CAT Quantitative Aptitude: Preparation Tips, Practice, Strategy!

Quantitative Aptitude is a significant component of the CAT Exam, the section consists of 22 questions based on mixed concepts of basic mathematics. Students who are weak in this section often believe in certain myths about the CAT Quantitative aptitude. So before discussing the preparation strategy, we will bust some of the most common myths about the CAT Quantitative Aptitude section.

Myths Around CAT Quantitative Aptitude Preparation

• CAT Quantitative Aptitude requires strong mathematical skills.
  The CAT Quantitative Aptitude Section comprises topics from the basic mathematics that we studied in Class 9th and 10th. One need not be an expert in mathematics to score well in this section. Understanding the fundamentals is believed to be the key to this section. It doesn’t matter how good or bad your Mathematics score was. The key is to capitalise on the understanding of the fundamental concepts and learn their application in different scenarios. If your Maths isn’t strong at the beginning of CAT preparation, with dedicated practice, you can improve this section by the time of the exam.
  
• Completing the syllabus is more important than practice.
  Completing the syllabus might be important, but without practice, it is of no use. Many students never start practising, because they are worried about the syllabus completion. As you learn a new concept, you should apply it in practice.
  
• CAT Quantitative Aptitude is easier for Engineering background students.
  CAT is an aptitude-based exam, which requires strong logical and analytical skills. Anybody whose logical and analytical skills are strong or anyone who can develop them over a period of time can crack the CAT exam with high scores, irrespective of their educational background. Aspirants from Engineering backgrounds may have certain advantages over non-engineering aspirants, but the exam is not easy for them either.
  
• Prepare Arithmetic and you are all set for CAT Quantitative Aptitude.
  There is no doubt that Arithmetic is the major chunk of the Quants, which you can’t skip if you want to score well in the Quant section. Every year one can witness 8 to 10 questions from arithmetic in the CAT Quants section. But it doesn’t mean that one should solely rely on Arithmetic, as after all CAT is an unpredictable exam. Hence one should try to cover the entire syllabus, as it increases your chance to score higher in the exam.
  
• Revision means, simply revising the formula and concepts.
  Revision of CAT Quantitative Aptitude is not similar to the usual idea of revision. Here one does not need to simply revise the formulas, rather one needs to practice questions of the previous topics in order to remain efficient in the particular topics.

After busting the myths, let us now discuss some of the most common problems faced by aspirants in CAT Quantitative Aptitude Preparation.

Also Read: CAT 2024 Preparation Strategy

Problems Faced in CAT Quantitative Aptitude

The Quants section tests your mathematics skills but not in the way it was tested in the school days. It includes topics like Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry, and Modern Math. While these may sound familiar, the questions are crafted to measure skills that managers need in their day-to-day work. Here we have listed some of the most common problems aspirants face in this section.

• Not selecting the right questions.
  The paper setters of the CAT Exam have mastered the art of creating a good mix of easy and difficult questions. When you go through the past year’s CAT question papers, you will observe that there are some easier questions that may take only a few seconds to solve! On the other hand, there will be some questions that might be quite tough to crack, at least in the given time constraints. The reason for having such a mix of questions is to test the time management skills and selection capabilities of the candidates. As a good manager, you will want first to target the low-hanging fruits in the exam.
  
  In order to perform well in the exam, you need to master the art of selecting the right set of questions to attempt. You should first attempt the easier ones and then go on attempting the medium to difficult ones depending upon the time left with you. The reason for such an approach is to maximize your attempts. CAT will not reward you with extra marks for solving difficult questions. Hence you should aim to solve as many questions as you can.
  
• Not being thorough with the concepts.
  Most of the time, you will observe that you were not able to solve some questions even after you knew the concept. This is an indicator of the fact that either you do not know the concept well or that you are not well versed in the concept application skills. Therefore, it is always advisable to be thorough with the concepts. Practice plays an important role in concept clearance. Always ensure that you know the concepts to the core and spend an adequate amount of time understanding the concepts during the initial phase of your preparation. Once you have understood the concept well, practice questions related to it. Practising questions helps in solidifying your concepts further.

