How to prepare for CAT- DILR? - Personal Skills PDF Download

“I believe that the difficulty level of this section is usually overrated. I would start with the set that I’m most comfortable with and I would just read carefully and follow the instructions word-by-word. Next, I would try to follow my instincts, use hit and trial, make cases, and eliminate the erroneous ones. Again, practice is what did wonders here. Also, do not be scared of using that on-screen calculator, just make it a friend.”

Why did EduRev make this Guide?

• The purpose of this EduRev document is to make you understand how to study LRDI as a subject for not just CAT but also other B School entrances like SNAP, XAT, NMAT etc. 
• The archives of different B-school exams might be instrumental in determining the path you should follow during preparation. 
• By the end of this document, you will have clarity on how to tackle the LRDI section.  We at EduRev recommend the LPA strategy – Learn, Practice & Analyse to score full marks in the LRDI section.

What is DILR?

• Data interpretation is the process of reviewing data through some predefined processes which will help assign some meaning to the data and arrive at a relevant conclusion. It involves taking the result of data analysis, making inferences on the relations studied, and using them to conclude.
• Logical reasoningconsists of aptitude questions that require a logical level of analysis to arrive at the correct solution. Most of the questions are constructed based on concepts and the rest are out of the box thinking ones.

  Logical reasoning is classified into two types:

  • Verbal Reasoning: It is the ability to logically understand the concepts and solve problems expressed in words. Verbal reasoning tests the ability of extraction of information and implications in a sentence.

  • Non-verbal Reasoning: It is the ability to logically understand the concepts and solve problems expressed in numbers/letters/figures in combination with words. Non-verbal reasoning tests the ability of deduction and induction of logic of information and implications in a problem.

• Data Interpretation for CAT and Logical Reasoning for CAT are now clubbed together and form a new DILR section.

Importance of DILR for CAT

• The current pattern of CAT has Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning as one of its three sections. It has equal weightage as the rest two, i.e. Quantitative Aptitude (QA) & Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC) sections.
• Many topics of Quantitative Aptitude form the base of questions in data interpretation. Hence a thorough knowledge of the basics, and a fair amount of practice of the quant section, is very crucial for your preparation of data interpretation.
  1x effort = 1.5x marks (DI is 50% of LRDI Section).

How to Prepare for DILR from EduRev?

Given below are the major tips from experts and toppers which can be checked by candidates who are preparing for CAT 2021. These are the major strategies which, if followed will give fruitful results in CAT 2021:

Step 0: Plan Preparation Schedule

Step 1: Decode the Exam Pattern

Step 2: Strengthen the basics 

Step 3: Practice 

Step 4: Revision

Step 5: Practice Mock Tests and Previous Year Papers

Step 6: Important Books to refer for DILR

Step 0: Plan Preparation Schedule

Abraham Lincoln said, “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe”.

• To start any preparation, it is vital that you should must make a clear-cut timetable. Try to devote 2-3 hours to the DILR section.
• Start with the basics, follow the time strictly, and then practice what you prepare. 
• Do not make a monthly planner as it may be difficult to follow initially. Start with a weekly planner on how to prepare for quantitative ability and break it into a daily strategy.

Step 1. Decode the Exam Pattern & Understand the Syllabus of DILR

CAT 2021 Syllabus for Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR) is divided into 2 parts:

(i) Data Interpretation
(ii) Logical Reasoning

• DI & LR consists of equal number of questions and carries a weightage of 32% as the total questions are 24 out of 76.
• While the Data Interpretation (DI) part has 12 questions, the Logical Reasoning part also has 12 questions.
• Around 8 questions are of Non-MCQ type which does not have negative marking for the wrong answer.

Almost all the questions are in sets of 3-4 questions based on each problem. 2-3 DI and 2-3 LR problems can be followed by 24 questions in this section.  Below is shared the topic-wise CAT entrance exam syllabus on which problems are based in this section.

