Make a plan. Make a pledge. Stick to it. While making a plan keep in mind the following guidelines that you will not touch any fresh area. For all three aptitudes to be tested (Verbal, Quant and LRDI) divide the major topics in these respective areas into seven clusters, one cluster to be done each day. While making the clusters keep in mind that you put only those topics wherein you are very comfortable or comfortable. Skip areas of discomfort. Also avoid completely new topics like plague. For LRDI, as there are no topics per se, divide the forty odd questions of your test series into seven clusters with five to six questions in each cluster. Also, lay your hands upon a book which is moderately challenging for you with about five hundred pages. And, read no more than fifty pages.
9 Days to CAT
Wake up fresh after at least six hours of sleep. Go to sleep no later that 12 pm. No late night movies please. Start with the first lap of your 50 pages target for the day. Reading will warm your senses and boost your appetite for the rest of the problem solving to come. You may finish your target of fifty pages in one go, however, after each tranche of reading you need to introspect and ask yourself three questions: a) What was the author saying? b) Why was he saying what he was saying? c) How was he expressing the same?
For your quantitative aptitude pick up the first cluster from your planner and revise the associated basic formulas, basic concepts and standard problems. After this activity, pick up any Mock CAT Test Series you may have joined and solve any question that has come from that area in the Mocks starting from Mock 1. Do the same with Verbal Ability. For LRDI, pick your first cluster.
Next five days to CAT
Continue diligently with the regime you have set on the first day. There may be one odd day when you will not be able to stick to your regime. Don’t let such puny things lower your morale. After all you’re human. Keep moving. You will also have at least one bow – day.
Last three days to CAT
Utilize the first two days of these last three days to revise all those areas which you could not as per your regime as it got spilled over. A million dollar question is – what if something is still left, don’t sweat over it, not even a single person who is going to write the exam has been able to cover the syllabus one hundred percent.
One day to CAT
Decide what you like to do most. Read a book. Watch a movie. Listen to music. Loiter with friends, but don’t discuss the exam. No practice, no revision, no questions. Give yourself a treat. Put together your tool-box, sharpen your instruments. Rest your lower back; have a warm, good meal, sleep early and enjoy the paper.
Like Reading Comprehension, you must take a passage and answer the multiple choice questions provided. This time however, the passage given will be less than 100 words and are followed by less questions. Like the title provides, this portion is meant to test your reasoning skills. This means analyzing the arguments provided, but also creating your own arguments as well as action plans to go along with the material.
You will be given a situation in the question in which you will have to break apart to find your answer. Don't get all worried if the subject of what you're reading doesn't seem familiar. The questions are not based on what you know prior or what you're familiar with. They are based on what you can dig up and retrieve from the actual text given.
According to the Official Guide for GMAT Review, there are 3 areas in which you will be working through…
Argument Construction
Argument Evaluation
Formulating and Evaluating a Plan of Action
Argument Construction
What is the structure of this passage? What arguments are being drawn throughout? Are there any conclusions being made, or assumptions along the way? You may find that there are similarities mirrored in different arguments, or that a research question is posed indirectly through the work. Try to delve into the reading and base what you find on the concrete structure that makes up the material.
Argument Evaluation
Can you analyze this given text? Do you understand this certain argument?Are you able to take off your rose-colored lenses and see past the author's possible bias?
Where does the author have strength in their writing? What about weaknesses? This is putting what the arguments are into context of the whole. Asking yourself if the arguments fly and whether they're backed up will help you determine these questions.
Formulating and Evaluating a Plan of Action
How effective is this written work? How diverse is the plan of action provided? Is there an openness about it to leave room for other prospective research, points, arguments or findings? Are there any factors that come into play as far as arguments go, to strengthen or weaken their points? These questions cause you to inquire into the make-up of the plan of action provided. Your job is to see whether it makes sense.
The bottom line for all of these questions is to think critically. Put on that analyzer eyeglass and try to see beyond what the text is generally saying. Critically reason out and analyze each point, bias and statement. These questions test your ability to see the text from a critical perspective.
Make sure to be careful while reading. Some statements are made generally whereas others are solid fact. Make sure you can distinguish between what is claimed by the facts and what is claimed by the author. Truth is an important factor here.
Try to figure out where it falls. It may trick you and not actually fall at the end so be careful with that. These conclusions can help you think logically about the rest of the work you're analyzing.
It is important that you clearly understand what the question is asking. Only then can you be solid in your answer. Read it carefully and then go to your text for reference. Some questions may seem awfully similar (resulting in people getting awfully confused) so make sure you've got your apples and oranges sorted out.
Answer Answer…
Before purely picking the answer you may know is right, read all of the options just to be sure. If you reason out the material with a critical eye and a knack for what the question requires of you, you can be sure you'll be set!
by Pritika Ghura
For all MBA aspirants, it is time to sharpen your communication and presentation skills. For it is time to gear up for GD and PI round. With the shortlists for GD-PI declared by IIFT recently the MBA aspirants have now woken up to the other realities on their journey to MBA and that is they have to make a mark in GD, Essay writing and personal interview round.
In an attempt to help you ace these rounds and help you make the correct impression in front of the panel of interviewers, Learnhub gives you tips to ace these rounds. One must remember the institute is checking your attitude, how well you structure to your thoughts, your problem solving skills and "how he/she approaches any question or problem.
For Group Discussions, reading a lot helps. You should be assertive but not imposing. You should be able to contribute to the discussion but at the same time let others speak. It will show how you conduct yourself in a board room. You can get hold of a book which covers the Do's and Don'ts of case GDs along with a few practice cases. Each and every coaching institute have these GD books. Another interesting idea is that you can try and form a group with like-minded friends and discuss these practice cases.
