
age f e e
ef
all he ea
Since E/R for all the years is between 77.5% and 84%, the average for all the years will also lie in this range.
Choice (a) 75%,
ec A
Q5. Checked the choices for % growth in revenue over the previous year:
Choice (a) 2008: % growth = 2/9
22%
9%,
4%,
25%,
ec A
Di ec i
e i
17
19: Answer the questions on the basis of the information given below.
The table given below shows the GDP (in ` crores) of five Indian states and the percentage contribution of E-business to their
GDP in FY 2011-12. The line graph shows the contributions (in ` crores) of the three major components of E-business ECommerce , Internet Advertising and Freelancing for each state in FY 2011-12.
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Q17. Fo
hich a e i he
hi d highe
among he fi e a e in FY 2011-12?
(a) Biha
(b) G ja a
Q18. The
2012-2013 o e he p e io
b ine
(c) Ka na aka
ea in G ja a . B
i e pec ed o g o b 10% in FY
FY 2011-2012?
(a) 6.31
(b) 11.11
(c) 9.09
fo Ka na aka in
FY 2011-12?
(a) 7
(b) 11
(c) 17
(d) 23
ae
fo he ea 2011-12 hile he m l iple line cha gi e he con ib ion in R c of he h ee majo componen of eb ine .
Q17. Fo nd he
Ka na aka i he 3 d highe .
Cor r ect Ans er : Choice (c) Kar natak a
Q18. Since GDP fo 2011-12 o he g o h a e of GDP o e he p e io
ea i no gi en hence he an
e canno be
calc la ed.
Cor r ect Ans er : Choice (d) Cannot be deter mined.
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7 x 2979.64
7 x 3000
Now that I have attempted two out of the three sets of DI and I am left with the one that is likely to be calculation intensive,
individual R2 questions
Q 7, 9, 11, 12, 20, 23 & 26. I decided to do the geometry questions after completing the other
individual questions.
N1, N2 and N3
(b) 15
(c) 18
(d) 21
M appr oach:Since the product of the three numbers is 12 times their HCF, the product has to be a multiple of 12. Since we
need to find out the number of ordered triplets (N1, N2, N3) each case is equivalent to 3 ordered triplets and hence the
choices 12, 15, 18 & 21are equivalent to 4, 5, 6 & 7 cases respectively.
Decided to make cases:
HCF = 1 and Product = 12
(1,1,12), (1,2,6), (1,3,4), (1,12,12)
(2,2,6), (2,3,4)
us I mar kh
ed the ans er as 18 and go it
r ong because I missed out (2,2,3) where HCF = 1 and Product = 12, thus
Q12. The product of the first five terms of an increasing arithmetic progression is 40/81. If the 1st, 2nd and 4th terms of the
arithmetic progression are in geometric progression, what is the sum of the 1st term and the 5th term of the arithmetic
progression?
(a) 4
(b) 2
(c) 6
(d) 8
M appr oach: This appeared to be calculation intensive so tried to make cases but was unable to do so and hence decided
to solve this question by applying standard mathematical technique.
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ed he fi
5 e
f he AP
1 ,2 da d4 h e
a e i GP, h :
d c
f he fi
a = 3d
5 e
= 40/81
f1
a d5 h e
d =1/3
= 6d = 2
Q20. Wha i he
be
(a) 1
( ) f he e
(b) 2
be b
ai
(c) 3
e i
(e = 2.72)
(d) 4
d a he ce
bab
he
be
f he e
ai
i be a d
I had no idea how to pr oceed fur ther and left the ques tion unans wer ed. Not to be
attempted again. R 3
Q23. The
be
(a) 2
i i e i ege
(b) 3
f he e
(c) 4
M appr oach: S
ed he
e i
= 1, e ge c
(4 ) + i (4 )
= 2, e ge c
(5 /2) + i (5 /2)
= 3, e ge c
(2 ) + i (2 )
= 6, e ge c
(3 /2) + i (3 /2)
>6 e i
ge a i eg a
ai
i :
(d) M e ha 4
b i
i g he a e f
=1+0=1
=0+1=1
=1+0=1
=0+1=1
i e f /2 a d
he e
e i
a i fie
a i fie
a i fie
a i fie
h
be chec ed.
In this I made a mis tak e, cos (3 /2) = -1, thus n = 6 does not s atis f and the cor r ect ans wer s hould be
Choice (b) 3
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(b) 30
(c)40
M appr oach:Tried solving the question by substituting the value of x and by finding the sum of the GP on the RHS but
unable to make any headway. While I was sure that p+q 40, I could not eliminate any other choice. The presence of None
of these also made my task difficult and hence left the question unatttempted.
(a) 20
(b) 24
(c) 36
(d) 16
M appr oach: No idea how to solve the question hence left it.
9. In the figure given below, SC is a tangent to the bigger circle. If AC is the diameter of the bigger circle, what is the
measure of QPR?
