Mathematical Reasoning: Twelve questions will be given, and you must answer any ten. Purchase any three guide books. Don’t go to sleep at night without practicing some mathematics. Don’t rely on shortcuts for math; show every step in detail. Make sure no side notes or relevant information is left out. Pay attention to small details; for instance, placing a semicolon before the third bracket when writing side notes. With proper preparation in mathematics, scoring 49 out of 50 is not very difficult. If you get even one mark less, you’ll be among the rarest of unfortunate candidates. With a bit of thoughtful study, you don’t need to be a science student to get full marks in mathematics.
Simple Interest: Previous years’ questions, guide books. Answer simple interest questions at the very end.
Algebraic expressions, algebraic formulas, factorization, linear and multi-dimensional equations, linear and multi-dimensional inequalities, solution determination, mensuration, trigonometry: Previous years’ questions, guide books. If you wish, you can solve the relevant chapters from 9th-10th grade general mathematics.
Unitary method, averages, percentages, compound interest, LCM, GCD, ratio and proportion, profit and loss, lines, angles, triangles, circle-related theorems, Pythagorean theorem, corollaries: Previous years’ questions, guide books
Indices and logarithms, arithmetic and geometric progressions, coordinate geometry, set theory, Venn diagrams, number theory: Guide books and relevant chapters from 9th-10th grade general mathematics
Permutations and combinations: Guide books, relevant chapters from 11th grade algebra
Probability: Guide books, relevant chapters from 12th grade discrete mathematics
Mental Ability: The questions in this section are naturally meant to be somewhat tricky. You must keep a cool head, read the questions carefully, and answer with full concentration. The questions in this section will be easy—so easy that they’re harder than difficult ones. Buy 3-4 sets of guide books, along with 3-4 IQ test books. Keep in mind that you won’t get full marks in this section, and prepare accordingly.
Verbal Reasoning: A question will be given with some convoluted language. There might be a statement related to history, geography, literature, science, or any other subject, from which you’ll need to figure out which part of the statement is missing. Common sense, grammar, and language skills will be useful here.
Abstract Reasoning: Some diagrams will be given where you’ll need to carefully observe the pattern of change in an object or idea and show the next position of that object or idea.
Space Relations: Questions about the intermediate or final position when an object moves in different directions or changes position; or qualitative or quantitative questions about the position of letters or numbers in various examples.
Numerical Ability: This is mainly mathematics, but of a slightly different kind. You’ll need to find missing numbers in a series/chart/diagram. Simple math and common sense will be useful for this.
Mechanical Reasoning: Some pictures or diagrams will be given. Questions will be asked by writing something about them. There can be two types of questions: simple math that can be done mentally, or questions that can be answered by imagining different positions of the diagrams.
Guide books, IQ test books, and regular practice by searching Google in English for ‘verbal/abstract/mechanical reasoning/space relations/numerical ability practice’ or ‘verbal/abstract/mechanical reasoning/space relations/numerical ability test’ and solving problems on various websites. Questions in this section are not supposed to be ‘common,’ so there’s no alternative to extensive practice if you want to do well.
Spelling and Language: Some words or sentences with incorrect spelling, grammar, or punctuation will be given. You’ll need to correct them. Or you’ll need to form meaningful words or sentences using some jumbled letters or words. Your preparation in English grammar will also be useful here. Regular practice with guide books, IQ test books, and various online tests will be helpful.
This article was published in Prothom Alo.
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