CAT : THE NEW PATTERN

                                                  

                                           SOME OBSERVATIONS

With the new format of CAT launched by IIM’s this past month, students have been forced to alter the way they attempt a paper. In this article I will try highlighting the major changes that the aspirants will have to undergo.

SECTION-1 QA/DI             :                

1)      With 30 questions in 70 minutes, this calculation heavy section will apart from posing problems to those who are weak in Quant; will also trouble people who used to allot greater time to this section from the time left after solving VA in the previous format.

2)      It is not easy to attempt all the questions in QA/DI as it has been found talking to aspirants that they are facing a paucity of time in this section while giving the mocks.

3)      Also, the most important question that arises as how to divide the time among QA and DI.

There is no clarity that QA will feature 20 questions or will QA always be followed by DI?

So, seeing a question and solving it as it comes may not be the best strategy , for you may never know that a easy DI set awaits you after a difficult QA section.

4)       The best way to solve this quagmire is to resort to all sorts of permutations during the mock season. Try different strategies and see which one is working(in terms of time and accuracy)

SECTION-2 VA/LR

1)      Contrary to the earlier section, it is seen that time is being left after solving this section by most people.

2)      Aspirants are submitting the tests before the actual time due to the vast resources available to them (Read:Time).

3)      The most important factor that needs to be then seen is the accuracy .Accuracy could be the deciding factor between a good and a great percentile.

4)      One also should be privy to different types of questions that can be asked in this section:

Critical Reasoning may make an appearance , so also could questions where parajumbles, sentence correction and Fill in the blanks are juxtaposed into 3-4 question sets.

This is the initial view/opinion of most people and it remains to be seen what the actual CAT would look like.

TO FIND SQUARE OF A 3 DIGIT NUMBER

LET THE NUMBER WHOSE SQUARE IS TO BE CALCULATED BE XYZ.

Sq(XYZ) is calculated like this

STEP 1. Last digit = last digit of SQ (Z)
STEP 2. Second Last Digit = 2*Y*Z +  carryover from STEP 1.
STEP 3. Third Last Digit 2*X*Z+ Sq(Y) +  carryover from STEP 2.
STEP 4. Fourth last digit is 2*X*Y +  carryover from STEP 3.
STEP 5. In the beginning of result will be Sq(X) + any carryover from Step 4.

EXAMPLE:

SQ (421)

STEP 1. Last digit = last digit of SQ (1) =1
STEP 2. Second Last Digit = 2*2*1 + any carryover from STEP 1= 4
STEP 3. Third Last Digit 2*4*1+ Square (2) + any carryover from STEP 2.= 2*4*1 +4= 12

  so 2 would be the third last digit  and 1 carryover
STEP 4. Fourth last digit is 2*4*2 + any carryover (which is 1)  = 16+1=17.

 So 7 and carry over 1.
STEP 5. In the beginning of result will be Sq (4) + any carryover from Step 4.

 So 16+1 =17.

So the result will be  177241.


Hope you enjoyed the concept.

Zeller's Rule

Today, I present before you a rule  that can solve your woes in calendar/dates kind of problems.

 With this technique named after its founder Zeller, you can solve any 'Dates and Calendars' problems.

Zellers rule can be used to find the day on any particular date in the calendar in the history. All you have to know is the formula given below and how to use it.

Zeller's Rule Formula:

F = K + [(13xM - 1)/5] + D + [D/4] + [C/4] - 2C

K = Date => for 25/3/2009, we take 25

In Zellers rule months start from march.

M = Month no. => Starts from March.

March = 1, April = 2, May = 3

Nov. = 9, Dec = 10, Jan = 11

Feb. = 12

D = Last two digits of the year => for 2009 = 09

C = The first two digits of century => for 2009 = 20

Example: 25/03/2009

F = 25 + [{(13 x1)- 1}/5] + 09 + 09/4 + 20/4 - (2 x 20)

= 25 + 12/5 + 09 + 09/4 + 20/4 - 2x20

=25+2+09+2+5-40

[ We will just consider the integral value and ignore the value after decimal]

= 43 - 40 =

Replace the number with the day using the information given below.

1 = Monday

2 = Tuesday

3 = Wednesday

4 = Thursday

5 = Friday

6 = Saturday

7 = Sunday

So it's Wednesday on 25th march, 2009.

If the number is more than 7, divide the no. by 7. The remainder will give you the day.

I hope you will find the above method very useful.

Quant Concepts-Square of Numbers

Over the next few weeks , I will be covering some essential quantitative ability concepts which are a must for cracking the QA/DI section of CAT.

Let me start by explaining the concept of calculating squares of numbers.

Say , a number 312

312^2.

Determine the closest power of  100/10 as the case may be which is called the base.

In this case we obtain a base of 300.

represent 312^2 as (300+12)^2. here, deviation=12.

 Now,

 follow the step

ldigit(s) before 0 in base x  (number  + deviation) | deviation^2 where | is a separating  line separating 2 parts of calculation.

 

Remember ,

no. of digits on right side of the imaginary line should be exactly same as the no. of zeros in our base.

 

So, our problem boils down to:

3 x (312 + 12) | 12^2

3x324 | 144

972 | 144

= 97344....1 of 144 carried .

Another example:

38^2

base 30

3x(38 + 8 ) | 8x8

= 138 | 64

= 1444( as only digit should be on the right side of the imaginary line as base has one zero)

So,the 6 in the imaginary part is added to 138.

Comments are welcome and in case of doubts just leave a comment. I will cover them and other concepts in the next blog.

 

.