• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • CAT Online Coaching
  • CAT Coaching in Chennai
  • Bharath’s Reading List
  • CAT Preparation
    • How to Prepare for CAT Exam
      • How to Prepare for CAT Quantitative Aptitude
      • How to prepare for CAT DILR
      • How to prepare for CAT VARC
    • 2IIM’s CAT Questions
    • CAT Syllabus
    • CAT Previous Year Paper
    • What is CAT Exam all about?
  • 2IIM CAT Preparation Reviews

2IIM CAT Preparation Blog

The Best CAT Online Coaching

Best Online CAT Coaching

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Phone
  • YouTube
You are here: Home / CAT Preparation Strategy / CAT preparation strategy: Crossing the 95th percentile in DILR

CAT preparation strategy: Crossing the 95th percentile in DILR6 min read

April 9, 2021 By Rajesh 6 min read

CAT preparation strategy: Crossing the 95th percentile in DILR

CAT preparation strategy is important, not just to have a sense of where a candidate stands, vis-a-vis where they have to be at a particular timeframe. The strategy is not just limited to an overall preparation plan, but also extends itself to specifics pertaining to each and every section of the CAT.

This is the third article of our series on ‘How to’ score 9x.xx percentile in a section or at the CAT examination. Check out our articles on the other two sections, by clicking on the following links:

  1. How to score 90+ percentile in Quant?
  2. Scoring 95+ percentile in VARC
Visit online.2iim.com

CAT preparation strategy for DILR: The short answer

The simplest and most straightforward answer to getting to the high 90s in DILR is Puzzle Selection. We have talked exhaustively about selecting the right puzzles in this section every now and then.

How do you go about selecting the right puzzles in CAT DILR?

There is a catch, though!

If you are just getting started on your CAT DILR preparation, how would you know which puzzles to select already? And, that is a valid question.

So, if you are starting off now – remember, NOW is always a better time start – or are planning to begin your tryst with DILR, start from the absolute basics.

What are the absolute basics?

Good question. We are attuned to the idea that basics in Quant refer to the Arithmetic topics – such as Percentages, Profit and Loss, Simple Interest and Compound Interest, Averages, Ratio and Proportion, Mixtures and Alligations, Pipes and Cisterns, Work and Time, Races, Speed Time and Distance, etc. – but what exactly are we talking about when we say ‘basics in DILR?’

The template puzzles

Time Management & DILR: The What and The How
CAT preparation strategy for DILR: Time management and puzzle selection are crucial

Lay your hands on as many template puzzles as you can. These can range from rudimentary Bar Graphs, Line Graphs, and Pie Charts, to concepts involving Multiple Graphs, Word Problems, Grid Puzzles, Sequences and Arrangements, Math Puzzles, Visualizations, and Patterns.

Is that it?

Of course, not. You can also fiddle around with puzzles like SuDoKu, 2048, Kakuro, Chess, and whatever else piques your interest. The idea if to get yourself trained to thinking logically and about the different possibilities that you might not otherwise end up thinking about.

The Brain and The Mind: 5 Puzzle Games that boost CAT Prep
Check this fabulous article out for a primer on some of the puzzle games that will help your CAT preparation strategy for DILR

This is the first step to begin with. Once that is done, what do you do to follow it up with?

The next step for your DILR preparation

Goes without saying that the 2IIM’s course contains 180+ lessons where the puzzles are pegged exactly at the level of difficulty of the actual CAT. Even otherwise, like we keep saying quite often, the actual past year CAT papers are your go-to places, especially for DILR. Solve as many of them as possible.

Remember no question can come as close to an actual DILR puzzle from a CAT paper. And, there is no better proof to that fact than looking at the CAT 2020 papers, be it Slot 1, Slot 2 or Slot 3.

Alright I get the flow of this. But if everybody is going to practice these questions, what is the difference?

That is the right question to ask. The crucial differentiator that separates a 70th percentiler from a 95th percentiler in CAT DILR is the puzzle selection, which we have highlighted already upfront.

CAT preparation strategy for DILR and puzzle selection – My example

The puzzle selection as a factor is not just about choosing the “easiest” or the “most obvious” DILR sets. These are all subjective factors. This section depends upon who you are as a person, and what kinds of puzzles you naturally gravitate towards.

