How to practice & prepare for Quantitative Aptitude!!!

We have articles all over the web suggesting how to prepare for quantitative sect
ion of an aptitude exam ; however very few explain in detail how to ideally practic
e for this section . We would detail you in most simplistic terms as to how to do
just that and also show you links on this site where those laws have been used an
d explained in an easy-to-learn fashion:
No Fundamentals, No Practice, No Test:
Go slow and peak at the right time
There is NO BIGGER truth than this- if you do not have the right fundamentals ,
you will lose out at the start itself. Some students start practising questions
and tests in the beginning itself & eventually get very low scores; there canno
t be a bigger disservice that you do to yourself than getting yourself demotivat
ed at the start. So, idea is to go slow at the start and ramp up gradually. A bi
gger task can be achieved if you could divide it into chunks and devour them one
at a time. For those who think they are good enough should also brush their fun
damentals with may be bigger chunks.
Know the nature of examination
When we are talking about fundamentals it is NOT ONLY ABOUT the various section
s and topics therein but it is also about the nature of examination one is prepari
ng for. There are hundreds of examinations and each one of them have their uniqu
e way of testing out aspirants. Thus, it is very important to know this nature and
prepare accordingly [remember even a war have rules]. If you don t go by what an
examination generally asks and prepare accordingly, you would lose time in solvi
ng unnecessary questions or topics; you could have used that lost time to study
something more relevant. These differences between the examinations could be the
sections involved, topics within each section, type of questions within topics,
level of questions, element of surprise (read new-types-getting-introduced). Ther
efore, it is of prime importance that one reads the brochure detailing the exami
nation- if you are already familiar with the examination pattern you should quic
kly glance through the FAQs to find out if there has been any new rule addition
in the current examination calendar.
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Befriend the GIANTS
The question is WHO ARE THESE GIANTS?
After training aptitude aspirants for years for various examinations we have n
oticed that there are two chapters in quantitative aptitude or numerical ability
who/which are actually GIANTS in the sense that their IMPACT on all other chapt
ers are huge and they are invariably very useful in calculations across almost a
ll the topics.
These two GIANTS are:
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It really helps to know Number System and Percentages in and out. Sometimes you look
at a number or percentage in a question and you can form maps in your mind even
before you have actually started solving it.
For example, looking at:
288, you can think of something that is twice the value of a perfect square [2*144
].
111, you can think that the factors are 3 and 37.
6446, you can form a map that this number is divisible by 11
1236432, you can think that it is a multiple of 16.
14.28%, you can imagine this to be a reciprocal equivalent of 1/7
83.33%, you can imagine this to be a reciprocal equivalent of 1/12
4913, you can think that it is a perfect cube
And so on and so forth !
Learning squares till 25, cubes till 20, reciprocal-percentage equivalence till
1/20 or 1/30, multiplication tables till 20, divisibility tests may seem to be H
ARD WORK at first but believe us when we say this HARD WORK learning can be exploit
ed to make it SMART WORK in the longer run!
Impact of the GIANTS on others
Talking about Percentages there is no denying the fact that it spans other importa
nt chapters like Profit & loss , Simple and Compound interest , Ratio and Proportion , Av
rages and Alligation , Time and Work , Time, Speed and Distance , Set Theory , Data-Inter
retation or passage based quantitative reasoning sections and so on. Permutation
and Combination is another dreaded chapter that relies on these two chapters fo
r making tougher questions.
More Than One Method
Take the LOGICAL path
Once you have worked out on the fundamentals and befriended the GIANTS, you must
adopt the strategy of solving the questions in more than one method. By that we
mean, we should try solving it in convention methods first that may involve for
mulae, basic concepts and so on and then try something weird or outrageous to solve
it in an altogether different way. When we say different we don t mean WRONG approac
h absolutely; we mean something that is sensible and logical route or which seem
ingly is obvious but is rarely taken by 95% of the aspirants or exam takers. Mor
e than 75% of the questions on this site mention multiple methods to solve ques
tions.
Form mind maps
Different ways of solving create brain maps or readymade maps that tell you in the e
xamination hall which one would be faster [you would agree that an average aptit
ude examination can be made tougher by examiner by timing it short] . So, do not
stop after solving any question just once even if it is of average difficulty.
