Prep Material CCAT Prep

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Test Strategy

https://av-krishnan.medium.com/ccat-wrap-up-bonus-section-99e581ad3dd1

Many of the questions will be quite easy, but out of 50 questions, there will be 4 or 5 questions which will be time sinks and can derail you. To excel in the test, you should learn to recognize these questions, and move quickly forward.

Having a targeted preparation for the test will help you by:

1. Familiarizing you with exactly what question types are involved, how many types each is asked, and where they appear.
2. Sharpening your brain by revising basic mathematical, verbal and mental aptitude concepts which you may not have used in a while.
3. Subjecting you to a similar high stress environment as the actual test.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Philippines/comments/hsthq1/can_you_really_pass_criteria_cognitive_aptitude/

1. Practice exam (use of photographic memory, or question familiarity, this may lessen the average time, doesn’t employ analytical thinking)
2. Use a calculator, your phone to search google, or notes (this may lessen the average time, doesn’t employ analytical thinking)
3. Ask for direct answers in a forum or group
4. Set/Reset browser’s session storage (if timing is browser session-based)
5. Adjust your system clock (if timing is using system clock)
6. Create 2 accounts, one dummy using VPN so not to detect your IP/MAC/Location, one real account. Start with dummy account, record all the questions, do a research, answer offline. Next, use your real account, same question, same answer. (Considering that same position/job applied)

Break down of questions

Maths (16)

• Unitary Method, Percentages, Fractions and combinations of these (8)
• Comparison of numbers (1)
• Problems based on Tables, Graphs or Charts (Line, Bar or Pie), based on addition, subtraction, averages or comparisons (1)
• Average (2)
• Weighted Averages (1)
• Algebra (1)
• Permutations / Combinations / Probability (2)

Verbal Reasoning (14)

• Analogies (5)
• Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate words (7)
• Opposites (2)

Spatial Reasoning (11)

• Series completion with shapes or symbols (7)
• Find the odd man out in a given set of shapes or symbols (4)

Logical Reasoning (9)

• Given two assertions (statements), does the third assertion follow? (3)
• Given two sets of strings (letters, numbers and other characters), determine if they are identical (3)
• Number series (1)
• Letter series (1)

Math

Unitary Method

Q1: If a factory produces 15 cars per hour, how many cars can it produce in eight hours? Q2: A man can chop 24 logs in 3 hours. How long will it take him to chop 56 logs? Q3: A magazine sells for 75 cents. How much will it cost to buy seven magazines? Q4: It takes a machine 45 minutes to make a part. How long will it take to make 9 parts? Q5: An electrician requires 2.5 metres of wire to electrify a room. How much wire will he need to electrify 30 rooms? Q6: A juicemaker uses 3.5 ounces of concentrate to make a gallon of juice. How much concentrate is needed to make 200 gallons of juice? Q7: A customer service rep handles 7.5 calls in one hours, while her colleague handles 8 calls per hour. If both the reps start working at the same time, and each spends 60 hours handling calls over a two week period, how many calls will they handle in total?

Q-1: If a factory produces 16 lawn mowers per hour, how many lawn mowers can it produce in seven hours? Q-2: If a student completes 12 courses in one year, how many courses does he complete in six years? Q-3: An artist can draw 18 sketches in 2 hours. How long will it take her to draw 63 sketches? Q-4: Mrs. Brown can milk 24 cows in 2 hours. How many cows can she milk in 9 hours?

Percentage

link

Memorise

You should have the following conversions at your fingertips: 5% = 1/20 = 0.05 10% = 1/10 = 0.1 20% = ⅕ = 0.2 25% = ¼ = 0.25 40% = ⅖ = 0.4 50% = ½ = 0.5 60% = ⅗ = 0.6 75% = ¾ = 0.75 80% = ⅘ = 0.8 100% = 1

Q1: What percentage is 7 of 35? Q2: 15 is 60% of what number?

Hack

Q2: 15 is 60% of what number? 60% = 60/100 = ⅗ Hence, the required number is 15 * (5/3) = 5 * 5 = 25

Q3: A home goods store sells 175 rugs in the first quarter of the fiscal year. If it sells 20% more rugs in the next quarter, how many rugs does it sell in the second quarter?

1.2 x 175 or 6/5 x 175

Q4: An automobile parts factory placed an order worth $10,000forrawmaterials.Theygotadiscountof18\ast \ast Q5\ast \ast :Astorehasasalewhereallhatsaresoldatadiscountof35$40, how many hats could be bought at the sale price if a shopper spent $390? Q6: An elite army unit only accepts 5% of applicants. How many applicants should be processed if the unit plans to accept 25 people?

Q7: If a university accepts 40% of students that apply for entrance, and 75% of admitted applicants join, what percentage of total applicants actually join?

Q-1: A hat store sells 900 hats in its first year. If the number of hats it sells in its second year is 50% higher, how many hats will it sell in its second year?

Q-2: A new car is purchased for $24,000. The value of the car depreciates by 20% in the first year, and by 15% in the second year. What is the value of the car after 2 years?

Q-3: 48 is what percentage of 192?

