CAT tips: Crack verbal ability and logical reasoning

Image: First scan the paper and identify the simpler questions
Photographs: Rediff Archives

In an online chat hosted by Get Ahead on August 8, Testfunda.com expert and IIT alumnus Aziz Manva addressed reader queries and shared tips on solving Verbal Ability and Logical Reasoning sections in CAT 2011.

Here's the unedited transcript:

mamu asked,hello sir...how to ace CAT? any tips for me? I am in Class XII and want to prepare for CAT right away
Aziz Manva answers,Right now...focus only on your graduation...you can start preparing for CAT in the second last or last year of graduation. However, you can start preparing indirectly by improving your reading skills and calculation techniques over the next 3-4 years

aslam asked,sir, how to prep for verbal ability and logical reasoning..can u give me a 10-day or a 30-day plan?
Aziz Manva answers,For Verbal...focus on RC, Verbal Reasoning (fill in the blanks, para jumbles and para completion), errors in usage and word usage. For LR, focus on Venn Diagrams, numerical logic, logical conditions and arrangements. For these areas, classify each chapter as strong, medium or weak. Accordingly for weak chapters, work on theory and practice while for strong chapters focus only on practice

nitingargfrommathura asked,aziz bhai....this will be my third attempt in CAT 2011...want to score 180 plus...ne idea how?
Aziz Manva answers,Try to attempt 24-26 questions in each section with atleast 21-22 correct

mukta asked,how can i improve my grammar and spelling skills. i have grown up using spell check on computer my spoken english
Aziz Manva answers,more than spelling skills, you will need to improve on rules of grammar and on word usage. You will need to go back to school level grammar and practice that for a few days. For every new word that you see, look up not only the meaning, but also all the other possible meanings, antonyms, usage of the word etc.

ohio asked,hello sir...how are you doing? how can i prepare for VA & LR both together...
Aziz Manva answers,I am doing fine. Don't try to prepare for VA and LR together as that may hamper your preparation for both. Focus on them separately. However, in case you wish to do them together, do VA for a few hours followed by LR. Keep changing this pattern every few days

mohan asked,sir am student of second year b com though distance learning from SIKKAM MANIPAL UNIVERSITY. sir i want to know that can i do CAT entrence test
Aziz Manva answers,Not in this year as you need to be atleast in your final year of graduation. As far as distance learning is considered, you will need to check the CATIIM notification

Nic asked,Hello sir...how effective is studying online for cat??
Aziz Manva answers,Very effective as it will familiarise you with looking at and reading from a PC for long durations and improve your concentration as well. Also, it will habituate you to appear for online exams

anurag asked,sir,i have just completed my graduation in june.n started preparing for CAT 2011,is it possible to complete all the course within 3 mnths?m trying my level best hard but still i find QA section pretty tuff.how can i improve my quant skills?
Aziz Manva answers,It is possible to prepare for CAT in 3 months. In case you find QA tough, what you can do is that you go through school level (8th, 9th and 10th class) for 5-6 days and solve all the examples. This will increase your familiarity with QA chapters of CAT. You can then focus on CAT level QA

catfunda asked,Hello aziz..do you suggest people with over 10yrs of experience to take CAT..I have around 11 years of exp
Aziz Manva answers,There is no harm in appearing for CAT. In fact, you would be valued by the top IIMs because of your work experience

apoorv asked,how much time do you think one must give, out of 70 minutes to LR and VA individually?
Aziz Manva answers,Don't try and give a specific time to VA and LR because the number of questions may not be fixed. First scan the paper and identify the simpler questions (irrespective of VA or LR) and then solve them. You can then look at the remaining questions of VA and LR separately.

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CAT tips: Crack verbal ability and logical reasoning

Image: Classify chapters as per your speed and accuracy

HKOUZT asked,Hi Aziz, I have 99 percentiles in both DI/LR and Quants but only 70 %ile in VA. Kindly let me know how to ace my VA
Aziz Manva answers,You need to do well in RC, Verbal Reasoning and errors. Focus on these three areas. Identify if you are conceptually weak in any of these. If yes, you may have to go back to the concepts and relook the chapter

apoorv asked,sir, how can i prepare for the reading comprehensions?
Aziz Manva answers,Whenever you read a passage, don't just read it or scan it. Think of the overall point that the author is trying to make. While practising, try and create a title, tone, theme and summary for the passage

HKOUZT asked,Hi Aziz you missed my question :-)
Aziz Manva answers,Already answered

loseronline asked,this is my first chat. hi everyone, my question is how can i prepare for CAT? is it very important to have a good CAT score i know a lot of schools have management quota and IIMs have very little intake
Aziz Manva answers,Preparation for CAT has to be a combination of theory, practice and full length mock tests followed by detailed analysis. If you are planning to go to the IIMs then it is important to have a good CAT score. For non IIms you can have a slightly lower CAT score

