SlmCA1 4: 1he LxperL's 1ake

1LS1 CvL8vlLW
SlmCA1 4 would have been a nlce breaLher for mosL LesL-Lakers. 1he cuL-offs reflecL Lhe facL LhaL
Lhls would have been Lhe besL ouLlng for mosL LesL-Lakers and many would have felL good aL Lhelr
score movlng lnLo a hlgher brackeL. As we had sald earller, you wlll encounLer papers of varylng
dlfflculLy llke Lhe varlous sloLs ln Lhe CA1 and your Lask wlll be Lo clear Lhe cuL-offs each and every
Llme.
SecLlon Level of ulfflculLy CuL-off
CA-ul
vA-L8
Cverall
Medlum 21
Medlum 28
Medlum 66
1LS1-1AklnC S18A1LC?
!"#$%&%#%&'( *+%&%",( - .#%# /$%(0+0(%#%&1$
SlmCA1 4 was relaLlvely easler because Lhere were more solvable quesLlons. 8uL only Lhose who
scored above 100 were able Lo fully explolL each and every easy quesLlon ln Lhe paper.
Cne of Lhe ways of maklng a paper easy ls by glvlng a few free hlLs from ArlLhmeLlc. We LhoughL
whaL beLLer Lhan a run-of-Lhe-mlll &L problem Lo sLarL off Lhe LesL. We had expecLed LhaL Lhls
quesLlon would easlly be aLLempLed by more Lhan 90 of Lhe sLudenLs wlLh a very hlgh sLrlke raLe.
8uL guess whaL? Cnly 61 aLLempLed lL and even surprlslngly only 37 goL lL rlghL. ln effecL, [usL
abouL 1 ln 3 LesL LesL-Lakers goL lL rlghL.
1he problem was hackneyed-!"# %&'# ()* *+%"(,#%! %"(-.##-#/ %#))% &! 0(%! -/+0# 12! '&.#% &
-/(3+! (3 456 17 2%+,8 3&2)!7 9#+8"!%: ;3 "# 9&,!% !( '&.# & -/(3+! (3 <46 "(9 '20" *+%0(2,!
%"(2)* "# (33#/=
8y now all of you should be ln Lhe hablL of uslng 100 lnsLead of 'x' as Lhe cosL prlce Lo solve mosL
& L problems. So lf 100 ls Lhe C., Lhen 123 ls Lhe S. slnce he ls maklng a proflL of 23. A proflL of
12 means an S. of 112 and a dlscounL of 13, 13 wlll be [usL over 10 of 123 (10 ls 12.3, movlng
one declmal Lo Lhe lefL) and only one opLlon ls beLween 10 and 11 . lL ls SlmCA1 4, and by now
such quesLlons should be solved ln less Lhan a mlnuLe.
ln one of Lhe precedlng LxperL's 1akes we had dlscussed noL leavlng quesLlons based on Lhelr
Loplcs. 8uL sLlll only abouL 48 aLLempLed Lhe logs quesLlon(#3), lL was a slLLer wlLh more Lhan
89 geLLlng lL rlghL. So, all of you who sLlll Lhlnk logs are dlfflculL and dld noL aLLempL Lhls quesLlon
should sLralghLaway open your 88Ms and go Lhrough Lhe chapLer on logarlLhms.
1he oLher easy seL LhaL should have been solved was Lhe 29-30 seL, only 23 of Lhe LesL-Lakers
aLLempLed lL, wlLh less Lhan half geLLlng Lhem rlghL. We surmlse LhaL Lhe reason ls LhaL Lhe seL ls
noL a very sLandard ul seL. 1hls ls whaL makes Lhe seL a very good LesL of your lnLrlnslc ablllLy Lo
undersLand lnformaLlon and make deducLlons. So Lhose who answered boLh Lhe quesLlons
correcLly have Lhelr baslc reasonlng skllls ln flne feLLle.
SlmCA1 4 1he LxperL's 1ake
A problem LhaL deserves speclal menLlon ls # 27. A classlc CA1 problem LhaL looks llke a Lough
MaLh problem buL ln reallLy [usL LesLs loglcal reasonlng.
> +% & ,&!2/&) ,2'1#/ 9+!" & %2' +!% *+8+!% &% ?: ;3 <@
<?
