Dealing with the Quant-Phobia?

Do numbers scare you? Do you have nightmares about freakishly difficult sums? The kind where you have numbers chasing after you while you stand rooted to your spot in terror waiting for them to gobble you up? Is that the case? Do you take a look at the quant section of the current mock test you are doing and draw a complete blank? If it so happens that you belong to the class of people who are phobic about numbers, the miserly 34 marks that CAT accords to quant might seem to be insurmountable. So what do you do in such situations? Leave out the entire section? Mark answers randomly? (If you do follow this particular strategy or whatever you call it, please reconsider). Or do you sit down in the company of a number books everyday trying to figure out the best way of solving that one elusive question you can’t solve no matter how hard you try? What should you do when your phobia about numbers threatens to undermine your entire preparation? Pause. Get rid of the big fat books for a minute and think. Look at the past years CAT papers. Are the quant questions given there actually that difficult? Do they actually constitute the stuff that nightmares are made of? No. The kind of calculation that is needed for CAT is not rocket science. They do not test your knowledge of difficult formulae or elaborate steps. What they do test is your skill at solving simple sums in the shortest possible time period. However, the actual questions are not going to be that difficult. So, relax. Now, after you have gathered your wits and stemmed the rising panic, the next step is to form a plan of action. Figure out the broad heads from which you can possibly get questions. For instance, Simple and Compound Interest, Percentage, Profit Loss and Discount, Speed Distance and Time and the like. This is the important part. Once you are done with this, all you need to do is to practice a few sums from these sections every day while timing yourself. The more you practice, the lesser time it will take. Yes, it is as easy as it sounds. The more comfortable you are with numbers, the lesser time you will take to solve the questions. Now to make you comfortable with quant section, first try to make yourself comfortable with numbers. THE CAR NUMBER GAME This is the easiest way to increase your speed in basic calculation. Now, we all know getting stuck in traffic is bad, and this is a way out of it. The rules are simple: 1) Find a car – cars…They are everywhere, no probs here. 2) Read the number- It must be four digit and must not contain zero 3) Make it zero- Perform any mathematical operation on the four separate digits (except the stupid stuff like multiplying and dividing by zero) TO MAKE THE RESULT ZERO. E.g. a) 6428 6+4=10 2+8=10 10-10=0 b) 3282 3-2=1 Cube root of 8=2 2/2 =1 1-1=0 Do it to as many car numbers as you find (mentally, and fast-10 seconds and you lose). Play it with friends to see who wins. By the time the year is over, you’ll be performing basic mathematical operations faster. Basically, do anything to complete your daily quota of number crunching. Do not spend inordinate amount of time practicing quant because it fuels your phobia. Do it if you feel it is necessary. Study hard. But more importantly, study smart!