CAT 2020 Tricks for Quant, DI & LR, VRC by 99 Percentilers

Updated on Nov 29, 2020 - 10:31 a.m. IST by Himanshu.shekhar #CAT

CAT 2020 Tricks for Quant, DI & LR, VRC by 99 Percentilers - CAT is an aptitude test which means it basically tests your aptitude while questioning under various sections of the test and to solve these problems by your rationale, you must learn some CAT exam tips and tricks. Here are some of the tricks given by the toppers and 99 percentilers of past years CAT toppers, for the sections like Quant, DI & LR and VARC to help out the upcoming aspirants who are aiming to ace CAT 2020.
Latest - IIM Indore released CAT 2020 answer key. Candidates can check CAT 2020 response sheet in from December 8.

CAT Exam Tips and tricks for quantitative aptitude section

The quant section is considered to be the most challenging section for all the CAT aspirants. To crack QA section with ease, Soumyajeet Ghosh (2018, topper) says – “QA section demands a lot of practice and to save time for practising more, one should adopt all small and simple tactics to increase his practice and reduce his errors.”

100 percentiler, Rahul Gupta says, Before the exam, somehow I was not able to score very well in the quantitative ability section and I used to be not satisfied with my performance. I practised a lot of mock tests and gradually I started doing well.

Shikhar Mathur, 99.68 percentiler, says – one should note down the weak areas in each topic (say it’s Permutations and Combinations, or DI) after two to three tests. Pinpoint the errors made and also what kind of errors they were. Sometimes a lot of errors in the same topic are because of a pre-held mental fallacy which will be cleared after one reading, but sometimes it’s a conceptual roadblock. Aspirants should make sure they note down where and WHY they are going wrong. He further suggests, plugging in the values given in the option of the questions, increases the probability of a question getting correct but this trick only applies to the questions in which it is possible to get the answers by putting in the values.

Ankit Desai got 99.91 percentile in CAT 2019, he shared his experience to handle Quant section, Ankit says- I was weak in Geometry and Numbers. So, first I revised all the formulas and wrote them down. After that, I solved around 50 questions more on these topics to understand the concepts better.

Suggest Books for Quant and DI & LR by Experts

Book Name	Author/ Publisher Name
CAT 2018 Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning	Gautam Puri
Logical Reasoning and Data Interpretation for the CAT	Nishit K. Sinha
How to Prepare for Data Interpretation for CAT	Arun Sharma
Data Interpretation & Data Sufficiency	Ananta Ashisha

CAT Exam Tips and tricks for DI & LR section by 99 percentilers

The Data Interpretation (DI) and Logical Reasoning (LR) section in CAT is there to test your decision – making ability within the given time. To ace this section, 99 percentiler Kumar advises, “you must bound your time for solving the questions of this section, I did not give more than 8 minutes to any puzzle questions irrespective of the fact that I got stuck in some questions that seemed to be easier. So one should adopt this as one of the tips that s/he not is allowed to spend much time on a particular question whether it is easy, moderate or difficult instead, they should spend some minutes in the starting of the test to categorize the questions as easy, moderate and difficult.

In common, all the 99 percentilers suggest that aspirants should spend most of their time on the analysis of mock tests as it will lead them to land up at any management school of their choice.

CAT 2019, 100 Percentiler Rahul Gupta shares his DI & LR preparation strategy, he quoted- I used to practice a lot of questions from particular topics and also focused a lot on them while taking the mock test.
Quick Links:-
How To Crack CAT 2020
CAT Score Vs Percentile

CAT Exam Tips and tricks for VARC section

The VARC sections may prove to be the easiest section to improvise the sectional and overall score, says CAT 2017 topper, Madhur Gupta. Further, while sharing his preparation strategy, he says – “this was not the area I was good at and consequentially, I landed up at a conundrum about how I should deal with this section. Then I decided to look for some simple tactics to ace this section. I adopted the strategy of eliminating the wrong options to help me decide the right one. This helped me later.”

99 percentiler in CAT 2016, Naman Singhal while sharing his preparation tips, stated that he solved RCs and Para jumbles as much as he could during his preparation for CAT 2016 and used to analyse the VARC section after taking mock tests. He used to practice the questions of Verbal Ability (VA) and Reading Comprehensions from the modules of different coaching institutions.

Topper Mayank Raj, while sharing his strategy says, - “I faced major challenges in this section. So, to improve my verbal ability, I started reading newspapers, novels, etc. This helped me increase my reading speed and also in developing an understanding of the passages I was reading”.

CAT 2019 topper, Lakshya Kumar shares his experience of VARC section with us, he quoted “My approach was building up my reading speed and that was achieved by reading newspaper daily as it contains an article from various fields of life ranging from psychology to biology which is similar to the Reading Comprehension section of CAT. The verbal ability section was a tough nut to crack for me but thinking about the question from an examiners perspective and allocating it a greater percentage of time during the actual exam (feasible due to fast reading pace) did help me a lot.

