(Photo: CarbonNYC)
Nearly everything. Don’t believe me – the data says so.
What I can gather from most quant threads on PaGaLGuY and similar online Facebook groups is that a lot of students, coaching institutes and mentors (including myself) end up focusing their energy on the wrong aspects of CAT prep. I have always felt that too much attention is given to Number Systems and Remainders in particular. So I picked up the question papers from CAT 2003 till CAT 2008 and classified the questions into five sections,
- Number Systems
- Arithmetic
- Algebra
- Geometry
- Modern Math
And I got the following results from the six years.
What else did I notice?
Number System had the lowest number of questions in five of the six CAT papers analysed, while it was second lowest in the sixth one. There were two questions on Remainder (Both used the idea of a3 + b3 being divisible by a + b. Both had answer as 0).
Questions on last or second last digit were: Last non-zero digit of 302720 and second last digit of 72008.
Algebra had the maximum number of questions across sections, at 45. 17 questions on Functions, four questions on logarithms. Many questions could be solved by assuming values and eliminating options.
Geometry also had the maximum number of questions at 45. Zero questions involved Trigonometry (Sin, Cos, etc) or concepts such as Applonius’ Theorem, Angle Bisector Theorem and Euler Line. Most questions could be solved using similar triangles and formulas for calculating area.
Fifteen questions were on Time, Speed and Distance (out of 36 questions on Arithmetic). Majority of the rest was made up of Profit and Loss, Percentage, Averages and simple logic. There were zero questions on Compound Interest or Instalments.
Number of questions on Probability? Zero. Number of questions which required application of formulas like nCr and nPr was four (out of 38 questions in Modern Maths). Just one question required a more complex formula like (n+r-1)C(r-1). The rest could be solved using basic principles of counting.
So, if you have been spending time on the quant thread answering difficult questions or getting demotivated by the difficulty level of the questions discussed there,
1. You are not alone.
2. It does not matter. I repeat, it does not matter.
Most of the stuff which is discussed on the quant threads on PaGaLGuY or on various Facebook groups and pages, Question-a-Day websites, etc or for that matter any other online forum where CAT takers connect with each other is on the difficult side. Not only that, a lot of questions which are asked in the mock CATs by coaching institutes or are in the advanced difficult level in books are also much more difficult than what actually gets asked in the actual CAT exam. Some might argue in favour of solving tough questions citing the same logic that governs the idea that “you can be a better city driver by learning to drive on difficult hilly roads“. But that doesn’t really apply here because you do not need to do all questions in the CAT paper. Furthermore, all the tough CAT questions require advanced thinking as opposed to advanced knowledge. You don’t really need to know complex formulae, theorems, techniques, etc.
Do remember that the CAT has never been about shortlisting those who know the most formulas or can apply the Fermat’s theorem efficiently, but those with higher aptitude and better pressure performance.
What should you do instead?
If you think that the Question-a-Day questions that you are following are too tough (if you can’t solve even a fourth of those that are too tough), unsubscribe yourself. If you can’t, try to become blind to them many of us are blind to advertising.
Use the quant threads on PaGaLGuY wisely. I recommend that you use them to clarify your doubts and not to post tough questions and challenge others. If you’re looking for solutions, most questions sources contain solutions as well.
If you follow the above two steps, you will be left with a little more time for your actual CAT prep – something that you can use for improving your CAT score. You should spend it on building your basics and solving simple problems in the exam.
The biggest mistake that I have seen students make is to directly jump to difficult books and forum questions. Don’t do that. If you have joined a coaching institute, they would have given you a fat set of books. Pick them up and solve them before moving ahead. In case you haven’t joined any coaching institute, there are plenty of websites which provide questions of basic level of difficulty, such as IndiaBix. Now that mock tests of most test prep companies have started, analyse those mocks. And if you still have some time left, spend it reading about what is going on in the world than trying to figure out the remainder of 1281000 from dividing by 153 on the quant thread. Leave that for the likes of chillfactor, scrabbler and naga25french.
Ravi Handa has taught Quantitative Aptitude at various coaching institutes for seven years. An alumnus of IIT Kharagpur where he studied a dual-degree in computer science, he currently runs an online CAT 2013 coaching course and the website Handa Ka Funda.
The views expressed here are the author’s own, and PaGaLGuY does not necessarily subscribe to them.