3 Most Essential Things In Tackling Reading Comprehension (RC)

3 Most Essential Things In Tackling Reading Comprehension (RC)
While all of us understand that Reading Comprehension  (RC)  is one of the most crucial areas for any competitive exam, most of us find it reasonably difficult to tackle RC.

Here we present the most essential things for being successful in RC.

Diversity

RCs asked in various exams can be as diverse as one may think. The topics on which the RC can be based range from polity to social sciences, business applications to geography, history to literature, philosophical to fact-based, among others.

So a person who has studied commerce in his schooling days might come across a passage based upon pure science or for that matter a student of literature might come across a passage on chemistry.

Let us take an example,

The early history of the noble elements, ranged in the right-hand column of the periodic table, provided ample support for that view. Just after the noble gas argon was discovered in 1894, the French chemist Henri Moissan mixed it with fluorine, the viciously reactive element that he had isolated in 1886, and sent sparks through the mixture for good measure. Result: nothing. In 1924, the Austrian Friedrich Paneth pronounced the consensus. "The unreactivity of the noble gas elements belongs to the surest of all experimental results," he wrote. The theory of chemical bonding explained why. The noble gases have full outer shells of electrons, and so cannot share other atoms' electrons to form bonds.

What is a noble gas?

a.       Henri Moissan’s discovery

b.      The gases which are inert

c.       Paneth and Moissan’s discovery

d.      The gases which mix easily

The above passage and the relatively simple question that follow might be a cakewalk for a student of chemistry or sciences, but for a commerce student it might be something which is totally new.

The Solution? Read more, more, and more. Read diverse topics. The basic idea behind reading diverse topics is to increase our familiarity with them which ultimately will help us in a better understanding of the passage.

Concentrate:

While a diverse reading definitely helps, one needs to focus upon the passage while reading. Most of us do try and avoid distractions in the examinations, however, it is easy for most of us to fall in the trap and get distracted.

We strongly suggest a total concentration while doing any task. For an example, if you are reading an article, complete it in totality. The same goes for writing and almost everything. Such a habit will eventually help you in every matter and will get you positive results.

And if we have the ability to focus, it is redundant to say that we will be surely successful in tackling RC.

Words!

A good vocabulary is very much helpful in solving RCs.

‘Chutzpah’  a word made famous by the Indian movie Haider, has made many people utter this word but most of them do not know the actual meaning and pronunciation.

(hootzpa) – that is the way it is pronounced. The point is to increase your vocabulary.

With technology by our side, we can definitely use it for the advancement of vocabulary. Use dictionary to the fullest. Read newspapers, magazines, articles, etc. and develop your vocabulary as much as possible.

Food for thought: “faux pas”.  Do we know the meaning and the pronunciation? Start building vocabulary.

These simple steps will build a solid foundation for you to crack RCs and develop a good reading habit.

Keep reading!

Paridhi Trivedi Parikh | Hardik K. Parikh

Building Careers, Shaping Lives!

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Disclaimer: The views mentioned above are based on the authors' opinion and experiences. We do not take responsibility for any decision that might be taken, based on these views/ information.

Wishing You All A Very Happy Diwali and A Prosperous New Year.

Wishing You All A Very Happy Diwali and A Prosperous New Year.

May this year be filled with lots of happiness and may it bring lots of success too.

Hardik K. Parikh | Paridhi Trivedi Parikh
Building Careers, Shaping Lives!

This Diwali – “Sweeten Lives”

This Diwali – “Sweeten Lives”

Diwali, also known as Deepawali, is celebrated across the world as a symbol of the victory of good over evil. This day is often celebrated as the day on which Lord Ram came back to Ayodhya after defeating the asur Ravana and the people of Ayodhya lightened up entire Ayodhya with diyas to welcome Lord Ram. The same tradition of lighting up the diyas is still followed, albeit with a little bit of alteration. Now, we deck up our homes and offices with diyas and a lot many other things as a commemoration.  We fire crackers, meet people, meet our relatives, and share happiness.

Most of us celebrate Diwali by firing crackers, meeting friends and relatives, eating and sharing sweets and stuff like that. But let’s think bigger, broader! Let us lighten up the lives of people.

This Diwali, we have a message: “ Sweeten Lives”.

Here’s how.

Share:

Most of us visit friends and relatives during Diwali, exchange pleasantries and what’s more, we exchange gifts and sweets too!

Now, if we just look at it from the perspective of sharing, we can share knowledge too! Sounds interesting or difficult? We would say both. But most importantly, we believe sharing knowledge is quite simple, provided we want to share it.

Anil, a student preparing for CAT examination, visits his uncle’s place to greet him. His cousin is preparing for his 12^th Board examination. Now here comes a simple and a noble gesture: Anil shares his knowledge of CAT examination with his uncle/ uncle’s family/ his cousin(s). In return, the family members get an actual feedback about the CAT exam and this piece of information will also help the cousin shape his future.

The same thing can be done by an IAS, when someone visits him and questions about the functions of an IAS officer. And these examples can be applied to any person: a teacher, a doctor, a student and as we said, everybody.