For Interview round make sure you're dressed formally and have a clean look. You should go with an open mind, positive mindset and self confidence. You can be asked anything under the sun and no one expects you to know all the answers but it is important is how you approach the answer. Please remember you should model your interview in such a manner that it meets the expectations of the particular institute. Do not appear nervous. For practice, you can organise mock interviews with family/ friends.
There are always a few typical questions like "Why MBA?" "What are your long-term and short-term career goals? How MBA will help you achieve these goals?" "Which specialisation you would like to opt for and why?" You might be asked questions about any drop in education or a sharp fall in marks at any stage - you should be prepared with the answers beforehand.
The key to success in these rounds is reading, practicing and talking to lot of successful people who have graduated from top B-schools.
Was the official website for CAT result hacked? Or was it just a test being done by the Indian Institute of Management-Lucknow? All these and many more questions were boggling the mind of the aspirants since Monday. Some of the aspirants, who have taken this CAT exam, claimed that they had seen their result on the CAT official website on Monday, much before the official result declaration date 12th January, 2010.
While, rumours of CAT 2010 result being spread all over the country since Monday, the IIM-L team which is handling the official website said that they were just testing the portal. News of the official result website being hacked shocked aspirants and also caused panic among them.
As the rumour spread all over, the IIMs, and the online testing company, the US-based Prometric Service Limited which has conducted the test for the IIMs, were flooded with queries about the data leakage and hacking of the website.
One students said over this issue that he too checked the site, but he had seen some result on the website on Monday morning , but the result were of CAT-2009.
"We heard about some students learning of their CAT results on Monday but when we logged on ourselves, we got to see the 2009 results," the student said. "Later, we found out that this might have happened because of irrelevant data being uploaded to test the website."
The team clarified that the portal was not hacked. Some tests were being done before the actual uploading of the result data on 12th January, 2010. Prof Himanshu Rai of IIM-Lucknow, who is the overall in-charge of CAT-2010, said, "The official results website does not possess any information that can lead to a leakage of the results. The official website- www.catiim.in - is down as we are testing it with data in preparation for the uploading of the results on January 12." Rai also added, "It has not been hacked." He said that the results will be out as scheduled but till then the website might occasionally go off the internet because of test runs with dummy data.
Dear Readers,
As you all know that CAT is online this year and we all know pros and cons of Online CAT. Obviously we all are trying to adapt new methods so as to achieve our goal at all. But there is one thing which is same as paper pencil CAT i.e. PRACTICE. It hasn't changed. We have to do more and more practice.
If the practice is online then nothing is better than that. We also know that there are a number of websites which are providing free mock tests but the quality of those questions is nowhere near original CAT. So I have collected some mock tests which are much better in qualities. I don't want to be indulged in copyright things so if anyone don't think its right, he should not download these tests because these tests are for help of CAT aspirants. Following is the link to download those mock tests.
amphitheater (BRITISH = amphitheatre) = oval-shaped theater anathema = curse, ban annul = cancel, nullify anodyne = pain soothing anoint = consecrate, to apply oil, especially as a sacred rite anonymity = state of being anonymous, having no name antediluvian = ancient, obsolete, pre historic antithesis = direct opposite apathetic = unconcerned, indifferent aphasia = inability to speak or use words aphorism = maxim, old saying aplomb = poise, confidence apocryphal = a doubtful authenticity, not genuine, fictional apostate = one who abandons one's faith apotheosis = Deification, glorification approbation = praise, official approval archaic = Antiquated, from an earlier time archipelago = group of islands ardor (BRITISH = ardour) = great emotion or passion arraign = indict, to call to court to answer a charge arrogate = seize without right, to demand or claim arrogantly ascendancy = powerful state ascribe = to attribute ashen = resembling ashes, or deathly pale asinine = stupid askance = to view with suspicion, scornfully askew = crooked, tilted aspersion = slander, false rumor, damaging report assail = attack assent = to express agreement assiduous = hard-working, diligent, persistent assuage = lessen (pain), to make less severe, ease astringent = causing contraction, severe, harsh asunder = apart, into different parts atone = make amends for a wrong august = noble, dignified, awe-inspiring, venerable avow = declare awry = crooked, askew, amiss axiom = self-evident truth, premise, postulate
The Indo-U.S. civilian nuclear agreement is the name commonly attributed to a bilateral agreement on nuclear cooperation between the United States of America and India. The framework for this agreement was a joint statement by the Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and his U.S counterpart Mr. George. W. Bush, under which India agreed to separate its civil and military nuclear facilities and place civil facilities under international atomic energy agency (IAEA) safeguards and in exchange, the United States agreed to work towards full civil nuclear cooperation with India.
On August 1, 2008, the IAEA approved the safeguards agreement with India, after which the United States approached the nuclear suppliers group (NSG) to grant a waiver to India to commence civilian nuclear trade. The 45-nation NSG granted the waiver to India on September 6, 2008, allowing it to access civilian nuclear technology and fuel from other countries. The implementation of this waiver makes India the only known country with nuclear weapons which is not a party to the non proliferation treaty (NPT) but is still allowed to carry out nuclear commerce with the rest of the world.
Arguments against the topic
· Despite the best of the technical efforts the per unit energy produced by nuclear resources continues to be the costliest at close to Rs. 3.35 per unit energy compared to its other counter parts such as coal and hydro forms which cost us close to Rs.1.25 and Rs.2.5 per unit energy respectively. So, as of now, the nuclear deal is not something to go “high” about.
· The nuclear deal does not pave off instant development because even if the deal is okayed it will take nearly 8 years to get implemented and that’s an official verdict. Looking at the Indian scenario it might very well take a decade.
· The nuclear deal has been signed under the 123 agreement which clearly states as per the official norms that any “party” (word used with reference to the country) signing the deal cannot use the nuclear resources for defence purposes either directly or indirectly, which means that India cannot do any more nuclear tests.
