The Hindu Business Line : Taming the `quant' section

Mention `quantitative ability' and you will find most common admission test (CAT) aspirants shivering in their boots. For the last few years, this test area has been so tough that almost no one has completely solved this section within the examination's duration. For many students, it is also the component of the CAT on which they spend the greatest portion of their effort and time during their preparation.

The quantitative ability (quant) section of the CAT tests the student's ability to solve problems based on principles of mathematics. The questions in this section are mostly based on maths that any student in India would learn till class 10 in school. Areas of testing include elementary topics such as simple equations; ratio, proportion and variation; percentages and averages, as well as advanced areas such as geometry; permutations and combinations; probability; functions; and graphs.

The first step towards a good performance in the `quant' section is clarity of concepts. This clarity has to be developed by first understanding the basics and then applying them in a large number of problem-solving situations of varying levels of difficulty. Study materials of many training institutes contain a large number of such problems and can be a useful way to begin.

The second step would be to improve one's speed by analysing problems to identify patterns and explore ways of using these to shorten the problem-solving process. For many students, this does not happen because when they encounter problems they cannot crack, they are often in a hurry to look through the solutions provided. What should instead be done is to rework the entire test without a time limit until each and every problem is solved and understood. One may need to refer to study material containing the related concepts and go through all problems in that area, including all previously worked out test papers.

The third step is to develop methods of understanding problems quickly using the clarity and exposure built up in the previous steps. The objective at this stage is not to solve problems, but build the ability to quickly assess problems based on one's current level of knowledge and skill and the difficulty levels of different problems. This ability is very critical for the student to be able to decide which questions to do and which to skip.

The importance of building this ability can be understood by reminding oneself that most students, even successful ones, did not solve all the problems in the CAT `quant' section. In fact, over the last 10 years, the CAT `quant' section has changed considerably. From being essentially a test of speed and quick calculation where a student had to solve large number of problems quickly, it has evolved into a section that requires a student to intelligently apply mathematical concepts to understand problems and structure solutions. As a result, the number of problems that students have been able to attempt in this section has fallen drastically. In CAT 2005, for instance, even an attempt worth 12-13 marks out of 50 enabled some students to get interview calls from the IIMs.

The trick is to remember that the IIMs are not looking for whiz kids in mathematics, but for students who are essentially smart and have a fairly good level of mathematical capability. This is all the more important for students who have had limited exposure to mathematics till this stage. With a little over 16 weeks to go, there is enough time to do what it takes.

(The writer, an alumnus of IIT- Madras, and IIM-A, 1998 batch, is Director, Chennai Centre, T.I.M.E., an education and student training/counselling organisation)

(This is third part of the fortnightly series written by IIM-A alumni on cracking the CAT for MBA aspirants.)

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