The document provides guidance on preparing for and solving data sufficiency questions. It begins by explaining that data sufficiency questions check one's ability to determine if the given statements are sufficient to answer the question, rather than solving the question itself. It then reviews the standard instructions for data sufficiency questions. The document proceeds to walk through four sample data sufficiency questions and answers from CAT 2007 as examples to illustrate the instructions and approach. It emphasizes focusing on determining the sufficiency of the statements rather than attempting to solve the question.

1. © MBAprepguide.com

2. ----
© MBAprepguide.com

3. As we all know, most candidates
(especially engineers) are inherently
comfortable with number-oriented sections
of entrance exams, and tend to struggle
with language and ambiguity. Over time,
this bias creeps into preparation as well.
Candidates prefer to stay in their comfort
zone and prepare tirelessly for numeric
sections, while getting positively
intimidated by verbal. As a result, verbal is
looked at as a defensive section, with
candidates preferring to score in quant and
logic. Hence, at MBAprepguide we have
started “Five Words a Day” section which
you should follow religiously to improve
your verbal aptitude.
Mastering verbal ability is a long term
game. What makes it more difficult is that
there is no defined method or regime that
can assure success. Most of us don‟t even
know where to start from! I‟d like to argue
that brutally improving one‟s understanding
of words is a good starting point.
Conquering verbal ability becomes that
much easier, if one is comfortable by the
depth and breadth of the fare on offer.
Wordlists are an invaluable resource, and
act as a means to the ultimate goal of
mastering verbal ability. There is a school
of thought that wordlists come in handy for
GRE preparation, and not so much for
Indian MBA exams. Personally, I believe
that is myopic thinking.
© MBAprepguide.com

4. Thorough mastery of wordlists allows
MBA aspirants to:
1. Solve vocabulary based questions with
high level of comfort. These questions have
very high return on time investment.
2. Eliminate options with assurance
3. Gain competitive edge over students in
the reading comprehensions and tough
verbal sections
4. Confidently express themselves in
written and oral communication during and
post their degree
Now to answer the most dreaded question –
How does one master these wordlists?
Barons‟ wordlist has close to 4800 words.
Knowing all of them inside out is a
herculean task, and just the thought of
taking up this challenge is difficult for
some. Some of the most common methods
that candidates try are:
1. Brute-force (rote-learn till you know
them all)
2. Practicing with friends
3. Memorizing in front of the mirror
4. Subscription services
5. Combination of the above
Although fundamentally good, these
methods have limitations – they put very
high emphasis on recall, and might not help
candidate develop a liking for the language
per se.
© MBAprepguide.com

5. Association of words with images, colors or
people multiplies recall. So, in addition to
these traditional styles of learning, the trick is
to start making associations on a day to basis
to improve recall, and really start enjoying the
“process”. Let me try and showcase a simple
way in which one can start building these
associations.
Almost all of us relax to some sort of English
television. The next time you watch an
English television series or a movie, just
make two tiny changes:
Ensure you are watching with subtitles
Keep a pen and paper beside you.
This is exactly what I did when I watched
Castle S01E01 for this article. And guess
what, I found a good 11 words that are part of
Barons‟. Not bad for a 40 minute time
investment!
1. Macabre (36sec, 1m 12sec)
2. Caliber (2m 24sec)
3. Mogul (7m 25sec)
4. Deranged (8m 02sec)
5. Hazard (8m 21sec)
6. Psychosis / psychotic (11m 04sec)
7. Furrow (13m 45sec)
8 . Aggrandize (23m 18sec)
9. Felony (25m 40sec)
10. Unassailable (33m 12sec)
11. Exigent (35m 05sec)
When you know that the series opens with the
lines “murder, mystery, the macabre….” – an
association has been very vividly formed, and
you‟ve registered for life that “macabre”
would mean “gruesome; grisly; ghastly;
related to death“. While taking a test in near
future, your mind will rock back to this day
and tell you, “Oh yes, Castle uses macabre to
describe his novels. These guys at
MBAprepguide had mentioned” – trust me on
that.
© MBAprepguide.com