25%, 30%, 45%, 50%, 60%

Q-4: 24 is 12% of what number?

36, 288, 200, 20, 400

Q-5: A long distance race begins with 64 runners from Team A and 64 runners from Team B. 20 runners from Team A and 8 runners from Team B do not finish the race. What percentage of the runners who finish the race are from Team B?

52%, 56%, 60%, 64%, 68%

Largest Smallest number

Simple I guess

Combinations and Probability (Chance)

Q1: A furniture shop sells three types of dining tables and four types of chairs. If Jim wants to buy one dining table, and some chairs of one type, in how many ways can he make the purchase?

Q-1: A restaurant offers diners a choice of three entrees, two soups, four main courses and two desserts. In how many ways can a diner eat, if he has a complete meal? Q-2: A child has to choose three toys in the following way: one marble out of five differently colored marbles, one stuffed toy out of three different stuffed toys and one ball out of four differently shaped balls. In how many ways can he choose the three toys? - 60 Q-3: A senior in college needs to select four optional subjects for study in her final semester. She can choose from four subjects offered by the Mathematics department, two by the Physics department, three by the Chemistry department and two by the Humanities department, but she has to choose exactly one subject from each department. In how many ways can she make her selection?

A couple has two children. The first child could be a boy or a girl. Independent of this, the second child could be a boy or girl. So, the two children being boys or girls are independent events. A dice is rolled two times in succession. The two rolls are independent, because neither roll depends on the other. In the case of independent events, the probability of two events happening= product of individual probabilities

Q4: A couple has two children 5 years apart. What is the probability that both are girls? Q5: A dice is rolled twice in succession. What is the probability that a 6 is rolled both times? Q6: There is a 20% chance that a person is left handed. There is a 25% chance that a person has blue eyes. What is the chance that a person selected at random is left handed and has blue eyes?

Title

Remember to x 100

Q7: An estimated 30% of all people in a particular town consider football to be their favorite sport. If two people are selected at random from this town, what are the chances that NEITHER of these people consider football to be their favorite sport?

Q-1: On his birthday, Mark distributes one sweet each to his 60 classmates. He distributes 15 Snickers, 15 Mars Bars, 20 Hersheys and 10 Cadburys at random. His best friend in the class is Zack. What is the probability that Zack gets a Hershey’s chocolate?

Q-2: A basket contains 10 red, 20 blue, 30 green and 40 violet coloured toys. A child takes out a toy at random. What is the probability that the selected toy is not green?

Q-3: It is estimated that there is a 10% chance that any TV program will be delayed. If a person watches two TV programs, what are the chances that BOTH TV programs will be delayed?

Weighted Averages

link

Last section

Q1: Suppose that in an election, voter preference is sharply divided along religious lines. 40% of people belonging to religion R1 will vote for Candidate A, the rest will vote for Candidate B. 70% of people belonging to religion R2 will vote for Candidate A, the rest for Candidate B. Which of the following represents the lowest percentage of voters that must belong to religion R1 on election day, in order that Candidate B wins the election?

Solution

Answer: Let the number of people belonging to Religion R1 = r1. Let the number of people belonging Religion R2 = r2. 40% of r1, and 70% of r2 vote for A. Hence, number of votes for A = 0.4r1 + 0.7r2 Similarly, votes for B = 0.6r1 + 0.3r2 For B to win, 0.6r1 + 0.3r2 > 0.4r1 + 0.7r2 Or, 0.2r1 > 0.4r2 Or, r1 > 2r2 This is the condition needed for B to win. Now, we have to find the percentage of r1, and this is equal to [(r1) / (r1 + r2)] * 100 Now r1 must be greater than 2r2, so at a minimum, r1 = 2r2 Hence, the bolded part becomes [(2r2) / (2r2 + r2)] * 100 = (2r2/3r2) * 100 = 66.67% But, r1 must actually be greater than this. So the smallest value of r1, greater than 66.67%, in the answer choices, is 67%, and this is the correct answer.

Q-1: A company has white collar and blue collar employees. There is a plan to build either a library or a gym. Employees have voted to show their preference. 20% of white collar employees vote for the gym, and others for the library. 40% of blue collar employees vote for the library and others for the gym. What should be the minimum percentage of white collar employees in order that the library gets built?

Logical Reasoning:

Assertions

Q: Assume the first two statements are true. Is the final statement: 1)True, 2) False, or 3) Uncertain based on the information provided?

Linda is poorer than Lynette. Lana is wealthier than Lynette. Linda is poorer than Lana. A. True, B. False C. Uncertain

Q: All pigeons have white feathers. Cuddles has white feathers. Cuddles is a pigeon.

Q:All sales managers have over five years of sales experience. Harlan is a sales manager. Harlan has over five years of sales experience.

Q-2: Assume the first two statements are true. Is the final statement: 1)True, 2) False, or 3) Uncertain based on the information provided?

Every employee at Company X is bilingual. Courtney is bilingual. Courtney works at Company X.

Q-3: Assume the first two statements are true. Is the final statement: 1)True, 2) False, or 3) Uncertain based on the information provided?