HKOUZT asked,Thanks Aziz
Aziz Manva answers,you are welcome

loseronline asked,which is the most difficult section for CAT. what books should i start reading? my friends who appeared last year asked me to appear for mock tests you think i should take coaching
Aziz Manva answers,The most difficult section varies from person to person. It is very important to take mock tests to know where you stand and how much you have progressed. I would suggest that you take 2-3 mock tests right away to identify which section you find tough

anurag asked,sir,questions related to current affairs are asked in LR??or is it enough to prepare from books?
Aziz Manva answers,CAT will not have questiopns from Current Affairs. So don't worry about it at this stage. If you are appearing for SNAP and IIFT, you will need prepare for Current Affairs later

apoorv asked,should should be the strategy for the last 3 months of preparations? i have been giving mock test and always miss by cut off of VA and LA by 4-6 marks though clearing QA easily
Aziz Manva answers,Full Length tests followed by detailed analysis and then a little bit of focused theory. You need to classify chapters as your speed and accuracy and then attack them. You can also get that study plan from our website

sumit asked,sir,is there any way by which i can focus on questions rather than worrying about time in exam.
Aziz Manva answers,In CAT, you will have a little more 2 minutes per question. So, more than time focus on accuracy. Initially, in a section of 30 questions, try and attempt 19-20 questions and get 16-17 right. Then, try to increase your attempts by 1-2 every time

shameen asked,heloo sir, i have a query. in spellings also, some words are spelt differently in US and UK. like color and colour. should we follow UK english? how can i improve my reading skills?
Aziz Manva answers,CAT generally follows British English, unless the passage has been sourced from an American book. So you should pay more attention to British english. Read from a variety of sources rather than reading only one kind of stuff

YSReddy asked,I have around 14 years of experience, 10 years after graduation and at present my age is 37 and do you think IIMs or any other management institutes consider me as management student?
Aziz Manva answers,Yes, why not? Alternatively, you can also look at ISB Hyderabad as an option

apoorv asked,sir please mention the website and where i can find the study plan
Aziz Manva answers,you can find the plan on www.testfunda.com. Just search for "15 week study plan"

MANISHQ asked,MANISHQ says, i am appering for openmatt ignou mba entrance ,wat u suggest a quick fix here exams on 21 august
Aziz Manva answers,We are unaware of the pattern for this exam. Or are you talking about the MAT examination conducted by AIMA?

maulik asked,sir can you pls suggest me how do i go onto prepare for CAT2012
Aziz Manva answers,Currently focus on building on basics. So, read a lot. Prepare grammar and practice maths from your school level textbooks. try and practice a lot of puzzles. From Jan-Feb you can start focusing on CAT.

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CAT tips: Crack verbal ability and logical reasoning

Image: Forcus mainly on reading and understanding the text material

catcrackeer asked,how to tackle verbal reasoning? sometimes it is difficult to tell which one is correct.
Aziz Manva answers,You can look at the tone of the sentences (positive/negative) or at the degree (mild or extreme). Also, look at the overall feel of the passage, you will be able to identify the correct blank or correct order of jumbled sentences

catcrackeer asked,thank you sir i also wanted to know about how to understand meanings of words. there are so many words there is so little time to practice.
Aziz Manva answers,more than meanings, focus on word usage. you will get this from any good dictionary based site

prince asked,cn u plz tell me 5 steps to crack CAT???
Aziz Manva answers,you can probably look at our study plan on testfunda.com. that will help you plan for CAT

srktugga asked,This is an unrelated question.But please answer.How good is the recently started ICICI-NIIT UNIVERSITY'S business leadership programme?
Aziz Manva answers,don't have too much of an idea :(

sumit asked,sir i couldnt solve question during exam time but when i try them at home ,,i solve almost doubled of the question i solved in exam ,,how can i tackle this??
Aziz Manva answers,This can be improved by identifying the simpler questions in the exam. Also, it may be happening that you are putting a lot of pressure on yourself in the exam and so take time. The more you practice, the more questions you will be able to solve in the exam.