6. The next step is to possibly take snapshots of
the motion picture with subtitles where the
word was used, or possibly have mini 10
second clips for each word that you come
across. And you can do that methodically for
whichever series you want to pursue, right
from S01E01! You can even go one step
further and divide the workload among
friends, and create a centralized repository of
such associations.
These small clips or snapshots would help
you revise effortlessly. These words would
become part of your daily repertoire, and
stick with you for a really long time,
especially the ones used by your favorite
characters or during critical junctures.
Hopefully, they will enhance your movie
watching experience as well.
Just remember to follow this with your
regular wordlist practice. This is for the long
run. Results achieved by relating words to
everyday events, television, and sport
commentary are long lasting and stick with
you. But more importantly, this will create a
natural and healthy curiosity for the language,
wherein verbal sections will cease to be a
chore and more of a goldmine for easy points
on vocabulary based questions.
© MBAprepguide.com

7. The Fact, Inference and Judgement
section came as a bolt from the blue in the
2006 CAT paper catching many students
by surprise. Of course, those were the
days when the CAT paper was
unpredictable and the mystery element
made solving the exam all the more fun.
OK, enough of the nostalgia. Let‟s move
on the definitions, shall we?
Definitions:
Fact: This deals with information which
can be easily verified. Usually these are
present in the form of figures, statistics,
etc. without any opinion attached. Thus, if
a statement is easily verifiable, it can be
easily identified as a fact.
Inference: This is a logical conclusion
usually based on facts. They are
conclusions drawn about the unknown, on
the basis of the known.
Inference = Fact + Conclusion drawn on
the basis of the fact
Judgement: A judgement, as the name
suggests, is an expression of opinion. The
opinions usually imply approval or
disapproval of persons, situations, etc.
A judgement closely resembles an
inferences and this is where a CAT
candidate usually makes an error
mistaking one for the other.
© MBAprepguide.com

8. The main difference between both is that
in an inference, the conclusion is usually
easily and logically derivable from the
fact. This is not the case in a judgement
which is more of an opinion on the fact.
Examples:
To make things clearer let‟s move on to
some examples. Here‟s one from CAT
2006:
Question:
1. According to all statistical indications,
the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan has managed
to keep pace with its ambitious goals.
2. The Mid-day Meal Scheme has been a
significant incentive for the poor to send
their little ones to school thus establishing
the vital link between healthy bodies and
healthy minds.
3. Only about 13 million children in the
age group of 6 to 14 years out of school.
4. The goal of universalization of
elementary education has to be a pre-
requisite for the evolution and
development of our country.
(1) IIFJ (2) JIIJ (3) IJFJ (4) IJFI (5) JIFI
Solution:
Let‟s go through each statement
The first statement is as blatant an
inference as there can be. The first part of
the sentence i.e. ‟According to all
statistical indications‟ is the fact on which
the second part of the sentence is
inferred. This statement says that on the
basis of a fact, the conclusion can be
drawn that the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan
has managed to keep pace with its
ambitious goals. Thus, this can easily be
marked as an inference.
© MBAprepguide.com

9. The second statement is a judgement as
the statement clearly indicates an
approval of the Mid-day meal scheme.
Also, this doesn‟t seem to be based on
any fact in the statement. Hence, this can
be marked as a judgement
The third statement is again obviously a
fact as this is a statistic which can easily
be verified.
The fourth statement is a judgement as
the words „has to be a pre-requisite‟
indicate an opinion about something.
Let‟s look at another question from CAT
2006:
Question:
1. We should not be hopelessly addicted
to an erroneous belief that corruption in
India is caused by the crookedness of
Indians
2. The truth is that we have more red tape
– we take eighty-nine days to start a small
business, Australians take two.
3. Red tape leads to corruption and
distorts a people‟s character.
4. Every red tape procedure is a point of
contact with an official, and such contacts
have the potential to become
opportunities for money to change hands.
(1) JFIF (2) JFJJ (3) JIJF (4) IFJF (5) JFJI
Solution:
The first statement is a judgement. The
words „we should not‟ clearly indicates an
opinion of the person.
The second statement is a fact as the
entire statement can be verified easily.
© MBAprepguide.com

