In this article, we will discuss the trends, patterns, commonly asked questions and the strategy to ace the Quantitative Aptitude and Data Interpretation section of the CMAT paper. CMAT has 20 questions of 4 marks each in this section.
CMAT Quantitative Aptitude
This section is generally a mix of all the topics of quant. A majority of the questions, which have appeared in this paper over the previous years, have been from topics like Number system, Percentage, Average, Time Speed & Distance, Geometry & Mensuration, Algebra, Work & Time, Profit & Loss, Simple Interest & Compound Interest and Data Interpretation etc. There have been questions on Probability, Logarithms, Co-ordinate Geometry and Heights & Distances as well. Just to give you an idea, here is a question from one of the actual CMAT papers.
Previous year CMAT questions
Q.“Amit alone can do a piece of work in 6 days while Bharti alone can do it in 8 days. Amit and Bharti undertook to do it for Rs.3200. With the help of Chetna, they completed the work in 3 days. How much is to be paid to Chetna?"
As you can see, this is a basic Work & Time problem and can be answered without any trouble. Let us have a look at another quant question in one of the previous years.
Q.
“In an office, there are 15 males and 10 females. Three employees are selected at random. What is the probability that 1 female and 2 males are selected?”
This is again a very simple question based on Probability and anyone with the basic knowledge of the topic can solve it comfortably.
Tips for Quant section
Given below are some important things to keep in mind while solving quant questions:
- Gain a good hold on the concepts of algebra, arithmetic and geometry.
- Solve previous year CMAT papers so that you get well acquainted with the question pattern of this section.
- Keep practicing questions based on crucial topics until you develop a sufficient level of speed and accuracy.
- Do use shortcuts to solve questions that are otherwise time-consuming.
CMAT Data Interpretation
There are one or two Data Interpretation blocks in this section, and they are of easy to moderate difficulty level. The data blocks are usually based on pie chart, bar graph or tables. Questions asked in DI are direct and can be solved by the elimination of choices. There is no need for detailed calculations to answer the questions on data interpretation. Remember the following tips while solving DI sets:
- Since there are no fixed rules to solve DI questions, the only thing you can do is practice various types of sets.
- Always read the given information very carefully before you start solving the questions. If the information appears complex, simplify it in your words.
- Do check the options for approximate answers and use advanced calculation techniques in case it’s necessary to solve the question in detail.
Conclusion
To conclude, as the difficulty level of this section is moderate, hence one should maximize the number of questions attempted to get as much score as possible. Anyone who has brushed up the fundamentals of above-said topics before the test can score well in this section. You would do well by revising the basics of all the Quant topics with a special reference to the above-mentioned topics. Besides this, a revision of some calculation techniques will go a long way in helping you to solve DI questions and other Quant problems.