Publishedonwww.PaGaLGuY.com|August17,2009

NewQuantDI,NewStrategy

ByTCYonline.com

There is no need to panic, guys;

CAT 2009 is no different from any past CAT as regards Quant & DI.

AsaseriousCAT09aspirant,doyoucompletelyagreetoit?

Although there is no need to panic, CAT 2009 is certainly different from the past CAT as regards the right ways to

approachit.WehavebeenassuredmanytimesthroughofficialnotificationsaboutCAT2009thatIIMsaretryingtokeep

the test as close to theoldpaperpencilbasedpattern as possible. The freedomoffered in a LinearComputerBased

formatsupportstheirclaim.However,thefactthatitwillbeheldonacomputerscreenisstrongenoughtomakeusre

visitourtesttakingstrategies.Theneedtoreduceorcounterbalancethetimewastageperquestion,whichseemsto

beacertainoutcomeof reading thedata from computer screen,cannotbeoveremphasized.This, togetherwith the

fact that CATQuant&DI are gettingmore reasoningoriented,would proveour excessive dependenceon thequick

calculationfacultiesamere illusion.Thismirage, ifnotdealtwithcarefullytoday,willanyhowdisappear inNovember

end.Nevertheless,todaysmistakeswouldbetomorrowsblunders.

THELOGICPREVAILS

PastfewyearshaveproventoeachseriousMBAaspirantthata99.99PercentileinCATisbeyondquickcalculationsand

VedicMath.Thoughtheseskillsareessentialtosetthemood,theyhardlyhavehelpedaCATtakerwhodoesnotknow

howtologicallyapproachaQuantorDIproblem.Probably,thatsthereasonwhytestmakersareturningtowardsmore

logicalproblemsandlesscalculationthirstysitters.YourMOCKOnlineCATscoresstandwitnesstothehardfactthatas

the Quant and DI problems turn more logical the time per question is bound to increase. This is because a logical

problemneedsalogicalsolutionandtobreakthecodeyoumustspendtimeanalyzingthegivendata.Hence,thereisa

needtocurbthistimeflubeforeitcausesmajordamage.

AHOLISTICAPPROACH

Ifweanalyticallyassessthechallengesacomputercanpose,wecanreachthesocalledHolygrailstrategyforCAT09

QuantandDI.TheanalysisbyTCYonlineexpertsbroadlyexposes5majorchallengesaCAT09QuantorDIproblemcan

pose.Theyare:

1. Concentration Challengewhich is the root cause of having to RERERERead a question statement /

answerchoices/achart/anequationinordertounlocktherelevantinformationinit.

2. OpticalIllusionChallengewhichleadsustoassumetheNototherwisegivenstherebydeviatingfromthe

logicandfallingintothesettrap.

3. ChallengeofRelevancewhich,ifignored,maypushusintothedatawarehouseofthechartorgraph.

4. Challenge of Consistencywhich although a byproduct of poor concentration on computer screen, can

challengeourcapabilitytostayconsistentwithasingleunitofthedataespeciallytheoneusedintheanswer

choices.

5. Challenge of Interpretation which is caused by many statements which are difficult to retain in mind

(becauseyoucannothighlightanyofthem).

And there is only oneway tomeet these challenges Commonsense.However, it canbe easily translated into

specificsasfollows:

NO. CHALLENGE EXAMPLES

1 Concentration Thinkofaquestionbasedonlogicalarrangement.Youreadthequestionanddraw

aframeworkontheroughpaper;movetoanswerChoice1doesntfit;Choice

2 seems closer; Choice 3 is weird; Choice 4 can also be the answer and

Choice5canneverbetheanswer.Allchoicesscanned.Now,youdecidetolook

attheframework(fromyournotes)again.Nowbythetimeyoucomebacktothe

choices, youhave forgottenwhichwerecloserandwhich couldbeskippednow.

Actually,nowyoumusthavelookedat2ndand4thonlyandsavedalotoftimebut

youcouldnotstrikeoff1st,3rd&5thastheyareonthecomputerscreen.Thenhow

shouldyousavetime?

Simplybywritingtheimportantonesonthescratchpaper.E.g.

24inthiscase.

So,themomentyoucomeback,youdconsideronly2nd&4th.

Sometimes the question statements are either very lengthy or involve a lot of

ambiguousdatawhichotherwisecanbesimplifiedonthescratchpapersimplyby

formulatingtheprobleminstepsasyoureadit.

ThishasbeenexplainedinanexamplefromCAT2007below.

2 OpticalIllusion Remember that diagrams in the questions are NEVER drawn to scale (unless

specified otherwise). Hence, a triangle may look exactly like a Right Angled

Triangleanditwouldnotbeclearlymentionedinthequestionstatement.Youmay

very easily fall into the trap if you do not redraw it as a scalene / isosceles

(whateverthegivendatasuggests)onyourscratchpaper.Suchkindofillusionsare

verycommoninGRE,anothertestadministeredbPrometric.

