The Logic behind SimCAT 7 Academic Innovation Wing, IMS

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The Logic behind SimCAT 7 Academic Innovation
Wing, IMS
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SimCAT 7
A SimCAT wasted!!!
How Demotivating!!!
CAT or RC???
How to tackle this paper?
CAT will never be like this!!!
Has IMS gone Bonkers???
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At this juncture, wouldnt taking a test that is
similar to the previous CATs help me be better
prepared ??
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You cannot copy the CAT to crack the CAT -
Academic Innovation Wing, IMS
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The CAT

• Discourages
• Set Notions
• Mechanical preparedness
• And tests your
• Ability to think on your feet
• Ability to comprehend, interpret and reason
• Ability to withstand Shocks

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A prep test should take into account
A Historical realities B Current
certainties C Extreme eventualities
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History reveals

• In general,
• Number of Questions has reduced from 185 to 165
  to 150 to 90
• Number of sections has varied from 4 to 2 to 3
• Differential Marking was introduced in CAT04
• In Problem Solving,
• Focus on ability to READ, COMPREHEND and DEFINE
  the problem, before applying the concepts has
  increased
• Number of Technique based Qs has reduced
• Proportion of reasoning intensive Qs has
  increased to about 75 in CAT05

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History reveals

• In Verbal Ability,
• Testing of real verbal aptitude through
  questions based on contextual usage
• Increased focus on Interpretation ability through
  reasoning-intensive options
• In Data Interpretation,
• Increase in the number of Deductive Reasoning
  based DI sets
• Emphasis on comprehension and interpretation of
  caselets rather than on cumbersome calculations

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Current Certainties

• Areas tested in the CAT
• Quantitative Ability
• Verbal Ability
• Data Interpretive and Logical Ability
• Structure of the test
• Number of sections - 3
• Time 2.5 hours

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Possible Extreme Eventualities

• Change in structure of the paper
• Number of questions - 75, 90, 120, 150 or more
  ??
• Marking Scheme 1 markers/ 2 markers/ 3 markers
  ??
• Negative marking One Fourth, One Third , Half
  ??
• Change in structure of the questions
• Focus on reasoning High - ??
• Focus on comprehension interpretation High -
  ??

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As they say, to reach the Moon aim for the
Stars. So, shouldnt the SimCATs test these
very abilities.. .. and probably at a
higher level??
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From SimCAT 1 to SimCAT 6, We prepared you for
.. changes in the structure of the test
various new question types So, the time is now
apt to test you at the next level
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SimCAT 7 is exactly what the good doctor
ordered.
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In SimCAT 7
Each section has caselets / passages / exchanges
of information that test A the
comprehension, interpretation reasoning
abilities at their highest level of complexity
B the ability to withstand shocks
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SimCAT 7 The Shock Factor

• The PS section
• Stories / poems preceding a set of 5 to 6
  questions
• Reading of the text and visualization of the
  given data before answering the questions a
  must
• Set question types and techniques thrown out
  of the window

If you dont read, you cant solve!!
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Tackling SimCAT 7

• The PS section
• READ, COMPREHEND and INTERPRET a passage to
  Visualize or extract the information required
  to DEFINE the PROBLEM
• Read between the lines Extract what is
  relevant, leave out the garbage
• Apply relevant concepts to SOLVE the PROBLEM

Let us understand this better with an
illustration
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Illustration 1 PS

• Hickory Hock and Dickory Dock,
• Both ran up a big round clock,
• That had a five feet radius and went tick-tock.
• Does a poem in this section give you a shock?

5 ft
READ
SIEVE
VISUALISE
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Illustration 1 PS

• Hock reached "1" and Dock reached "6",
• By now you're certainly in a fix,
• Whether to give up racking your head,
• Or wait for the suspense the follows ahead.

