Just like I keep getting queries on how to increase RC accuracy, despite the Masterclasses and the Last Mile To CAT sessions, I keep getting queries around the DI-LR section as well.
In this series of series of posts I’ll dive really deep down into actual CAT DI-LR sets and see if I can come up with some kernel of truth beyond just the solving of the set that can help aspirants approach the solving of the sets better.
I am not going to take up the selection of the sets in these set of posts — I have already done that in these previous posts, here and here. So if you do not know the process to select you should first look at these posts.
I am going to solely focus on
- solving these sets cleanly
- bringing out the reason why these sets seem tougher than usual
- highlighting the skills or the logical reasoning chops you need to strengthen and the ways to do the same
The Pizza Set
Funky Pizzeria was required to supply pizzas to three different parties. The total number of pizzas it had to deliver was 800, 70% of which were to be delivered to Party 3 and the rest equally divided between Party 1 and Party 2.
Pizzas could be of Thin Crust (T) or Deep Dish (D) variety and come in either Normal Cheese (NC) or Extra Cheese (EC) versions. Hence, there are four types of pizzas: T-NC, T-EC, D-NC, and D-EC. Partial information about proportions of T and NC pizzas ordered by the three parties is given below:
| Thin Crust (T) | Normal Cheese (NC) | |
|---|---|---|
| Party 1 | .6 | |
| Party 2 | .55 | .3 |
| Party 3 | .65 | |
| Total | .375 | .52 |
1. How many Thin Crust pizzas were to be delivered to Party 3?
- 398
- 162
- 196
- 364
2. How many Normal Cheese pizzas were required to be delivered to Party 1?
- 104
- 84
- 16
- 196
3. For Party 2 if 50% of the Normal Cheese pizzas were of Thin Crust variety, what was the difference between the numbers of T-EC and D-EC pizzas to be delivered to Party 2?
- 18
- 12
- 30
- 24
4. Suppose that a T-NC pizza cost as much as a D-NC pizza, but 3/5th of the price of a D-EC pizza. A D-EC pizza costs Rs. 50 more than a T-EC pizza and the latter costs Rs. 500. If 25% of the Normal Cheese pizzas delivered to Party 1 were of Deep Dish variety, what was the total bill for Party 1?
- Rs. 59480
- Rs. 59840
- Rs. 42520
- Rs. 45240
How to process the information
As I read the set I can see that they have given how many pizzas were delivered to each of the three parties — so I know the totals of the rows.
I can also calculate the totals of the columns — the number of TC and number of NC.
Only two cells are missing and at this point and they can be calculated in a trice. It is important to look at the questions at this point — once the understanding of the set is done.
The first two questions are asking for the two missing values.
Also, the moment I look at the values — .375 and 800 — I know that the calculation is easy. If you do not see this then before you ask anyone else how to improve your DI-LR scores, you need to fix this — your number crunching skills.
So you know that you can pocket 6 marks in about 6 minutes easily. So I would rate this set an 8 out of 10.
To take you through the process of solving this set, I decided to record a video of the solving so that you can see how to use the paper effectively to solve cleanly and also get a fair idea of how the numbers should be broken down during calculation.
The Electives Confusion
There were seven elective courses – El to E7 – running in a specific term in a college. Each of the 300 students enrolled had chosen just one elective from among these seven. However, before the start of the term, E7 was withdrawn as the instructor concerned had left the college. The students who had opted for E7 were allowed to join any of the remaining electives. Also, the students who had chosen other electives were given one chance to change their choice. The table below captures the movement of the students from one elective to another during this process. Movement from one elective to the same elective simply means no movement. Some numbers in the table got accidentally erased; however, it is known that these were either 0 or 1.
Further, the following are known:
- Before the change process there were 6 more students in E1 than in E4, but after the reshuffle, the number of students in E4 was 3 more than that in E1.
- The number of students in E2 increased by 30 after the change process.
- Before the change process, E4 had 2 more students than E6, while E2 had 10 more students than E3.
