The Dummies' Methods: Zindabad!

There is an excitement in the air now a days at the centre...of anticipation and nervousness. Suddenly, after the "Quant for Dummies" session by Nitin this week, people started coming to the centre with renewed hope.

I wanted to pay tribute to this renewed vigour and take the opportunity to invite those who are feeling low for obvious reasons. Come and be a part of the new revolution that is taking the CL, Pune centre by storm.

Personally, I am enthused by the ways and means of the new czars of CAT, who till now didn't even want to give it a shot. But armed with the belief that CAT Quant is not for the Mathematicians of this world, they have picked up the lost threads, and in style too!

If you haven't yet booked your time slots for one-to-one counseling, make sure you do it at the earliest. But before that, take a look at the SIS pages with all the details about your Mock Tests. My favorite pages are the ones with Selectivity Analysis for each Test. For those who are new to the SIS, these links come under the Details tab.

Lets celebrate the beginning of the slog overs in the run up to CAT!

Solution of Crossword Puzzle-5

Crossword-5

solution :

XAT on January 6th

XAT 2008 will be conducted in 31 cities on January 06, 2008; Test Timings: 10:00 am to 12:30 pm

Ahmedabad, Allahabad, Bangalore, Berhampur, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Cochin, Coimbatore, Dehradun, Goa, Gurgaon, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jamshedpur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, New Delhi, Noida, Patna, Pune, Raipur, Ranchi, Rourkela, Trivandrum, Vadodara, Visakhapatnam.

MOCK XAT Analysis

Overview:

This is called Mock XAT! XAT is generally the toughest paper of any season. Unlike CAT, where pressure and temperament plays a very major role, XAT raises its bar through the level of questions and the format it gives to the students. The preparation required for XAT is no different than that for CAT, application and strategic implementation may differ though. One must be ready to adapt to a dynamic strategy depending upon the question paper. This paper could have been utilized better by proper selection of questions from each section rather than going about anything and everything without proper planning.

In this paper, Quantitative Ability, Verbal Ability and Reasoning and Decision making Ability section were high on difficulty index.

The information the cover page made available to you was:

There were 130 questions in all, distributed over three sections. Section A had 49 questions, section B had 41 questions and section C had 40 questions carried 4 marks for each question. Wrong answers carried negative marks equal to one-third of the marks allotted to the question. Total time available to answer all the sections was two hours and 20 more minutes were available for essay writing.

Executive Summary:

A synopsis on how this paper could have been attempted is:

Section	Topic	Total Qs	Suggested Time (in min.)	Possible number of attempts	Possible Score*
I	Quantitative Ability	49	40	15	11
II	Verbal Ability	41	40	20	12
III	Reasoning and Decision Making Ability	40	40	14	10
	Total	130	120	49	33+

*Note: The number of attempts and the score has been worked out on the basis of the experts’ insight on how the students would have taken the test and what score XAT have been considering for dispatching the call letters. The correct cut-offs can be confirmed statistically only after seeing the actual performance of all of you.

SECTION A: QUANTITATIVE ABILITY

The quantitative ability section was a mixed bag having problems from data interpretation as well. Problems were from a variety of topics. One could have made selective attempts in this section. Let us see a few questions that could have been done.

For Q. 1 one could have substituted x by 1/x and solved to eliminate f(x) and got a quadratic equation ,which was 6x²-1749x-4=0.The sum of roots here was 1749/6=291.5

In Q.2 8⁶⁴³ by 132 =>4x (2 x 8⁶⁴² by 33), but remainder for 8^20k by 33 is 1.Hence 4x(2 x 8⁶⁴² by 33 = 4x (128 by 33)=4²⁹=116

One could have looked at Q. 6 for an attempt. If ‘a’ be the repeated root and the other root be b. Then, one could have easily established the following relations:

b= -a/2, A=6b, B=a³ and A³=-27B. One could plug in values for B and check out the value for A and hence find out the value of A+3B. For A+ 3B to be 72, A= -9 and B=27 which is not possible since then b is no longer an integer and hence the answer.

For Q.10 one could have calculated all the values from T3 to T6 then it was just putting the same to get the ratio T6/T5. A must attempt question.

Q.18 could have been done pretty quickly if one could understand that the linear equation was nothing but the equation of a line in the intercept form and (x²+y²)^1/2 was the radius of the circle whose center was at origin. In order to have a minimum value for radius the line must be a tangent to it and hence the distance from the centre, i.e. origin to the tangent must be calculated which was 375/(15² +20²)=15

Q. 19 and Q. 20 were easy. One should have surely not missed out on these two. One could have found out all the possible values for the expression for different m and n in the given range and then one could have moved to answer the questions with ease.

Q. 22 again was given to check your basics. The condition for unique solution could have yielded a-1/2 not equal to 3/(b+1), which could have further yielded (a-1)(b+1) not equal to 6. Once this basic was clear, one could have gone on to find out as to how many values satisfied the same.