?
Q 1. How far from each other are Hock and Dock
after taking their positions on the clock?
READ
SIEVE
VISUALISE
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Illustration 1 PS

• The clock hung on a flat, square shaped
  wall,Perfectly inscribed in the rhombus
  formed,By joining the midpoints of the sides of
  the wall,
• Of which it was unusually fond.

Similarly
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Illustration 1 PS

• "Humpty had sat on the wall's top side,At a
  point that surely did divide,That side in the
  ratio 13,From left to right we all agree."

Now, You Can Answer Most of the Questions using
the Basic concepts of Geometry !!
THE KEY, THEREFORE, WAS VISUALIZATION
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SimCAT 7 The Shock Factor

• The VA/RC section
• An exchange of communication preceding a set
  of 7 to 8 questions
• The inter-linkage of VA and RC in every
  exchange of communication
• Questions requiring a grasp of contextual
  inter-linkage between micro-passages
• Set question types and techniques are thrown
  out of the window

Contextual Comprehension is the need of the
section
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Tackling SimCAT 7

• The VA/RC section
• Read and understand the exchange of
  information
• Have a comprehensive overview of the
  fundamental concepts
• Apply the relevant concepts effectively to
  answer the questions

Let us understand this better with an
illustration
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Illustration 2 VA/RC
Rendezvous at Blueberry Pg 22 Q. 56. If Rima
were to comment on Shaguns attitude towards ICS
officers, she would most likely call it to be
one of 1 nostalgic respect 2 obvious
admiration 3 intense criticism 4 cautious
optimism
The First Challenge Should you concentrate on
Rimas statements or Shaguns or both their
statements??
Did you fall for this trick.. Rima was JUST a
DISTRACTION !!! SO, CONCENTRATE only on SHAGUNs
statements
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Illustration 2 VA/RC
Rendezvous at Blueberry Pg 22 Q. 56. If Rima
were to comment on Shaguns attitude towards ICS
officers, she would most likely call it to be
one of 1 nostalgic respect 2 obvious
admiration 3 intense criticism 4 cautious
optimism
Shagun spoke THRICE in the given
exchange Shagun Who has time to watch movies?
But I did see Lage Raho Munnabhai. It was good
fun and I needed a break from studies. Shagun
But man!! Everything about the ICS was
extraordinarynot least, the immense power
that the bureaucrats life was a glamorous
one. Shagun Undoubtedly .. Whatever their
faults, the officers were honest. . but with
very few exceptions, they did not abuse their
power in order to enrich themselves.
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Illustration 2 VA/RC
Rendezvous at Blueberry Pg 22 Q. 56. If Rima
were to comment on Shaguns attitude towards ICS
officers, she would most likely call it to be
one of 1 nostalgic respect 2 obvious
admiration 3 intense criticism 4 cautious
optimism
Shagun Who has time to watch movies? But I did
see Lage Raho Munnabhai. It was good fun and I
needed a break from studies.
This statement has no mention of ICS officers,
hence it can be ignored.
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Illustration 2 VA/RC
Rendezvous at Blueberry Pg 22 Q. 56. If Rima
were to comment on Shaguns attitude towards ICS
officers, she would most likely call it to be
one of 1 nostalgic respect 2 obvious
admiration 3 intense criticism 4 cautious
optimism
Shagun But man!! Everything about the ICS was
extraordinarynot least, the immense power
that the bureaucrats life was a glamorous one.
In this statement, Shagun is categorically
POSITIVE about the ICS officers.
Note Not Least means Especially
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Illustration 2 VA/RC
Rendezvous at Blueberry Pg 22 Q. 56. If Rima
were to comment on Shaguns attitude towards ICS
officers, she would most likely call it to be
one of 1 nostalgic respect 2 obvious
admiration 3 intense criticism 4 cautious
optimism
Shagun Undoubtedly .. Whatever their faults,
the officers were honest. . but with very few
exceptions, they did not abuse their power in
order to enrich themselves.
In this statement, Shagun is willing to grant the
ICS guys a POSITIVE rating despite faults.
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Illustration 2 VA/RC
Rendezvous at Blueberry Pg 22 Q. 56. If Rima
were to comment on Shaguns attitude towards ICS
officers, she would most likely call it to be
one of 1 nostalgic respect 2 obvious
admiration 3 intense criticism 4 cautious
optimism
Now that you know Shaguns attitude, consider the
options 1 nostalgic respect in none of
Shaguns statements do we find words or
phrases indicating Nostalgia. So
3 intense criticism Was Shagun critical at all
?? No way!! So
4 cautious optimism in none of Shaguns
statements do you find optimism (positive
outlook) vis-à-vis a situation/mode of
action. So..
2 obvious admiration Doesnt this now become
the most obvious answer!!
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SimCAT 7 The Shock Factor

