(CAT) DATA INTERPRETATION (DI) AND LOGICAL REASONING

THE DATA INTERPRETATION (DI) AND LOGICAL REASONING SECTIONS REPRESENT A BACKDOOR ENTRY TO THE IIMS. WHY THIS SECTION REQUIRES THE LEAST EFFORT WHEN COMPARED TO THE OTHER THREE :-

 

 

IN our previous article in this series we had started discussing an outline for Data Interpretation (DI) preparations --- wherein we defined four lines of preparation for DI and Logical Reasoning (LR):
    1) Traditional Data Interpretation
   2) Advanced Reasoning Based Data Interpretation
   3) CAT Type Reasoning
   4) Non CAT Reasoning
   In today's article we continue our focus on DI and LR preparations. Let us tackle this point by point:
   The DI and LR section represents a shortcut into the IIMs - This is perhaps a backdoor entry into the IIMs and we have our reasons for saying so. Basically, if you were to look at the preparation processes for the three parallel sections that the CAT tests you for; namely Quantitative Aptitude, Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension and Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning; and compare these processes, you would realise that this section requires the minimum effort as it also affords the possibility of minimum turnaround time.
   So, if you were aiming at moving from a range of say 50 percentile to 90+ percentile in any of the three sections of CAT, the DI section would be the fastest as well as the one involving the least effort. Hence, ignore this section at your own peril. A moot point one realises while saying this is that unfortunately, for the vast majority of CAT takers, DI remains the least prepared of the three areas for CAT exam preparation.
   In our last article, we had raised this issue and also reasoned that this occurs mainly due to the lack of a clear preparation outline for DI prep. So, obviously the question that arises in your mind as you read this is: "What should I do that would help me improve my DI percentiles and solving abilities?" And more importantly: "What can one do in a 90 day time-frame to improve DI?"
   We realise that a lot of you out there preparing for the CAT 2008 exam might be having serious doubts about your ability to improve your DI score at all- especially in the context of the fact that every year there are a lot of students whose score gets stuck in DI. So, we would like to make the following points for your benefit:
Adopt a two-pronged approach:
    Skills Development
   Exposure creation
   Perhaps, the first thing you need to realise as you try to create a strategy is that since you cannot adopt a portion coverage approach, you should create a skillsdevelopment approach plus an exposure to problems approach while trying to improve your DI scores.
   You need to distinguish clearly between these two:
    a) By skills development we mean that there are certain specific skills that are essentially tested in DI. As a CAT and management aspirant you first need to identify these skills, and then create a regimen for the development of the same. To further expand this point, suppose one has a simple set of DI containing four questions that are based on percentage changes and ratio calculations — If such a set of questions is given to three lakh CAT aspirants to solve under test conditions, the results would show that even in these four questions there will be a great variance in the scores across the nation. Not only that, even amongst the people who get everything correct.
   Our question to every CAT aspirant reading this - Why should you allow your competition to have an advantage over you? Either score wise or time wise, in simple percentage change and ratio calculation questions. And, if this gap does exist, ie even if you can solve all these four questions correctly but would take three minutes more than the 99 percentilers, should you not do whatever it takes to overcome the gap.
   b) By exposure to problems we mean that your preparation objective should be to get to a point where you have solved so many question sets of DI that belief wise you should be able to tell yourself: "What else can they throw at me?" or the even stronger belief: "Give me anything to solve and if it is DI, I can take any bet that I will solve it."
   The idea of DI preparation has to be to take yourself to the comfort zone (confidence wise). In other words, when you pick the next set your mind should expect to crack it rather than be cracked by it.
   The obvious question which arises in your mind as you read this is: "How many question sets in DI do I need to solve to get to this point?"
   The answer, from our experience, is that you should reach this point if you solve around 750-1000 question sets (not questions) and are able to learn from the solving experience you gain through every set. One word of caution though — while doing this you will need to ensure that you solve the correct sets of questions which will expose you to all kinds of logics. Thus, for instance, you should expose yourself to questions based on tournaments, questions based on progressions, questions based on maximising and minimising constraints and questions based on Venn diagrams, to name a few.
   So, obviously the task set for the exposure to problems approach is pretty easy to determine. You can do the math yourself — If you need to do 1,000 question sets in 90 days time it would leave you with around 11 sets per day.
   For those of you who have already begun to think that there is no preparation time left, take heart. Turnaround times in DI can be as short as 30 days. Just work in a task oriented fashion, set tasks for yourself and complete them.
   In our next article in this series, we will deal with the skills development approach in more detail.