5. How many elective courses among E1 to E6 had a decrease in their enrollments after the change process?
- 4
- 1
- 2
- 3
6. After the change process, which of the following is the correct sequence of the number of students in the six electives E1 to E6?
- 19, 76, 79, 21, 45, 60
- 19, 76, 78, 22, 45, 60
- 18, 76, 79, 23, 43, 61
- 18, 76, 79, 21, 45, 61
7. After the change process, which course among E1 to E6 had the largest change in its enrollment as a percentage of its original enrollment?
- E1
- E2
- E3
- E6
8. Later, the college imposed a condition that if after the change of electives, the enrollment in any elective (other than E7) dropped to less than 20 students, all the students who had left that course will be required to re-enroll for that elective. Which of the following is a correct sequence of electives in decreasing order of their final enrollments?
- E2, E3, E6, E5, E1, E4
- E3, E2, E6, E5, E4, E1
- E2, E5, E3, E1, E4, E6
- E2, E3, E5, E6, E1, E3
Definitely a heavier set
This set is definitely tougher to understand than the previous one. As far as the table goes
- there are a lot of missing values and
- the values have to be reasoned out and not calculated like the previous set
If you look at the questions as well, you can see that there is a scope of making silly mistakes and if one has to tread carefully, one will end up taking a lot of time.
I will rate this a 6 out of 10.
It will be a set I will come back to only if I have no other sets rated above 7.
The Old Woman and her Wealth
An old woman had the following assets:
(a) Rs. 70 lakh in bank deposits
(b) 1 house worth Rs. 50 lakh
(c) 3 flats, each worth Rs. 30 lakh
(d) Certain number of gold coins, each worth Rs. 1 lakh
She wanted to distribute her assets among her three children; Neeta, Seeta, and Geeta. The house, any of the flats or any of the coins were not to be split. That is, the house went entirely to one child; a flat went to one child and similarly, a gold coin went to one child.
9. Among the three, Neeta received the least amount in bank deposits, while Geeta received the highest. The value of the assets was distributed equally among the children, as were the gold coins. How much did Seeta receive in bank deposits (in lakhs of rupees)?
- 30
- 40
- 20
- 10
10. Among the three, Neeta received the least amount in bank deposits, while Geeta received the highest. The value of the assets was distributed equally among the children, as were the gold coins. How many flats did Neeta receive?
Enter your response (as an integer) using the virtual keyboard.
11. The value of the assets distributed among Neeta, Seeta and Geeta was in the ratio of 1:2:3, while the gold coins were distributed among them in the ratio of 2:3:4. One child got all three flats and she did not get the house. One child, other than Geeta, got Rs. 30 lakh in bank deposits. How many gold coins did the old woman have?
- 72
- 90
- 180
- 216
12. The value of the assets distributed among Neeta, Seeta and Geeta was in the ratio of 1:2:3, while the gold coins were distributed among them in the ratio of 2:3:4. One child got all three flats and she did not get the house. One child, other than Geeta, got Rs. 30 lakh in bank deposits. How much did Geeta get in bank deposits (in lakhs of rupees)?
Enter your response (as an integer) using the virtual keyboard.
Seems easy but unfamiliar
This set seems easy at first glance since the data is fairly straightforward. This is for those who have read the previous posts on DI-LR a classic example of Non-Standard-Plugin-Open Set.
If you take a look at the questions you will find that 1 & 2 have the same data and ask for different information. This means that if you solve 1, you get the answer to 2 as well and the same applies to 3 & 4.
The information for 1 and 2 is simple, all wealth and all coins are divided equally, so the situation is simple enough to execute. But the information for 3 and 4 is complex and you wouldn’t want to get into it.
So I would rate this 7 out of 10, do only the first two questions to get 6 marks in about 4 minutes and exit the set. This is how I would go about doing it.
The Dormitory Set
At a management school, the oldest 10 dorms, numbered 1 to 10, need to be repaired urgently, The following diagram represents the estimated repair costs (in Rs. Crores) for the 10 dorms. For any dorm, the estimated repair cost (in Rs. Crores) is an integer. Repairs with estimated cost Rs. 1 or 2 Crores are considered light repairs, repairs with an estimated cost Rs. 3 or 4 are considered moderate repairs and repairs with an estimated cost Rs. 5 or 6 Crores are considered extensive repairs.