You can also refer to the alternate solutions given in the resource materials an
d consolidate your learning.
Together we can
One very obvious method to practice to solve any question in more than one way i
s to study in groups. You can share your method with others and learn something
new from theirs; it is always a win-win situation.
[Some questions solved in more than one method for your perusal: Question 1, Quest
ion 2, Question 3, Question 4]
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Learn the law of Rejection

Why work on non-sensical options
In examinations with multiple choice answers, this is utmost important that you
learn the art of rejecting out options . These options which are rejected are actua
lly junk values that don t make sense given the conditions of the question.
Suppose that a question has 4 options and you mark any one option by fluke. What
will be the probability of getting that option as the actual answer? You will de
finitely speak out loud 25% . Think about the case where you could reject out 2 out
of 4 choices based upon the given conditions. Now, what is the probability of g
etting that option as the actual answer? Yes, it is 50% . Your success probability
for the question increases from 25% to 50% . Even if you are solving the last 2 quest
ions and time remaining is 2 minutes, you could atleast attempt those two questi
ons with 50% probability of getting the selected answers correct [assuming you rej
ected 2 out of those 4 given choices].
This must be a HABIT
We are not saying that you go on to reject 2 options out of 4 in all the questio
ns. Instead, we are recommending that you inculcate a habit of rejecting out opti
ons as an alternate way of solving in questions wherever possible. [Remember, in th
e 3rd law above we discussed the importance of attempting questions in more than
1 method. Thus, you can think rejecting out options to be one of the method.]
You can refer to some questions that have been solved on the site using this law
:
Reject_Out_Option_Q1
Reject_Out_Option_Q2
Reject_Out_Option_Q3
Reject_Out_Option_Q4
Caveat: DO NOT PRACTICE THE LAW OF REJECTION DIRECTLY IN THE EXAMINATION HALL. If
you have not practiced this before examination, this will not help you much ther
e!
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Level up Practice
What can be a confidence-booster in the long run?
This law has roots in the first law of fundamentals . Remember, we talked about lea
rning the nature of an examination. Once we have known and understood the nature , we
should start our practice of befriending the giants , solving questions in more t
han one method, rejecting out options. You would agree that question patterns ar
e different for each of the aptitude examinations. Also, there is a thing about di
fficulty level of the questions. GMAT questions might be one level up compared t
o the SAT questions. But most of the aptitude questions are based upon familiar
topics that are generally covered within standard Xth of schooling. So, we advis
e that once your basics are brushed up, you should try attempting difficult ques
tions for every topic. The idea is not to overwhelm you with unnecessary or diff
icult questions; but it is that solving tougher questions would prepare you well
for surprises in the examination hall. Also, you could get the confidence boost
er that since you are well able to solve tougher questions, chances are that no
easy or average level question will escape you.
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Simulate the actual conditions
Once you have concretized your learnings following your first 5 laws (or atleast
the first 4), you need to take mock tests similar in nature of the actual examina
tion you are aspiring for. These tests could be individual sectional tests or a
full-fledged one that involves all the sections. You can search in the internet
what test-series would work best for you in terms of number of tests included in t
he package, whether you can take test online or at a venue or some other import
ant parameter that you think is essential. Once you have taken a test, you need
to spend enough time to try solving every question that you could not solve bef
ore referring to the solution. If you had solved a problem correctly, you would
also like to learn about any alternate method of solving if your method was differ
ent while solving it during the exam or test.
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Some sectional tests that have been made available here:
Test 1- Remainder Based Questions
Test 2- Average Based Questions
Test 3- Ratio and Proportion Based Questions
Test 4- Alligation-Weighted Average Based Questions
Test 5- Profit and Loss Based Questions
More test links will be made live soon; so bookmark this page for updates!
Enjoy the Ride or you will
Although this has been pushed to the last but it is equally important to enjoy t
he entire preparation period. Also, if you really do not take a break in between
your preparation, you will not be able to peak at the right time. We do not wan
t to preach on the significance of this but we must underline that we would not
be able to rejuvenate and perform our best- who knows you might stumble upon a n
ew idea/method to solve a certain kind of question.
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Please do share your feedback and let us know if you also have some golden rules t
hat have worked wonders for you; you would like others to gain from your insights !!!