9 days to CMAT: Expert advice to score high in DI, LR

This article is on methods of solving DI, LR sections, tips to score higher and as well as which of these sections is to be attempted first

Noida, India (prHWY.com) February 11, 2013 - The CMAT February 2013 exam is just 9 days away. The test will be held for five days starting February 21, and the results are expected on March 13. Like CAT, CMAT also is a test comprising multiple choice questions. There will be negative marking of one mark for each wrong answer. There will be 25 questions in each section. The total duration of the test is 3 hours.

CMAT February 2013 has four sections: Quantitative Techniques & Data Interpretation, Logical Reasoning, Language Comprehension and General Awareness.

To help aspirants prepare well for the upcoming CMAT exam, MBAUniverse.com has been publishing a special series of articles written by experts on all the four sections. Experts who are contributing these articles are - S K Agarwal (verbal ability) and Nikhil Bansal (Quant & logical reasoning). Click the following links to read the expert articles published so far:

http://www.mbauniverse.com/article/id/6662/
http://www.mbauniverse.com/article/id/6667/Grammar-tips-for-CMAT
http://www.mbauniverse.com/article/id/6671/CMAT-vocabulary-tips
http://www.mbauniverse.com/article/id/6681/
http://www.mbauniverse.com/article/id/6684/
http://www.mbauniverse.com/article/id/6674/

In this article, Nikhil Bansal describes Logical Reasoning and Data Interpretation sections. You will be able to know approaches and methods of solving these sections, tips to score higher and as well as which of these sections is to be attempted first. The article, from now on, has been written on the first person (Nikhil Bansal)'s account.

Which section - LR or DI?

Talking about the DI & LR sections, the first thing you need to decide on is which of the questions are to be attempted first.

My advice is to attempt LR questions first as these questions require time to understand and then make suitable diagrams. If you attempt LR questions later, you may face shortage of time that can cost you the entire group of questions and not just a single question.

On the other hand, if you attempt DI questions later and face time crunch, you can still can opt for solving some easy questions of the set and leave the difficult ones. This method will help you maximize marks.

Approach to solving LR

In Logical Reasoning questions, the efficiency to score marks depends on comprehending skills, ability to showcase the information collected in form of a diagram, ability to extract information from the diagram and marking right answers. The most critical among these is to comprehend correctly.

I will cite some examples to exemplify my point.

What do you comprehend from -- "Maharaja Banquet Hall is next to the Akshardham Temple"? It means they are adjacent to each other.

Similarly, if I say "Ram is sitting on the right of Shyam", it does not mean "Shyam is on just left of Ram". The correct inference is "Shyam is on left of Ram", but not necessarily on just left.

Again, if I say, "Eight persons are sitting around a table and Ram is sitting on the right of Shyam", it means that "Shyam is just left of Ram", because in a circular arrangement, there is no difference between right & just right.
The other important issue is the ability to showcase the information collected in form of a diagram. It means that you need to make the right diagram for the information collected. The diagram should be good enough to extract information. Working on this area can make you answer all the questions correctly in the set.

Approach to solving DI

In DI, the main focus is on fast calculation. You need to work on percentages, mental calculation, comparison of ratios & good approximation. Most of the questions are based on mathematics, so being good in the subject is the key. However, time management is of utmost importance. You need to be very fast and still accurate.

The following table is an approximation on the division of the questions in the CMAT examination. In the original examination, it may vary from the listed data.
CMAT questions division

Data Interpretation and Analysis:-1

Tables and Case-lets:-1

Charts and Diagrams:-

Pie Charts-1

Bar Graph-0

Line Graph-1

Relationships:-

Family Tree-1

Relation Puzzle-1

Coded Relationships-0

Directions and Arrangements:-

Direction based-0

Circular Arrangement-2

Linear arrangement-1

Complex arrangement-1

Series, Analogies and Codes:-

Complete the series-1

Odd Man out-0

Analogies-0

Alphanumeric series-1

Letter codes-0

Sentence codes-1

Which conclusion-0

Coded math ops-1

Mixed number Coding-0

Substitution-1

Matrix-1

Miscellaneous-0

Logical Puzzles:-

Rearrangements-1

Letter spacing in word-0

Anagram-0

Word from word-0

Digits of number series-1

Selection problem-0

Comparison-0

Ranks-0

Miscellaneous Puzzles-1

Sequence o/p tracing-0

Distribution-0

Cubes-0

Condition based solve-1

Odd weight-0

Venn Diagrams:-

Multiple figure-1

Puzzle Based-0

Syllogism Type-1

Data Sufficiency-1

Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more articles on CMAT preparation

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