CAT & Road to IIM's: 8/5/07

Last week, we had a concise but very informative presentation by some students from the PEX-08 A Batch. The boys had selected their topic as "Orkut". A snapshot of the discussion is given below:

Orkut, the popular networking site, was started by a Google employee- Orkut Buyukkokten. It claims to be designed to help users meet new friends and maintain existing relationships. Orkut is the eighth most visited site throughout the world. It is also the 31st most visited site in US.

Some of the disadvantages that Vijay highlighted were use of fake profiles, prevalence of hate communities, privacy infringement, anonymous postings, adult content and spam, addiction to the virtual world and a limit of 999 friends.

Patel informed us about the statistics like the number of users having crossed the 15 million mark. 60% of the users are in the 18-25 years age group, while the next largest segment is 26-30 years. 64% of the users are in Orkut for friends, while 18% each are for partners, business and dating. One surprising statistic was in terms of the countries that the users came from. Brazilians constitute the largest (55%) of the orkutians, with US, India following up at 19 and 16% resp. The reason for the Brazilian dominance is Orkut's availability in the local language, which no other similar site has. Incidentally, Indian participation has grown from about 2% in 2005 to the current 16%!

Orkut, one of the most popular Google properties, didn't seem to have a strong business model. Some of the possible revenue streams in future could come from selling premium subscriptions, classifieds and targeted ads. Data mining and user profiling could also be used to get to a certain business model.

One interesting aspect about Orkut is "Orkut Jail". Huy Zing, a very popular Orkuter with more than 600 communities ranging from the mundane to more controversial ones, was "jailed" in 2004. Basically, he was barred from posting anything on Orkut, though he was allowed to view everything. But there was such a big hue and cry over his "killing" that he had to be reinstated. Such is the power of networking sites like Orkut! Now, Orkut has a "policeman" logging in as OrkutGuy who has the rights to get into any community or user profile, and take appropriate action. For instance, OrkutGuy interfered when one of the communities changed its name from "Orkut Loser Patrol" to "Orkut Pedophile Society".

Orkut (and Google, in turn) has also supported Governments in getting information about any illegal activities.

We also had a comparative discussion about Orkut and other networking sites like MySpace and Linkedin. We ended the discussion with a note on SecondLife, one of the futuristic models in the virtual world. SecondLife is a virtual world with more than 8 mn residents, and a flourishing economy with almost $2 mn spent every day! More than 300 universities have setup their own campuses in this other world!

The next presentation in this batch will be on the pride of the Indian IT industry- INFOSYS. Keep watching this space...

Overview:

Mock SNAP interspersed between Mock CATs? Is this the question you had in your mind even before taking a look at the first problem of this mock? Undoubtedly, your focus at this moment should be the CAT only, however; this paper primarily sought to familiarize you with the entrance test for the Symbiosis family of institutes. Once the CAT passes by on the 18th of November, entrance examinations like IIFT, IRMA, SNAP, IBSAT etc would tend to take place week after week without offering you any breathing space. Hence, it is wise to be prepared beforehand.

In this paper, Verbal Ability was on the easier side, whereas Quantitative Ability section was tough, and Logical Reasoning based Data Interpretation sections was moderate.

The cover page provided certain information, which was:

There were 165 questions in all, distributed over four sections.
First section had 50 questions carrying 1 mark each, second section had 35 questions carrying 2 marks each and third and fourth sections had 40 questions each carrying 1 mark.
Wrong answers carried negative marks equal to one-fourth of the marks allotted to the question.
Total time available to answer all the sections was two hours.

Executive Summary:

A synopsis on how this paper could have been attempted is given below.

*Note: The number of attempts has been worked out using our perception of how an average student could have approached the test. The legitimate cut-offs can be confirmed only after seeing the actual performance of the students. Kindly ignore the sectional cut-offs in the SIS. This Mock SNAP like the actual SNAP has only overall cut-offs.

SECTION I: Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation:

This section of the Mock SNAP was moderate in its difficulty index. The section was evenly distributed with respect to the topics and variety. You could have tried to maximize your score here by selecting few easy DI sets and then tackling the easiest of the QA problems.

From Q. 29 to 32 the key was to rearrange the companies in the ascending order of the numerical values of their ranks. For problem 31 rearrangements within the same city was required and problem 32 required checking of revenue between appropriate ranges to determine the rank of the company. A must attempt set.

From Q. 33 to 37 it was worth noting that the Biology marks (S [M]-(S [PCM]-S [PCB])) for each of the 5 students could have been calculated and sum of marks in Physics and Chemistry could also have been known. On the basis of this data a table could have been prepared and then one could have attempted each of the problems one by one. An easy DI set in the offering.

Q.42 to 46 were to be answered on the basis of a line graph. One could have easily got lost amidst so much data in the mother data but the key was to have patience and to underline the important things in the mother data. After that one could have gone on to attempt each question individually. It would have been wise to leave this set.

Q.47 to 50 again was not as straightforward a set as one would expect in SNAP. Each Problem was to be dealt individually. Problem 48 required to formulate a table for 2006 Jan to Jun data and then calculate the desired value as it would be confusing to look again and again in the big pool of data. Problem 49 would have utilized some arithmetic series formulae and was a very good question in this set. All in all one should have stayed away from this set to avoid time lapse or even accuracy.

Hence, a considerable number of questions could have been attempted. With a decent accuracy of 75%, a score of 15-16 was definitely attainable.