One could have attempted Q. 24 from the set of 2 questions as it was the biggest sitter in this section and could have let go of the other question in the set. The possible codes could have been 2¹⁰ if not taking any could have been also a part of code which was not the case here and hence one had to subtract 1.So the answer was 2¹⁰-1=2003

In Q. 31 for the minimum possible sum of all the prime factors, the number should have been 2⁹.So its composite factors were 2²,2³,2⁴, 2⁵,2⁶,2⁷,2⁸.Hence, the minimum possible sum of prime factors=2.

One should have definitely looked at few of the DS questions too.

In Q. 27 the statements alone would not have yielded any definite answer. Combining both statements, one could have got the following possibilities:

R-S-P-T-U-Q, R-S-P-U-T-Q, Q-T-U-P-S-R, Q-U-T-P-S-R.

From here one could have concluded that S was always adjacent to P.

In Q. 28 if one combined both the statements and looked ahead there was only one combination which gave CX=3 units, BX=1 unit and AZ = 2 units. Further it could have been deduced that ABC was a right angled triangle with angle B=90

In Q. 29,from statement I, both p and q could have been either positive or negative. Otherwise only p could have been negative and greater than –1.So it could not have been determined. From statement II, p and q could have been both negative or one of them was negative. So it could not have been determined.

(Q. 37 to Q. 41) This set was not at all difficult logic-wise but only calculation intensive. If one was not comfortable with the math part, one could have attempted this set that was fairly straightforward lest one lost patience. A table showing the number of different flowers on different days was presented. Each question in the set was sort of standalone having separate conditions. There was no catch as such in any of the questions and if one went on calculating as directed in the question there was no way one could not have reached at the right option for any question in the set. However this set demanded great patience.

(Q.46 to Q. 47) One could have done this set also. Could have given good returns in lesser time as compared to the math questions. In the first question the minimum possible difference between the revenue earned by B and A would have been when A had maximum possible revenue (as B already had max revenue in 2004.Each product contributed at least 12% towards total revenue in 2004.

So minimum percentage contribution by C, D and E =12+12+12=36%And then revenue contribution by A could have been calculated and hence the minimum possible difference.

In the second question of the set, all products except those which contributed maximum revenue in the given years had equal percentage contribution towards total revenue, so contribution of all the products except B in the year 2004=40876-17824=23052.Hence contribution of each product except B in the year 2004 and except C in the year 2006 could have been calculated. Hence, percentage increase in the revenue of product E in 2006 over 2004 could have been calculated.

This translates to an attempt of about 15 questions. For a realistic accuracy of 80%, a score of 11 could have been achieved.

SECTION B : VERBAL ABILITY

The Verbal Ability Section was Moderate- difficult and required astute question selection and concentrated solving.

Q 50 –53	A set of difficult 6 sentence Para-jumbles. You could have attempted 3 and got 2 questions correct.
Q 54- 57 RC Passage	A doable passage with fact+ inferential questions .You could have attempted this passage and got at least 2 questions correct.
Q 58-61 Grammar Sentence Correction	A set of easy questions. You could have attempted all four getting 3 correct.
Q 62-66 RC Passage	A readable and doable passage with one fact and 4 inferential questions. Slightly time consuming but doable. You could have got 2 questions correct out of 4 attempts.
Q 67-70 Poem	A very difficult proposition to understand the poem and attempt the questions successfully. You could have left this.
Q 71-75 Contextual Synonyms	A set of 5 questions, which tested your knowledge and application of words. The choices were not easy and you could have ended up getting 2 questions correct from an attempt of 4.
Q 76-80 RC Passage	A passage, which was reasonably easy to read, but the questions were inferential with very close choices. It would have been better to leave out this passage.
Q 81-85 RC Passage	A moderate passage, which had a mixture of fact+ inferential questions. If attempted, you could have got 3 questions correct out of 5 attempts.
Q86-90 Critical Reasoning	Q 86 and 87 were moderate. The last three questions were easy and doable. A must attempt chunk .You could have attempted 3 questions getting at least 2 correct.

Overall you could have attempted 18-20 questions getting 13 -14 correct. This is because your accuracy would have suffered because of close choices.

SECTION C : REASONING AND DECISION MAKING ABILITY

This was a new type of section introduced in the XAT last time. This paper comprised of logical reasoning and case study problems, something one would not have been used to. The mute point is not to get unsettled by such a section as it remains and behaves the same for any other test taker too. One should have attempted this section not to mention the whole paper with a cool and composed head. Let us have a look at a few problems from this section, which could have been tackled.

