Friday, August 21, 2015

CAT never teaches to climb a tree; a lion hunts it anyway : Part 2 ( The eternal ghost of QA)

Call it a nightmare or blame it for your insomnia Quants will keep haunting you till you start getting comfortable with it. As a section of CAT the section of QA has an entirely different identity. The nightmare that haunts each one of us is not the actual face when it comes to CAT. Generally, we see QA as the strict Mathematics but what it actually takes is what I'll be sharing across this article.

Let us start with a question:

The marked price of a shirt is Rs. 3750/-. The shopkeeper gives 50 successive discounts starting from 2%, 4%, 6% , 8% and so on. What will be the final Selling Price of the shirt.
Let us try being honest as to the approach we'll adopt to solve this question. The common traits that each one of us will exhibit are:
  • We will write down the gist viz. MP = 3750/- SP= x and stuff like that.
  • We will find our self smart enough to identify some geek term like AP in the discounts given. We will find out the formula linked to A.P .
But wait, was that really needed. There are 50 discounts and the 50th discount will be 100% and that makes the SP of the said shirt as Rs. 0/-. Isn't. This is QA in CAT. It's 90% common sense and 10% of calculation, concept and basic formula. It is just like a riddle or puzzle which has quantities or the numbers.
CAT is for selection of future managers who can handle the business situations. It is not for selection of clerks. And hence it is more of a test that checks the logical and reasoning ability. Questions on Mathematics are just an application of this reasoning ability.
So, actually we need to prepare more for sharpening our common sense and a little bit for the basic concepts of mathematics.
Stop using calculator for everyday calculations. Start memorizing:
  1. Squares and cubes up to 30.
  2. Square roots and cube roots up to 30.
  3. Fractional equivalents of percentages up to 1/30 .
  4. Multiplication tables up to twenties are.
Now each day pick up 2 topics. One from your strength area and the other from any random area. Revise each topic in 15 to 20 minutes not more than that. Then select 15 questions of each topic randomly and solve them in 35 minutes. Take it as a test. Try giving your best to these 35 min and spend your time diligently. Try to maximize your score. Use the options as well to solve the questions.

Penalize yourself for the incorrect attempts and find your consolidated score. Then analyse for next 40 minutes as to:
  1. Was there a smarter way to solve the questions I solved correctly.
  2. How many questions went wrong due to silly mistakes.
  3. How many questions went wrong due to conceptual mistake.
  4. For how many questions I was unable to understand the language.
  5. Any other reason.
Now based on these evaluate yourself and try not to repeat silly mistakes. Immediately go through the concepts you were not so sure of.
  • Connect with your mentors and resolve the doubts.
  • Keep a track of your progress and focus in a way that your score improves each time you take a test.
  • Be very consistent in taking tests.
  • Each day till the date of CAT take at least one test.
  • Cover all the topics gradually.
However tedious and uninteresting it is do practice this habit each day. You will surely achieve well above the sectional cut off. Always think of a better way to solve the questions.
This practice will help you to befriend QA and no longer will QA be a nightmare.
All the Best !!!

Part 3: VA: Wins the game- Releasing Soon.