My Strategy to score 99%ile in DILR of CAT 2019

After one hour of Verbal Ability, finally, you land in the world of ‘Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning’. It is said, it is the ‘Game Changer’ section. In this section, nobody has any particular advantage, it is all on you — how fast can you read, understand and make sense of the set. It is very easy for everyone to do those 8 sets without the timer, but the real game is to do that in those 60 minutes.

Since a few years, there is no complete distinction of DI sets and LR sets, it usually comes in a combination of both. But a few sets could be complete DI or LR sets, but you cannot trust CAT! So better be prepared for the worst. In my case, my DI was very strong (because coming from a Commerce background) though I loved solving LR sets. But since I wanted to maximise my scores, I would almost always prefer DI sets followed by LR sets. But you should do whatever suits you best, could be a combination of both!

As this section was my strongest area out of the three, my only focus was to maximise as much as possible (because anything below the score of 96 has a scope of improvement). A small summary of my techniques applied to boost my score in this section:

• Try and try till you get the sum right, don’t jump on solutions too fast if you aren’t able to solve because that’s how you are training your mind. (Remember in CAT, you can’t jump off to solutions, so train your brain to use itself)
• Flirt and leave the set, don’t be in a serious relationship with any set.
• Don’t take things on your ego. (Something like my DI is strength so I am supposed to solve all DI sets, NEVER!)
• I had set a timer for myself of 4 minutes, that if I am not able to crack the set in that time, I will leave it and come back later. (You can decide your own timing!)
• I learnt about my strengths and weaknesses and worked on turning the latter into the former. Sat with my professors to learn, did 30 sums of each and tried to master it.
• After the mocks, during the analysis, I would try finding an easy and alternative solution for the set.
• I would analyse whether I chose the right sets and in the right order, (again, it differs from person to person), but I just wanted to make sure I was not wasting my time on fruitless sets. Many times the set and order were different, but if I am able to handle off it better, I would be okay with it.
• I used to help my fellow aspirants with DILR, so I had to go to that basic level to improve my logic. (Initially, I used to almost always start with some assumption and still get it right, but now since I had to teach others, I had to get my Logic in place!)
• I discussed the order of sets and attempted questions with fellow aspirants who scored in my range or above, just to ensure my strategy was working well.
• I had never set a target of 3–5 sets for myself. I would ensure a minimum of 6 sets because this section usually covered up for my VA. (One should start with fewer sets and gradually increase their target).
• I used to tell myself: ‘Nothing less than 99%ile is accepted from your performance!’.

The D-Day:

• I had absolutely no idea, how did my VA section go, so luckily no repercussion on DILR. (Because for me, the VA has been always difficult irrespective of any mock).
• I was shivering a lot because of the cold, wasted almost 2 minutes to even scribble anything on paper. Almost thought of CAT 2020 by this time, but then I recollected my past mocks in extreme cold temperature and motivated myself to come back to CAT 2019.
• My yoga classes came in handy in this situation, I warmed up my body through those lessons I had learned, and now I was back to track in CAT 2019.
• I took 2 minutes to scan the Question Paper and decided the order in which I had to attempt. (Initially, I used to take 8 minutes, then 5 minutes and then immense practice helped me to reduce it to 2 minutes)
• I started with the first set, could answer only 3 questions, and in the 4th question none of the options matched my set, so I thought of coming back to this later.
• I did the 2nd and 3rd set very comfortably. The fourth set I had picked was of ‘Games & Tournaments’. I almost used 4 minutes, but could not find any direction on how to go ahead. I had troubled my professors, watched so many videos, practised 30 sums to learn and improve on G&T, but not taking it on ego, I used my technique of ‘Flirt and go!’. (The wisest decision in the entire CAT!)
• After that, I completed 4 more sets by the end of the 55th minute. Now, I had two options: Go back to the first set or do the G&T. I went to the first set because I had already solved it and now I had to just find my mistake.
• I re-read the set almost thrice to realise that I have been confusing two characters in the set and doing it wrong. It was the last 1 minute, and there was a pressure that I had to change the answer of all four, and I hope I can do this as fast as possible, and luckily I did it and got some 15 seconds to relax before the next section of QA.

What worked well for me in DILR:

• Since I never understood the level of difficulty, I did not panic after a tough VA (because I thought VA was always difficult only) and it did not affect my other sections.
• I had taken mocks in various extreme conditions like cold, heat, no electricity, too much traffic and managed to maintain my scores, so I could tell my mind to calm down even in the extreme cold situation.
• The lesson of ‘Flirt and go!’.
• Not taking up things on ego, and move on.
• The passion and determination to achieve.

You can read my article on ‘My Strategy to boost VA from 44%ile to 96%ile in CAT 2019’, ‘My Strategy to score 98.81%ile in QA of CAT 2019’ and ‘My Journey to IIM Ahmedabad’.

You can connect with me on LinkedIn for any other help related to CAT and IIM Ahmedabad: Isha Nisar