· Even if the ‘by product’ of the deal (official word used for nuclear resources by the United States in the 123 agreement) gets available to us cheaply the biggest hurdle would be to get rid of the radioactive waste which would be left after the utilization of nuclear resources, unfortunately few have got the infrastructure to get rid of it.
· Looking at the current security status of our country “the biggest challenge would be to make sure the nuclear resources do not get into the wrong hands” which might not only prove to be the biggest security threat for our country but for the whole world as well.
Arguments in favor of the topic
· Looking at the way the population is increasing along with the effort of the Indian government to push the “LPG” reforms post 1991, the concerns of energy security cannot be neglected. The best way to secure the massive needs of infrastructure development is to shift to the next level of energy sufficiency, and nuclear energy is surely the way ahead.
· The ever expanding energy demand is expected to increase by 7 folds in the coming 15 years if we want to achieve the target set by the planning commission in the form of “vision 2025” it is a must to get rid of the dependence on non-renewable source of energy such as coal, and the “deal” surely will help us reach that higher level of self dependence.
· India has always advocated the fact that it firmly stands by its commitment of “nonproliferation” of nuclear arms and armaments, so the “deal” will send a positive signal to the international community which will further help us to increase international cooperation along the lines to international trade and hence developing the economy.
· The biggest competitor that India has faced in the race of development comes in the form of the neighbouring country, China, nuclear energy will surely help us compete neck-toneck with China, and the stiff rivalries will indirectly benefit the consumers counting on the development of our economy as a whole.
· The deal will play a crucial role in the growth of employment in the infrastructure and the manufacturing sector, as massive infrastructure will be required for setting up nuclear power plants. With various other technical requirements, surely the Indian manufacturing, engineering and the real estate companies will be in for moolah.
1. Below is an excerpt from a letter that was sent by the chairman of a corporation to the stockholders.
A number of charges have been raised against me, some serious, some trivial. Individuals seeking to control the corporation for their own purposes have demanded my resignation. Remember that no court of law in any state has found me guilty of any criminal offense whatsoever. In the American tradition, as you know, an individual is considered innocent until proven guilty. Furthermore, as the corporation’s unbroken six-year record of growth will show, my conduct of my official duties as chairman has only helped enhance the success of the corporation, and so benefited every stockholder.
Which of the following can be properly inferred from the excerpt?
(A) The chairman believes that all those who have demanded his resignation are motivated by desire to control the corporation for their own purposes.
(B) Any misdeeds that the chairman may have committed were motivated by his desire to enhance the success of the corporation.
(C) The chairman is innocent of any criminal offense.
(D) The corporation has expanded steadily over the past six years.（D）
(E) Any legal proceedings against the chairman have resulted in his acquittal.
2. In the years since the city of London imposed strict air-pollution regulations on local industry, the number of bird species seen in and around London has increased dramatically. Similar air-pollution rules should be imposed in other major cities.
Each of the following is an assumption made in the argument above EXCEPT:
(A) In most major cities, air-pollution problems are caused almost entirely by local industry.
(B) Air-pollution regulations on industry have a significant impact on the quality of the air.
(C) The air-pollution problems of other major cities are basically similar to those once suffered by London.
(D) An increase in the number of bird species in and around a city is desirable.（A）
(E) The increased sightings of bird species in and around London reflect an actual increase in the number of species in the area.
3. Which of the following best completes the passage below?
In opposing government regulation of business, conservatives often appeal to the Jeffersonian ideal of limited government, expressing the wish that government would “get off the backs of the American people.” Yet, paradoxically, many of these same conservatives address questions of private morality, such as those dealing with sexual behavior, by calling for______
(A) a return to the restrictive sexual morality of the Victorian era
(B) a strengthening of the role of the family in setting moral norms for society
(C) a limitation on the amount of sexually provocative material appearing in books, motives, and television shows
(D) greater freedom for individuals to choose their own way of handling sexual issues（E）
(E) an increased governmental role in the regulation and control of private sexual behavior
Questions 4-5 are based on the following:
In an experiment, two different types of recorded music were played for neonates in adjacent nurseries in a hospital. In nursery A, classical music was played; in nursery B, rock music was played. After two weeks, it was found that the babies in nursery A cried less, suffered fewer minor ailments, and gained more weight than did the babies in nursery B.
4. In evaluating the validity of the conclusion suggested by the experiment above, it would be most important to know which of the following?
(A) The musical preferences of the parents of the two groups of newborns
(B) Whether the newborns in both nurseries were equally healthy and happy at the start of the experiment
(C) Whether loud rock music can damage the hearing of newborns
(D) What the average weight of the neonates was before and after the experiment（B）
(E) Whether the music was played in the nurseries at all times or only at certain times
5. Which of the following additional experimental data would support the hypothesis that classical music is beneficial to the development of newborn?
(A) The neonates in a nursery where no music was played fared better than those in nursery B.
(B) Nursery A contained 15 percent more premature babies than nursery B.
(C) The newborns in nursery A cried less, suffered fewer minor ailments, and gained more weight than did newborns in a nursery with no music.
(D) The music played in nursery A was louder than that played in nursery B.（C）
(E) The ratio of nurses to newborns in nursery B was 1 to 4; in nursery A, it was 1 to 6.
6. The ancient city of Cephesa was not buried by an eruption of Mt.Amnos in A.D. 310, as some believe. The eruption in the year 310 damaged the city, but it did not destroy it. Cephesa survived for another century before it finally met its destruction in another eruption around A.D. 415.
Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the author’s claim that the city of Cephesa was not buried by the eruption of Mt.Amnos in A.D. 310?
(A) The city of Cephesa is mentioned in a historical work known to have been written in A.D. 400.