Step 2. Strengthen the Basics

CAT LRDI section assesses a candidate’s ability in problem-solving. Regular and vigorous practice will help you get an edge over others in this section. To solve the LRDI questions of CAT don’t just focus on practicing more and more questions. Instead, focus on the right approach to be used for solving the questions.
Some of the important steps to solve the LRDI questions are:

• Analyze the type of questions: Know the essential topics of LRDI sections before starting your CAT  planning. When solving CAT questions under the time limit of 40 minutes, knowing the entire CAT LRDI syllabus would come in handy. Because of the sectional time limit, it's important to choose sets that can be solved with high precision.
• Know the tricks to solve different types: There is a trick to solving each type of set. Take note of these tricks and make sure to use them when answering CAT questions of any kind. Knowing how to solve the problems quickly and efficiently saves time and effort. When the tricks are used often, they become automatic responses to stimuli and help to keep up the pace.
• Build mental legends: The LRDI section contains questions such as plans, puzzles, and venn diagrams, among other things. Such topics contain a lot of detail, which becomes very difficult to remember when attempting the question.  So, to avoid being puzzled, students can take note of the keys to all of the abbreviations and symbols. Mental legends differ from one person to the other. Its sole purpose is to prevent any kind of mistake or ambiguity.
• Decode constraints: LRDI questions reveal more than meets the eye, and so students are often tricked by them. As a result, it is critical to find the hidden meaning or information while solving the questions of this section. If you're having trouble answering the question, there's a chance you're missing some details.

“I used to practice a lot of questions from particular topics and also focused a lot on them while taking the mock test.” - Rahul Gupta,100 Percentiler CAT 2019

You can view detailed lectures, practice 5-10 tests on each and every topic under the Logical Reasoning and Data Interpretation course in the CAT exam category.
One way to assess your knowledge is to start practicing the questions; first-hand practice will help you cover the basics. You can access practice documents for all the quantitative topics here to understand the type of questions being asked in the CAT exam.

For clearing your concepts, EduRev provides HItbullseye’s videos for the DILR section.  

Step 3. Practice

• The data interpretation and logical reasoning section is considered one of the most time-consuming CAT sections. It consists of questions that involve a high level of calculations and logic. To score well in the CAT DI section, enough practice is very much important.
• Once you have completed the basic levels of preparation, attempting tests that are planned level-wise will help you in sharpening your concepts. You can attempt them here - level - wise tests.
  Our experts from IIMs have prepared these level-wise tests by referring to books like Arun Sharma, Nishit K. Sinha etc., to provide you with the best possible learning experience. Our medium level tests replicate the level of majority CAT questions, and hard level questions are generally present for you to be competitive for a more challenging CAT exam.

The Common Problems faced by Aspirants

Practice questions are either too easy or are too tough that even the first step is very difficult to figure out. It is crucial to understand the thought process of someone who scores well in the section. Understanding an expert’s thought process while solving a CAT - level LRDI question set will help you bridge the gap and get to 99+ percentile.

“Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning section during my preparation phase was attempting a wide variety of questions from the previous year papers of CAT and then re-attempting them. During the mocks, I made sure that I read all the question sets first and then picked out the ones that were easy and could be managed instead of doing the questions in order of question paper. After all, CAT is never about attempting all questions but getting one more right than your competitors”. - Lakshya Kumar, CAT 2019 topper (99.99 percentile)

Step 4. Revision

The probability of success increases with the revision of concepts. There is no topper of CAT who aced the exam without revising the concepts. Logical reasoning(LR) and data interpretation(DI) course has 200+ tests with 5-10 tests for each topic, prepared just for you so that you can revise and master each and every topic and gain confidence. We also recommend you to attempt the cumulative subject wise mock tests & Archive for LRDI: CAT, XAT, NMAT, SNAP. This will give you an idea of how the final LRDI section in the exam would look like. In case you feel the necessity of revising through videos, we have the best videos that can help you with the conceptual understanding.

Step 5. Practice Mock Tests and Previous Year Papers

“For me, attempting and analysing CAT mock tests was the best way to prepare. So, I took more than 80 mock tests. After each mock, I analysed the mistakes and maintained an error log. If you simply avoid making the same mistakes again, the performance improves.” - Meet Agrawal, 100 percentile CAT 2017

CAT Mock Tests are very crucial as the test acquaints the candidates with the real exam scenario and helps to analyse the actual level of preparation. The past year papers are beneficial to examine the paper pattern and difficulty level of questions.
To solve LRDI questions, create a smart plan and work in a task-oriented fashion. Set concrete tasks and complete them. Remember that as you experience more and more LRDI situations/questions, your ability to comprehend and solve LRDI would keep going up if you focus on the repetitive tasks you keep doing while solving LRDI questions.
The sureshot way to attain confidence is to attempt as many mock tests for CAT as you can.
We at EduRev have developed a perfect strategy on how to attempt logical reasoning and data interpretation in mock-tests and CAT examination to maximize the benefits of taking the test.  
Some of the effective test strategies are:

• Scan the test: Don't just start with the first set of practise papers or mock tests while you're solving them. Give yourself 4-5 minutes to read through all of LR DI's questions and choose the few sets that you can answer quickly. Select 1-2 sets that are simple to solve first, and then move onto more complicated sets.
• Set selection: There are sets ranging from simple to difficult in any paper. Identify the easier sets and begin with them. Make sure you don't skip the simple sets in favour of the more challenging ones. You will be able to determine the difficulty level by practising lots of sets on a regular basis. For example, choose sets with fewer people or fewer variables in the questions, and leave questions with a lot of information for later.
• Move ahead: It is critical to leave the questions which you are unable to solve while working on the questions. Not all questions are meant to be answered as some of them are tricky questions.  If you can't finish the question in the time allotted, move on to the next one without wasting any time.