prince asked,thnk u aziz sir
Aziz Manva answers,welcome

manjini asked,Hi how to prepare logical reasoning?
Aziz Manva answers,The best way to prepare for logical reasoning is more practice. Also, try and express the data given in LR problems in a graphical or tabular manner. That will help you become better at LR

catquestion asked,i am engineer from andhra pradesh i want to do CAT along with GRE is it possible
Aziz Manva answers,Yes, why not! Provided you can devote adequate time to both

gf asked,does low mark in 10 & +2 affect in selection after scoring good in cat.
Aziz Manva answers,You may lose a few marks because of this but it does not mean that you will not be selected. Try and do as well as possible in CAT

maulik asked,sir how should i prepare for grammar and my reading skills? what should i read for improving my reading skills and grammar as well?
Aziz Manva answers,For grammar, go through a good book like Wren and Martin for a few days and for reading forcus mainly on reading and understanding material from different subject areas

ankur asked,what is difference between 1 year mba program in usa and 2 year mba program in india?
Aziz Manva answers,a 2 year program in India generally takes people who have work experience as well as those who are freshers. Most American MBA prgrammes require you to have mandatory work ex. Also, the MBA course in the US is much more compressed in terms of credits and projects.

catquestion asked,is doing mba good in india or abroad what is the scope of giving cat against GRE right now cat is only an option
Aziz Manva answers,Depends on which country and which institute you are doing it from. Also, CAT and GRE are independent, so you can appear for both separately

pps asked,sir, what should be approx. scoring in CAT to get 99 percentile.any idea from last yr's score.
Aziz Manva answers,anywhere above 25 attempts with atleast 21-22 correct in each section

maulik asked,sir problem with me is I usually read on self help novels so should i start reading fictious novels and some political magazines?
Aziz Manva answers,keep on shifting between fiction, politics, economics and so on. That will help you improve ur reading

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CAT tips: Crack verbal ability and logical reasoning

Image: Try solving a lot of logical puzzles for the next few months

PRAB asked,Please let me know how to master permutations & combinations & probability. That is my weakest area. Any suggested reading to improve my grasp on this topic
Aziz Manva answers,As far as CAT is concerned, probability is not very important. You can look at the 11th standard textbooks to get the basics of P & C right

cracker asked,Sir am in second year,Can u tell me how to start preparations for it..M pretty good in maths but rest I don't have any idea.I have given a lot of IQ tests and scored pretty good in them
Aziz Manva answers,This implies that your aptitude is fine. Focus on reading, calculation techniques and solving a lot of logical puzzles for the next few months. Then you can start with hard core CAT preparations

myname asked,i find all sections in CAT difficult. i have scored 70 in commerce i want to go to a good college for MBA i dont know what to do and how to start
Aziz Manva answers,You will find that even within a section, you find some parts easy and some tough. First identify those and start working on the theory of the tougher parts

Harsh asked,Hi so I have 6 cgpa in graduation and 86, 83 in 10th 12th .... should i go for cat or only fms .... i only m interested in the top 5 colleges in india
Aziz Manva answers,Go for CAT, XAT, FMS, MHCET and IIFT. This will more or less cover the top 7-8 colleges in India

pps asked,sir, for RC is it enough to read times of india editorial, veiws and counter veiws. do u suggest some other readings.
Aziz Manva answers,try and read atleast one business newspaper and an international newspaper 2-3 times a week. Also, try and read a magazine like TIME once a week

DD asked,If acad is not inpressive but if secured 99.99 percentile in cat, shall get admission?
Aziz Manva answers,Yes, you can definitely!

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CAT tips: Crack verbal ability and logical reasoning

Image: Go for accuracy than speed

myname asked,ok i am trying also i wanted to give CAT last year but i am not ready this year also can you guide me for this year
Aziz Manva answers,Rather than trying to complete everything identify questions that you can solve faster. GOr for more accuracy than speed

maulik asked,sir if i m scoring well in DI and QA and not in VA so is it possible to get into some good B-schools?
Aziz Manva answers,no.. u will have to score well in both i.e. QA + Di and VA + LR

cracker asked,Thanks a lot sir.Should i read novels to improve my vocab??Can u suggest some books
Aziz Manva answers,Yes, you can read novels but make it a point to read different authors

Harsh asked,Xat is only for xaviers(my interest) what is MHCET for
Aziz Manva answers,XAT - XLRI MHCET - JBIMS (Mumbai) FMS and IIFt are for the college as the name suggests

pps asked,sir, pl suggest readings for verbal and RC.
Aziz Manva answers,guardian.co.uk, discovery, gutenberg.org, etc

myname asked,thank you lot sir you answered my question even thou you are busy
Aziz Manva answers,welcome

maulik asked,sir what is best thing to improve reading n vocab? newspapers or novels
Aziz Manva answers,Both. more than just readin, also focus on understanding whatever you have read.

Aziz Manva says,Thanks a lot. However, I will have to call it a day now! See you again later in one of our future chats!

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