SimCAT 10 Experts Take

SimCAT 10: The Experts Take

TEST OVERVIEW

SimCAT 10 was quite a scoring paper. It seems the toppers have pushed their preparation into the next gear.
As a result, there was a substantial increase in the overall cut-offs. The section-wise cut-offs also increased.

Section Level of Difficulty Cutoff
QADI Easy 34-36
VALR Easy 41-43
Overall Easy 102-104


TESTTAKING STRATEGY

Overall
In order to clear the cut-off for QA-DI, 17-18 questions could have been solved, with an accuracy of at least
80%. In order to clear the cut-off for VA-LR, 19-20 questions could have been solved, with an accuracy of at
least 80%. These questions have been identified below.

Section MustSolve Questions* Potential Score Improvers** Total Qs
QADI 4,6,7,8,10,13,15,16,
18,19,23,25,26,27,28,30
3,5,9,12,17,22,24,29 24
VALR 31,32,33,34,35,36,39,40,41,48,
49,50,51,52,54,56,57,59
43,55,58,60 22
* Questions that have been attempted by a majority of the top 10 %ile students, with an accuracy of at least 80%.
**Questions that have been attempted by a majority of the top 10 %ile students, with an accuracy of 50-80%.

In order to clear the overall cut-off, 13-14 more questions (from the ones identified above and questions
11,14,20,21,37,38) would have to be solved, with an accuracy of at least 80%.

Quantitative Aptitude
SIMCAT 10 had the easiest QA-DI section of this season, which is reflected by the higher cut-offs (about 20%
higher than the previous SimCAT, with both average attempts and accuracy increasing by 10%). For most of
you, this test would have come as breath of fresh air after a relatively tough SIM CAT 9. Going by the cut-offs
and results, it seems that a lot of you have implemented the strategies and learnings suggested in the previous
experts takes.


SimCAT 10 Experts Take

Try to squeeze every mark out of an easy paper
We were quite surprised with the attempt and accuracy rate of certain questions, which indicated that
students were missing out on sitters. A case in point being question 25, which was attempted by just 28% of
you, with just about half of those who attempted it getting it right.
Q: An octagon has all its internal angles obtuse and pair-wise distinct. Also, all the angles are multiples of 10.
What can be said about S, where S is the sum of the two largest angles?
Now, an octagon has 8 internal angles. Since all the angles are obtuse and multiples of 10, the least possible
obtuse angle of the octagon would measure 100 degrees. As all angles are distinct if considered pair-wise, the
only possible combination of 8 angles is 100,110,120 up to 170(as there only 8 multiples of 10 greater
than 90 but less than 180) So the sum of the largest 2 angles is 160+170 =330.
Remember, in such easy papers every mark counts. So, missing out on such sitters could push down your
percentile.

It is not always necessary to form an equation
Question 23 is an example of how options can be used to our advantage. Many times backward calculation is
much easier than the conventional approach.
Q: Pinki and Babli were playing a game of tossing a standard dice. If the dice showed 6, the winner was Pinki,
and Babli had to give her 10 toffees. If the dice did not show 6, the winner was Babli, and Pinki had to give her
4 toffees. After 40 tosses of the dice, Pinki had more toffees than at the beginning of the game. In at most how
many of the 40 tosses did the dice not show 6?
1] 26 2] 29 3] 27 4] 28
Suppose Pinki had x toffees in the beginning. Now, if we assume 29 (the highest value in the options) as the
answer we get (x 116 + 110) as the number of toffees with Pinki. This is less than x, which does not satisfy
the condition. Now, taking 28 (the second highest value), we get the final toffee count with Pinki as (x 112 +
120), which is more than x and thus the right answer. Caution: you need to look at the highest possible value
in the options first.

Questions that are lengthy or appear tough may actually be easy
In the previous SimCAT, we discussed that questions that appear tough or lengthy should not be perceived as
difficult without giving them a closer look.
If you carefully look at question 18 (a question solved by just 1 in 3), you will realize that it can actually be
solved in about 60-90 seconds.
Q: The time taken by 12 men and 20 women to build a wall is the same as the time taken by 16 men and 24
women to destroy the same wall, and is 20 days. A group of 6 men and 10 women starts building the wall and
works for 10 days. On the 11th day, another group of 4 men and 6 women joins in and starts to destroy the
wall. If both the groups are working simultaneously from the 11th day (i.e., the first group working towards
building the wall and the second group towards destroying the wall), then after how many more days will the
wall be completely built?
1] 50 2] 55 3] 60 4] 65
SimCAT 10 Experts Take