• Bad time management.
  Bad time management is one of the most common mistakes that candidates make in the CAT quants section. Sometimes, attempting a single question brings a huge difference in the CAT percentiles of candidates. Therefore, good time management is vital for cracking the quants section in CAT.
  
  Always manage your time in such a way that you can go through all the questions in the quants section. One’s time management skills can improve by taking full-length practice tests and mocks. Moreover, one should always ensure that they do not leave easy questions for the end time. This may result in unnecessary panic and nervous situations for you, and you may lose out on some easier questions.

• Not reading questions carefully.
  Not reading a question carefully might result in a loss of time during the exam. Like, suppose you read a question incorrectly due to which you invested ten minutes to solve a question, that you could have solved in five minutes or maybe less than that.
  
  As you know, time is a constraint in the CAT exam. Candidates are always in a rush to solve as many questions as they can in the quants sections. But one should always try to read the questions properly along with carefully noting down the details from the question. You do not want to lose out your precious time on silly mistakes. Moreover, one should pay good attention while solving questions involving complex calculations.

Also Read: CAT 2024 Timetable

Where to Practice from?

One can improve CAT Quantitative Preparation through dedicated practice. Initially, one should start with basic concept building, which can be done from the lectures. After which one can start practising basic questions and can later move to more complex questions. The iConcept-material by iQuanta can serve as a good resource for basic Quants practice.

As the concept-building material can only help you to a certain level, hence iQuanta has come up with comprehensive CAT Preparation Books for the benefit of all CAT aspirants. Unlike the usual preparation materials, these books are Updated as per the recent trends of the exam.

CAT Quants Section Topic-wise Weightage

The CAT’s Quant section has 22 questions and it is usually dominated by Arithmetic and Algebra. While preparing for CAT 2024, you must focus mainly on important Quantitative Aptitude topics. Here we have shared Topic-wise weightage for all 3 slots of CAT 2023.

CAT Quantitative Aptitude Strategy

The CAT Quants section is considered to be the highest-scoring section in the CAT exam. Planning and executing the right CAT Quants strategy can help you with getting a 99%le in the CAT Quantitative Aptitude section. Given below are a few must-follow tips for the CAT Quants section.

• Brush up your basics:
  This is the most crucial part of the exam. The syllabus of the CAT Quantitative Aptitude section is limited to up to class 10 level based on past trends. Like in the iQuanta CAT 2024 Course a student is first provided with Non-engineers videos which cover basic-mathematics from class 6th to 10th. However, the application-based questions of these basic concepts can be challenging to attempt. This is why it is recommended that you complete your basics first and slowly move on to practising the different applications of those basic concepts. This is the most important strategy for CAT Quantitative Aptitude. At first, it might be difficult to put your theory into practice, but with time it will come easily to you- one of the reasons why practising is crucial, especially so for the quant section.
  
• Quick calculation:
  It is very obvious that you need to have your calculation game strong for an effective quants strategy for the CAT test. Even if you are provided with a calculator for the CAT Exam, this does not eliminate the requirement of mental calculation because significant time can be wasted in using the digital calculator since it is not very user-friendly. So make sure that you are able to perform relatively easier calculations in your mind itself.
  
• Practice:
  No other CAT Quantitative Aptitude strategy can take away the role of practice. When you get into the habit of practising your already memorised concepts, you will create stronger neural connections in your brain that store these concepts in your long-term memory. Therefore, practice as much as you can. You will also be able to build a habit of solving CAT Quant questions for extended periods, thus helping you train your brain to solve complex calculations without feeling mentally drained. Thus, practising will help you in building long-term memory as well as helping you build stamina for the exam.
  
• Move successively:
  Make sure that you move from basic/easier concepts to more challenging ones in CAT quants. This way, a logical flow will be maintained as easier concepts are often employed to solve challenging ones. Therefore, for example, it is not advised that you first prepare for ‘Profit and Loss’ before learning the basics of the Number System in Quants. This point must be clearly noted in your CAT Quants preparation strategy.

If you are looking for structured CAT preparation along with 24*7 doubt-solving, you can rely on iQuanta’s CAT 2024 Course. Practice the most relevant CAT-level content with iQuanta.