CAT Preparation: Changing The Default Settings

Every year a lot of young men and women toil away at this thing called CAT preparation. The most sincere and determined ones  come in full of energy and enthusiasm to do whatever it takes to ace this test and get into the hallowed portals of an IIM.


A CAT aspirant beginning his prep will be at the least 20 years old; long enough to start the test with a sizeable psychological baggage — a mental make up that stems from one’s experiences and successes with education & tests throughout school & college.

The baggage usually falls into two categories.

The first with respect to one’s ability:

  • I have never really been smart like my friend/brother/sister


  • Duplicating information onto paper as you read a question
  • Trying to solve the question incrementally as you progress reading



Secondly, have we ever been taught to solve problems at school? We are taught concepts, a bunch of formulas scribbled on the board and then we are posed problems. We are then given the solution to the problem. Has anyone ever taught us how to approach problem solving irrespective of the area to which the problem belongs and the concept that it tests? Not really.

For the better part of school we are not taught this.



The dictionary meaning of the word aptitude can be captured by many words. But the words closest in the way it is applies to CAT and other tests such as the GMAT and GRE, are competence, skill & ability.


What they are testing are your reasoning skills in different contexts: Quantitative, Data, Logical and Verbal.



In the case of aptitude tests these movements are mental.


Read the question once, Read the question well



The first and foremost thing that anyone trying to crack an aptitude test has to learn is to read the question well. To do this you have get rid of all your reflex responses:

  • Duplicating information onto paper as you read a question
    • Copying the information is not taking you closer to the solution
    • Writing is not thinking
  • Trying to solve the question incrementally as you progress reading
    • You never know till the end what is being asked
    • You start solving as you are reading and then do not read the last part properly resulting in silly mistakes – LOWER ACCURACY
    • You fail to the see the small twist in the tale

This initial part is probably the most crucial part of problem solving.

They are similar to the initial movements of a batsman. The best batsmen in the world, watch the ball, pick up the length and take clear decisive movement  forward or back. Reading the question once and reading it well is nothing but keeping the head still and watching the ball and taking a decisive step towards playing it.



Do not be on autopilot, Solve the question in front of you


You need to actively process the information in a problem.

You are not solving a stereotype.




You end up collecting fish instead of learning to fish.



  1. 27
  2. 5
  3. 23
  4. 29.

The moment they read this test-takers who have been preparing for a while quickly jump to the solution by identifying the type. This is the adding everything everything but one subject and then adding one at the end type. So we need to add 4+5+6+7 plus 1 = 23!

But is it really that type?

This question is similar to the pair of socks question — If they are 12 different pairs of socks, all mixed up in a bag, what is the minimum number of socks one should take out to ensure that you have at least one matching pair?

The key word is to ensure, that means whatever happens after this you will have a pair. So one looks at the worst case scenario that every time one picks out one, it is from a different pair. So in this way one can pick up 12 socks, each from a different pair. The 13th one when picked up will definitely form a pair with one of the 12 ones picked previously. So in this case the answer is 13.


The worst case scenario is when we end up picking maximum books from the same subject before moving on to another subject. Which subject has the maximum books? Economics with 8. So we should be starting with that subject and then move on to the next subject with maximum number of books. So the solution is 8+7+6+5 plus 1 = 27.




Your brain is still plastic, You can still make major improvements



So most of you can still very easily improve from you current levels provided you are willing to believe that you can learn, provided you are willing to change your default settings.


So keeping tuning in to keep getting better.

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4 Response Comments

  • Mohammad Anas Khan  December 2, 2016 at 5:42 pm


    • Tony Xavier  December 6, 2016 at 9:39 am

      Thanks Mohammad!

      All the best!


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