SECTION II: Logical and Analytical Reasoning

This section in this paper was of an easier level. Proper selection of easy sets of questions would have really boosted your score, as this section was the one with maximum weight-age. Ideally a student should have gone on to attempt the maximum problems from this section. Lets see them one by one.

Logical Reasoning:

Q 51-54 (Critical Reasoning)

These were 4 Qs of moderate to higher level of difficulty.

Q55-57 (Deductive Reasoning)

These were 3 Qs of Deductive Reasoning of Moderate level of difficulty. These were doable provided you were familiar with the concepts.

Q58-60 (Summary Para’s)

This chunk was a bit difficult to read –but the options were easy. You could have attempted this selectively.

Out of these 10 Qs you could have attempted at least 6 Qs in a time of 10 –12 min and got a net score of 8-10.

Analytical Reasoning:

(Q.63 to 65)
This set of questions was enticing. One could have deduced that Sonia was the youngest from the statements 1,2,4 and 5 and also that she lived in Dwarka and drove a Santro. The fact that Anju lived in Sarita Vihar could also be deduced from statements 2,4 and 5.Using the above deductions one could have deduced that Krish was the oldest who used Indica and lived in South Campus. On this basis a table could be formulated and then all the questions were straightforward.

(Q.66 & 67)
Interesting pair of questions based on your pattern finding skills. In 66 every alphabet at odd position was increased by 2 and every alphabet at even position was decreased by 2.In 67 the word was written in reverse order and each alphabet was increased by 1.A must attempt for one and all.

(Q.68 to 70)
This set was a cakewalk. All one required was to jot down the right arithmetic operators against the respective signs mentioned. Then one could have used BODMAS rule to calculate the value of the expressions in the 3 questions and find the value on the basis of the question asked.

(Q.76 & 77)
Another easy set in the offering. Very clearly Naveen could not be seated next to Laxman, Puneet or Madhvi. And so, Kamini and Omprakash must have been on either side of Naveen.And then one could have inferred that two places were available for two people Laxman and Puneet.

(Q.78 & 79)
One could have formulated a table and noted the case wise movement at various positions of the friends keeping in mind the rules of the game as mentioned in the mother data. It could have been deduced that the minimum number of movements was 3 and it could happen in two ways. One should have attempted this set to boost ones score.

83
It was a trick question. Clearly C-H had a daughter F that meant that A was the grandfather. So, G and F were grandchildren from different sets of parents. A and B formed a couple. It could be deduced that G was a male and that he was the son of E. It is advisable to construct a family tree in such questions to keep track of the level of generations a family has.

84
This was an easy question again where possible seating arrangements could be formed as mentioned below.
1. T/W S U P/V V/P Q R W/T
2. T/W R Q P/V V/P U S W/T
Clearly 3 persons sit between S and Q.

85
As you would have read this question and moved your eyes across the grid the word commodity would have struck and you could have safely marked m as the answer. There was hardly anything in this problem and clearly 2 marks could be in your pocket.

This translates to an attempt of about 18 questions. For a realistic accuracy of 80% in this easy section, a score of 29-30 could have been achieved.

Section-III: General Awareness:

This section consists of 40 questions carrying one mark each and also has negative marking. The section is a judicious blend of the Business, Current and Static General knowledge. If you look at closely then you will find that the question are of moderate to little bit high level of difficulty and does surely demand a regular study of the newspapers and magazines. There are questions from static general knowledge also which are again a blend of easy and difficult ones. Anybody who is a regular reader of Management Compass can surely crack this section. The minimum final score of 24 is something that must see through the aspirant in this section.

Section-IV: Reading Comprehension and English Usage
Following is a break up of English in Mock Snap.

This section had 40 qs comprising English Usage, Verbal Logic and Reading Comprehension. Each question carried 1 mark.

You could have attempted this section in 2 rounds.

Round 1(10-12 min)

In the first round you could have solved the following questions, which were either sitters or easy pick questions. You could have devoted 10-12 min for this

Q 128,129- Punctuation

Q137 & 138- Grammar

Q145-148-(Crossword) A new question type, which was definitely easy and doable

Q152-155- Grammar and Usage

Q 160-162 – Phrasal verbs and Word usage

Q163-165- Idioms-You may have left out Q163 which was difficult.

Round 2:
In this round you could have attempted some of the non-RC questions selectively. Or You could have gone for the RC.

Following is an analysis of these questions.

Q126-127 (Para-jumbles)
These were of moderate to difficult level.

Q134-136 (Analogies)
Depending on your command over words, these ranged from Moderate to difficult level.

Q143-144 (Synonyms)
These were not very easy and of moderate –higher level of difficulty.

Q149-151 (Antonyms)
These were again difficult if vocabulary is not your strength.

(Reading Comprehension)

Q130 to 133 (Passage 1) on Commonwealth Games 2010. Easy to read, short passage with fact based questions. A must attempt

Q 139 – 142 (Passage 2) on India vs. US – comparative analysis of films and television market
An easy to read but lengthy and detailed passage with two fact based questions. This passage could have been avoided because answers to the other two questions were a little difficult.

Q 156 – 159 (Passage 3) based on 4 outstanding western women.
Easy to read, clearly divided into sections. Two questions were easy and based on facts, however; the other two required a thorough reading of the passage.

Overall a score of 16-18 was possible out of an attempt of 20-25 in 30 min.

All the best!!

Career Launcher Team

CAT & Road to IIM's

Infosys: A Profile

Orkut: A Presentation

Solution To Crossword Puzzle-2

MOCK SNAP Analysis

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