(B) Coins bearing the image of an emperor who lived around A.D. 410 have been discovered in the ruins of Cephesa, which were preserved by the cinders and ashes that buried the city.
(C) Geological evidence shows that the eruption of Mt.Amnos in A.D. 415 deposited a 10-foot-thick layer of lava on the city of Cephesa.
(D) Artworks from the city of Cephesa have been found in the ruins of another city known to have been destroyed in A.D. 420.（B）
(E) A historical work written in A.D. 430 refers to the eruption of Mt.Amnos in A.D. 415.
7. June is taller than Kristin.
Letty is taller than Maria.
Maria is shorter than Nancy.
Kristin and Nancy are exactly the same height.
If the information above is true, which of the following must also be true?
(A) Letty is taller than Nancy.
(B) Letty is taller than June.
(C) Kristin is shorter than Letty.
(D) June is taller than Maria.（D）
(E) Kristin is shorter than Maria.
8. Current farm policy is institutionalized penalization of consumers. It increases food prices for middle- and low-income families and costs the taxpayer billions of dollars a year.
Which of the following statements, if true, would provide support for the author’s claims above?
I. Farm subsidies amount to roughly $20 billion a year in federal payouts and $12 billion more in higher food prices.
II. According to a study by the Department of Agriculture, each $1 of benefits provided to farmers for ethanol production costs consumers and taxpayers $4.
III. The average full-time farmers have an average net worth of over $300,000.
(A) I only
(B) II only
(C) III only
(D) I and II only（D）
(E) I, II, and III
9. Reva: Using extraneous incentives to get teenagers to change their attitude toward school and schoolwork won’t work. Take the program in West Virginia, for instance, where they tried to reduce their dropout rate by revoking the driving licenses of kids who left school. The program failed miserably.
Anne: It’s true that the West Virginia program failed, but many schools have devised incentive programs that have been very successful in improving attendance and reducing discipline problems.
According to Anne, the weak point in Reva’s claim is that it
(A) fails to consider the possibility that the majority of potential dropouts in West Virginia do not have driving licenses
(B) doesn’t provide any exact figures for the dropout rate in West Virginia before and during the program
(C) ignores a substantial body of evidence showing that parents and employers have been using extrinsic incentives with positive results for years
(D) assumes that a positive incentive—a prize or a reward—will be no more effective than a negative incentive, like the revoking of a driving license（E）
(E) is based on a single example, the incentive program in West Virginia, which may not be typical
10. In many surveys, American consumers have expressed a willingness to spend up to 10 percent more for products that are ecologically sound. Encouraged by such surveys, Bleach-O Corporation promoted a new laundry detergent, Bleach-O Green, as safer for the environment. Bleach-O Green cost 5 percent more than typical detergents. After one year, Bleach-O Green had failed to capture a significant share of the detergent market and was withdrawn from sale.
Which of the following questions is LEAST likely to be relevant in determining the reasons for the failure of Bleach-O Green?
(A) How effective as a detergent was Bleach-O Green?
(B) How many other detergents on the market were promoted as safe for the environment?
(C) How much more did Bleach-O Green cost to manufacture than ordinary detergents?
(D) To what extent did consumers accept the validity of Bleach-O Green advertised and promoted to consumers?（C）
(E) How effectively was Bleach-O Green advertised and promoted to consumers?
11. The burden of maintaining the U.S. highway system falls disproportionately on the trucking industry. Trucks represent only about 10 percent of the vehicles on U.S. roads. Yet road use taxes assessed on trucks amount to almost half the taxes paid for highway upkeep and repair.
Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the argument above?
(A) The trucking industry has enjoyed record after-tax profits in three of the past four years.
(B) Because of their weight, trucks cause over 50 percent of the damage sustained by highway surfaces each year.
(C) Without an economically viable trucking industry, the cost of goods in the United States would rise significantly.
(D) Road use taxes paid by trucking companies have decreased by 3 percent over the past five years.（B）
(E) Due to years of neglect, U.S. highways today are badly in need of major repairs and rebuilding.
12. The upcoming presidential election in the West African republic of Ganelon is of grave concern to the U.S. State Department. Ganelon presently has strong political and military ties to the United States. However, the Socialist party is widely expected to win the election, leading to fears that Ganelon will soon break away from the pro-American bloc and adopt a nonaligned or openly anti-American stance.
Which of the following is an assumption made in the passage above?
(A) A Socialist party government in Ganelon is more likely to oppose the United States than is a non-Socialist party government.
(B) The people of the United States recognize their nation’s interest in the political stability of West Africa.
(C) A weakening of U.S. political ties with Ganelon could have serious consequences for U.S. relations with other African nations.
(D) The Socialist party leaders in Ganelon believe that their nation’s interests would best be served by an alliance with anti-American forces.（A）
(E) The Socialist party will win the upcoming election in Ganelon.
13. No nation can long survive unless its people are united by a common tongue. For proof, we need only consider Canada, which is being torn asunder by conflicts between French-speaking Quebec and the other provinces, which are dominated by English speakers.
Which of the following, if true, most effectively challenges the author’s conclusion?
(A) Conflicts over language have led to violent clashes between the Basque-speaking minority in Spain and the Spanish-speaking majority.
(B) Proposals to declare English the official language of the United States have met with resistance from members of Hispanic and other minority groups.
(C) Economic and political differences, along with linguistic ones, have contributed to the provincial conflicts in Canada.
(D) The public of India, in existence sine 1948, has a population that speaks hundreds of different, though related, languages.（E）
(E) Switzerland has survived for nearly a thousand years as a home for speakers of three different languages.
14. As an experienced labor organizer and the former head of one of the nation’s most powerful labor unions, Grayson is an excellent choice to chair the new council on business-labor relations.
Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the conclusion above?
