Author: Tony Xavier

How to solve a DI-LR Set

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When it comes to aptitude tests, there has always been one tricky question — can some things truly be taught? This was the basis of an iconic lawsuit in the test prep industry between the College Board, which owns the SAT and Stanley Kaplan. The founder of one of the first test prep companies in the world, who first taught a student in the year 1946! “To say you can’t improve scores is to say you can’t improve students, and I disagree with that,” said Kaplan in an interview with The New York Times DI-LR is one section where this question becomes moot all over again. Isn’t it pure logic? How can that be taught? This much is true — it is the most representative aptitude test question type — pure skill — where knowledge is important but takes a back seat to logic. I always feel the perfect analogy is with sports. Can you play without any sporting talent? No. Can you get better without a coach? No. What the coach will teach you …

The real reason why your QA scores are below par

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While the previous three posts on Accuracy, Selection, and Speed are more than comprehensive in terms of what is needed to push your score north, I still keep getting messages from students who are unable to come to terms with QA. They say they have done concepts and enough practice as well, but none of it seems to be pushing the scores up, and the confidence levels are pretty low. It was only a few years ago, that I figured out the core issue with these students when I was sitting with one — he was preparing for the GMAT and had a decent amount of work-ex and by the time I had met him, he was already through with two attempts spread over two years with sub-par scores. He was willing to put in another attempt and a year more if required to get a par score. I gave him some broad guidelines and assigned a personal mentor to him, and met with him regularly to discuss overall prep strategy, some specific pointers, and …

How to improve your QA percentile – Part II

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In the first part of this post, we covered the first building block to achieve higher scores and percentiles on CAT QA — accuracy. In this post, we will take up the next one — selection. QA is the section that gets the maximum attention of test-takers of all stripes, and there is always a litany of frustrations and queries that plague aspirants. The answer to all of these questions lies in the way you select questions and the way you navigate between them.

How to improve your QA percentile – I

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Unlike the other two sections, QA is a section that has a direct link to what you have done in school and college. Most of the topics that are tested on the CAT have also been a part of the school curriculum. This I feel is the biggest roadblock in front of test-takers wanting to achieve higher scores on the CAT Quant because high Math scores during X and XII exams do not automatically imply doing well on CAT Quant.

The IIM Selection Criteria: Will I get a call from the IIMs?

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Apart from the — how many questions should I answer to score a 99th percentile on the CAT — question, one of the questions that I get asked to answer most frequently, both from my students as well as people on Quora, is the one that is more or less framed as follows: I have X% in X, Y% in XII and Z% in GRAD. Will I get a call from the IIMs? Given the popularity of the question, I think a post on the same is more than par for the course. If you want a short answer, just use this IMS Profile Ranker tool.

How to manage work and prepare for the CAT

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With the mountain called the CAT now in sight, most working professionals will be wondering how to mount another challenge to get into the old IIMs. The biggest obstacle in front working professionals will be juggling a job and prepping for CAT at the same time. Some of you in this situation will have decided to quit your job, hopefully only after having read my post on the same and having understood the implications of quitting.