Weknowthatthefigures intheGeometryproblemshaveangles.Sometimes,we

justestimate theanswerbasedonanangle that looksbigger (or smaller)asper

thefigure.Manytimes,smalleranglesaredeliberatelyshownbiggerinsizemaking

usfellintothetrap.

Anexamplebelow(frompastCATs)explainsopticalillusion.

3 Relevance Many a time, it has been seen that a graph or a chart in DI contain a lot of

informationorsometimesstudentwillhavetorefertwochartstoanswerasetof

questions.Here,whatwegenerallydoisthatwestartunderstandingthecomplete

stuff and the relation of all the parameters with respect to one another E.g.

ProductionofRice,Wheat,PulsesinMaharashtra,Punjab,U.P,MPetc..Wetryto

understandeverypiecewhereasinsomequestionssomeitemsarenotcoveredor

stated. To add to the confusion, doing this on computer screen consume even

moretimebecauseoflowconcentrationproblem.Hence,approachinDIshould

be Question centric and NOT data centric especially in the Round 1 of your

attempt.

ThishasbeenexplainedinanexamplefromCAT2003below.

4 Consistency Sometimes there are 2 graphs to be referred to in one Questionset. Here we

should specifically notice units (cm,m, km) ofmeasurement in both the graphs.

Sometimes theseunitsarekeptdifferent inbothgraphs.That is, inonegraphall

distancesaregiveninmwhile inother theyaregiveninkm.Andwefell intothe

trap.

Additionally, ithasbeenseen thataconsistentformulationofaproblemon the

roughpapercanunlockallthevariablesandconstantsinordertoreachmultiple

answers. This is especially through in case of problems involving logical

arrangementofthedataorthoseinvolvingVennDiagrams.

ThishasbeenexplainedinanexamplefrompastCATsbelow.

5 Interpretation In many DI questions involving logical arrangement of data, the proper

interpretation of the data in the form of tables and flowcharts helps a lot in

reachingthecorrectanswer.

ThishasbeenexplainedinanexamplefrompastCATsbelow

HereareafewexamplesfrompastCATs:

Concentration

Question1

Solution1:

Inatournament,therearenteamsT1,T2,...,Tn,withn>5.Eachteamconsistsofkplayers,k>3.The

followingpairsofteamshaveoneplayerincommon:

T1&T2,T2&T3,.,Tn1&TnandTn&T1

Nootherpairofteamshasanyplayerincommon.Howmanyplayersareparticipatinginthe

tournament,consideringallthenteamstogether?

(1)n(k1) (2)k(n1) (3)n(k2)

(4)k(n2) (5)(n1)(k1) (CAT2007)

Suchquestionstatementsdemandgoodconcentration.Here,thegivenpairsconfuseus.However,ifwe

startformulatingtheproblemonthescratchpaperasweread,lifegetseasier.

Forinstance,Ournotesgosomethinglikethis:

Therearenteams

kplayersineachteam

npairs(theconfusingpartwasthissimple)ofteamshave1playerincommon.

So,theanswerisnkn=n(k1).

Answer(1)

OpticalIllusion

Question2

Solution2:

Inthefigure,AB=BC=CD=DE=EF=FG=GA.ThenDAEisapproximately:

(1)15o(2)20o (3)30o (4)25o (CAT2000)

ItisgiventhatAB=BC=CD=DE=EF=FG=GA;However,inthefigure,thesesidesdonotseemtobe

equal.Hence,inordertoaccuratelyreachthesolution,wehavetoproceedwiththegivendataandNOT

accordingtothegivenfigure.

Workfromthechoices.

IfweputA=15,thenC=15(isosceles)andthenkeepcalculatingtheanglesfurtherwecanreachthe

solutionfast(forthisyoumusthavedrawnthefigureontothescratchpaper).

Makeadjustmentsinyourassumptionsbykeepinginmindthatthesumofanglesofthebigtriangle

mustbe180o

Youwillfindthatonly25ocomesastheresult.

Answer(4)

Relevance

Question3

Solution3

Per Capita Availability of Tea (gms) in Chaidesh

487 464510 544

566

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

Year

(Note:Availabilityisdefinedasproductionlessexport.)

Production and export of Tea (Chaidesh)

660

645

587

561

421

220

215

209

189

207

0 200 400 600 800

1999

1998

1997

1996

1995

Export (million kg)

Production (million kg)

Inwhichyearduringtheperiod199699wasChaideshsexportoftea,asaproportionofteaproduced,thehighest?

(1) 1996 (2)1997 (3)1998 (4)1999 (CAT2003)

Alotofdata,isntit?

Butifyoureallyrefertothequestionfirstyouwillfindthatinordertoanswerit,wedontatallrequirethefirstchart.Justconcentrateontherequireddatatosolvethisquestion.

