Important Dates
Issue of CAT Bulletins by Axis Bank STARTS : JULY 14, 2008 (Monday)
Issue of CAT Bulletins by Axis Bank ENDS : AUGUST 8, 2008 (Friday)
Issue of CAT Bulletins by IIMs ENDS : AUGUST 13, 2008 (Wednesday)
Last date for receipt of completed CAT Applications by the IIMs : SEPTEMBER 5, 2008 (Friday)
COMMON ADMISSION TEST : NOVEMBER 16, 2008 (Sunday)
Well I am back after a considerably long hiatus.This time I am going to give you all some dope on the Verbal Logic section.This is for all the CAT-08 aspirants who have been burning themselves out on questions from Para completion.This section has been quite ubiquitous in CAT for the past two years and is very probable in 2008 as well.The biggest challenge,that the takers face here is the ambiguity of the options.The point to be kept under consideration is that,the question will generally require you to "Choose the best possible answer" which insinuates that there exists a possibility of more than one correct answer.Now what to do?Again in a conundrum!There is no need to fret!Remember there are certain yardsticks that one can use as a checklist to strike-off the options that do not seem to fit in perfectly.For example,one or two options can be clearly negated on account of being"Out of Scope",i.e. not being in direct relation to the context.Same rule applies to an option that seems to regurgitate the same idea mentioned in the passage(That would rather qualify as the summary).Remember your correct option will NEVER be a restatement from the paragraph given.Narrow down your choice to the option that not only seems to take forward the main idea of the passage but also has the connotation of a closure(Alomost the same logic that we apply to locate the last statement in parajumbles.
All said and done the best way to crack this section is to practice as many questions as possible to identify the grey areas and I am sure you can start experimenting with the tips mentioned here in your MOCKS to overcome the ambiguity of the VERBAL section!!!!
Best of Luck for ALL-INDIA MOCK CATs starting 13th July,2008!
Below is a mail we received from a former CL student today.
Hello !
I know its late...but really wanted to thank you all for the contribution you have had in shaping my future...d modesty ingrained in teachers normally doesnt allow them to gauge the level of their contribution but sach mein...speaking from the bottom of my heart...had it not been for u all I simply would not have been able to reach dis place.
n its actually not about this place...but about various other traits that i have learned from you that would hold me in good stead in life.
n yea i promise that iss baar will try n study achche se...so that academically bhi i m able to do justice to myself:)
Summers in november...dats d next on target...yahan sab kuch jaldi jaldi karte hain...n haan competition bhi bahot hai coz of relative grading...wing mein ek banda pad raha ho toh baakio ko bhi guilty feel hone lagta hai:( have been trying to resist all this...lets c kab tak !!!
my aim was to make you all feel special and sabki best wishes lene ka...hope dono fulfill honge:)
once again thank you for everything...will keep in touch through mail/phone.
--
Rohan Mahajan
IIM Calcutta PGDM 2008-10
Note:
h: home university student
o: other than home university student (maharashtra)
So you can always use this as reference to get an idea which college you will get this year. This will help you to fill your optional form.
Here are some really basic tools to help you make calculations faster. I am not including the usual "vedic math" or "speed calc" techniques. I found that simpler methods help more!
I am sure you are all aware of that ubiquitous formula (a+b+ab/100). But I am equally certain that you (or even me, for that matter) have discovered even half of the uses of this formula. Well, for now, lets focus on its use in division.
As a really simple starter, lets take a division question:
If 1/3 = 33.33%, what is 1/2? Obviously, its 50%, silly! So, what does it have to do with that formula? Here's what:
Apart from its more popular uses like successive discounts etc, this formula holds true for ANY product of two or more quantities. In fact, this is the most generalized use of the formula. If P=AxB, then an change of a% in A and b% in B will result in a change of (a+b+ab/100)% in P. Conversely, if P has to remain constant, an a% increase/ decrease in A will necessitate a corresponding change of a/(100+a)% or a/(100-a)% in B respectively.
Now,
1/3=33.33% can also be written as 1=3 x 33.33% and
1/2=50% can also be written as 1=2 x 50%.
So, the product has remained constant at 1. 3 has decreased to 2. That's a decrease of 33.33%. According to the formula, the other factor will increase by 33.33/(100-33.33)= 50%. So, 33.33% will increase by 50% to 50%.
This may sound too obvious and easy, but take a look at what you can do with this. How would you calculate, say, 113/256? Now, we know that 113/226 = 1/2=0.50. Using this fact, we can calculate the deviation from 0.5. Since 256 is 30/226 or roughly 1/7.5 or 2/15 or 13.33% more than 226, it means that the final result will be 13.33/(100+13.33)% less than 0.5. That is, approx. 12% less than 0.5, or 0.44. That is fairly close to the correct answer that is 0.4414!
Even if you had taken 13% (instead of dividing it by 113.33), you would have been quite close at 0.45! The key is to round off the denominator to a "convenient" number. And if your denominator deviation is not more than 15%, you can simply take this same deviation as correction in your answer. To summarize, follow these steps:
1. Round off the denominator to either a multiple/ factor of the numerator, or to the nearest hundred. This way, the calculation will be easier for the new fraction.
2. Calculate the percentage deviation from the actual denominator. You may use approximations depending on the need of the hour.
3. Provided that the percentage deviation is less than 15%, adjust your answer by the same percentage in the "other direction".
Obviously, this involves a fairly high amount of calculation, but the good news is that it will get easier with a better knowledge about percentages.
Why don't you go ahead and try out the following:
135/283=? (Hint: Take 283 as 270 or 300)
178/1327=? (Hint: Take 1327 as 1300)
An Indian Express article this week by Bihar's Additional Director-General of Police Abhyanand, 55, who teaches physics at Bihar's Super-30 Institute for IITJEE caught my attention. If you are not keyed into the news, this institute run by Abhyanand and Anand Kumar, 36, a local mathematician, takes up select students from the minority classes. They are taught for the IITJEE exam, arguably the toughest exam of its kind in the world. All of this comes free-of-cost!
The results this year: 30 students of this institute were ALL selected for the famed IITs! (Read the full story here)
I was always a keen admirer of this venture, but what came as a bit of a surprise was the fact that these 30 students were actually helping each other in their preparation. As far as I remember my days of preparation, I never saw two students preparing together for IITJEE! There were situations when friends used to hide their progress from each other, as if there was only one seat in IITJEE, and they were the two finalists! And here were a bunch of brilliant students, who actually helped each other towards the common goal.
When I look at the MBA (read CAT) preparation at our centre, I am relieved that there are groups getting ready for the test, NOT individuals. We have always believed that 5 brains working together is always better than the five working in isolation. At CL, Pune, we don't have as many number of students as there are total number of seats in all the IIMs put together! Well, theoretically, every student here stands a chance to grab an IIM seat :-)
The Bottomline: Form groups of 4-6 friends=> Spend all the time you can afford with each other (mainly studying, and hence, at the centre)=> Get into the IIMs with the same group as your batchmates!
Enjoy!