DETAILS ABOUT CAT QUANTITATIVE APTITUDE SECTION

The Common Admission Test is a very popularly known entrance exam all over the country. There are many students who are aspiring to pursue their higher degrees in great institutions through the CAT exam. While the students are trying to prepare in a holistic manner for the exam, the individual preparation of every section holds a lot of importance. Students should know that the CAT exam has a sectional cutoff, which is of a lot of importance to the students. Students need to perform well in each section so that they are able to meet the sectional cutoff. This is what will help them to actually score an overall good percentile. In this article, we will talk about the CAT quantitative aptitude section. CAT quantitative ability helps the students to project their mathematical skills in the exam.

Overview of the CAT Exam Pattern

The CAT exam is conducted by the Indian Institutes of Management. It is an annual exam conducted usually in the month of November. There are a total of 68 questions in the exam. The QA section has around 22 questions. Students have a sectional time limit of 40 minutes to complete this section. While talking about the marking scheme, for all the correct answers, students are awarded 3 marks, and for incorrect answers, in the multiple-choice questions there is a negative marking of 1 mark, and in the type and answer-type questions there is no negative marking.

Syllabus for CAT Quantitative Aptitude

The quantitative aptitude for the CAT section involves mostly questions based on mathematical topics. This can often make the students nervous because there is only a certain time limit in which students have to solve these questions. It requires the students to be quick in their assessment of the question and their calculations. Students should also make sure that they are aware of all their mathematical topics up to Class 10. Students need to practise in the most comprehensive manner because there are going to be questions from many various topics. Let us discuss some of the topics of the CAT quantitative aptitude that will be coming in the exam.

There are certain larger categories of topics under which the subtopics are included. For the CAT exam quantitative aptitude section, there are going to be topics from arithmetic. Topics like percentages, profit and loss, simple and compound interest, ratio and proportion, time and work, time, speed and distance, average, mixtures and allegations. Then when it comes to algebra, there are going to be questions based on linear and quadratic equations, progressions, logarithms, polynomials, inequalities, functions, etc. For questions based on geometry, there are going to be questions from coordinate geometry, area, volume, 3D geometry, lines, angles, polygons, etcetera. From the number system there are going to be questions on divisibility, factors, multiples, remainders, base systems, etcetera and a few questions on probability, permutation and combination sequences in series, etc.

If students look at it closely, then all of these topics are related to mathematics, and there is no higher-level mathematics that is going to come in the exam. But students need to have concept clarity on topics that they have studied in their school life. It is important for the students to brush up on these concepts and make sure that they know certain tricks and formulas in a way that will help them to solve certain questions easily. It is only with a lot of practice that students can have a good command over these topics. Therefore, students must try that from the very beginning, they are being very proactive in learning all these topics.

While students are trying to prepare for the CAT quantitative aptitude, they should make sure that they're going through with the NCERT books. This will act as a main source for the students to prepare most of the topics related to algebra, geometry and arithmetic. In order to become quicker in assessing the questions and answering them, students should also try and become more familiar with the shortcut techniques. This will save time for students and make them quicker in their calculations. Students should also try their level best to solve as many mock tests and sample papers as possible. These mock tests and sample papers will eventually tell the students what kind of diverse questions there can be in the exam. Students should also look at the previous year question papers to get an idea of what the standard of the QA section has been. All these are helping points for the students that will enhance their performance eventually. Every day, students should spend an hour or two of their time practising and going through the concepts again and again to brush up whatever they might have forgotten. It is only with consistent practice that students are going to feel confident towards this section of the CAT exam. Consistency will help the students to work hard and achieve their goals. Students should not waste their time and work fruitfully.