Fromsecondchartwecansaythatitishighestin1997.

Hence,rememberthemoreyoureadwithoutreferringtothequestion,themoreyoullgetconfused

(andthereforewastetime).

Consistency

Directions

Eighty five childrenwent to an amusement parkwhere they could ride on themerrygoround, roller

coaster,andFerriswheel.Itwasknownthat20ofthemtookallthreerides,and55ofthemtookatleast

Question4

Question5

Solution4

&5:

twoofthethreerides.EachridecostRe1,andthetotalreceiptoftheamusementparkwasRs145.

Howmanychildrendidnottryanyoftherides?

(1)5 (2)10 (3)15 (4)20

Howmanychildrentookexactlyoneride?.

(1)5 (2)10 (3)15 (4)20

Totalchildren =85

Childrenwhohavetaken3rides =20

Childrenwhohavetaken2rides =5520=35

Childrenwhohavetaken1ride =145(203+352)=15

Childrenwhohavetaken0rides =85(20+35+15)=15.

Therefore,ifweputallthegiveninformationinaconsistentway,wecananswerboththequestions

together.

Interpretation

Question6

Solution6

Achemicalplanthasfourtanks(A,B,CandD),eachcontaining1000litersofachemical.Thechemicalis

beingpumpedfromonetanktoanotherasfollows:

FromAtoB@20liters/minute

FromCtoA@90liters/minute

FromAtoD@10liters/minute

FromCtoD@50liters/minute

FromBtoC@100liters/minute

FromDtoB@110liters/minute

Whichtankgetsemptiedfirstandhowdoesittake(inminutes)togetemptiedafterpumpingstarts?

(1)A,16.66 (2)C,20(3)D,20 (4)D,25 (CAT2005)

Wouldyoutakethechancetowriteallthedataonthepaperagain???

Hey!Youhavegottoworksmarthere!

Justputthegiveninformationintherequiredformat.

A B C D

20 +20

+90 90

10 +10

50 +50

100 +100

+110 110

50 liters is goingaway from tankD everyminute.Hence itwillget emptied firstand in1000/50 =20

minutes.

Answer(3)

AfewmorethingsonecanexerciseinhisMOCKsare:

Keepinmindthesameoldplanofdoingthepaperin3rounds.Nowasthetestisoncomputeryoumustfollow

a very logical approach to select the questions in Round 1 and 2. For instance, In DI youmust attempt the

questions that can be answered by read minimum information from the graphs / charts. In Quant, ones

involvingminimumequationsshouldbepreferred.Also,sometimesthereare23questionsbasedononeset

of data. They are also expected to consume less timeonce theproblem is properly drawnon to the scratch

paper. Here we are assuming that Prometric will allow you to move back and forth among the questions.

However,ifitdidnotallow(highlyunlikely)youtomoveback,yourtimeperquestionwilldefinitelyincreaseas

youwillhavetoskipaquestiononlyifyouknowyoucannotdoitatallgiventhefactthatyouwillnevercome

backtoit.

Also it is expected that as the test goes online the percentage of DataSufficiency question will increase.

Moreover, it isalsoexpected that theamountofdata in theGraphsandchartswillbe lessandwitha logical

approachesdescribedaboveyouwouldbeabletocomeupwinners!

Allthebest!!

www.PaGaLGuY.com is Indias biggest and most trusted source for MBA preparation, used by over 500,000 MBAaspirantseachmonth.UsePaGaLGuYshugelypopulardiscussionboardstointeractwiththousandsofMBAstudentsintop bschools, MBA aspirants, form study groups in your city and attend gyaan sessions, all for free. Get FREE SMSupdatesonbschoolforms,lastdatesandresults.SmsBEGINMBAto56070tojoin.ReadbestinspiringCATprepstoriesof19successfulMBAstudentsinaFREEdownloadableebookathttp://www.pagalguy.com/books

AboutTCYonline

TCYonlinefeaturesoneofthemostadvancedonlinetestingandbenchmarkingengineforCATpreparationandoffersa

comprehensiveonlineCAT course (www.TCYonline.com/cat2009/cat_preparation.php)with unlimitedaccess to 250+

chapterwise, sectional and MOCK CATs together withtheUNIQUE features like TCY Analytics that allows one to

benchmarkhisperformancewiththeToppersfromacity,streamorgenderandgetfreshsetofrecommendedtestson

the weak areas; Test Generator that gives ultraflexibility to the CAT aspirant for generating tests; Challenge Zone

toChallenge, paceup and competewith your friends realtimeon a test andVoice based Flash Lectureswith faster

downloads,optiontopause,forwardandrewindandtowatchitinfullscreen.

FollowTCYonTwitter(www.twitter.com/TCYonlineCAT)&Facebook(www.facebook.com/Cat.Preparation).

TakethefirstAllIndiaFREEMOCKeCATatwww.TCYonline.com/eCATs/eCATs.php