CAT: Does 'reasoning' puzzle you?

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CAT: Does 'reasoning' puzzle you?

Dr Shelly Verma | August 30, 2005

What is reasoning?
Reasoning is something that requires you to use your intellectual
faculty to draw conclusions. While solving problems on reasoning,
you try to reach conclusions by connecting various thoughts.

CAT is the first hurdle you need to cross to get admission in most of
India's top educational institutions. Broadly, CAT aims to assess your
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aptitude -- Quantitative, Verbal and Logical.
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One of the ways it does this • Travel
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through the reasoning section.
The problem you could face in Discuss this article
• Self-help
this section is the fact that many
of the questions you are asked to
answer may not have been part • Food & Cooking
of your school syllabus. Today in Getahead

Have you tried solving Suduko (a

mathematical puzzle being
carried in the national dailies, the current craze all over the world),
done crosswords, trick questions or puzzles? If not, then start now.

In CAT, the reasoning section may be separate or clubbed with either

the Quantitative Reasoning or Data Interpretation sections. In the past
two years, there have been 12 questions (two marks each) in 2004
and 24 questions (one mark each) in the 2003 retest (the CAT paper
leak in 2003 led to a new test).

The number of questions and marks allotted fluctuate within 20 to 30

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CAT: Does 'reasoning' puzzle you?

marks range.
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Components of Verbal Ability Do you have a yen for pasta?
Want to ace CAT? Revise
This section tests your verbal, numerical and visio-spatial skills
(questions related to figures and cubes). There are questions on: Worried about the new GRE?
Do you speak English well?
● Analytical Reasoning: Puzzles, coding-decoding, mathematical Customer care associates for BPO
reasoning Study fashion designing at NIFT
● Logical Reasoning: Argument analysis
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Variety of questions Entrepreneurs: Win Rs 2,00,000

How safe are mutual funds?
The range of questions is wide and varies with each test. The paper
setters try to change the nature of this section quite often. To make Today in Cricket
sure you are adequately prepared, here are some question patterns Pakistan tame England in Multan
you should be familiar with:
Inzamam delighted with result
i. Data arrangements or puzzles Hodge, Symonds for Windies Test
Yuvraj's century rescues India
These are based on comparison, sequential order, seating/ placing
South Africa elect to field
arrangements and classifications.
'Tough for Ganguly to return'
These are clue-based questions and involve an analysis of given India to keep experimenting
information (conditions). You will then be required to condense it in a
England scent victory
suitable pattern (with the help of diagrams or tables) and answer the
questions asked. India-South Africa ODI dossier
SA gunning for record ODI run
All this requires sharp observation and presence of mind. Remember,
conditionality questions in CAT seem fairly complex but actually have Today in Sports
the simplest solutions once you put them in a pattern using 'Anger over pullouts justified'
abbreviations or matrix tables.
James leads Cavaliers to victory

For example, six lecturers Pankaj, Qadir, Ratnam, Shiva, Tanmay Magath expects Ballack to stay
and Udit are sitting around a circular table facing the center. S is Portugal held by N. Ireland
seated between U and Q. P is second to the left of S and second to Nalbandian overpowers Coria
the right of T.
Tajikistan put Pakistan out

Questions: Who is facing Pankaj? Who among them is facing Shiva? Maharashtra down Bengal
Federer survives Ljubicic scare
Solution: Make a diagram, and use abbreviations instead of names,
'I played like a champion'
that is P,Q,R, S, T ,U. Make an arrangement according to given
information. The problem can now have the following solutions. Organisers slam Agassi pullout

a. Either Udit or Qadir are facing Pankaj

b. Ratnam is facing Shiva

Tip: Remember it is only stated that S is between U and Q. Whether

U is to the left or right of S is not given. So there are two possible
diagrams. Read carefully and then draw accordingly.

The ABC of CAT

ii. A series

These are based on choosing an odd numeral, fitting in a missing

numeral/ alphabet or completing the series.

A group of numbers or letters are given and you have to derive a

solution. Let's look at an example:

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CAT: Does 'reasoning' puzzle you?

Question: MHB, NIC, OJD, PKE, ?

Solution: QLF

How did we reach this answer?

Look at the above question. The first letters in each of the four
examples are M-N-O-P

MHB
NIC
OJD
PKE

The second letters are H-I-J-K

MHB
NIC
OJD
PKE

The third set of letter are B-C-D-E

MHB
NIC
OJD
PKE

Continuing in this pattern, it is clear the fourth set of letters would be

QLF.

Tip: While preparing, do not waste time practising. Just read the
question and try and decipher the pattern.