10. The third statement is again a judgement.
Red tape leads to corruption indicates an
opinion and is not based on any fact in
the statement.
The fourth statement is an inference. The
first part of the statement is the verifiable
part and the second part of the statement
is derived/inferred from the first part.
Strategy:
An easy strategy for dealing with FIJ
questions is as follows:
1) Identify the facts among the
statements. These are the easiest to find.
Ensure that the entire statement should be
verifiable
2) Eliminate the answer options where
the statement found is not a fact
3) Identify the easy inferences or
judgements among the remaining
sentences
4) Eliminate the answer options again
based on the ones which don‟t fit
This is the easiest and the fastest way of
solving the questions.
© MBAprepguide.com

11. ----
© MBAprepguide.com

12. The key to getting a good percentile in CAT
or any other competitive exam quant for that
matter is to solve the question in the quickest
way possible. Using shortcuts is one such
method of getting the question done and
dusted easily.
Today, we will talk about using the answer
options to your advantage. This may be a
method familiar to many aspirants. However,
for the benefit of everyone, let‟s have a look
at the technique.
Take this question from CAT 2006:
Question:
The sum of 4 consecutive 2-digit odd
numbers, when divided by 10, becomes a
perfect square. Which of the following can
possibly be one of these 4 numbers?
(1) 21 (2) 25 (3) 41 (4) 67 (5) 73
Solution:
Since, the sum of the 4 consecutive odd
numbers should be divisible by 10, the last
digit of the sum should be 0. Since, the
numbers are all consecutive odd numbers,
the last digit should be 1,3,5,7 or 3,5,7,9 – so
on.
Out of these combinations, the only one
which gives the sum of the digits as 0 is
7,9,1,3. Hence the 4 consecutive numbers
should end with these digits.
Look at the answer options now.
© MBAprepguide.com

13. Option (2) can be eliminated upfront as
the last digit cannot be 5.
Option (1): In this case, the numbers are
17, 19, 21 and 23. Adding up the numbers
gives us 80. Division by 10 is 8 which is
not a perfect square. Hence, this is
eliminated
Option (3): In this case, the numbers are
37, 39, 41 and 43. Adding up the numbers
gives us 160. Division by 10 is 16 which
is a perfect square. Hence, this is the right
answer.
The question can easily be solved within
a minute by this method.
Lets take another example – this time
from CAT 2008:
Question:
Find the sum
√(1 + 1/12 + 1/22) + √(1 + 1/22 + 1/32) +
…. + √(1 + 1/20072 + 1/20082)
(1) 2008 – 1/2008 (2) 2007 – 1/2007 (3)
2007 – 1/2008 (4) 2008 – 1/2007 (5) 2008
– 1/2009
Solution:
The answer options contain almost the
same numbers as the numbers in the last
term. The trick here is to frame another
question out of the one given and then
use the substitution method to solve it.
Let n=2008. In this case, the question
becomes
find the sum √(1 + 1/12 + 1/22) + √(1 +
1/22 + 1/32) + …. + √(1 + 1/(n-1)2 +
1/n2)
and the answer options now are
© MBAprepguide.com

14. (1) n- 1/n (2) (n-1) – 1/(n-1) (3) (n-1) -
1/n (4) n- 1/(n-1) (5) n- 1/(n+1)
By doing this, we have reduced the
complexity of the question enormously.
Now we can substitute a simple number
instead of n and then check the option.
Let n=2
Therefore, the sum now is √(1 + 1/12 +
1/22) which is 3/2 = 1.5.
Check the answer options now with the
value n=2
Option (1): 2 – 1/2 = 3 /2 = 1.5 which is
correct
Option (2): 1- 1/1 = 0 which is incorrect
Option (3): 1 – 1/2 = 1/2 which is
incorrect
Option (4): 2 – 1/1 = 1 which is incorrect
Option (5): 2- 1/3 = 5/3 which is incorrect
Again, a question which looked difficult
to solve has been cracked within a
minute. Being clever by using the options
in the question can help you save
precious time during the exam.
Hope this post has helped. Till next time!
© MBAprepguide.com

