CAT 2012 Logical Reasoning: Past years' pattern & basic preparation strategy

June 23, 2012 - PRLog -- CAT has undergone several changes over the years in terms of pattern and the format of the test. Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning, which was a single section till 2010, was disintegrated in two parts, While Data Interpretation was merged with Quantitative Ability, Logical Reasoning was merged with Verbal Ability section, making CAT exam comprising of two sections.

MBAUniverse.com has so far given you the past year trends and the basic preparation strategy of Quantitative Ability, Verbal Ability and Data Interpretation. In today’s MBAUniverse.com article, we will talk at length about the Logical Reasoning area for CAT 2012.

First let us have a look at the past five year pattern of the Logical Reasoning section of CAT exam.

CAT 2007 – This section had 25 questions out of 75 questions. This section did not ask any question on Logical Reasoning.

CAT 2008 – Out of 90 questions in total, 25 questions were on this section. Majority of the questions were on Data Interpretation. The difficulty level of the section was Moderate. Unlike last year, Logical Reasoning questions were there.

CAT 2009 – This section had 20 questions out of 60 in total. The difficulty level was higher than the other two sections but overall it was moderate to difficult. Some of the questions were verbose and lengthy.

CAT 2010 – CAT 2010 had 20 questions in this section out of total 60 questions. It followed similar pattern as CAT 2009. This section was tough compared to other sections. After the first few days of the section got even tougher.

CAT 2011 – In the new pattern, Logical Reasoning had 10 questions, being clubbed with the Verbal Ability section. The Logical Reasoning area had analytical reasoning, puzzles, caselets etc. The question types were on the expected lines.

Now comes the part about getting started with the preparation. Logical Reasoning is more about your practical understanding rather than learning. You can practice to improve your preparation but cannot learn or mug up formulae to crack the section. First let us look at the question patterns of the Logical Reasoning which are common in CAT.

In the Logical Reasoning section, you will be given a paragraph which will contain certain information. It will be followed by two to three questions. The questions generally start with ‘If’, ‘Why’ or ‘Then’. In such cases, more than the information, your own thinking ability has to be used. Some common forms of questions are family tree, letter encoding etc. These questions are a sophisticated version of riddles that you used to solve in your childhood.

Starting the Preparation for Logical Reasoning

An interesting way to prepare for this is by regularly solving crossword puzzles, Sudoku, riddles etc. For this, pick out the leisure section of the daily newspaper. You can also solve caselets from various books and puzzle sites in the internet.

According to Gautam Puri, Vice Chairman, Career Launcher, Logical Reasoning questions require a lot of practice on solving puzzles, logical questions in Quant like P&C, set theory. “These questions involve mathematical puzzles followed by questions based on them. Adopt a step by step approach- write down all the given information first his will help you in identifying clues and will also clear away a lot of confusion,” mentions Puri.

Books & Preparation Material for CAT Logical Reasoning

Some of the books, which will help you in preparing for the Logical Reasoning section are, Fundamental of Reasoning: A Logic Book’ by Robert M. Johnson, Verbal & Non Verbal Reasoning’ by R.S. Agarwal (S. Chand and Sons publications), ‘Reasoning and DI for MBA Exam’ by Arun Sharma, ‘Course In Mental Ability and Quantitative Aptitude’ by Edgar Thorpe, ‘Analytical and Logical Reasoning’ by B.S. Sijwali (Arihant publications) to name a few.

To know more about the other sections of CAT, Quantitative Ability, Verbal Ability and Data Interpretation, click on the following links:

CAT 2012 Quantitative Ability preparation: Trend of the past 5 years & know how to get started

Verbal Ability for CAT 2012: Past years trends & preparation techniques

Data Interpretation for CAT 2012: Past 5 years' trend & preparation basics