• The DI section
• Lengthy data sets preceding a set of 5 to 6
  questions
• Apart from the regular question types, Data
  Sets also included questions based on certain
  Quantitative concepts
• Effective Interpretation is the key!!

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Tackling SimCAT 7

• The DI section
• Scan the passage and devise suitable strategy
• Sieve the relevant information from the data
  set a must
• Apply the relevant concepts to SOLVE the
  PROBLEM

Let us understand this better with an
illustration
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Illustration 3 DI
1. For Team DEV, the 5 robots will stand in a row
between the two vessels at an equal distance from
each other. All the robots of team DEV have equal
efficiencies. They start off with the first robot
filling the small container and passing it to the
second one and so on till the last one finally
transfers it to the conical vessel and disposes
the empty container. This complete cycle takes 10
seconds. Immediately after this, the first robot
starts filling the second small container with
water from the tank and the process continues.
Let volume of one container be v cc. volume
filled v Time taken 10 sec Volume filled
2v Time taken 20 sec volume filled 3v Time
taken 30 sec volume filled 4v Time taken
40 sec volume filled 5v Time taken 50 sec
and so on
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Illustration 3 DI
2. For Team DANAV, all 5 robots are initially
standing next to the water tank. The first robot
.
.
. .In
this case, however, the 5 robots have different
efficiencies, i.e., they take 8 sec, 14 sec, 10
sec, 6 sec and 12 sec, respectively to complete
the process.
Let volume of one container be v cc. volume
filled v Time taken 8 sec volume filled
2v Time taken 22 sec volume filled 3v Time
taken 32 sec volume filled 4v Time taken
38 sec volume filled 5v Time taken 50 sec
and so on
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Illustration 3 DI
The volumes filled by the 2 teams at the end of
the time intervals given on the fortune-wheel is
as below
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Illustration 3 DI
The dimensions of the conical vessel given on
page 30 coupled with data from this table can be
used to solve Q. 68 and Q. 69
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Illustration 3 DI

• Important Conclusions
• In the race between the DEV and DANAV teams
• The DEV tem wins for the 70 sec, 80 sec, 120 sec,
  130 sec, 170 sec and 180 sec intervals.
• The DANAV team wins for the 58 sec, 88 sec, 108
  sec, 138 sec, 158 sec, 188 sec intervals.
• There is a tie for the 100 sec, 150 sec and 200
  sec intervals.

Based on these conclusions and the rules 2 to 6
listed on page 29, you can answer Q. 70 to Q. 73
THE KEY, THEREFORE, WAS YOUR ABILITY TO SIEVE THE
RELEVANT INFORMATION
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Lets summarize

• Possibly, nothing has changed in SimCAT7. The
  SAME skills are being tested DIFFERENTLY
• Remember that the CAT may change every year, but
  more importantly, remember that the rules of
  the game DO NOT change
• Do not walk into the CAT center with a fixed
  mindset and a rigid strategy
• STICK TO BASICS and APPLY THEM

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You may know English And You may know Math
but the MANTRA is INTERPRET VISUALISE
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ALL THE BEST FOR CAT 2006