15. A lot of aspirants find Data Sufficiency
problems difficult. DS questions are tricky
because they try to check how quickly one
can get out of „solving‟ mindset and enter
„finding sufficiency‟ mindset. At times,
students leave these questions because when
they solve these for the very first time, they
don‟t pay attention to „How‟ DS questions
are solved. In addition to this, there are two
main reasons why students are afraid of DS.
1. Lack of practice
2. Actually solving the question even though
one is supposed to find only the sufficiency
of the given statements to arrive at the
answer
The instructions for DS questions are
generally standard. I am taking four
questions from CAT 2007 to explain the
instructions as well as approach.
Answer each question using the following
instructions:
Mark (1) if the question can be answered by
using the statement A alone but not by using
the statement B alone.
Mark (2) if the question can be answered by
using the statement B alone but not by using
the statement A alone.
Mark (3) if the question can be answered by
using either of the statements alone.
Mark (4) if the question can be answered by
using both the statements together but not by
either of the statements alone.
Mark (5) if the question cannot be answered
on the basis of the two statements.
© MBAprepguide.com

16. Let us simplify this:
Pause here for some time, read the
instructions again, go through the table
and proceed.
Q.1 In a particular school, sixty students
were athletes. Ten among them were also
among the top academic performers. How
many top academic performers were in
the school?
A. Sixty per cent of the top academic
performers were not athletes.
B. All the top academic performers were
not necessarily athletes.
Approach
Before starting, You can probably draw a
circle for athletes, and intersect it with
other circle for top academic performers
if you can‟t simply visualize what‟s
happening. The intersection area is 10.
Now, if we go to statement A, we can
easily figure out that 40% of top
academic performers were athletes. This
gives you 40%=10, hence 100%=25
(number of top academic performers).
Statement B alone doesn‟t tell you
anything that will help you answer the
question. We will mark (1) and move on.
© MBAprepguide.com

17. Q.2 Five students Atul, Bala, Chetan,
Dev and Ernesto were the only ones who
participated in a quiz contest. They were
ranked based on their scores in the
contest. Dev got a higher rank as
compared to Ernesto, while Bala got a
higher rank as compared to Chetan.
Chetan‟s rank was lower than the median.
Who among the five got the highest rank?
A. Atul was the last rank holder.
B. Bala was not among the top two rank
holders.
Approach
Based on the information given in the
question, we can create a mental image.
D > E, B > C and C is either 4 or 5 (3
median). Look at statement A, This tells
us that A was last which means C was
4th. But we can‟t conclude who got the
highest. Look at statement B, This again
doesn‟t tell us who got the highest.
Combine information in A and B. This
puts B at third place. And giving us
following positions: D > E > B > C > A
The answer is option (4)
Q.3 Thirty per cent of the employees of a
call center are males. Ten per cent of the
female employees have an engineering
background. What is the percentage of
male employees with engineering
background?
A. Twenty five per cent of the employees
have engineering background.
B. Number of male employees having an
engineering background is 20% more
than the number of female employees
having an engineering background.
© MBAprepguide.com

18. Approach
When the question is in percentage and
answer is also expected in percentage, life
is easier! Assume total employees are
100. This gives you following
distribution: Employees (100)
Going to statement A, 25% of the
employees (meaning 25 in total) have
engineering background. That makes x =
25 – 7 = 18
Going to statement B, x = 1.2 * 7 = 8.4
But why solve it? In both statement A and
statement B, we have some information
given related to percentage of Eng-Male.
We already know Eng-Female number
which is the comparison base. And as
these numbers mentioned are different,
the answers are going to be different.
Hence, I will not solve the question to get
values of x but just mark (3) as my
answer.
Q.4 In a football match, at the half-time,
Mahindra and Mahindra Club was trailing
by three goals. Did it win the match?
A. In the second-half Mahindra and
Mahindra Club scored four goals.
B. The opponent scored four goals in the
match.
Approach
Information: At half-time, M&M = X,
Opponent = X + 3
If we look at statement A, At the end of
the match, M&M = 4 – but no idea of
what opponent finished at
If we look at statement B, At the end of
the match, Opponent = 4 – but no idea of
what M&M finished at.
© MBAprepguide.com

19. Combine the two:
Possibility 1: By half time, M&M was at
0, opponent had 3. In the second half,
M&M scored 4 and opponent scored 1.
End score 4-4
Possibility 2: By half time, M&M was at
1, opponent had 4. In the second half,
M&M scored 4 and opponent scored 0.
End score 5-4
As even after combining, we can‟t
conclusively answer the question „Did
M&M win the match?‟, the answer option
will be (5)
To summarize, DS questions are not
difficult. Just change your mindset,
follow instructions, be logical, and mark
the correct answer!
© MBAprepguide.com