There is no standard format in the series, so practice sessions will not

help. Just updtate yourself on new patterns.

iii. Coding-decoding

A code is a method of sending a secret message between two parties

that cannot be deciphered by a third party. Questions may be based
on codes on English alphabets or numbers assigned to different
letters.

You may be required to find a word by analysing the given code. This
is the process of decoding or forming the code for a new word. Let's
look at an example.

Get admission in a top B-school

Question 1: If EULGH is the code for BLADE, what is the code for
CRICKET?

Solution: FULFNHW

(Each letter of the word is three steps ahead of the corresponding

letter of the code; for example, the code for B is E (the third letter after
B) so the code for C will be F (the third letter after C)).

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CAT: Does 'reasoning' puzzle you?

Question 2: If EARTH is coded as 41590 and PALE as 2134, what is

the code for PEARL?

Solution: 24153

(codes for letters are: P=2, E=4, A=1, R=5 and L=3)

Question: In a certain language, 'put tir fin' means 'delicious juicy

fruit'; 'tie dip sig' means 'beautiful white lily', and 'sig lon fin' means 'lily
and fruit'. What is the code for 'and'?

Solution: 'lon'

(Common code from first and third statement for 'fin' is 'fruit'. From
second and third statement, 'sig' is 'lily'. So 'lon' means 'and' in third
statement.

iv. Decision Making/ Data Analysis

These questions relate to filling vacancies, promotions, admissions to

institutes based on necessary qualification required by an applicant to
be selected. You have to make decisions based on the applicants'
qualification and potential.

v. Mathematical Operations

In this section, simple mathematical commands -- plus, minus,

multiplication and division, greater than, less than, equal to, not equal
to -- are represented by symbols different from the usual ones.

You are required to substitute these with the real symbols and solve
the questions accordingly.

vi. Direction Sense Tests

These are based on directions (N, S, E, W).

For example, Ram goes north then turns left, goes 4 kilometres, then
turns right and goes 3 kilometres... and so on.

Eventually you are required to find either the final direction or distance
travelled. The main purpose of this exercise is to assess your ability
to trace and follow directions correctly.

vii. Syllogism

The term means 'to draw inference' or 'deduction'. There are some
important terms like proposition, subject and predicate which you
must understand before you attempt this section.

These questions can be solved by using Euler's circles, Venn

Diagrams or the Analytical method [A-type; I-type; O-type or E-type
sentences].

There are various theories to solve syllogisms which are available in

various 'reasoning' books.

viii. Statement-Assumptions and Statement-Arguments

A statement is followed by either an assumption or an argument. You

have to assess the validity of these assumptions.

In arguments, you have to see if they are weak, superfluous, or

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CAT: Does 'reasoning' puzzle you?

support the given statement strongly.

ix. Figures/ Visual Reasoning

Note: This section is usually not included in CAT, but you never know
so be prepared.

In this section, a series of figures are shown; you may be required to

find the missing one, the odd one or what would logically follow.

Again here, just go through the figures and solutions.

Questions could be based on blood relations, cubes, input-output,

binary systems, courses of action, cause and effect, mathematical
logic, analogies, situation reaction tests, conclusions from statements
and passages, verification of the truth in the statements made, and
more.

Next: How to 'practice' on your own

DON'T MISS!

● Cat 2004
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Countdown to CAT: A few tips

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Are you good at group discussions?

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Do you need coaching for CAT?

Dr Shelly Verma is on the faculty of Economics at the University

of Delhi. She has designed and authored comprehensive online
programmes along with supporting books for GRE and GMAT for
US companies. She is affiliated with various training institutions
for Verbal and Logical Reasoning, Group discussions, PDP and
also does career counselling.

Know how to ace CAT? Write in and let us know. Don't forget to
add your name, age, the name of your management institution,
the year in which you passed out and where you work now.

Share your comments

What do you think about the story?

Read what others have to say:
Number of User Comments: 2

Sub: 'Reasoning' puzzles - CAT tips

While it is nice to find puzzles on the internet, your CAT analytical

practise/training questions have mistakes, just like some of the
'reasoning' tests that ...

Posted by ksey

http://in.rediff.com/getahead/2005/aug/30cat.htm (5 of 6)11/16/2005 6:11:34 PM

 CAT: Does 'reasoning' puzzle you?

Sub: Wrong code in question?!?

Question 1: If EULGH is the code for BLADE, what is the code for
CRICKET? Solution: FULFNHW As much as your solution works for
CRICKET, ...

Posted by Arthur

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