(A) The new council must have the support of the nation’s labor leaders if it is to succeed.
(B) During his years as a labor leader, Grayson established a record of good relations with business leaders.
(C) The chair of the new council must be a person who can communicate directly with the leaders of the nation’s largest labor unions.
(D) Most of the other members of the new council will be representatives of business management interests.（E）
(E) An understanding of the needs and problems of labor is the only qualification necessary for the job of chairing the new council.
15. In the effort to fire a Civil Service employee, his or her manager may have to spend up to $100,000 of tax money. Since Civil Service employees know how hard it is to fire them, they tend to loaf. This explains in large part why the government is so inefficient.
It can be properly inferred on the basis of the statements above that the author believes which of the following?
I. Too much job security can have a negative influence on workers.
II. More government workers should be fired.
III. Most government workers are Civil Service employees.
(A) I only
(B) I and III only
(C) II only
(D) I, II, and III（A）
(E) III only
16. Some commentators complain that a “litigation explosion” in the past decade has led to unreasonably high costs for U.S. businesses by encouraging more product liability suits against manufacturers. However, these complaints are based mainly on myth. Statistics show that the number of successful product liability suits has remained almost the same, and the average sum awarded in damages has grown no faster than the inflation rate.
Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the argument above?
(A) The number of unsuccessful suits has skyrocketed, imposing huge new legal expenses on businesses.
(B) Several of the largest awards ever made in product liability cases occurred within the last two years.
(C) The rise of the consumer movement has encouraged citizens to seek legal redress for product flaws.
(D) Lawyers often undertake product liability cases on a contingency basis, so their payment is based on the size of the damages awarded.（A）
(E) Juries often award damages in product liability suits out of emotional sympathy for an injured consumer.
17. Ronald: According to my analysis of the national economy, housing prices should not increase during the next six months unless interest rates drop significantly.
Mark: I disagree. One year ago, when interest rates last fell significantly, housing prices did not increase at all.
It can be inferred from the conversation above that Mark has interpreted Ronald’s statement to mean that
(A) housing prices will rise only if interest rates fall
(B) if interest rates fall, housing prices must rise
(C) interest rates and housing prices tend to rise and fall together
(D) interest rates are the only significant economic factor affecting housing prices（B）
(E) interest rates are likely to fall significantly in the next six months
18. It’s time we stopped searching for new statistics to suggest that we are not spending enough on education. In fact, education spending increased 30 percent overall during the last decade.
Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the argument above?
(A) Despite increased spending on education, enrollment in our elementary and secondary schools declined about 4 percent during the last ten years.
(B) Our spending on gasoline increased more than 100 percent during the last decade.
(C) When adjusted for inflation, our per-pupil expenditure on education this year is less than it was ten years ago.
(D) Eleven other economically developed nations spend more on education than we do.（C）
(E) The achievement levels of our students have been declining steadily since 1960, and the last decade produced no reversal in this trend.
19. The U.S. census is not perfect: thousands of Americans probably go uncounted. However, the basic statistical portrait of the nation painted by the census is accurate. Certainly some of the poor go uncounted, particularly the homeless; but some of the rich go uncounted as well, because they are often abroad or traveling between one residence and another.
Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument above depends?
(A) Both the rich and the poor have personal and economic reasons to avoid being counted by the census.
(B) All Americans may reasonably be classified as either poor or rich.
(C) The percentage of poor Americans uncounted by the census is close to the percentage of rich Americans uncounted.
(D) The number of homeless Americans is approximately equal to the number of rich Americans.（C）
(E) The primary purpose of the census is to analyze the economic status of the American population.
20. Which of the following best completes the passage below?
In today’s pluralistic society, textbook publishers find themselves in an increasingly uncomfortable position. Since the schools are regarded as a repository of society’s moral and cultural values, each group within society wishes to prevent any material that offends its own values from appearing in textbooks. As a result, stance on an issue is certain to run afoul of one group or another. And since textbook publishers must rely on community goodwill to sell their books, it is inevitable that______
(A) fewer and fewer publishers will be willing to enter the financially uncertain textbook industry
(B) the ethical and moral content of textbooks will become increasingly neutral and bland
(C) more and more pressure groups will arise that seek to influence the content of textbooks
(D) the government will be forced to intervene in the increasingly rancorous debate over the content of textbooks（B）
(E) school boards, teachers, and principals will find it nearly impossible to choose among the variety of textbooks being offered
Amit Agarwal, IIM Calcutta, Batch of
2008-10 Username on PaGaLGuY: amitnsitian
A Journey called CAT IIM – The acronym every B-Schooler aspires for in India. I being not too different from others had similar aspirations, desires and dreams. Oh yes, forgot to mention the common full form of IIM is Indian Institute of Management; but I came to know of another full form during this journey, which will be eventually revealed to all. !Umm…where do I start from? Let me go back to April of the year 2000. It was the time when my sister made it to the well… Joka land. it was the time when I was preparing for my engineering and had already made up my mind to make it to an IIM.!
First two and a half years of Engineering went fine but it's generally in the third year when one starts
thinking about what next! Then I joined Career Launcher in Delhi in my fifth semester and little did I know that I was not the only one aspiring in my batch. I met the junta of Netaji Subhash Institute of Technology (NSIT) there. The classes started and very soon I realized the weakest link for me to the ultimate goal – the VERBAL part. Anyhow, my senior gave me this wonderful advice of taking CAT in the third year to get a "feel" of the
exam. I liked the idea and finally took it. And yes, at that time, CAT had no rule which barred people
taking the exam who are not in their final years. I think it is because of people like me that they thought of this rule. It's good to be a reason which made IIMs take a policy decision.!
CAT No. 1: Year 2002 in November!
