12 Tips to Crack Quantitative Aptitude Section of SBI-PO (Prelims) 2017

Quantitative Aptitude is considered to be the arch nemesis of almost every Banking Aspirant (if it is not the case with you, believe us, we are so happy for you). Many aspirants have missed their dream banking job because they were; somehow, unable to clear sectional cut offs, primarily in the section we are talking about.


Order of Attempt and Time allocation


This section, like Reasoning Section, contains 35 Questions. Difficulty level will be similar to IBPS PO Prelims Exam and the expected Break up of this section is as follows:


Arithmetic Questions ( Percentage, Profit and Loss, Ration and Proportion, SI & CI, Time and work, TSD, SI &CI, Mixture and allegations, Averages, Problems on Ages etc) - 8-10


  • Series - 5
  • Quadratic Equations - 5
  • Simplification - 5
  • Probability - 0-2
  • DI [Pie Chart, Bar Graph ,Tables etc) - 10 (5 *2)


Time Allocation and Order of Attempt

If you are one of those few students who never had any trouble in Quant Section, you may like to attempt this section after English and allocate around 20 minutes. This will not only help you in clearing sectional cut offs but also scoring decent marks which in turn will help you with overall cut-offs.
For those who are either weak or average in Quant you can attempt this section at the end. Time allocated to this section should be 22-25 minutes.

Categories of Questions: 

We can divide all Questions in Quant section into two categories.


3. Easy and Scoring Questions


Start your quantitative section with these questions.  These questions are generally easy to solve , require less time and you can easily achieve high accuracy. There will be around 15-17 Questions from this category.


Simplification


Arithmetic Topics(Click on the link to open questions & concepts) : Problems on Ages, Percentage, Averages, Simple Interest/ Compound Interest , Profit and Loss , Ratio & Proportions.
DI (one of the DI Sets)


4. Time Consuming Questions


Questions in this category are difficult than above and may require more time to solve. Attempt them after solving first category questions.


Some of the questions are tricky. Accuracy will depend on amount of practice done before exam. There will be around 12-15 Questions from this category.


  • Probability
  • Quadratic Equations
  • Arithmetic Topics:  Mixture and allegations , Time and Work , Time Speed and Distance
  • Number Series
  • Another DI Set

For students who just want to clear sectional cut offs  solving first category questions with a few question from second will be enough but then you will need to solve decent number of question in both English and Reasoning to clear the overall cut-off.

Tips on How to Prepare Quant Section in last few weeks

With less than a few weeks left for exam, there are only a few tried & tested approaches you can opt for. The Most Common approach is to identify the weak topics upon which you can work.
5. Compartmentalization of topics is very important. One must know the topics one is comfortable with – from least to most. One also needs to know as to what could be the level of difficulty of questions; one can handle in an examination scenario.


To make you understand, lets assume I am extremely confident with percentage related problem. Irrespective of level of difficulty, I know in my heart that I would be able to do solve the problem. I also have also realized during my preparation that I can solve easy to moderate level questions from TSD (Time, Speed and Distance). And, the moment I see a question from Probability, I feel nauseated. One has to have an understanding of this level pertaining to one’s preparation to sail through test without much trouble.



6. Use the last few days to formulate your strategy to attempt questions based on this understanding. Solve as many last year questions as possible just to make yourself comfortable & confident. You must not be wondering and surmising on the final day on the pattern, topics, level of difficulty of questions etc.



7. Keep a notebook with yourself where you write important points and formulas. This will assist you revisiting the most vital points and formulas on your exam day.



8. Start Attempting as many mock tests as possible. When your are left with handful of days to go,  nothing will help you more than writing and analyzing Mock Tests. These tests will provide you with insights, such as Time Management, Selection of Questions and Topics, formulation of an effective strategy to nail the test etc.


9.Topic wise Tips

Data Interpretation: As we mentioned in our previous article, if the answers are numbers not close to each other, then you do not need to do the accurate calculations. You can round off the numbers and do approximate calculations and mark the answer closest to the answer you calculated. No other strategy can beat the option elimination technique in DI section. Try to avoid doing long calculations as in an exam that demands aspirants to solve 100 questions in 60 minutes; you may end up wasting and not investing your time by doing long calculations. If you are good with calculations & approximation techniques, percentage, ratio & proportion and option elimination technique – these questions are very easy to answer.
Quadratic Equations – Revising your high school mathematics book on factorization can assist you finding the roots of the quadratic equations faster.
Series – Mostly n2, n3, n2 ± constant, n3 ± constant, n2 ±n, n3 ±n, n2 ±n3 will cover around 75% of the series completion problems. Hence, relax and attempt.

General Mistakes to Avoid:

10. Not Reading Questions Completely
In quant section this is the most common mistake made by students. In hurry to solve questions faster, you don’t read questions clearly and end up making mistakes. This problem can cause frustration as even after solving the question methodically, you will not get the relevant option. And then, it becomes a herculean task to identify as to where you went wrong. Hence, read twice before you go ahead and start solving.


11.  Avoid Risky Shortcuts

You may be of the view point that the whole point of Speed test is to solving question as fast as possible then why avoid shortcuts. If you have practiced a particular shortcut or trick on lot many questions during your preparation then go ahead. But, if you have just read some shortcut or any trick during last leg of your preparation, avoid using it in the exam as you do not know the conditions in which this particular shortcut can be applied. Solve the question using conventional way even if it takes more time.


12. Guess Work

Absolutely avoid any guess work.

This brings us to the conclusion of our well read and much loved series about IBPS PO Prelims Tips.


We hope you gained lots of knowledge and confidence for attempting and cracking IBPS PO Prelims 2015. Let us know how this whole series helped you and how we can improve to serve you better by commenting below. Also please ask us any questions not only related to Quantitative Section but with IBPS PO in general.



Thank You!!!



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