Data interpretation: Study the way it is to be studied

This is a vital section which forms a part of all competitive exams like XAT and CAT and is seen as being influential in getting admitted to various B schools. It also helps to solve day to day problems.There are two perspectives on this section. One, it is too easy for anyone to crack. The other being that sufficient practice and training is required to do this section well.

It is but safe to proceed with the latter perspective as that would help determine how strong a candidate is in this section. It also necessitates development of necessary skills to do the section well. The aspects that are important to ease the data interpretation section are as follows:

• Structuring cognitive thinking abilities and application of the same in a consistent manner to arrive at solutions;
• Techniques devoted towards achieving the right results and simplifying procedures;
• Learning to look for interpretative trends instead of actionable insights;

Once you disintegrate the question, try doing multiple mental calculations to enhance the reliability of your cognitive thinking abilities. This will help you divide larger calculations into smaller portions. Have smart techniques in place while solving problems that eliminate routine and cumbersome computations to save time and be accurate.

As you solve more problems, you develop your imagination and the knack of working your mind the right way for about 2 minutes before starting to attempt them. The more you practice there is higher probability of avoiding the same mistakes that you make and thinking in an error-free way.

Visual reading: A scan through the question will reveal what needs to be eliminated and what can be taken into account.

Approximation: It is important to approximate certain details as getting too close to the accurate results would waste time and effort.

Practice is irreplaceable: Consistent practice is required and cannot be replaced by any shortcuts. Apart from skills and natural abilities, strategies and systematic techniques do help solving numerical problems in this section and maximize one’s performance. These strategies also need to be kept in check:

• Make your self used to the questions as much as possible.
• Cover all angles to a problem and eliminate them one by one
• Lack of enough support to logically make sense to your guesses and interpretation will always take you in the wrong direction.
• Select the right pattern of data to create a path to the solution.

These might seem like very general strategies on the face of it but data interpretation does warrant the use of permutations and combinations to get to the right solution. All the best to all CAT, Xat and Nmat aspirants.

Chandrakala, a content writer based in Collegesearch, a leading education portal that has been setup with an aim of simplifying the information the students need to decide on which college to study.