It was a normal 3 section paper in which I had no pressure to perform. The paper went fine and it was the first time wherein the percentiles were to be revealed. Moving to the results, QA was 99.5 percent with an 86 odd in DI and some 65 in verbal. This clearly told me where I had to work on – as if I didn’t know it before. !Jan 2003 – Oct 2003 – The time when all of my friends, classmates and everyone and anyone was a CAT aspirant. It was good to be in excellent company and I think that competition forced me to prepare for the exam which eventually I think I did.!
CAT No. 2: Year 2003 in November!
Was I nervous??!! I WAS. This was the day, the time, the 2 hours which are going to decide the future for me. I still remember how the exam went. The sound of opening the sheet, the answer sheet being filled, the sweat, the tension – everything is still like a movie in my mind. Anyhow, in the end I was quite happy with my performance in DI and QA . Also, I knew that I had done well in Verbal because the two RCs which I attempted in the exam were luckily from some of the test mock papers of the institutes. !But then disaster struck as soon as I crossed the gates of the school of my centre when my mother told me, "Amit, CAT is
cancelled. The paper got LEAKED last night. "!I was like noooooooooooooo, it's difficult to give your best
again. Well, with no option left in life, I started preparing for my semester exams. !Forgot to mention this, three weeks before CAT, I had a disc collapse in my back which forced me into bed rest for two weeks which also meant no studies, nothing. However, I think that did not have any adverse effects on my CAT preparation. !Ah yeah, had that CAT not been cancelled, I would have never joined PaGaLGuY.com.! Year 2004 came and I had already done the greatest mistake of my life by filling just 3 forms – CAT, XAT and MDI. The XAT exam was next and with so much verbal focus that I knew it was difficult to clear it. But then trying was important, which I did and eventually failed also. But since CAT was still there, I thought to
myself that I still have a chance to make it to my dream school.! CAT No. 3: Year 2004 in February!
After being there already, I was not as nervous but yeah, pressure to perform kills you. The exam was little on the tougher side but it went fine. In this Internet age, the solutions were out by the evening but I had decided not to check till the next day. !Next day, I started checking my paper. As always, I started here also with Quant. The performance was sufficient enough to clear the cut-off. I don't know what prompted me to check verbal next. I did and was amazed to see my score and was already jumping in my room but hang on, story is not over yet.! I checked DI then and my world came crashing down. I had attempted four caselets and got two of them ABSOLUTELY WRONG!!! I scored a single digit in DI; it was something I was not prepared for, why why why!!! After not being able to make it in IIT-JEE because of Maths, again DI did me in.! Crying made me no better and I knew that it was bye bye IIMs and MDI.! The results came out as expected and I was prepared for it. Some of my close friends had all six calls or single call or some calls at least. Most of them made it and then we parted on our different paths in life.! I joined HCL Technologies in Delhi in July and was sure of cracking CAT this time. One intelligent thing that I did this time was widening my B-School list – IIMs, XLRI, NITIE, MDI, SPJain, IIFT and FMS. This meant I had to take four exams this time and that too with my job. Also, somehow I got a really good project in the company which required me put in a lot of effort. I could have avoided work but somehow it's in my nature to give 100 percent to everything that is entrusted on me. That year, I went to office for 29 days in October, 2 days off being 2nd October (Thanks to Gandhiji) and Dusshera (Thanks to God Ramchandra); else I would have been in office then also. Add to this was a family problem which required me to spend 3 months(nights) in hospital as my grandfather was ill. When I look back, I wonder how I managed all this. Oh one more thing, my sister wedding plans was also underway which required my inputs and participation too.! CAT No. 4: Year 2004 in November
The exam time came. CAT, XAT, IIFT and FMS. Results: calls from IIM-L, MDI, IIFT and NITIE. I was confident of converting one call at least this time. CAT percentile overall was 98.94. Also, this was the time when PaGaLGuY shot to fame with that result link getting exposed and all. This was the first CAT in which differential marking was introduced. Jan 2005 – MDI interview, my first B-School GD/PI experience. Somehow managed the GD and went in the interview. Interview was okiedokie. With next three interviews in March, I had loads of time to prepare for them. Feb 28, 2004 – MDI results were out. Not selected, not even in the waitlist, was I that bad? Maybe yes. With around ten days to go, I left no stone unturned to prepare for the other GD/PIs. Next interview was NITIE in Mumbai on 8th March, 2004 (which was my birthday too). March 7, 2004 – Disaster will be an understatement with what happened. I slept with a little back pain but just could not lift myself up from the bed. The pain in my lower back was killing me and even lying straight was not helping. We rushed to the hospital and I was diagnosed with slip disc. Three weeks bed rest, no movement nothing. My NITIE interview was the next day, IIFT in three days and IIM-L in ten days. No way was I going to miss them. I had to get admitted in the hospital and doctor did not allow me to move at all.
This meant, all pleadings for attending interviews for NITIE went waste. IIFT also went by and I sat there; could not do anything about it – just cry a bit, ok, not a bit but a little more. I had on my mind, come what may – I will attend my IIM interview. When the doctor heard the word "IIM", he also became a little soft and asked me to postpone it as much as possible. We tried our best but the next date given was still within my bed rest period. With some change in is heart, he allowed me to take the interview.! The GD was bad for me as the pain was still there and it was bad. I had to wait for nearly three hours for my interview and that aggravated the pain. Somehow, I braved it and faced the interview panel. It was an above average PI but performance in GD was still enough to ensure that I didn’t get in. !The results came and I was waitlisted at 107. This is when I joined PaGaLGuY.com and my first post was on the IIM L thread. After months of praying and tracking the WL day and night, it closed at 102!!!!I applied for a transfer to Mumbai to stay with my parents and take care of my back. Eventually the company did transfer me and I landed here in Mumbai. I joined the TIME test series and was doing pretty fine but the office culture here was really bad. For the first
six months from July to December, there was not a single day when I did not contemplate resigning.!