20. ----
© MBAprepguide.com

21. Today, we are going to talk about goals,
importance of having goals, and S.M.A.R.T.
goal setting. While preparing for competitive
examinations, setting the right goals is very
crucial. So let us go through anatomy of goals
and understand S.M.A.R.T. goal setting.
What is a Goal?
A Goal is a desired result that one envisions,
plans and commits to achieve. A goal is
roughly similar to a purpose or an aim; the
anticipated result that guides actions.
Why should one have a Goal?
Considering the football fever is on right now,
let‟s take Football as an example. For a
second, imagine a football match without
goalposts! Players are running on the field,
dribbling the ball aimlessly. As there are no
goalposts, there is no winner. And if that‟s the
case, the set of rules that govern the sport are
also useless. Can you enjoy a match like that?
If you remove the goal from the equation, it
takes all other variables along and the whole
structure collapses.
A goal gives you a target, a purpose, an
objective to fulfill
In Football, scoring a goal is an objective.
Goal post becomes a target, and the desire to
win the match by scoring goals gives a
purpose to all the players. Similarly, in life,
you have to decide what your goals are. They
can be short-term or long-term.
© MBAprepguide.com

22. But these goals will give you an
objective, guide your path, and give a
purpose to your life.
It helps you decide your priorities
In Football, one might enjoy dribbling a
lot and can spend the whole time doing
just that. However, the priority is scoring
a goal! That‟s how real life goals work
too. A goal can be really important in the
long-term, but there will always be short-
term goals and they require your
immediate attention and action. It
becomes important to prioritize and
choose which goal is priority.
Helps you become a better person
It is not easy to score a goal. It requires
hard work, efforts, dedication, and focus.
Players from the opposite team are
always there to make it more difficult.
But good players observe, understand,
and concentrate on the process behind
scoring a goal. And that teaches them not
only football but critical life skills.
Over a period of time, these skills turn
good players into winners and legends.
Having goals and striving to achieve
them has the same effect on all of us. The
difficulties, the obstacles, the setbacks
that you face in the process of achieving
your goals, make you a better person.
At the same time, you need to understand
how goals should be:
Goals should be S.M.A.R.T.
© MBAprepguide.com

23. S: Specific – Specific is the what, why,
when, where and how?
M: Measurable – Measurable means you
know very clearly that the goal has been
achieved or not
A: Achievable – Goals should stretch your
abilities but it should be within your reach.
You mush have the required skills, abilities
and knowledge to achieve it.
R: Result Oriented – Though the process
of achieving a goal is a thrill in itself, a
goal should be result oriented and not
focused on the activity.
T: Time bound – A goal should have a
time frame within which it should be
achieved. Else, it would likely not produce
an outcome.
If you set goals that fit these criteria, you
have a better chance of achieving them.
Having a goal makes you much more
focused, and accountable for achieving that
goal.
However a goal should have the
S.M.A.R.T. characteristics in it. Without
that, a goal is often incomplete. So your
goal can be getting into an IIM, or in one
of the top 25 institutes in the country.
Whatever your goal may be, define it in
S.M.A.R.T. way! For example:
1. Specific – To get into one of the top 25
institutes in the country
2. Measurable – Need 99 + percentile to
get calls from these institutes
3. Achievable – Current score is 95
percentile and was 85 percentile a month
back. I can achieve this!
4.Result oriented – Must track percentile
score after every mock.
5. Time bound – Should achieve this in
next 5 months.
Hope you found this article useful, and the
next time you decide to take up a goal, you
will make it S.M.A.R.T.
© MBAprepguide.com

24. Are you half-asleep, tired, irritated, drained,
and low on motivation? If you are reading
this in the first half of the day, chances are
high that these words describe your condition
well. It‟s Monday and who likes Mondays
(apart from people who have Mondays off)?
But we believe in kicking Monday morning
blues with motivation!
Harsha Bhogle is an inspiration for our
generation, and for those of you aren‟t aware
of Harsha‟s non-cricket life, he studied at IIM
Ahmedabad (dream institute for all serious
aspirants), and runs a sports-based
communication consultancy, Prosearch.
In 2009, I got an opportunity to see him live
in action and I was super-charged at the end
of those two hours! The way he talks about
cricket, attitude, motivation, talent, success,
failure, and everything in general is
mellifluous, and straight from heart.
How beautifully he shows the importance of
attitude in achieving success and excellence
in this video:
“Excellence is not about talent at all. In fact,
a major part of excellence has nothing to do
with talent. And in course of time, once you
go beyond a certain level, ability or talent is
the most useless virtue to possess. It‟s what
you do with that talent that matters.
© MBAprepguide.com

