Hello,

In order to prepare well for the section of QA & DI you should be well acquainted with the exam pattern an syllabus as mentioned below-

Quantitative Ability and Data  Interpretation consists of

• algebra has geometry, venn diagram, polynomials, progressions, numbers, functions and graphs, trigonometry, probability, permutation and combination, mensuration
• arithmetic has percentage, time and work, profit and loss, time and distance, equations
• data interpretation and analysis has table, bar charts, data sufficiency, scatter plots

There is no sectional time limit offered to quantitative ability and data interpretation, verbal ability and logical reasoning, decision making  but sectional timing is only applicable to general knowledge with time limit of one minute, QA & DI has around 26 to 28 questions, the full duration allotted has been three hours,

Go through the recommended books as follows-

• Quantitative Aptitude for competitive examination by Abhijit Guha
• Quantitative Aptitude for Competitive examination by RS Aggarwal
• Data Interpretation for the CAT by Nishit K Sinha
• How to prepare for Data Interpretation by Arun Sharma

Practice is the key to to ace this section, hence gain conceptual clarity first and practice in consistent manner, access previous year papers at https://bschool.careers360.com/articles/xat-question-paper to know more about important topics, weightage, difficulty level of paper, analyzing your areas of strength and weakness, improving your time management skills and efficiency.

Dear Aspirant,

How to Prepare for CAT Quantitative Ability (QA)

To understand the basics on how to increase your quant score and how to prepare for CAT quantitative ability, you need to follow the given steps:

• Read the syllabus

The absolute first thing you should be doing is reading carefully the CAT quantitative ability syllabus. You always need a roadmap since the whole preparation for quantitative ability CAT is going to take at least a few months.

• Get the basics right

Getting the basic concepts of quant right and strong should be your first priority once you start your preparation. Whenever you start a new topic, read the theory very carefully.

• Plan your preparation schedule

Before you start your preparation and start solving questions, make a study plan first. Your study plan for CAT should ideally contain:

• How many hours every day, you give for each section
• How much time(days) you spend in each chapter
• How many of those days will you spend on theory and how many practice questions?
• Time for mock tests (at least once a week. Part test or full test)
• Time for revision (once a week)
• A clear vision in the form of a timetable is essential. As you make a good plan and stick to it, you do most of the work. Following the timetable consistently for the whole preparation period hold the key to your success in CAT. This is probably the most important tip on how to prepare for the quantitative ability CAT.

An example of how you should allot the number of days is here. Give more days to the topics that have more weightage in CAT. But do not skip any topic.

• Number System: 20% of the time
• Algebra: 30%
• Geometry: 30%
• Permutation & Combination/Probability: 20%
• Make a schedule that fits your requirements.

Time limit for each section:

CAT 2021 Section - Questions - Allotted Time

• Quantitative Aptitude (QA) - 26 - 40 minutes
• Logical Reasoning & Data Interpretation (LRDI) - 24 - 40 minutes
• Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC) - 26 - 40 minutes
• Total - 76 - 120 minutes

All The Best!!