The LRDI (Logical Reasoning and Data Interpretation) section in CAT is of utmost importance and shall decide how well you are going to score in CAT.
Many students find the LRDI section tough and therefore, difficult to score in it. This section may boost your overall percentile by at least 2-5.
You can score well in CAT by scoring exceptionally well in a particular section. And the LRDI section is the one where you can do wonders.
During the early stages of my preparation for CAT, I was unable to score well in the LRDI section. But, soon enough I realized that the section is not as tough as it looks. I could find a connection with this particular section, yet I wasn’t able to score well in it. It is when I realized the need to change my approach and build up a new strategy to write CAT.
Planning a strategy and executing it correctly can act as a game changer, and so was the case with me. With thorough practice and the ability to choose the right sets, I was able to improve my LRDI section and thus, it fetched me a percentile of 99.83 in the LRDI section of CAT’16.
I would like to share my experiences and tips through which I was able to score well in the LRDI section.
1. Choose the right sets: Choosing the right sets is very important in the LRDI section. Unlike, the Quants section, all questions here are in their respective sets, it means choosing a wrong set will not only mean choosing one wrong question but four. Also, you will lose around 10-15 minutes before realizing that the set was not worth solving, and it might be too late by then.
So, choosing the right sets is very important.
2. Time Management: It is really necessary to keep a check of time while solving any set. To fetch a 99 percentile in the LRDI section, we need to solve around 18-20 questions correctly, which implies 4-5 sets.
Trust me, it is not difficult to solve these many questions if we choose the right sets and not end up giving too much time for a particular set.
Solving 4-5 sets would imply giving 12-15 minutes maximum to a particular set. If you exceed this time limit, there are high chances that you have picked up a wrong set and you might still not be able to solve the remaining questions in the set, and even if you do, they won’t be worth the time you invest in them.
So, plan to invest a maximum of 12-15 minutes to a particular set.
3. Acting Smart: Some sets might look very difficult in the first look, but they might have one or two easy questions, even when the set as a whole is difficult.
Be cheeky, solve these easy questions rather than spending time on the other difficult questions in that particular set. Move on.
4. Analysing the options: Some sets might give you various hints by having a look at the options. You may be able to neglect certain scenarios and directly move towards the right approach.
So, before solving the set, have a look at the options given in its questions.
5. Thorough practice: The key to crack CAT is to solve as many mocks as you can. With proper practice, you’ll be able to implement the above-mentioned strategies well and hence, improvise on your LRDI section.
Practice as much as you can and solve as many mocks as you can. Remember, if you score well, say around a 99 percentile in a particular section, it will help improve your overall percentile, as the score obtained with a 99 percentile is much more than the score obtained with a 95 percentile.
Hope these strategies will help improve your performance and you’ll do wonders in CAT and the other MBA entrance exams.
All the best!
Mayank Gupta (Scored 99.83%ile in LRDI Section in Cat 2016),
Department of Management Studies,
IIT Roorkee.