12 men & 20 women do a piece of work in 20 days; this means that 6 men &10 women will do it in 40 days or
they will do 1/40
th
of the work in one day. So in 10 days they will do 10/40 = 1/4
th
of the work.
16 men & 24 women break the wall in 20 days; this means that 4 men and 6 women will break it in 80 days or
they will do 1/80
th
of the work in 1 day.
From the 11
th
day, effective work done in 1 day = 1/40 1/80 = 1/80. So, the balance 3/4
th
of the work is done
in (3/4 divided by 1/80 =) 60 days.
In the above question, all mentioned groups who do similar work i.e. who either make or break the wall are
multiples/factors of each other.
Another such question was question 21 (barely attempted by 20% of you, with less than 1 in 10 getting it
right). Most of you probably got scared seeing the values of the options ,which were 6 digit numbers.All you
had to was get the HCF of
7
2
19 and
4
1
13 which is 1/28. Then, dividing each of these terms i.e.
7
2
19 and
4
1
13
by 1/28 would have given you 540 and 371. The product of these 2 gives the minimum number of squares.

Data Interpretation
The DI questions varied from an easy to moderate level and was much more doable than SIMCAT 9. DI was the
primary reason why most of you scored higher marks in this SimCAT. The average attempts almost doubled
and there was a 15% jump in overall accuracy in DI. However, do not count on DI being of this level in all slots
of the CAT. You might encounter one set which is difficult. As mentioned in the previous experts takes,
difficult sets should attempted somewhere in the middle or the end, depending on your comfort level.

Verbal Ability
Except for some difficult questions in the first two RC passages, the remaining VA-RC questions were of an
easy or medium level of difficulty. Of course, the suggested approach is to solve all non RC questions first and
then decide how many RC questions to attempt.
Over the next few days, those of you who want to take your performance to the next level should definitely
read up on the usage of articles, prepositions and should go through lists of commonly confused words. As
most students find multiple usage based questions (such as questions 37 and 38) challenging, it is also
recommended that you study the various ways in which simple words can be used (an online dictionary will
suffice for this purpose). Start by going through all the words discussed in the SimCATs and other onloine
tests. After a few hours of study, you will start developing a sense of the language and will be in a better
position to figure out what a certain usage may possibly mean.
There may not be enough time for you to become better readers, but there is certainly enough time to
understand how to eliminate options smartly. Lets see how the first passage could have been approached.
Consider question 42. It is a general question that many students fear. If you simply try to gather evidence to
support or negate the options, you would come up with the following.
Evidence in support of [1]:
Sentence 2 far more time lies ahead ...
Sentence 3 of paragraph 2 ... immense time horizons that stretch ahead ...
Sentence 2 of paragraph 3 ... 6 billion more years ...
Sentence 1 of paragraph 4 ... deep time lying ahead ...
SimCAT 10 Experts Take

Paragraphs four and five talk about posthuman evolution in the distant future.

Evidence in support of [2]:
Paragraph 3 (predictions about the universe)
Note: paragraphs 4 and 5 do not make predictions as much as they urge readers to believe that posthuman
evolution is possible.

Evidence in support of or against [3]:
Deep time in the past is being referred to, in passing, only in the second sentence of paragraph 2. So, it
cannot be a part of the title.

Evidence in support of or against [4]:
Only paragraphs 4 and 5 talk about posthuman (not human) evolution.
The paragraphs dont talk about what humans could evolve into.
After gathering evidence in such a methodical manner, you should weigh it to decide for which option you
have been able to gather most evidence. The answer here is clearly [1] as it is relevant throughout the passage
and no evidence negates it. Note that to gather this evidence you didnt require a very deep understanding of
the passage. In fact, the evidence for [1] has been gathered by just scanning for keywords.

Make sure you read the question properly. Read it once again before you finalise your answer. Question 43 is
about enabling future human evolution. [D] talks about other life forms.
Question 44 is also about weighing evidence. Anyone who writes an article can be a journalist but an
argumentative article based on research and using scientific jargon (deep time, million-year time scale,
Darwinian natural selection etc.) is likely to be written by a specialist. Though [3] seems plausible, note that
evolution is being discussed from an astronomers perspective (sentence 3 of paragraph 4: But no astronomer
could believe this ...). Another reference to astronomers has been made in the last sentence of the second
paragraph. This indicates that the author is one of them. References to evolutionary biologists have not been
made in this manner.
If you are careful and discerning while marking answers, your accuracy will improve to quite an extent.