Remember, by doing so, we are just helping some person to make his/ her life better by making an informed decision. It is more important in today’s era of information-bombarding because of the digital revolution.

Gift of Knowledge:

Move-over from the sweets! Move-over from the expensive gits! And if not, take the them as a supplement. Innovate.

Gift books. Share knowledge.

As they say, “books are a man’s best friend, and possibly a woman’s too”. This Diwali we would suggest that if at all you want to gift something, gift books! Yes, an e-book too will do.  Developing the reading habit in a person may arguably be one of the most difficult tasks, but to attempt to do so can be most fulfilling too.

As most of us have heard umpteenth of times that “education is the solution to most of the problems in the world”, let us try to educate. Let us share knowledge.

Remember, by doing so, you would not only share happiness but you will “sweeten lives” too.

Spread Knowledge.

Wishing you a very happy Diwali and a prosperous New Year.

Sweetening Lives,

Paridhi Trivedi Parikh | Hardik K. Parikh

Building Careers, Shaping Lives!

Fantastic Four - Four Simple Steps To A Highly Productive Week

Fantastic Four - Four Simple Steps To A Highly Productive Week

All of us wish to have a highly productive week but only a few are blessed with one. Is it so difficult to have a productive/ satisfying week? The answer is NO.

We enlist here "Fantastic Four" - four simple steps to a highly productive week.

Step 1: Write it

There are lot many things to be done in a week. The first thing that one needs to do is “jot them down”. Most of us have the tendency of relying on our memory for what has to be done and what has not to be. We would say “WRITE IT UP”. Nowadays we have lot many softwares/ apps available to help us for the same. Writing the tasks will also help you to track the performance easily.

Step 2: Prioritize

A lot many tasks? Ehhh..some of us may be bogged down by just looking at the list of tasks prepared. The key here is to “prioritize” them according their importance. This step is one of the most crucial steps to having a productive week.

e.g. a student preparing for various competitive examinations has lot many subjects to study, but, say for an example, she has a test of the Math in the following weekend, it means she should give top importance to her preparation of Math. The same concept of prioritization applies to a business person, a jobber or for that matter any person.

Step 3: Moving Ahead

While being perfectionist or coming up with meticulous performance is what most of us like and would like most of things to be so, however, what we must understand is that while one may be perfect the others may not be. Expecting the same perfection from others may lead to unwarranted delays as it will take up a huge time normally. What one should focus upon is the result and if it comes with a little bit of imperfection, so be it. Move ahead!

Step 4: Question Mark ?

Jagpreet did a lot good work this week. He seems to be happy. He expects a promotion but instead what he gets from his senior is a “sweet” scolding. And the only thing Jagpreet is left with is a Question Mark? Did something went wrong?

Before the results force the question marks on you, PUT THE QUESTION MARK YOURSELF. At the end of the week, question yourself whether what you had WRITTEN has been accomplished or not. This step will essentially help you to improve your performance and also to set up plan for another glorious week.

Follow these four simple steps for a highly productive week.

Have a fantastic week ahead!

Paridhi Trivedi Parikh | Hardik K. Parikh

Building Careers, Shaping Lives!

Disclaimer: The views mentioned above are based on the authors' opinion and experiences. We do not take responsibility for any decision that might be taken, based on these views/ information. 

NMAT 2015 Analysis

NMAT 2015 Analysis

Narsee Monjee Aptitude Test, popularly known as NMAT, has started the proceedings for the intake of 2015-17 batch. Offering three attempts to a student, NMAT has rolled out a red carpet for the serious MBA aspirants and students are expected to the most of it. 

The exam pattern:

Number of Questions: 120

Number of Sections: 3

Sectional Cut-Offs: Yes. This means, to be successful, a candidate has to have a considerably good performance across all the sections.

Pattern: A student is shown 6 possible arrangements in which the test can be taken. He/she has to select the pattern which suits him/her the most.

Moving across questions/ sections: You CANNOT move across sections. Further, you cannot jump the questions too. For an e.g. if you are on question 1, you cannot directly go to question 3, you have to go through question 2.

Let us now have a look at each of the three sections.

Language Section:

Out of a total of 32 questions in this section, most of the questions were of Reading  Comprehension (RC). There were two passages and had a total 8 questions among them. There were questions on Parajumbles, Sentence Correction, Vocabulary, Grammar and cloze test too.

Interestingly quite a few number of questions based on prepositions were asked.

Most of the questions in RC were direct (factual – based on RC) questions.

Please note that this is the most scoring section in NMAT and one should be able to solve (not merely attempt) at least 24 questions in this section. The sectional cutoff for this section in the last few years has been at 55 and we do not expect it to change.

Quantitative Ability Section:

There were 28 questions of Quantitative Aptitude and this section had Data Interpretation (DI) and Data Sufficiency (DS) also.

The 12 questions of DI were split in 3 sets of 4 questions each and were not calculation intensive but they did require one to understand the data before proceeding to the questions.

There were 8 questions of DS from all areas of quantitative aptitude. A good practice of DS questions would surely come handy.