CAT No. 5: Year 2005 in November!
I added one more exam in my list – JMET. Exams came and went and somehow I screwed ALL of them. CAT 97 percentile, XAT 99 percentile, JMET – 500 plus rank and similarly all. All but one – FMS. Had calls from both the courses and went to Delhi for the interview. MS GD was average, PI was also average. Then came the FT day. That time, people having both FMS calls did not have the process the same day, unlike today. Since I had become quite visible on PG, I met many familiar people. GD was excellent and PI was also good but FMS thought otherwise. My name did not figure in both the list, not even the waitlist. This was the very famous 1:1 ratio batch of FMS. One interesting thing about XAT. Had a 99.9 plus percent in both DI and QA but 86.80 or something in Verbal. Basically I missed the verbal cut-off by 0.01 percent. With two years work experience already in my kitty and entering the third year, the GMAT option was also available (just hang on for a bit, the other IIM is coming now). In April, I registered for a June date for my GMAT and also joined TIME classes for CAT preparation. I knew it was NOW or NEVER. PG was a really big help for GMAT and after 3 months of study, I scored a 710. This is where I found the other IIM which stands for Indian IT Male. Most of the applicants from India fall in this category and no wonder it is really difficult to get in US B-Schools when you are an IIM .Had plans to apply to only three schools – ISB,
CMU Tepper and Goizueta Emory. The application process in these is a pain but in the end, it is quite insightful. One comes to know so much about oneself . Coupled with this, I was attending classes in TIME and working too. Somehow, I stuck the right chord in Mocks and was posting on PG big time. I earned the label of "sophisticated spammer" which I still disagree to. I am not and never was a spammer. October, November 2005 – Had interview calls from all three schools – ISB, Tepper and Goizueta. CAT day was also coming. I was done with my ISB interview (which was very very arbit) and Tepper interview over phone before CAT. The last interview was scheduled in Mumbai in December as a part of the World MBA Tour. Both the US B-School interviews were pretty straightforward – Why MBA, strengths, weakness etc.!
CAT No. 6: Year 2006 in November
The five options paper for CAT, man I had seen it all. Started with Quant and killed it. Moved to the most arbit verbal paper ever and then did DI. When the solutions came in the evening, verbal had left me hanging, well almost. By the way, SP Jain was out of the hit list. Dec 2006 – Jan 2007 –> Worst time of my life. Rejects from ISB, Tepper and Goizueta. CAT result out. 100 percentile in QA, 95 in DI and 82 in verbal. It was over for me. With just 5 days to go for XAT, I had no option but to give it my best. It was verbal and verbal and just more verbal.7th Jan, 2007 – In the XAT paper itself, I knew that finally verbal is cracked. Meanwhile, JMET had given me a rank of 39 and calls from IIT B, D and KGP were on. MDI also found me suitable for college, even NITIE thought the same.!20th Jan,
2007 – The evening before the FMS paper. Just went online for something and saw the XL result link. With all my confidence, I punched in my roll number and saw the line "Sorry…." WTF !!!! how how how, then clicked on the scorecard link. QA 99 something, Verbal 95.42, scorecard is not over yet, DI 77 percentile This was just not possible, gave up all hope of MBA.Took the FMS exam and also prepared for the
upcoming GDs and PIs. Then someone advised me about the MAT route to JBIMS and MH-CET was
also added on the exam taking list. MAT went awesome and 99.99 percentile with a composite score of 800 ensured that JBIMS was there now.
All the interviews came one by one and I attended all of them. Some in Mumbai, some in Delhi, GOD! it was maddening. Filling forms, carrying the requisite stuff etc was quite arduous.!Finally came the news I was waiting to hear all my life.13th March, 2007 2230 hrs. A friend of mine called from FMS and here it was – WL 1. FMS it was. MS was WL 7. By the way, I attended my MDI and IITB interviews after my FMS convert. Though, people advised me against it but they had taken a lot of my hard earned money so I decided to take them.!Well, in the end, I had all converts – FMS (both), JBIMS, IITs (all 3), MDI and NITIE. It was
Delhi again for me. I resigned from my job and then decided to utilize my time by teaching in TIME. This is where ARKSS Sir (ARKS Srinivas, TIME Director, Mumbai) said to me, "Amit, CAT ek baar aur likh de." (Amit, please write the CAT once more for me) I was like no, never sir. I was tired of writing it. We left it there.!July came and I was in here – FMS. Met some of the sharpest people in the country and some awesome faculty. After one month of grilling, I called up ARKSS and told him that FMS is not chill at all. And people, I am serious. During that phone call, again the CAT thing came up and he said "Mere liye likh de."
(Please write it for me). I told him I can't do it now anymore, no time to study and all. He somehow convinced me to fill the form and I did it. Just filled the form and no preparation. No test series. There was no time in FMS. Initial work there, then summers, then exams everything was packed. And whatever time I had in life, I ensured that I sleep well.