Recommended Books for VARC section for CAT 2020

Book Name	Author/ Publisher Name
How to prepare for Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension for CAT	Arun Sharma and Meenakshi Upadhyay/ Arihant
30 Days to a more powerful vocabulary mass market paperback	Wilfred Funk & Norman Lewis/ Simon & Schuster
PSC for VA for CAT	Nishit Sinha
How to prepare for Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension for the CAT	Sharma and Upadhyay

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CAT Topper Interview

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Questions related to CAT

Showing 9641 out of 9641 Questions

4 Views

hello If we are in the final year of graduation and have ATKT in one of the sem we appear for CAT

Shubham Dhane 8th May, 2021

Hello,

Yes you are eligible even if you have ATKT you can still give CAT. Any candidate who scores above 50% for general category and 45% for the reserved category in the degree (even in supplementary) can apply for CAT 2021. As long as you clear it before or in the last semester and have scored the minimum required aggerate. The Indian Institute of Management (IIM) will begin CAT registration tentatively from the first week of August 2021.

16 Views

I got 91.2%age in 10th , 75.2%age in 12th and 9.1 cgpa in graduation, If I score high about 99+ in CAT ; Can I get into IIM B or due to my 12th low marks I cant?

Anurag Khanna 7th May, 2021

Hello Aspirant,

See according to the data mentioned by you, you have decent chances to get a call from IIM Bangalore provided that your score 99+ percentile in CAT

For your clarity let us understand the complete admission procedure for IIM Bangalore :-

IIM Bangalore

In IIM B there is a two stage selection process and the cut-offs are given below :-

Category	Quantitative Aptitude Percentile	Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning Percentile	Verbal and Reading Comprehension Percentile	Overall Percentile
General	75	75	80	85
EWS	65	65	70	75
NC-OBC	65	65	70	75
SC	60	60	65	70
ST	55	55	55	65
PWD	50	50	50	60

For shortlisting of candidates for PI and AWT following weightage is considered by IIM B :-

S.No.	Components	Weightage
1	Gender Diversity	2
2	CAT 2020	40
3	10 Standard	20
4	12 Standard	10
5	Bachelors	20
6	Weighted Work Experience	8
Total		100

Note that weightage mentioned is in points and the 40 points of CAT weightage can be bifurcated as follows :-

**Verbal & Reading Comprehension (VARC) - 14 points

**Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR) - 16 points

**Quantitative Aptitude (QA) - 10 points

You can check out complete admission process for IIM B from the link given below :-

https://bschool.careers360.com/articles/iim-bangalore-admission-criteria

Similarly for admission process and complete details of cut-offs of other IIMs kindly check out the link given below :-

https://bschool.careers360.com/articles/iim-admission-criteria

You can also use CAT Pathfinder to predict your chances to get call from different IIMs and non-IIMs :-

https://bschool.careers360.com/pathfinder/cat

I hope this information helps you.

Good Luck!!

11 Views

I am a fresher engineering graduate applied for BITSOM addmission on the basis of my CAT score and declared waitlisted after PI. I have a good GRE score also which I did not mentioned anywhere in my previous addmission application. Can I apply again on the basis of my GRE score.

snigdha vig 6th May, 2021

Hi,

Since you mentioned that you are waitlisted, it is better to wait for the final results or further updates. Along with that you can apply to other universities for the same. Applying for the same thing again can get your application rejected due to double application. Also, GRE score is just for admission in Universities or colleges outside India. It is advisable to wait for the next update and stick to the qualifications that are required. Adding excess and irrelevant details in any application is not always beneficial.

I hope this helped you.

All the Best!

30 Views

my academics 10th - 69 % 12th - 63 % graduation - 98.97% what cat percentage is enough for me to get all iims

Anurag Khanna 6th May, 2021

Hello Aspirant,

The academic record which you have mentioned in the question is quite average for getting calls from different IIMs but yes if you score 99.5+ percentile in CAT then you will have good chances to get call from top IIMs like IIM A/B/C and for average IIMs you should have at least 98 or more percentile in CAT.