Further, the following are known:
- 1. Odd-numbered dorms do not need light repair; even-numbered dorms do not need moderate repair and dorms, whose numbers are divisible by 3, do not need extensive repair.
- 2. Dorms 4 to 9 all need different repair costs, with Dorm 7 needing the maximum and Dorm 8 needing the minimum
13. Which of the following is NOT necessarily true?
- Dorm 1 needs a moderate repair
- Dorm 5 repair will cost no more than Rs. 4 Crores
- Dorm 7 needs an extensive repair
- Dorm 10 repair will cost no more than Rs. 4 Crores
14. What is the total cost of repairing the odd-numbered dorms (in Rs. Crores)?
Enter your response (as an integer) using the virtual keyboard.
Further information for questions 15 and 16:
- 4 of the 10 dorms needing repair are women’s dorms and need a total of Rs. 20 Crores for repair.
- Only one of Dorms 1 to 5 is a women’s dorm.
15. What is the cost for repairing Dorm 9 (in Rs. Crores)?
Enter your response (as an integer) using the virtual keyboard.
16. Which of the following is a women’s dorm?
- Dorm
- Dorm
- Dorm
- Dorm 10
In terms of information, this set does not have too many complications. The tricky part is that unlike the first set where the representation was a simple table. This set cannot be represented as simplistically. You need to find out the best way to represent the data.
From the wording of the first question — which of the following is not necessarily true — you will realize that you will not be able to fix all the rooms and all the costs. Some rooms will remain unallocated since the phrase is not necessarily and hence may be true.
I will rate this set 7 out of 10.
The first trick is to represent this properly. I don’t think what I have come up with is the best method but this worked for me.
A Cup of Tea
A tea taster was assigned to rate teas from six different locations – Munnar, Wayanad, Ooty, Darjeeling, Assam, and Himachal. These teas were placed in six cups, numbered 1 to 6, not necessarily in the same order. The tea taster was asked to rate these teas on the strength of their flavor on a scale of 1 to 10. He gave a unique integer rating to each tea. Some other information is given below:
- Cup 6 contained tea from Himachal.
- Tea from Ooty got the highest rating, but it was not in Cup 3.
- The rating of tea in Cup 3 was double the rating of the tea in Cup 5.
- Only two cups got ratings in even numbers.
- Cup 2 got the minimum rating and this rating was an even number.
- Tea in Cup 3 got a higher rating than that in Cup 1.
- The rating of tea from Wayanad was more than the rating of tea from Munnar but less than that from Assam.
17. What was the second highest rating given?
Enter your response (as an integer) using the virtual keyboard.
18. What was the number of the cup that contained tea from Ooty?
Enter your response (as an integer) using the virtual keyboard.
19. If the tea from Munnar did not get the minimum rating, what was the rating of the tea from Wayanad?
- 3
- 5
- 1
- 6
20. If cups containing teas from Wayanad and Ooty had consecutive numbers, which of the following statements may be true?
- Cup 5 contains tea from Assam
- Cup 1 contains tea from Darjeeling
- Tea from Wayanad got a rating of 6
- Darjeeling Tea got the minimum rating
This is the first set that seems to follow the typical format of a Logical Reasoning Set. Three variables and not a lot of conditions. But is it that simple?
There is more to this set than meets the eye if you read the conditions properly.
While the set is straightforward, 6 out of 7 conditions are deductive and only one is a plugin condition (please read the previous two posts on DI-LR to know what I mean by a plugin and a deductive condition)
So, you should be a bit wary about this set and not jump into it before the Pizza Set.
I would rate it a 7.5 out of 10.
Let us look at how you should have gone about solving this set in the least possible amount of time.
The Queen Of Chess
In an 8 × 8 chessboard a queen placed anywhere can attack another piece if the piece is present in the same row, or in the same column or in any diagonal position in any possible 4 directions, provided there is no other piece in between in the path from the queen to that piece.
