Purpose of DI questions in CAT

Ask an MBA aspirant about the types of questions the Data Interpretation (DI) section of CAT contains and most will answer correctly that it contains graphs and tables. Ask them a follow-up to this question, viz. “What kinds of skills are tested by this section?” Most students will now flounder. Some will say that it tests your ability to read graphs, while others will opine that it evaluates your capability to make quick calculations. Their answers often lack an incisive understanding of the real purpose of this section.

Likewise, ask students how good they are in the DI section. Most will reply that it is an easy section (compared to the dreaded Problem Solving section or the Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension for some) but it takes time to do calculations. This kind of answer indicates the faulty approach most students often take while dealing with this section.

Listening to feedback from students about their performance in this section soon after CAT, projects a new dimension. Most students will claim that they have done fairly well while the reality may be otherwise. They get a shock when they come to know about the actual answers and blame their bad luck for their appalling performance.

Such questions and answers give a clear indication that most students have not, unfortunately, understood the purpose of this section and the approaches to develop proficiency in this section. Without such an understanding, attempting DI problems is like embarking on a journey without knowing your destination and the means of transport.

This article aims to explain the purpose of DI questions.

Unraveling the Purpose of Data Interpretation
Data Interpretation section virtually puts a student in the shoes of a Business Manager, who is inundated with useful (and not so infrequently with useless) data and has to make some quick interpretation of the data to reach important decisions. Once presented with graphs or tables, the mental processor of a manager starts whirring at the top gear and selects, prunes, manipulates, and compares the data and reaches certain conclusions. Successful operations of these processes require that a manager possesses qualities like:
o An eye for detail,
o An ability to focus on key issues quickly,
o An ability to work on numbers in different ways,
o An ability to see a trend,
o An ability to identify exceptional situations,
o An ability to work with logical relationships and
o An ability to reach a conclusion using deductive logic.

PREPOSITIONS

I 've analysed several mock and real CAT papers, i 've seen that in terms of grammar, prepositions seem to be one of the most favourite area of Questions Setters. So guys here is some dope on Prepositions. Since i 've collated most of the importants points, you guys could definitely seal this forte after going through this post carefully.

A preposition may be defined as connecting word showing therelation of a noun or a noun substitute to some other word in thesentence (the squirrel in the tree; the preposition in shows therelationship between the squirrel and the tree.).Over ninety percent of preposition usage involves these nine prepositions: with at by to in for from of on

Prepositions cause problems because sometimes they can be usedinterchangeably (He sat on the chair: He sat in the chair), becauseprepositions are often combined with verbs to create phrasal verbs(to look after someone; to look down on someone), and because asingle preposition can be used to express several different ideas(He is tall for his age; I swam for an hour).

The most efficient method of study is to familiarize yourselfwith prepositions and prepositional phrases through practice andmemorization. This is particularly helpful for the bilingualstudent, who often seems to find preposition usage one of the mostdifficult parts of the English language.
Uses of Common Prepositions

Prepositions are used to express a number of relationships,including time, location, manner, means, quantity, purpose, andstate or condition. The following outline demonstrates the uses of common prepositions.

A. TIME

about: about noon (approximately)

at: at five o'clock at last (finally)

after: after the game after lunch after three

by: by midnight (no later than)

for: for an hour (duration)

of: a quarter of three (15minutes before)

in: in the morning in the fall in April in 1987 in six months (at the end of)

B. PLACE OR DIRECTION

around: She walked around the car.

at: They are at home.
down: They lived down the hall.

C. MEANS OR AGENT

by: He was hit by a ball. She came by train. He did it by hard work.

in: He takes pleasure in it.

on: They live on bread and water.

D. MANNER

by: By doing it yourself, you save time

in: He left in confusion The room was in a turmoil. You can do it in a day

on: I swear it on my word of honor

F. QUANTITY OR MEASURE

for: We drove for twenty miles We bought it for ten cents.

by: We bought them by the kilo.

G. PURPOSE

for: He bought it for an emergency. She went to the city for sightseeing.

He loved her for her thoughtfulness.

Uses of Prepositions after Certain Verbs
account for

agree on (something)

agree with (someone)

apologize to

apply for

approve of

argue with (someone)

ask for

believe in

belong to

blame (someone) for (something) blame (something) on (someone)

borrow from

call on (upon)

care for

compliment (someone) on

come from

consent to

consist of

convince (someone) of (something)

decide on (upon)

depend on (upon)

get rid of

hear about hear from hear of

insist on (upon)

invite (someone)

Uses of Prepositions with Certain Adjectives and in Idiomatic Expressions
according to

accustomed to

angry about (something)

capable of

composed of

content with

dependent on (upon)

different from (than)

disappointed in

due to

followed by

fond of

have respect for

in accordance with

to laugh at

So guys , let us try to cage this demon of prepositions :)

ALL THE BEST!!!!

PERMUTATION COMBINATION

Try to solve this question and will definately change your perception towards p&c.
Q-A set contains 5 natural numbers as {1,2,3,4,5}.what will be the sum of all the possible five digit numbers which we can make from the given set.