This section has come as a big surprise this time around. There were a number of questions which are quite new to even a very seasoned test taker.

An attempt of 25-28 questions in this section with proper calculation would be considered good and the remaining questions should be marked randomly.

Reasoning:

This section had questions on Verbal as well as Analytical reasoning.

This section had questions on Linear and circular arrangement, Syllogism, Assumption-conclusion etc. constituted a major part of this section.

One could easily solve some 23-25 questions in the given 38 minutes.

The sectional cutoff for this section has been around 61-62 and should be the same this year also. A safe score for clearing the sectional cutoff is 65.

Overall:
To conclude, we can say that the test was manageable and would have the cut-offs near the previous year marks.

An attempt of 75-80 questions and a random marking of the remaining questions can be considered good enough for one to crack this stage of testing.

The overall expected cutoff (flagship programmes):

NM Mumbai: 205-208 marks

NM Bangalore and Hyderabad: 200 marks 

 

Disclaimer: All information on cut-offs, analysis, answer key and scores are based on independent analysis and evaluation made by us on the basis of inputs received by us and our own discretion. We do not take responsibility for any decision that might be taken, based on this information. 

Keep growing!

Paridhi Trivedi Parikh | Hardik K. Parikh

Building Careers, Shaping Lives!

IBPS CWE PO/ MT (Officer Scale 1) 2014 Exam Analysis

IBPS CWE PO/ MT (Officer Scale 1) 2014 Exam Analysis

The much-awaited examination of Probationary Officers (PO) conducted by the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) started from October 11, 2014. As usual it was an online examination.

We would like to mention that this time too, IBPS lived up to its expectation of having a surprise element or in other words “something new” in the pattern of the examination. Most of the students found the questions in the examination to be more of indirect than direct.

Let us understand the pattern first.

Paper Pattern:

Number of questions: 200 questions

Time: 2 hours

Sections: Five

Marking Pattern:  (a) 1 mark for every correct answer (b)  -0.25 for every incorrect answer

Our Analysis:
As per the feedback that we got from various sources, our own inputs and after having a detailed discussion with the student fraternity, we present a crisp and clear analysis.

Section	Total Questions	Max. Marks	Level of Difficulty	Good Attempts	Good Score
Reasoning	50	50	Moderate-Easy	27-31	23-27
English Language	40	40	Moderate-Easy	28-31	23-27
Maths	50	50	Moderate – High	20-23	17-19
General Awareness	40	40	Easy	22-25	18-20
Computer Knowledge	20	20	Very Easy	13-15	11-12
Total	200	200		110-125	92-105

Sectional Cutoff  (Expected) -

Subject	General	OBC	SC	ST
Reasoning	10-13	6-9	6-9	6-9
English Language	6-9	3-6	3-6	3-6
Maths	6-9	4-6	4-6	4-6
General Awareness	8-11	6-8	6-8	6-8
Computer Knowledge	7-10	5-7	5-7	5-7
Overall cutoff on total score	61-70	60-68	59-64	32-38

Analysis of the questions asked in different sections:

Reasoning  
The questions in this section were relatively easy.

There were many questions from Critical Reasoning area. As usual, the questions on Sitting Arrangements  (linear – one of the set was related to arrangement on floors) were in good number too.

Questions from Syllogism and Inequalities formed another important area.

Questions from Directions, Input-Output and Statement-Conclusions were also found.

English Language
Again a relatively easy section.

Max Weightage: Reading Comprehension (20 questions – 2 sets – 10 questions from each set)

Important Areas:

Cloze Test: 10 questions  - Easy

Parajumbles: 5-10 questions – Easy to Moderate

Other questions: Vocabulary based questions, Sentence Correction questions were also found.

Maths

This section can be classified as difficult to moderate.

Questions from Data Interpretation (DI) were seen in good numbers in some of the examination slots. Even the questions which followed DI were mostly indirect. There were 3-4 sets in most of the examination slots. Each set had approximately 5 questions. DI was in the form of Tables, Pie-charts and Bar charts, amongst others.

Other questions were from Data Sufficiency, Percentage, Time, Speed & Distance, Geometry, Mensuration, Number Series (Odd One Out), Simple and Compound Interest and Linear Equations.

General Awareness
Unlike most of the previous IBPS examination wherein most of the questions were from Banking, this year surprisingly saw many questions based on current affairs.

Questions from Banking were found too.

Most of the questions were manageable if a student has read newspaper regularly.

Computer Knowledge
The questions in this section were relatively easy. Questions Hardware, Networking and Software were asked. Many questions were related to MS Office, particularly MS Excel and shortcuts in MS Excel.

Concluding..

Overall, the paper can be rated to be of moderate difficulty level. An overall score of 70 (for general category) should be good enough to get a call for the interviews.

Disclaimer: All information on cut-offs, analysis, answer key and scores are based on independent analysis and evaluation made by us on the basis of inputs received by us and our own discretion. We do not take responsibility for any decision that might be taken, based on this information. 

Keep growing!

Paridhi Trivedi Parikh | Hardik K. Parikh