Q. 91	A single read to this question revealed that it was doable. A sum of 195 could have been possible with (95,100), (96.99) and (97,98). After that the next lower sum possible was with (93,94) that was 187 after which next possibility was with (91,92) that was 183 and so on. Now it was to be seen that it takes a form of a decreasing AP with common difference –4.after 5 moves one could had got rid of the sum 183.So, after 35 moves it should have been 183-4x30=63.
Q. 93	A problem based on a very basic concept of remainders. If one cared to go through this problem one would have realized that the total number of devotees when divided by 2,3,4 etc respectively gives remainder 1,2,3 and so on. One could have taken the LCM of first 10 natural numbers and subtracted 1 from that to obtain the total number of devotees, which was 2520-1=2519. Now, one had to calculate the remainder when 2519 was divided by 16 and which was 7.
(Q.94 to 99)	One could have attempted this set though cautiously. The names could be denoted by PS, CS, GF, PA and OP. From statement II, the possible selling price of PS could have been Rs.50 or Rs.70 or Rs. 80 and corresponding possible selling prices of CS could have been Rs. 70 or Rs. 90 or Rs. 100. From statement III, the price of PA could have been Rs. 50 or Rs. 70 or Rs. 80;price of GF could have been Rs. 70 or Rs. 80 or Rs. 90;and price of CS could have been Rs. 90 or Rs. 100. But from statement V, it could have been concluded that B bought GF for Rs. 90 and D sold his book for Rs. 50,as this was the only case when the difference could have been Rs. 40. So, having used the above conclusions one could have determined that the price of PA, GF and CS were Rs. 80, Rs. 90 and Rs. 100 respectively. So, the buying price of OP was either Rs. 50 or Rs. 70, as for PS. As the buying price of CS was Rs. 100, so its selling price could not have been Rs. 100, the possible selling price of PS could have been Rs. 50 or Rs. 70 and corresponding possible selling price of CS could have been Rs. 70 or Rs. 90. Now value of x for OP was either Rs. 10 or Rs. 20 or Rs. 30.So, one could tabulate 3 conditions from the above conclusions and then go about answering each and every problem in this set. Once the table was ready, it would hardly have taken any time to crack the 6 problems.
(Q.111 to 115)	One could have attempted this logical reasoning set. The first question could be solved by verifying the given conditions. Here only option (e) satisfied all the restrictions given in the question. For the next question one had to fill 14 positions and out of these positions, 2 counselors worked on 4 days, during the week. Other 2 counselors worked on 3 days during the week. If only Noori and Juliya worked on Wednesday, then they could not work on 4 days during the week. So, Ruhana and Fatina worked on 4 days during the week. And the possible schedule could have been tabulated. Noori and Juliya worked on Friday in both cases. One could have attempted other questions of this set by tabulating the possible cases for the corresponding individual questions. Had one been patient enough one could have answered all the questions here.

Q 121 –123	This variety came as a surprise in the XAT paper last year. This set was relatively easy to handle; however, the only concern was the lengthy directions given in the question. One could have looked at attempting this set.
Q 124- 127	This case study was also of moderate level of difficulty and hence one could have leveraged on this, if one possessed a good reading speed. One could have scored from here too.
Q 128-130	This was tough. One could have avoided this and saved oneself from negative marking. All in all the case study section was of above average level of difficulty.

This translates to an attempt of about 14 questions. For a realistic accuracy of 80%, a score of 10 could have been achieved.

Sample Essay:

Topic – “Indo-US strategic partnership is a major step towards a multi-polar world”

Write-up:

What is a multi-polar world? Discuss bi-polar and Multi-polar world.

· Define multi-polar world as a world where political power is not concentrated in one or two Power Blocs but is more evenly spread

· Define traditional bi-polar world (US & USSR) and discuss how inherent problems associated with it led to the collapse of one power bloc (USSR)

Advantages and disadvantages of a bi-polar world

· Discuss disadvantages of a bi-polar model with historical examples (Cold War, Arms Race, Power Blocs, Uneven development)

Why is there a need for a multi-polar world?

· Discuss how the world has changed through globalization, improved communication

· New challenges faced by the world from global terrorism, lack of economic development in major areas of Asia, Africa and hence need for more global cooperation to deal with such problems

· Hence talk about need for more balanced sharing of power and resources away from concentration in one or two blocs

Current status of power-alliances in the world

• Some bi-polarity still exists (viz. US and China) with political problems emerging there from (viz. North Korean nuclear threat)
• Signs of grouping for economic resources evident in Asia (Russia & China & Central Asian republics) vs. (US, India, Japan, Australia)

History of Indo-US alliance

• Traditionally it has been frosty with India being part of the Non-Aligned Forum and closer to former USSR in terms of cooperation
• However, post 9/11 and the global shift of terrorism closer to India has made both countries rethink their relationship in terms of strategic partnership and collaboration

India’s policy on critical world issues

• Traditionally being part of the Non-Aligned movement, India has always been opposed to bi-polarity and a champion of Third World issues and rights
• While India has been opposed to major US foreign policy issues (viz. arms aid to its allies) there is some convergence of policies evident now (e.g. concern over global terrorism)

How the Indo-US strategic alliance will impact the world.

• India is the largest democracy in Asia
• Its outlook is neutral and non-groupist
• It is a natural leader of SAARC countries and shares many regional concerns
• It is home to a growing economy with fast progress in many global fields such as software
• Indo-US alliance will be a major balancing factor in troubled South Asia. There would be major economic benefits of global markets and resources for both countries and the world in general.

Is it a major step or not. Reasons for the same

• Explore this in line with the above arguments and conclude.

All the best!!

Career Launcher Team

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Explanation correction:

Q. 108:

Read option (d) explanation as “ Option (d) is possible when a = 28, b = 26 and d = 36. So a + b + d = 90”

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………