Now let us discuss about admission criteria of some of the top IIMs like IIM A/B/C :-

IIM Ahmedabad

Admission process for IIM A is a two step process. First step is for preliminary screening on the basis of Sectional cut-offs and overall cut-offs along with different rating points for IIM A which are described in the tables below and you need to clear sectional cut-off as well as Overall cut-off :-

Category	VRC percentile	DILR percentile	QA Percentile	Overall Percentile
General, EWS	70	70	70	80
NC-OBC cum Transgender	65	65	65	75
SC	60	60	60	70
ST	50	50	50	60
PwD (EWS, General, SC, NC-OBC)	60	60	60	70
PwD (ST)	50	50	50	60

Ratings on the basis of class 10th score :-

Per cent Score in Xth Std. Exam	Rating Score A
<=55	1
>55 and <=60	2
>60 and <=70	3
>70 and <=80	5
>80 and <=90	8
>90	10

Rating on the basis of class 12th score :-

Per cent Score in XIIth Std. Exam	Rating Score B
<=55	1
>55 and <=60	2
>60 and <=70	3
>70 and <=80	5
>80 and <=90	8
>90	10

Rating scores on the basis of field of graduation and percentage :-

Per cent score in Professional courses	Rating Score C
<= 50	1
> 50 and <= 55	2
> 55 and <= 60	3
> 60 and <= 65	5
> 65 and <= 75	8
> 75	10

Rating scores on the basis of work experience (if any) :-

Work Experience in Month (July 31, 2020)	Rating Score D
< 12 months	0
>= 12 and <= 36 months	MF * (number of months of work experience – 11)
> 36 months	5
Work-experience Multiplication Factor (MF) = 0.20

After considering all the ratings on the basis of above discussed factors candidates are shortlisted for Step 2 which is Analytical Writing Test and Personal Interview round.

You can check out complete admission process for IIM A from the link given below :-

https://bschool.careers360.com/articles/iim-ahmedabad-admission-criteria

IIM Bangalore

In IIM B also there is a two stage selection process and the cut-offs are given below :-

Category	Quantitative Aptitude Percentile	Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning Percentile	Verbal and Reading Comprehension Percentile	Overall Percentile
General	75	75	80	85
EWS	65	65	70	75
NC-OBC	65	65	70	75
SC	60	60	65	70
ST	55	55	55	65
PWD	50	50	50	60

For shortlisting of candidates for PI and AWT following weightage is considered by IIM B :-

S.No.	Components	Weightage
1	Gender Diversity	2
2	CAT 2020	40
3	10 Standard	20
4	12 Standard	10
5	Bachelors	20
6	Weighted Work Experience	8
Total		100

Note that weightage mentioned is in points and the 40 points of CAT weightage can be bifurcated as follows :-

Verbal & Reading Comprehension (VARC) - 14 points
Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR) - 16 points
Quantitative Aptitude (QA) - 10 points

You can check out complete admission process for IIM B from the link given below :-

https://bschool.careers360.com/articles/iim-bangalore-admission-criteria

IIM Calcutta

In IIM C also there is a two stage selection process and the cut-offs are given below :-

Category	VA	DILR	QA	Overall Percentile
General	≥ 75	≥ 80	≥ 80	≥ 85
NC-OBC	≥ 65	≥ 65	≥ 70	≥ 75
EWS	≥ 65	≥ 65	≥ 70	≥ 75
SC	≥ 60	≥ 60	≥ 65	≥ 70
ST	≥ 55	≥ 55	≥ 55	≥ 65
PwD	≥ 45	≥ 45	≥ 45	≥ 55

Class X Marks (in per cent)	Points	Class XII Marks (in per cent)	Points
≥80	10	≥80	15
≥75 and < 80	8	≥ 75 and < 80	12
≥70 and < 75	6	≥70 and < 75	9
≥65 and < 70	4	≥65 and < 70	6
≥60 and < 65	2	≥60 and < 65	3
< 60	0	< 60	0

Bachelor’s Degree Marks (in per cent)	Points
≥ 60	15
≥ 55 and < 60	10
≥ 50 and < 55	5
< 50	2.5

For IIM C also you need to clear the above cut-offs and your points as mentioned in the above table should be decent enough to get shortlisted for Stage 2 which is of AWT and PI.

Final selection will be made on the basis of following weightage :-

Components	Weights
CAT 2020 Score	30
Personal Interview (PI)	48
Point granted for Academic Diversity at Bachelor’s level for Non-Engineering degree	4
Work Experience	8
Total	90

You can check out the link given below for complete admission Process of IIM C :-

https://bschool.careers360.com/articles/iim-calcutta-admission-criteria

Similarly for admission process and complete details of cut-offs of other IIMs kindly check out the link given below :-

https://bschool.careers360.com/articles/iim-admission-criteria

You can also use CAT Pathfinder to predict your chances to get call from different IIMs and non-IIMs :-

https://bschool.careers360.com/pathfinder/cat

I hope this information helps you.

Good Luck!!

11 Views

when should i apply for mba colleges? before CAT exams or after?

Abir Gayen 6th May, 2021

HI Aspirant,

The Common Admission Test (CAT) is a computer based test for admission in a graduate management program.So after giving the test wait for the results and the score and accordingly you can apply for various college.Through cat results you can apply to mba colleges throughout India.

Hope it helps!