After giving any test you should do the following:

• Analyse: Now that you've solved a number of previous year papers or mock tests, it's time to analyse your strengths and weaknesses. Make a list of the different types of problems you've encountered and decide which questions you're comfortable answering and which you're not. By doing this, you will be able to determine which topics need more focus.
• Improve: After analysing your performance now, you should work upon your weaknesses so that you can increase your accuracy as well as precision while solving LRDI questions. You are advised to learn the squares at least till 30, cubes at least till 20, square roots at least till 10 and conversion from fraction to the percentage for quick calculations.

As an aspirant, you might consider giving exams of other B-Schools as well. Though their syllabus is almost the same, the pattern of the actual exam is really different. So, we've created a different mock test series for all these exams. Check out the links below to access the mock test series for the respective exams:

SNAP Mock Test Series
XAT Mock Test Series
NMAT Mock Test Series
IIFT Mock Test Series 

You can check out SNAP, NMAT, and XAT syllabus through these links. To know more about the CAT LRDI section, go through the frequently asked questions in the Logical Reasoning(LR) and Data Interpretation(DI) course.

Step 6. Important Books to refer for DILR

• ‘How to Prepare for Data Interpretation for CAT’ - by Arun Sharma (Published by McGraw Hill)
• ‘Logical Reasoning and Data Interpretation for the CAT’ - by Nishit K Sinha (Published by Pearson)
• ‘How to Prepare for Logical Reasoning for the CAT’ - by Arun Sharma (Published by McGraw Hill)
• ‘Logical Reasoning and data Interpretation for the CAT’ - by Nishit K Sinha (Published by Pearson)

Additional

CAT Toppers Data Interpretation Preparation Strategy

Many CAT toppers with 99 and 100 percentile have shared that they found Data Interpretation was their weak area while preparing for CAT. But they improved a lot in it with consistent preparation. How could these CAT toppers improve so much and how they could score so high in Data Interpretation in CAT? Sharing with MBAUniverse.com, CAT toppers spoke about their preparation strategy for Data Interpretation and also shared advice to CAT aspirants:

1. CAT Topper Rachit Saran, MDI Gurgaon  (99.04 % in CAT 2017) on how he cracked Data Interpretation section

• In an interview with MBAUniverse.com, CAT Topper Rachit Saran explained how he cracked Data Interpretation. He said “I believe that the difficulty level of this section is usually overrated. I would start with the set that I’m most comfortable with and I would just read carefully and follow the instructions word-by-word. Next, I would try to follow my instincts, use hit and trail, make cases, and eliminate the erroneous ones. Again, practice is what did wonders here. Also, do not be scared of using that on-screen calculator, just make it a friend.”

2. CAT Topper Rohan Joshi (99.63 % in CAT 2017) on how he cracked Data Interpretation section

• Sharing with MBAUniverse.com, CAT Topper Rohan Joshi (99.63 % in CAT 2017) explained how he cracked DILR section, “CAT is known to ask trickiest questions in this section. I regularly solved different puzzles and Sudoku’s to enhance my logical thinking ability. Gave many sectionals to test my preparation.”

3. CAT Topper Abhishek Kumar Pandey (99.63% in CAT 2017) on how he cracked Data Interpretation section

• Speaking to MBAUniverse.com, CAT Topper Abhishek Kumar Pandey (99.63 % in CAT 2017) explained how he cracked DILR section, “I was weak at the LRDI section. I tried to improve by solving as many varieties of LRs and DIs as possible and identify the kind of sets at which I was good. This strategy helped in improving my mock scores.”

4. CAT Topper Rachit Gupta, IIM Lucknow  (99.83% in CAT 2016) on how he cracked DILR section

• CAT topper with 99.83 percentile, Rachit Gupta and IIM Lucknow pass out of 2017-19 batch shared with MBAUniverse.com, “For LR/DI, I again practiced questions of each type and emphasized more on wherever I was not so confident.”