The columns are labeled a to h (left to right) and the rows are numbered 1 to 8 (bottom to top). The position of a piece is given by the combination of column and row labels. For example, position c5 means that the piece is in the cth column and 5th row.
21. If the queen is at c5, and the other pieces at positions c2, g1, g3, g5 and a3, how many are under attack by the queen? There are no other pieces on the board.
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
22. If the other pieces are only at positions a1, a3, b4, d7, h7, and h8, then which of the following positions of the queen results in the maximum number of pieces being under attack?
- f8
- a7
- c1
- d3
23. If the other pieces are only at positions a1, a3, b4, d7, h7, and h8, then from how many positions the queen cannot attack any of the pieces?
- 0
- 3
- 4
- 6
24. Suppose the queen is the only piece on the board and it is at position d5. In how many positions can another piece be placed on the board such that it is safe from attack from the queen?
- 32
- 35
- 36
- 37
This is the easiest set of the lot. Those who know chess will not even have to read the description you will go straightaway to the set.
I would rate this an 8 out of 10since there is no ambiguity whatsoever and all one needs to do is put one’s head down and draw properly to collect 12 marks in 12 minutes.
Choosing the right set is key
From this and from my previous posts you would have seen that choosing the right set is key.
An unwisely chosen set can mean getting stuck for 20 minutes and wasting another 18 months of your life at another CAT attempt.
So while you might think you are following the steps outlined in the previous posts, you might still be doing it superficially since you want to save time and get to the solving.
But the key is to look deeper when you look. It boils down to operating at higher levels of concentration. It is the difference between spending 30 seconds and viewing the surface of the question and spending 45 seconds and seeing through to the bottom of it.
A simple example would be how one evaluates the A Cup of Tea set.
In the next post, I will solve the two sets that are left and answer the big questions —
- What is making these CAT DI-LR sets unique or different from traditional sets
- What is the unique skill that these DI-LR sets are testing?
- Do they test a specific kind of reasoning that makes most students uncomfortable?
- How do you develop this kind of reasoning?
Keep prepping.
The CAT Writer 
Sir , i regularly follow your posts and find it extremely beneficial , but i cant manage preparation time between Quant and DI . I am pathetic at both sections and am in extreme need of doing those core strength building exercises , but with barely 3 months to go , there is a lot on the plate now so i am not able to allot priority as to what should be done utmost urgently. Please guide me.
My scores range between 23-30 in both QA and DI. I am able to manage VA , scoring around 55-60 everytime.
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Hi Aarya,
To keep things simple schedule an alternate day practice schedule for DI-LR and QA. After you finish the core strength building exercises of DI-LR you should practice 3 sets every alternate day and that should suffice.
Hope this helps,
All the best!
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Thankyou sir .
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Sir can you please tell any strategy for VA i am getting only 2 out of 10 questions correct,it is not even changing after a lot of practice.Any other thing you think i am lacking please suggest.
Also i am a test series student.When we will be getting LMTC recorded videos.As it was mentioned recording will be available for test series students.
Thank you for reading.
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Hi Pourush,
The recordings of the Masterclasses have been uploaded on the CHANNEL TAB on myIMS.
I will be doing a post on VA later, in the meantime, you can look at the video solutions of SimCAT 6 VA-RC that I have done.
All the best!
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SIR ,I am a test series student but i cant find the masterclass recordings.
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Hi Pradyumn,
Masterclasses, which are 12 in number are part of the product features of other variants and not the test-series variants
Test Series students get access to the recordings of the LMTC sessions, which are already available on the CHANNEL Tab under videos.
All the best!
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Hello Sir,
Thanks for helping through these amazing blogs.
Sir, I am consistently getting marks in the range of 120-135 in SIMCATs. I want to improve my attempts as well as accuracy. But, I don’t know where to begin. In one mock I am performing bad in one topic and good in other but in the next one, I am doing vice-versa (Same in all the sections). I am not able to analyze my weak points. What do I do?