In my case, whenever I see a puzzle with multiple graphs supermiposed on one another, or a DI table with tons of numbers written all over the place, I run for my life.

On the contrary, the kinds of puzzles that work for me are the ones with arrangements and sequencing – the ones that talk about 6 students, 3 teachers and 2 subjects, and the ranks each of the students got, etc.

What should you avoid doing when it comes to CAT DILR?

Do not over-strategize. It is not worth poring over the different puzzle sets and pondering about whether to do two sets of 6 questions each, OR three sets of 4 questions each to ensure you get a good score. This dilemma and dilly-dallying will cost you big time in crossing the sectional cut-offs.

What should you do?

Find your strengths, pick up the puzzles that you find easy, stick to them, and finish them off. Be honest with yourself when you zero in on a puzzle.

If you are looking at a detailed, granular schedule, not just for DILR but for CAT 2021 at an overall level, head here.

Sign up, HERE, to try out the best online CAT course in the country.

Visit online.2iim.com

Stay safe, prepare hard, and best wishes for CAT.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • WhatsApp

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • Best Books for MBA – Part 1
  • Reading List | This Week | June 5th week 2022
  • How to Finance your MBA?
  • Lessons to Learn during MBA
  • CAT Mock Exams: Tips to Remember

Categories

  • Announcements (37)
  • B-School Selection Process (9)
  • CAT 2020 (33)
  • CAT 2021 (81)
  • CAT 2022 (11)
  • CAT DILR (19)
    • Data Interpretation For CAT (4)
    • Logical Reasoning For CAT (6)
  • CAT Gyan (93)
  • CAT Live Sessions (2)
    • CAT Meetup (1)
  • CAT Preparation Strategy (189)
    • Achievers talk (6)
    • Announcements (29)
  • CAT Quantitative Aptitude (30)
  • CAT Reading List (138)
    • Economy Business (1)
    • Fiction Others (1)
    • Humans Culture (2)
    • Politics Law Crime (2)
    • Psychology & Philosophy (2)
    • Reading List – This Week (127)
    • Technology Industry Science (2)
  • CAT Verbal Ability (18)
    • CAT Reading Comprehension (10)
  • CAT WAT GDPI (17)
  • GMAT (2)
  • IIFT 2022-2024 (1)
  • IPMAT (3)
  • MAH-CET Preparation (1)
  • mba (27)
    • rural management (1)
  • MICAT (1)
  • Mock CATs (5)
  • NMAT (3)
  • PGDBA Examination (2)
  • SNAP 2021 (1)
  • Top B-schools (5)
  • Uncategorized (12)
  • XAT 2021 (4)
  • XAT 2022 (2)
  • XAT Preparation (10)
    • Announcements (3)

Archives

  • July 2022 (4)
  • June 2022 (22)
  • May 2022 (17)
  • April 2022 (9)
  • March 2022 (4)
  • February 2022 (6)
  • January 2022 (4)
  • December 2021 (1)
  • November 2021 (4)
  • October 2021 (12)
  • September 2021 (14)
  • August 2021 (32)
  • July 2021 (31)
  • June 2021 (22)
  • May 2021 (9)
  • April 2021 (5)
  • March 2021 (14)
  • February 2021 (15)
  • January 2021 (21)
  • December 2020 (19)
  • November 2020 (8)
  • October 2020 (14)
  • September 2020 (33)
  • August 2020 (31)
  • July 2020 (31)
  • June 2020 (12)
  • May 2020 (9)
  • April 2020 (8)
  • March 2020 (12)
  • February 2020 (10)
  • January 2020 (14)
  • December 2019 (5)
  • November 2019 (5)
  • October 2019 (7)
  • September 2019 (11)
  • August 2019 (6)
  • June 2017 (1)
  • October 2015 (1)
  • August 2015 (1)
  • January 2011 (1)

Follow Us!

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Phone
  • YouTube

Footer

The heights by great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight,
but they, while their companions slept,
were toiling upward in the night.

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Copyright © 2019. All rights reserved by 2iim.com - A Fermat Education initiative. Privacy policy | Terms & Conditions