Problem Solving tips

Hi, today I am going to tell you some problem solving tips for CAT/GMAT/GRE which you already know but never take them seriously.

1. Don't fall in figure trap: Most of the geometry questions which contain figures are traps.

For eg.

ABCD is a square with side 2cm, if EA=8cm and CEF is 45 degrees then find BF. (figure is not upto the scale)

The trap is if ABCD is a square then at 45 degree the line BF should pass through D. Now I suppose you can solve it easily.

2. Guessing: Please dont try to guess (you can do it to some extent in verbal/english section but for quantitative ablility/ Data intrepretation try to aviod guessing). If you have given some mock tests/ real test and truely analysed your performance then you would realize that you would have scored more if you had not guessed. Most of the people panic during the paper and at the end of paper when 5-10 minutes are left they think that they have done fewer questions and start guessing. God only help those who helps themselves. So think before guessing.

One more point which I would like to make is that blind guessing is different from logical guessing. Suppose if you can eliminate one option out of 4 (GMAT) then your chances of getting right out of remaining 3 increases drastically. Also most of the people guess during CAT exam and get them right with the art of guessing propely. If you are not even 1% sure of options how can you guess?

3. Try not to untidy the paper: Most of the people write on their questions, grow up! Paper based tests really give you inadequate space to write so if you write on your questions with a completely wrong approach then you would never be able to solve the question. Still if you want to write on paper then make sure that you are sure of what you are writing. For eg. In example above if you would have written 45 degree 8cm,2cm and then it would have only confused you.

4. Reverse engineering: Have you ever tried reverse engineering to solve problems, once in a while you will get problem whose option you can directly put in given equation and find the answer. Try it its really a useful thing.

5. Meaning: Try not to get into meaning of every word which you come across in reading comprehension for verbal section. The problem is that most of the people are not ardent reader and when the face something like CAT/GMAT they try to decipher each sentence. Try reading novels, articles, news sites, read what ever you hate then only you can understand why its important to leave the meaning of word. The whole motto is to understand the meaning of RC.

6. Dont Panic: When I gave CAT first time, I picked quantitative section as its the one which I feel most comfortable with. I couldn't solve a single problem during the first 10 minutes because 1) I was paniced. 2) I had the attitude. The second point is very important. I felt that I can solve this question, then I digged it, digged it further and after 5 minutes or so I decided that either I am going to solve it or I am not solving a single question. Although eventually I solved it, and got good percentile in quantitative ability but that 10 minutes has hampered my verbal section as I thought that I wont be able to solve any question of that section.

7. Leave it: CAT is all about picking the questions and not solving all the questions so leave the questions which you think that you wont be able to solve. If you spend 2-3 minutes solving a particular question and still not able to solve it then leave it and leave behind that particular question because if you keep it in your subconcious mind then you wont be able to solve the next question either.

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Thats all folks, try to analyse your all the mocks because thats important. Untill next time bbye.