Thank you for reading.
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Hi Sakshi,
The inconsistency in scores is a purely poor selection in QA — if you get easy questions from an area you get them right, if you get hard questions you get them wrong — and lack of technique in VA and RC.
Go through all the four Last Mile To CAT Sessions, the recordings of which are available on the CHANNEL Tab of myIMS, started executing all the strategies outlined and you will see a clear improvement in scores.
All the best!
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Thank you, Sir.
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Sir, I am not able to access the Last Mile to CAT Sessions on Channel Tab. Are they available to Test Series Students?
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sir from where can we access GRE big book
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https://thecatwriter.com/2020/06/02/di-lr-improving-your-core-strength/
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Hello sir,
My target for DI-LR is to qualify the cut-off and I am facing difficulty to do that. Can you please suggest any way in which I can improve my speed, to crack the logic and to be able to solve 3 sets. I usually fumble with calculations and take much time to understand what exactly the set is(things don’t strike quickly, especially while working with deductive conditions). I have one more query sir, you had mentioned in the masterclass that the cut-off is from 21 to 25 but that is not the case while taking mocks. It is mostly between 30-37, is it because the actual CAT exam will be tougher than the mocks we take?.
I adore you a lot sir. Love to attend your sessions 🙂
Thank you.
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Hi Yamini,
For the same marks, you get a much higher percentile on the CAT than on the SimCAT, the reason is not toughness.
The SimCAT is taken by the most serious CAT aspirants in the country. IMS every year has around 40000 students and even among these only 10000 consistently take the SimCAT.
Even if we add the aspirants with other brands the serious crowd does not go beyond 20000 since there is an overlap among test-series students.
What happens on the actual CAT?
This 20000 of the most serious aspirants is joined by rest of the 200000 non-serious test-takers who turn up on test day and who obviously do not do well!
Since percentile is a fraction lower than 1, and all of these people get added to the numerator (number of people below you) and to the denominator, the fraction increases.
A simple rule of thumb — CAT Percentile = SimCAT Percentile + (100-SimCAT Percentile)/2
So, 80 on a SimCAT translates to 90 on the actual CAT; a 90 to a 95 and so on.
Start with selecting and targeting the 2 easiest sets cleanly to get 24 marks. You can give 15 minutes for selection and solve the sets without feeling hurried.
I have detailed this whole process in the LMTC: DI-LR, which is available on the Channel Module of myIMS.
Start with the assumption that you have enough time and the task is simple, you will then find that you do not fumble.
Concentrate harder, follow the X Commandments, and you will see a clear improvement.
All the best!
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Hello sir.
should we compare our simcat percentiles as our performance indicator or I can check my performance by comparing my score with previous cat percentiles. To be more precise if i get a score of 120-130 in sim cats will it be equivalent to 95 percentile in cat and how do you rate
sim cats are they tougher or at par with cats. I am asking this question because in simcat 8 i scored around 110 but im getting 80 percentile it puts my confidence down , how can i handle this problem .kindly help me sir
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Hi Vignesh,
To answer the two questions you have raised:
CAT Percentile = SimCAT Percentile + (100-SimCAT Percentile)/2
The SimCAT is taken by the most serious CAT aspirants in the country. IMS every year has around 40000 students and even among these only 10000 consistently take the SimCAT.
Even if we add the aspirants with other brands the serious crowd does not go beyond 20000 since there is an overlap among test-series students.
What happens on the actual CAT?
This 20000 of the most serious aspirants is joined by rest of the 200000 non-serious test-takers who turn up on test day.
Since percentile is a fraction lower than 1, and all of these guys get added to the numerator (number of people below you) and to the denominator, the fraction increases.
So 80 on a SimCAT translates to 90 on the actual CAT; a 90 to a 95 and so on.
A student of mine a couple of years ago came for a mock interview and I was shocked that he only had calls from TAPMI at a 97 percentile — he said he was getting a 90 in the Sims and this did not apply to MDI, SPJIMR etc.
On average the SimCATs are tougher than the actual CAT.