25. Beyond a point, it is attitude that counts
for far more than talent. Because talent
breeds an ego. And talent never solves
problems beyond a point.”
We also recommend two books by
Harsha:
1) The Winning Way – Paperback | eBook
2) Out of the Box – Paperback
Have a super-awesome day!
© MBAprepguide.com

26. ----
© MBAprepguide.com

27. Procrastination is the worst, isn‟t it? As Leo
Babauta says, “It lurks behind us constantly,
insinuating itself into the crevices of our mind,
intimating its will through malevolent hints
and obscure looks and barely audible whispers
and glancing allusions”. Here is a time-tested
method to alleviate it.
What is the Pomodoro Technique?
The Pomodoro Technique is one of the more
popular time management hacks in use today.
Developed in the late 1980‟s by Francesco
Cirillo, the technique works by splitting time
into 30 minute chunks. Each 30 minute period
has a 25 minute working period and a 5 minute
break. The 25 minute interval is known as a
pomodoro, Italian for tomato.
Additionally, after 4 such „pomodoros‟, there
is a 15 minute break. The objective is to
complete the task in short bursts with
maximum focus. This is based on the idea that
frequent breaks can help improve mental
agility.
What are the steps in implementing the
technique?
There are 5 basic steps in implementing the
technique:
1. Decide on what task you want to do
2. Set the timer to 25 minutes
3. Work on the task at a stretch for the entire
25 minutes
4. Take the mandatory break of 5 minutes
5. After 4 such pomodoros, take a break of 15
minutes
© MBAprepguide.com

28. How to Pomodoro?
There are 2 ways to do this. One is simply
use a stopwatch or a countdown timer and
time it up to 25 minutes and so on.
However, the easier way would be to
download the apps related to this. This
would provide you with better
functionality and control over various
settings. The ones recommended are
„Clockwork Tomato„ and „Pomodoro
Timer„. Similarly, there are a lot of apps in
the Apple App Store as well (Pomodoro
Timer).
Recording the Tasks
As per the technique, the tasks to be
performed have to be planned and
prioritized by using a „to-do‟ list. The
estimated time for completion of the task is
marked alongside. As the individual
pomodoros are completed, the task is
ticked off, thus, recording the effort spent.
A general review of the pomodoros done in
a given day would help in tracking the
productivity.
Conclusion
This technique has its fair share of critics
who argue that the system is too
regimented and inflexible. However, if one
needs a systematic way of ticking off the
„to-do‟ list, then this technique may be the
perfect one for you!
© MBAprepguide.com

29. © MBAprepguide.com

30. MBAprepguide is a knowledge portal. We provide MBA test preparation consulting for B-
school applicants. The website was founded by three JBIMS graduates with strong interest
in MBA test preparation, education, online content, and entrepreneurship.
MBAprepguide helps MBA aspirants by providing relevant quality content and offers
expert personal guidance. The easiest way to keep yourself updated with our content is
through subscription. Once you join our mailing list, you automatically get all our articles
delivered in your inbox. We suggest you to go through our previous articles and check our
services section to know how we can help you better.
© MBAprepguide.com

31. Prasad Sawant
Co-founder, Chief Mentor. JBIMS, Batch of 2011. Over 5 years of teaching experience.
99.99 percentile in CET 2009, 99.9 in CAT 2008 QA section, and 800/800 twice in
MAT.
Sriram Krishnan
Co-founder, Chief Knowledge Officer. JBIMS, Batch of 2013. Enviable CAT record
with two 99+ percentile scores. 5th in the state with 99.99 percentile in CET 2011
Ajay Pai
Co-founder, Chief Technology Officer. JBIMS, Batch of 2013. 99.95 percentile in CET
2011.
© MBAprepguide.com

32. You can drop us a mail at contact@mbaprepguide.com
facebook.com/MBAprepguide
@MBAprepguide
© MBAprepguide.com
996-978-9521