Wes lives west of Libby Ivan lives west of Wes Libby lives west of Ivan

Number Series

Some other popular rules are:

Types of rules

1. Add some fixed number to get the next number in the series. In the example above, this number was 2, but it could also be 3, 4, 5, 6 etc. For example: 2, 5, 8, 11, 14, ? (add 3, Answer: 17) 3, 8, 13, 18, 23, ? (add 5, Answer: 28) 4, 14, 24, 34, 44, ? (add 10, Answer: 54)

2. The difference between consecutive numbers keeps increasing (by 1, 2 etc). For example: 1, 2, 4, 7, 11, 16, ? (the differences are 1, 2, 3, 4 etc, Answer: 16 + 6 = 22) 2, 3, 5, 9, 17, 33, ? (the differences are 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 etc, Answer: 33 + 32 = 65)

3. Each number is the sum of the two previous numbers: 2, 4, 6, 10, 16, 26, ? (2+4=6, 4+6=10 etc, Answer: 16 + 26 = 42)

4. The sequence could be a combination of two different operations, performed alternately. For example: 1, 5, 3, 15, 13, 65 … ? Here, we alternatively multiply by 5 and subtract 2: 1 * 5 = 5, 5–2 = 3, 3 * 5 = 15, 15–2 = 13 …. (Answer: 65–2 = 63)

5. Multiply each number by some number to get the next number: 1, 3, 9, 27, 81, …..? (Here, each number is multiplied by 3 to get the next number, Answer: 81 * 3 = 243. This is also a special case of 6# below, using successive powers of 3)

6. Powers of numbers: 1, 4, 9, 16, 25 … ? The numbers are 11, 22, 33, 44 etc, hence, the missing number is 6*6 = 36

Q-1: What would be the next number in the following series? 3 … 7 … 10 … 17 … 27 …?

Q-2: 31.8 What would be the next number in the following series? 2 … 4 … 6 … 10 … 16 … ?

Q-3: What would be the next number in the following series? 12 … 13 … 18 … 19 … 24 … 25 … ?

Q-4: What would be the next number in the following series? 0 … 3 … 8 … 15 … 24 … 35 … ?

Letter Series

Prep

NOTE: You should keep the letters a to z written out neatly on a sheet of paper prior to appearing in the CCAT. This will help you spot patterns, and make calculations faster.

Q-1: What would be the next group of letters in the following series?

xeb, vfd, thg, rki, …?

pol, pgl, sol, pnl, pno

Q-2: What would be the next group of letters in the following series?

udkm … tejm … sfim … rghm

qigm, qhfm, qhgm, rgfm, phgm

Q-3: What would be the next group of letters in the following series?

wgfi … yfgm … aehq … cdiu … ?

fchy, fbkz, ecjy, ecky, ebjz

Spatial Reasoning

Series completion with shapes or symbols

link - Seems straight forward

Types

The questions will be of two types:

1. Three or four figures will be given. You will need to figure out what the next figure will be.
2. A set of figures will be given in 3 rows and 3 columns, with one of these figures missing (i.e. 9–1 = 8 figures). You will have to figure out what the missing figure is.

Which one does not belong?

Q1: Which of the following does not belong?

Q2: Which of the following does not belong? Q3: Which of the following does not belong?

Verbal Reasoning

link

Verbal Reasoning: Analogies

Note

identify and articulate a relationship between the words in the question, in this case PHONE and CALL. The relationship is often referred to as a “bridge”.

Example

PHONE is to CALL as …

1. THUNDER is to RAIN
2. LAMP is to DARK
3. CHAIR is to WOODEN
4. KNIFE is to CUT
5. WINDOW is to SHUT

In this example, we can form the bridge: A PHONE is used to make a CALL Which of the answer options would fit into the same relationship, or bridge? The only one is the fourth one: A KNIFE is used to make a CUT.

Sentence Completion

Strategy

With more complex sentences, a more formal approach may be needed:

1. Skim over the sentence to broadly understand what it is trying to convey
2. Pay attention to what the mood of the sentence (positive/negative, optimistic/pessimistic, congratulatory/accusative etc) is
3. Pay attention to some keywords: although, despite, and, not, even though, however, without, not even etc. These tend to give clues of what the missing word could be.
4. Now, try to fill in the blanks on your own, and see if any of the answer choices match yours
5. Or, try to now fill in the blanks with the provided choices and see what fits best

Q1: The dedication and ______________ exhibited by the athlete as she came back from a serious injury was an inspiration to her teammates. Options:

1. Independence
2. Determination
3. Insubordination
4. Elation
5. Perfection

Opposites

Q. Choose the word that is most nearly OPPOSITE to the word in capital letters.

ERSATZ

1. exorbitant
2. artificial
3. reconditioned
4. genuine
5. exaggerated

Strategy

It obviously helps if you know what the word (or phrase) in the question, here “ERSATZ”, means. But what if you don’t? In that case, look for two answer options that are opposite of each other. If there exists such a pair, it is likely (but not always necessary) that one of them will be the answer. In this question, the options “artificial” and “genuine” are the opposite of each other. You can just guess one of these and move. Incidentally, “Ersatz” means “fake” or “artificial”, so its opposite would be “genuine”, which is the correct answer.