Hope this helps,
All the best!
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Than k you sir for clarifying
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Sir , I am a test series student so can i have access to master class and last mile session.
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sir how takehome simcat percentile are calculated since they are previous year proctored simcat so does it include all the students till now including 2018/2019 students or only the 2020 students.
Thank you for reading
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Hi Pourush,
It is based on the students who have taken it seriously when it was a proctored SimCAT and in the window, just like the percentile you get for the current proctored SimCATs.
Once 10000 students take a test a new lot taking the test — unless the entire lot is of drastically lower or dramatically higher aptitude — there will be no significant change since the denominator is already in 5 digits.
And since Take-Home tests are taken in a scattered across the season, the percentile changes will be even more negligible (third or fourth decimal).
The more important thing is to know about the relationship between Sim percentile and actual CAT percentile.
CAT Percetile = Sim Percentile + (100-Sim Percentile)/2
So an 80 on the SimCAT corresponds to a 90, and a 90 to a 95 and so on.
All the best!
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Hello sir,
I am almost at the verge of finishing all the class+practice test from the IMS module but i am finding it difficult to solve Deductive Reasoning, i am actually losing confidence because of that. Sir can you help me out by suggesting how do i improve on it? i am done with that section from the module and still not confident about it.
Thank you for reading.
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Hello sir,
I am done with all the basic practice materials along with the higher level materials but in AIMCATS DILR I give 5 minutes to scanning and then do the sets in the decided sequence, but what happens is, I am able to do 4 sets and sometimes(if the section is easy to moderate) then 5 sets. and almost everytime I am left with 5 minutes in that time I am unable to try another set so in some AIMCATs I decided to save time from that scanning part and try to scan at the time while(if it seems like I can do it then only I will try that and skip to another) in that manner I am able to do 4-5 sets but while analysing I noticed that there were easier sets if I have scanned them and tried them first…
So can you please tell me a right approach to increase atleast 1 more set.
Thank you!
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Hi Akanksha,
You yourself can figure out the answer to your conundrum.
You know the value of scanning and the time it takes to scan. So that cannot be done away with.
So how do you squeeze out one more set, which means you need more than 5 minutes?
Think you will have the answer, it is not a question of strategy, it is question of skill and competence.
Think.
All the best!
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Hi sir
I am practicing GRE big book for DILR and i am able to solve all the questions without using any pen and paper.But the problem I am facing is I am only able to complete 20-23 questions in 30minutes and there are around 1-2 incorrect answers also.How should I approach to overcome this?
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Hi Shubham,
Your current accuracy is not bad.
To tackle the speed issue, what you need to look at is two things are you prone to reading twice, this is a common thing among many.
Secondly, the ETS has very specific types of questions that are of a higher order of difficulty, you need to be able to distribute your time in such a way that you knock off the easy questions very fast and have time to think over the 1-2 tough questions that are there in a set.
If you tackle the speed problem, you can then have a bit of time to give to these questions.
All the best!
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Hello Sir,
I’ve given 6 SIMCAT’s until now, and one thing I’ve noticed is the time I take for scanning the sets, though I target to do that in 7-10 min. I’m not able to go through all the sets in that 7-10 min and hence all the planning goes for a toss, resulting in a panic, which eventually leads to a wrong set selection.
Can you please suggest me an approach which can help me go through all the sets in those first 7-10 mins.
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Hi there. Going through this post was fun. Thank you. Thing is, currently I’m able to solve only 3 sets with a 100% accuracy. To increase my speed, which material should I practise from? And how do I go about it on a daily basis?
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Hi M,
To increase the number of sets solved, you have to knock off the sets you are doing by more efficient solving, it is not a question of doing the same things faster but doing fewer things and in some cases different things. Go through the LMTC DI-LR on the Channel TAB myIMS (especially the part on the X Commandments to solve DI-LR) and also through the remaining DI-LR posts in which I have put up solutions to select sets from previous year’s CAT.
You can solve sets from the PRACTICE Module, resolve SimCATs, and CAT sets from 17,18,19
All the best!
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