CAT Toppers Logical Reasoning Preparation Strategy

Many CAT toppers with 99 and 100 percentile have shared that they found Logical Reasoning and Data Interpretation as their weak area but they improved a lot in it with consistent preparation. How could these CAT toppers improve so much and how they could score so high in Logical Reasoning in CAT? Sharing with MBAUniverse.com, CAT toppers spoke about their preparation strategy for Logical Reasoning and also shared their advice to CAT aspirants:

1. CAT Topper Rohan Joshi (99.63 % in CAT 2017) on how he cracked Logical Reasoning section

• Sharing with MBAUniverse.com, CAT Topper Rohan Joshi (99.63 % in CAT 2017) explained how he cracked DILR section, “CAT is known to ask trickiest questions in this section. I regularly solved different puzzles and Sudoku’s to enhance my logical thinking ability. Gave many sectionals to test my preparation.”

2. CAT Topper Abhishek Kumar Pandey (99.63% in CAT 2017) on how he cracked Logical Reasoning section

• Speaking to MBAUniverse.com, CAT Topper Abhishek Kumar Pandey (99.63 % in CAT 2017) explained how he cracked DILR section, “I was weak at the LRDI section. I tried to improve by solving as many varieties of LRs and DIs as possible and identify the kind of sets at which I was good. This strategy helped in improving my mock scores.”

3. CAT Topper Rachit Saran, MDI Gurgaon  (99.04 % in CAT 2017) on how he cracked Logical Reasoning section

• In an interview with MBAUniverse.com, CAT Topper Rachit Saran explained how he cracked Logical Reasoning. He said “I believe that the difficulty level of this section is usually overrated. I would start with the set that I’m most comfortable with and I would just read carefully and follow the instructions word-by-word. Next, I would try to follow my instincts, use hit and trail, make cases, and eliminate the erroneous ones. Again, practice is what did wonders here. Also, do not be scared of using that on-screen calculator, just make it a friend.”  

4. CAT Topper Rachit Gupta, IIM Lucknow  (99.83% in CAT 2016) on how he cracked DILR section

• CAT topper with 99.83 percentile, Rachit Gupta, IIM Lucknow pass out of 2017-19 batch shared with MBAUniverse.com, “For LR/DI, I again practiced questions of each type and emphasized more on wherever I was not so confident.”

Happy Learning with EduRev!

2. Data Interpretation Preparation Tips

• Work on improving your ability to comprehend large amounts of information.
• Familiarize yourself with various types of graphs.
• Improve your theoretical math skills.
• When solving problems, focus on improving your speed as well.
• Learn to calculate a percentage rise or decline, as well as a contrast ratio. This could be a very useful time-saving technique.
• Solve DI sets that require reasoning skills on a regular basis to expand your knowledge of these sets.
• Answer as many questions as possible to gain a thorough understanding of the DI sets.
• Don't forget to include DI sets that seem to have a lot of information. More data does not always imply that it is a difficult set.
• Do not attempt to solve all of the problems at the same time. At a time, try to answer a large number of simple questions and a few tough ones.
• Test yourself on questions that you can confidently answer in 2 to 2.5 minutes. This will help you score well.
• Above all, practise as many DI problems as possible.

3. Logical Reasoning Preparation Tips

Check the following tips on how to tackle Logical Reasoning questions in CAT 2021

• During preparation days, candidates are advised to give equal importance to the information provided in the question and the factual data
• Before choosing the correct option, candidates should read the choices carefully
• While answering the Logical Reasoning question, candidates must understand first the information provided in the question
• Do try to utilize the provided table, graph, or chart to organize your information
• There are lots of videos available on the internet of CAT toppers on how to prepare for the CAT Logical Reasoning section. So, during preparation days one should watch such videos for conceptual clarity
• On the D-day, if a candidate facing the problem of Logical Reasoning question, then in such case it is good to skip that one
• When the exam date is nearby, try to take CAT mock test as much as one can and also solve the previous year CAT question paper to understand the exam structure

Additional Information

1. Overall Understanding of Exam: 

Check out these documents and prepare your strategy for CAT accordingly.

CAT Syllabus 2021, Important topics & Changing trends of Exam

Details about the CAT exam (Eligibility, Exam Pattern, Syllabus)

How to attempt CAT on D-Day

How to Prepare for CAT with EduRev

FAQs about CAT Exam

2. Check out Subject- Wise Strategies 

How to Prepare for Quant with EduRev

How to Prepare for DILR with EduRev

How to Prepare for VARC with EduRev