(a) 30
(b) 40
(c) 70
(d) 60
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SCA in the figure appears to be to scale, hence decided to take a chance. Compared the angles
30:
Dir ections for ques tions 29 and 30 : Answer the questions on the basis of the information given below.
Anil, Bala, Chinmay, Devesh and Esha went to different countries for vacationing. Each person carried some amount (in `)
with him/her to spend in the foreign country and got it converted into the currency of his/her destination country at the
foreign exchange counter of his/her respective departure airport in India. Similarly, after coming back to India from the trip,
each person got the amount left after the trip converted back into ` from the foreign currency at the arrival airport in India.
Table
I shows the amount (in `) carried by each person and the percentage of the amount left with him/her after converting
II shows the exchange rates of different currencies at which these persons bought/sold
Q29. How many Australian Dollars (approximately) did Bala spend on her trip?
(a) 9549
(b) 8750
(c) 8854
(d) 9444
Q30. What percentage of the total amount (in `) carried by the five persons together was left after they came back from their
respective destinations and converted the leftover money back into `?
(a) 12.5
(b) 15
(c) 14.71
(d) 11.11
M appr oach:
Q29. Bala converted Rs 5,00,000 into A$ and after returning to India converted the remaining A$ into Rs 75,000 (15%of Rs
5,00,000)
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1,667 = 8750
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Li e
T eet
Share
Saurabh
on Sep ember 28, 2012 a 11:23 am said:
Ishan
on Sep ember 28, 2012 a 2:41 pm said:
GP
on Sep ember 28, 2012 a 6:46 pm said:
kanika pathela
on Sep ember 28, 2012 a 3:13 pm said:
Tushar
on Sep ember 28, 2012 a 8:59 pm said:
Hi kanika,
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There is a misprint in the solution- instead of cos(3 /2)= -1 it should be sin(3 /2)= -1. Hope this
clarifies your doubt.
Cheers
Richa Singh
on Sep ember 28, 2012 a 4:54 pm said:
Sir,
In ques 7 , I used SQC approach.
I made the figure proportinate and found that the required area is less than area of ABD.
Only one option is less than 20
GP
on Sep ember 28, 2012 a 6:46 pm said:
natasha
on Sep ember 28, 2012 a 5:55 pm said:
hello sir, as u said during SQC, i wanted to ask u tat in question no. 9 , looking at the figure we can easily
eliminate options c& d, as the angle cannot be 60 or 70 degrees, then moving on to the next options we
can analyse a bit and can mark the option as 30 degrees. Will it be gud or it would be better to leave the
question if u dont get the idea to solve it correctly using the concepts?
GP
on Sep ember 28, 2012 a 6:48 pm said:
Natasha,
I will take my chances with 30 degrees based on visual observation.
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Akash
on Sep ember 28, 2012 a 7:47 pm said:
Sir question 10 , can we , you got 22/3 and its the same thing I got ( probably in thrice the amnt of time) ,
but mulled over as was not getting an integral value , you have rounded off to 7, was this an error on the
part of setting answer, or such things should be factored in for CAT .i.e slight alteration in answers
..
Tushar
on Sep ember 28, 2012 a 8:47 pm said:
Hi akash,
google how to find the highest power of a prime number in a factorial you will get the answer to your
question.
Cheers
Shekher Nishank
on Sep ember 28, 2012 a 9:48 pm said:
Dear Sir,
In question no. 7 how did u reach that we should take .429 = 3/7
Shekher Nishank
on Sep ember 28, 2012 a 10:26 pm said:
ok sir i guess u reach by taking the fact since all the numbers are integers so that their sum must
also be the integer and in that case the mean multiplied by 7 must also be an integer.
GP
on Sep ember 29, 2012 a 1:55 am said:
Shekhar,
1) I remember fractions so 0.429 = 3/7 was automatic without even reading the question
completely.
2) 5.429 is the average of 7 numbers so 0.429 has to be x/7, 1/7 = 0.143 thus 3/7 = 0.429
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Shekher Nishank
on Sep ember 28, 2012 a 10:24 pm said:
Dear Sir,
can you tell me any technique so that i can avoid the mistakes done by not reading the question properly.
Like in Question 17 i marked the Gujrat without reading that the question is not asking for the highest but
is asking for the third highest.
Thanks and Regards,
Shekhar
GP
on Sep ember 29, 2012 a 1:51 am said:
Shekhar, the only technique for this is to read the question carefully and not rushing thru it and not
starting calculations without reading the question and the choices. Read the question and the
choices without a pen/pencil in hand.
Shekher Nishank
on Sep ember 28, 2012 a 10:55 pm said:
Sir,
How do you mark these R1, R2 and R3 and how do you remember which question is marked with which
means whether you attached it with R1 or R2 or R3
GP
on Sep ember 29, 2012 a 1:58 am said:
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DI or AR, I note the Q.No and the kind of data set on the rough sheet.
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1k
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