CAT No. 7: Year 2007 in November CAT was on the 18th and our first semester exams got over on the 15th evening. 15th and 16th were spent in chilling out in life and 17th was taken away by room cleaning. The only sane thing I did on 17th was sleeping at 2230 hours. Next day, I went to the exam centre which was nearby to the hostel, thankfully. From there, I called ARKSS again and told him that I still don't know why I am doing this. Finally, the paper started and it was exciting to do Math after so many months. Did QA, then Verbal and finally DI. Came back to the room and slept. In the evening, got up and checked the score. QA and DI were fine but as always a 20 in
verbal according to TIME keys. My score varied from 15 to 25 depending on institute keys. In either case, I was not clearing cut-off for verbal according to any of the institutes. So, it was over.! Life moved on, then came the day of the results. However bad one performs, there is always a desire to check the result (ok, I have it. ) The link given on the CAT IIM site was not working from the hostel. Then I came to know about the result by SMS thing. I SMSed and received the following reply.!QA (percentile) 99.98 with a score of 70!DI (percentile) 99.97 with a score of 76!Verbal (percentile) 96.40 with a score of 30!OA (percentile) 99.99 with a score of 176!YES YES YES I HAVE CRACKED IT !!! Calls started coming in and had all 6 calls. I was elated. But then, I had another problem. What will I say in the interview. FMS is awesome, why should one leave it. I had no clue what to do. The interview schedule came and the forms too. Took a lot of help from ARKSS for the same and prepared for the interview. I knew what to prepare – MBA academics and why chuck FMS for an IIM.!The first interview was IIML. A pretty decent GD and average PI. Next was IIM K. An average GD and bad PI. Indore was next but had a very important class to attend in FMS so
decided against it. By the way, both K and L asked about FMS.!The Big One was next – Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. And man, I was nervous. The essay was fine and PI was a dream one. They just could not believe that someone wants to leave FMS and come to IIM A. I think I did a pretty decent job there and rest of the questions varied from work experience to MBA Academics to general stuff in life.!IIM Calcutta was next. A decent case study discussion followed by stress interview. Was asked Maths, Sub Prime, Telecom War, Quiz, FMS and everything.! Bangalore was the last one to be held. The date clashed with my second semester exams of FMS and it must have taken like 10,000 calls to them to get it shifted. Finally, it was shifted to the evening slot of the same day with my exam in the morning and another exam the next morning and interview sandwiched in between. The case study was the Scrablous one and the group was
quite decent in discussing the stuff. I was last to be interviewed. It was HORRIBLE. It was so so so bad
that they would have left a seat vacant in the college rather than taking me.!With interviews over, summer internship was something which was coming up. But, Supreme Court had other plans. I was also a part of the waiting pain but had no window to vent out the frustration because it was a secret I wanted to keep. By the way, my FMS classmates came to know about it somehow in January itself. I know who did it but have not done anything to that person. But I still have time to do it.!May 1 was about to dawn, I slept without much
tension in life. Was woken at 7 a.m. by a friend's call informing me about IIM B results being out. I checked and as expected, did not get through. I had to go the office and was on my way. Meanwhile, another friend called me and told me to check the WL of IIMB. He checked for me and no; I was not there, as expected though.! I reached office and realized that Wi-Fi was not working on my laptop (Murphy’s Law at its best). I went to IT guys and they needed "some" time to fix it. Just then, another person called me to tell me about IIMC results being out. I sat on the IT guys head as I wanted my laptop back up and running. After 20- 25 minutes of patience, laptop was handed back to me. !First thing I did was, checking the IIMC result. Opened the link, entered my details; my heart was beating fast as never before. And there it was. CONGRATULATIONS!!! Just could not believe it. Tears of joy tricked down my eyes I was IN. FINALLY IN!!!!! Got through L and K too but surprisingly A ditched me. But no issues…JOKA I AM COMING!I want to clarify two things regarding which I have been receiving a lot of queries.
1. Is FMS not good? - People, it is an awesome college; I just took CAT for the heck of it and my
stay in FMS had nothing to do with it. So, please don’t get me wrong here. Go ahead and join
without batting an eyelid.
2. Justifying interview panel about leaving FMS and going to IIM – The answer was a very planned out one and was structured in a way so that no cross questioning was possible, thanks to ARKS Srinivas sir again.! Some of the quotes which I had heard over so many years are really true!1.Patience pays!
2. Efforts never go waste!
3. Samay se pehle aur kismet se zyada kuch nahin milta and the likes. (No one gets anything before the
right time and more than what destiny has to offer.)
But my personal favourite is the one which my cousin said once she heard the result – "Finally, CAT ki aatma ko shanti mili" (The soul of CAT will finally rest in peace).
16 men, 12 women and 72 children were working with the constructor.
Let's assume that there were X men, Y women and Z children working with the constructor.
Hence,
X + Y + Z = 100
5X + 4Y + Z = 200
Eliminating X and Y in turn from these equations, we get
X = 3Z - 200
Y = 300 - 4Z
As if woman works, her husband also works and atleast half the men working came with their
wives; the value of Y lies between X and X/2. Substituting these limiting values in
equations, we get
if Y = X,
300 - 4Z = 3Z - 200
7Z = 500
Z = 500/7 i.e. 71.428
if Y = X/2,
300 - 4Z = (3Z - 200)/2
600 - 8Z = 3Z - 200
11Z = 800
Z = 800/11 i.e. 72.727
But Z must be an integer, hence Z=72. Also, X=16 and Y=12
There were 16 men, 12 women and 72 children working with the constructor.
It is given that the platoon and the last person moved with uniform speed. Also, they both
moved for the identical amount of time. Hence, the ratio of the distance they covered -
while person moving forward and backward - are equal.
Let's assume that when the last person reached the first person, the platoon moved X meters
forward.
Thus, while moving forward the last person moved (50+X) meters whereas the platoon moved X
meters.
Similarly, while moving back the last person moved [50-(50-X)] X meters whereas the platoon
moved (50-X) meters.
Now, as the ratios are equal,
(50+X)/X = X/(50-X)
(50+X)*(50-X) = X*X
Solving, X=35.355 meters
Thus, total distance covered by the last person
= (50+X) + X
= 2*X + 50
= 2*(35.355) + 50
= 120.71 meters
Note that at first glance, one might think that the total distance covered by the last
person is 100 meters, as he ran the total lenght of the platoon (50 meters) twice. TRUE,
but that's the relative distance covered by the last person i.e. assuming that the platoon
is stationary.