Logical Reasoning
As in the previous SimCATs, a lot of you still seem to be struggling with logical & numerical puzzle based sets
(on an average, just 25 % of test takers got questions 49,50,54 and 55 right). If you are comfortable with
arrangements and groups & conditionalities, please leave these topics aside for the time being and focus on
other LR topics. You can still improve LR with practice (especially since there are no theoretical concepts to be
learnt in this section).





SimCAT 10 Experts Take


MISCELLANY
Get rid of negative thoughts
In any competitive scenario, it is natural for the participants to be plagued with self-doubt
The test-taking community is most susceptible to this sort of a plague. Can I do it? Am I good enough? What if
the pressure gets to me? It goes without saying that satisfying answers to these questions will be the result of
how you spend your two sets of 70 minutes on the day of the CAT.

Use your mental energy well
In the case of test-prep, it is important that you work with the right kind of intensity. Intensity means a calm,
and focussed thought process. Do not sit down to prepare unless you have the physical and mental energy to
function at your peak levels. The way you expend your mental energy when taking tests (i.e. the way you
move from question to question, the amount of energy that you expend per question) is important.
Most serious testtakers who are enthusiastic about their CAT prep approach it with extreme intensity. This
intensity may be most palpable when you are about to start a proctored SimCAT, when you are on the way to
the venue you are all keyed up about going there and cracking the test. While this sort of intensity and
energy can be great for a physical sport, it is actually superfluous when it comes to purely mental challenges. It
is quite possible that excess mental energy or stress is decreasing your ability to achieve higher levels of
concentration.
Better concentration can sometimes be misunderstood by testtakers. Concentrating harder does not mean
putting in more mental energy per second; it does not mean pursing your lips or your eyebrows and trying to
read every word of the RC with a lot of intensity. It is about being relaxed and cutting out all the extraneous
noise to such an extent that you are solving the question with the least expenditure of mental energy (not
necessarily in the least number of steps). It is not about rushing through the question and rereading it, but
about reading it once and it reading it well. You have to be in control of the way you expend your time and
mental energy and achieve better clarity with respect to solving questions.

Use the MARK option to navigate smartly
As you navigate the standalone questions, you will definitely find questions that are solvable but might take
about 3 to 4 minutes. Some of these might take time just because they are lengthy. Single out these questions
to solve later. Use the MARK button to single out these questions so that you can use the REVIEW MARKED
questions option to quickly reach these questions later.

SUMMARY OF OUR LEARNINGS THIS SEASON

1. Do not put pen on paper unless required; the mind is mightier than the pen
2. In QA,do not leave a question based on its length.area or topic
3. In QA, do not try to fit a formula into every question (Use logic to solve a question)
4. Use the options wherever possible to solve a question
SimCAT 10 Experts Take

5. Learn to identify potential sitters
6. Easy Standalone QA questions first ,DI sets later.Also ,pick on the easiest Di set first
7. Do not try to fill up empty DILR tables without looking at what the question is asking.
8. For DI, learn when to calculate and when to approximate.
9. For LR, represent the information appropriately and keep going back to the conditions
10. Do not fear or dislike RC.
11. Dont leave out RC passages because of their topics.
12. Do not make wild guesses in VA..
13. For VA ,VR & RC always question your logic before deciding to mark an answer. Gather evidence to
support or negate the options
14. Do not end up with unread questions at the end of 70 minutes for each of the sections.
15. Focus on higher accuracy rather than higher attempts
16. Finally, remember CAT doesnt test your skills beyond the basics.

DONTS ON THE TEST DAY

Do not forget to keep looking at the timer frequently.
Do not get stuck a question for more than 2 minutes if you are not sure of getting the answer in the next
30 seconds.
Do not ignore the MARK button.
. Do not carry the first section into the second (if your first section is unsatisfactory, do not let that affect
your performance in the second section).
Do not panic; if seems tough to you, it is tough for everyone else.

Over the last two years, the test structure has been quite similar. So do not be surprised if you see some
unknown question type, especially in VA. Just keep your cool and read the directions properly before you
answer. So here is wishing each one of you all the very best for CAT 2013. May your performance be good
enough for you to get into your dream business school. Have a great 140 minutes!

All the Best!