Some Shortcuts To Improve Accuracy In CAT 2017

Preparations have prepped up for all the MBA aspirants who are ready to take the CAT exam 2017 scheduled for 26th November to be conducted by IIM. The exam is extremely competitive and shortcut techniques can be of great deal for the candidates vying for a spot in top institutes of the country.

Speed and Accuracy are two most important things that can make a difference of 1 or 2 marks leading to the future of admissions. 

Here are a few shortcut techniques for Quantitative Aptitude section:

1. To Find Square of a 3-Digit Number

Let the number be XYZ

Steps:

a. Last digit = Last digit of Square (Z)
b. Second last digit = 2*Y*Z + any carryover from STEP 1
c. Third last digit 2*X*Z+ Square(Y) + any carryover from STEP 2
d. Fourth last digit is 2*X*Y + any carryover from STEP 3
e. Beginning of result will be Square(X) + any carryover from Step 4

Example:

Find the square of 431

a. Last digit = Last digit of Square (1) = 1
b. Second last digit = 2*3*1 + any carryover from STEP 1=6+0=6
c. Third last digit 2*4*1+ Square(3) + any carryover from STEP 2 = 8+9+0 = 17 i.e. 7 with carryover of 1
d. Fourth last digit is 2*4*3 + any carryover from STEP 3 = 24+1 = 25 i.e. 5 with carryover of 2
e. Beginning of result will be Square(4) + any carryover from Step 4 = 16+2 = 18

Thus, (431)² = 185761.

2. To find out the sum of 3-digit nos. formed with the given digits

This is given by (sum of digits) * (no. of digits-1)! * 1111…1 (i.e. based on the no. of digits)

Example:

Find the sum of all 3-digit nos. formed using the digits 2, 3, 5, 7 & 8.
Sum = (2+3+5+7+8) * (5-1)! * 11111 (since 5 digits are there)
= 25 * 24 * 11111
=6666600

These techniques can help in better accuracy and speed on the Quants section.

Shortcut Techniques For Verbal Ability:

For the Reading Comprehension section of the CAT exam, candidates need to read a passage and based on the information presented in the passage, the questions need to be answered. The candidates have to attempt 34 questions in 60 minutes. Reading speed is extremely important.

Use of Skimming and Scanning techniques of quick and efficient reading can be done to improve the performance.

1. Skimming

During the exam, instead of looking at individual sentences, focus on the first and last sentence of each paragraph of the Reading Comprehension section.

While reading the first and last sentences, churn out important and crucial words in the passage. This will help you identify the key ideas of the passage and form a quick summary of the passage based on the above technique.

2. Scanning

Scanning is effective when you go back to the passage to look for answers. There is an ideal approach for this:

STEP 1: Identify the key terms/idea/concept in the questions asked.
STEP 2: Go back to the passage and look for those terms in the text. Also look for words related to the key term in the passage

You can quickly find answers on the basis of following steps.

Rajguru Tandon

BW Reporters The author is a correspondent with BW Businessworld with keen interest in HR and employee welfare.