NMAT

NMIMS University, School of Business Management
Admissions Open: Master of Business Administration (MBA 2009-11)Two year full-time Post Graduate Degree Programme

For online application, please visit: http://www.nmims.edu/NMIMS UniversityV.L. Mehta Road, Vile Parle (W), Mumbai-400 056Phone: 91-22-26134577, 26143177, Fax: 26114512, E-mail: ftmba@nmims.edu
For details see Ahmedabad Mirror (Ahmedabad) September 7, 2008 pg.19

SNAP

Symbiosis International UniversitySNAP (Symbiosis National Aptitude Test)
Symbiosis National Aptitude Test (SNAP): 2008 Registration OpensSymbiosis National Aptitude Test (SNAP) is your only opportunity to get into one of the 12 reputed postgraduate institutes that offer 24 postgraduate specialisations under Symbiosis International UniversitySymbiosis Institute of Business Management (SIBM) PuneSymbiosis Institute of Computer Studies and Research (SICSR)Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication (SIMC)Symbiosis Institute of International Business (SIIB)Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies (SIMS)Symbiosis Centre for Management and Human Resource Development (SCMHRD)Symbiosis Institute of Telecom Management (SITM)Symbiosis Centre for Information Technology (SCIT)Symbiosis Institute of Geoinformatics (SIG)Symbiosis Institute of Operations Management (SIOM)Symbiosis Institute of Health Sciences (SIHS)Symbiosis Institute of Business Management (SIBM) Bangalore
Test date: Sunday, 21st December, 2008 (2 pm to 4 pm)
Last date for Registration: November 25, 2008
Register online at www.snaptest.org and follow the instructions. Test Fee Rs.1000Symbiosis International University Symbiosis Test Secretariat: Symbiosis Knowledge Village, via Sus Road,Gram: Lavale, Tal: Mulshi, Dist: Pune-411042Phone: 020-39116226/27, Telefax: 020-39116228, E-mail: info@snaptest.org
For details see Times of India (Ahmedabad) September 7, 2008 pg.3

IIMs look to outsource CAT; 4 companies in the running

A fter facing criticism over errors and leaking of exam questions ahead of the common admission test (CAT), an all-India test conducted by the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) as an entrance exam for their much-soughtafter management programmes, the autonomous institutes under the Union government are now looking to outsource the exam to a global testing company.
The institutes, which have rolled out the process for inviting tenders from companies for conducting CAT, have already shortlisted four companies, two of which command strong presence in global testing market.
The companies in the race are ETS Prometric, Eduquity Ventures, Attest and Pearson VUE (Virtual University Enterprises).
While ETS Prometric is a US-based company that handles global exams, such as the graduate record examination (GRE) and test of English as a foreign language (TOEFL) for admission to universities and colleges in the US, Pearson VUE of Pearson Plc., based in the UK, is the sole testing partner worldwide for tests such as the graduate management aptitude test (GMAT) and Cisco Corp.’s certification exam.
Of the two Indian companies in the bidding process, Bangalore-based Eduquity Ventures currently conducts Bitsat for the Birla Institute of Technology, Pilani, and Attest is a testing division of Aptech Ltd, a company that deals in computer training and courseware.
The four companies have been selected after a March pre-qualification notice.
About 30 companies had placed initial bids.
Hoping to make CAT an online test by 2009, IIMs are currently working on the tender document for the process.
“Central to the tender are the issues and concerns raised about such a large exam as CAT, conducted across vast geography, where managing logistics becomes very difficult. Manual testing is open to vagaries of nature and human errors,” said one IIM official requesting anonymity.
The move, largely aimed at introducing a system of computer-based testing (CBT) in India, is being seen as IIMs’ pioneering effort towards creating a market for testing services in the country and also introducing an error-free mechanism for their entrance test, which, in the last few years, has been marred with complaints of leaks and errors in question papers—marking an exception in the otherwise impeccable record of IIMs in managing their tests.
In 2003, for example, the question paper for CAT leaked ahead of the exam, a first in the 28-year-old history of the test.
That led to a retest in February 2004. IIMs then attributed the leak to logistical problems.
Then the CAT 2006 had printing errors in the questions.
The institutes accepted the errors and formed a committee that ruled that the wrong questions will be ignored. The idea of a retest was set aside by the authorities.
However, with the advent of CBT, human errors and sporadic complaints of impersonation at test sites are likely to decline, with a security system keeping human intervention to a minimum.
The CBT system would also set in motion the process for introduction of an “on demand” testing model for CAT, which has often been suggested as a replacement for “single day, single test” format that are used in all such tests in the country.
Tests such as GRE and GMAT are done on a CBT system that records an audit trail with details of people accessing the system to effectively plug loopholes that might lead to leaks, or errors.
Such a system also creates an item bank that delivers an impromptu and unique set of questions to those taking the test.
About 200,000 applicants take CAT, considered one of the toughest business school entrance exams in the world, each year for entry into IIMs and 120, or so managements schools, such as the SP Jain Institute of Management and Re search (SPJIMR), Mumbai; Management Development Institute (MDI), Gurgaon; Mudra Institute of Communications Ahmedabad (MICA), Ahmedabad and National Institute of Industrial Engineering (Nitie), Mumbai, that consider CAT scores for admission.
The number of test-takers jumped from 90,000 to 230,000 aspirants over the last four years, a far cry from just a decade ago when the number of CAT applicants was around 35,000 annually.
With the number of applicants increasing by 20,000 every year, the directors of the six IIMs took a collective decision in 2006 to fix a minimum academic eligibility for the test in order to limit the number of applicants. The decision was also aimed at cutting the load on faculty members of IIMs, who were seen to be spending a considerable time on conducting the tests and completing the admission process.
So far, the exams have been collectively conducted and directly managed by the institutes.

Source: Mint paper