A > A <@
<B
C !"#, "(9 '&,7 D&)2#% 0&, >
"&D#=
lf Lhe number ls a 2-dlglL number Lhen lL can be elLher 21, 12 or 30. lf lL ls 3-dlglL number lL can be
201,210, 102, 120, 300, 111.
So Lhe number of values n can Lake depends on Lhe number of dlglLs. 10
1
has 2 dlglLs, 10
2
has 3
dlglLs.... 10
13
wlll have 14 dlglLs, so n wlll have 14 dlglLs.
n can elLher be a number
-
wlLh Lhree 1s: sLarL wlLh 1 and have Lhe remalnlng Lwo 1s ln any of Lhe remalnlng 13 places, Lwo
places ouL of 13 can be chosen ln 13C
2
= 13*12/2 = 78 numbers
-
wlLh a 2 & 1: sLarL wlLh 2 and have Lhe 1 ln any of Lhe 13 remalnlng places = 13 numbers , sLarL
wlLh 1 and have Lhe 2 ln any of Lhe 13 remalnlng places = 13 numbers ,
-
or a number sLarLlng wlLh 3 followed by 13 zeroes.
So, LoLal number of values n can assume are 78 +13+13+1 = 103
2(03#4 *3&4&%5 - 617&8#4 9(#:1$&$7
1here ls a quesLlon we llke llke Lo ourselves here, why are LesL-Lakers so Lrlgger happy when lL
comes Lo verbal AblllLy? Some sLrange profllgacy affllcLs mosL LesL-Lakers as far as vA ls concerned.
MosL LesL-Lakers are happy aLLempLlng even lf Lhey are noL qulLe sure of why Lhe opLlon Lhey have
chosen ls correcL. ln SlmCA1 4, on average, LesL-Lakers aLLempLed 2 ouL of 3 vA quesLlons and goL 1
ouL of 2 quesLlons correcL.
Somehow LesL-Lakers have a Lendency Lo Lake more guesses ln Lhe vA secLlon. WhaL makes Lhem
do Lhls ls sLlll a mysLery, lL ls as lf when Lhey approach Lhe vA secLlon Lhey sLarL relylng more on
Lhelr guL raLher Lhan Lhelr braln. 1he Lwo ll8s, # 34 and # 33, for example, had some Lough words
ln Lhe opLlons and Lhe LexL lLself was noL very easy Lo undersLand. ?eL, 37 of Lhe LesL-Lakers
aLLempLed Lhem wlLh an accuracy of 20.
Cur advlce-when you do noL know Lhe meanlng of mosL words ln Lhe opLlons, please sklp and go
ahead Lo Lhe nexL quesLlon. !usL because you spend 1 mlnuLe readlng a quesLlon does noL mean
LhaL you have Lo somehow mark an answer. Also, lL makes a loL of sense Lo be open wlLh your vA
sLraLegy. lor example, Lhere ls no rule whlch says LhaL you MuS1 CompleLe Lhe 1heme. 70 of Lhe
LesL-Lakers aLLempLed boLh Lhe aragraph compleLlon quesLlons, wlLh only 21 accuracy.
Cood LesL-Laklng ls as much abouL avoldlng negaLlves as lL ls abouL scorlng. Lven when you are
caughL [usL beLween 2 opLlons, Lhere ls only a 30 chance of geLLlng lL rlghL. So when you flndlng lL
really dlfflculL Lo zero ln on an answer Lo a vA quesLlon, do noL guess, slnce Lhe odds are noL ln
favour of you geLLlng lL rlghL. Also, remember LhaL lnLelllgenL guesslng ls posslble only ln CA noL ln
vA.
SecLlon MusL-Solve CuesLlons
CA-ul
vA-L8
1, 2, 3, 4, 3, 6, 7, 8, 10, 13, 24, 26, 29, 30
31, 32, 33, 39, 42, 43, 44, 43, 46, 31, 32, 37, 38
SlmCA1 4 1he LxperL's 1ake
MlSCLLLAn?
We LhoughL we should puL LogeLher a sorL of a llsL of uos and uon'Ls of LesL-Laklng LhaL you should
Lry Lo lncorporaLe lnLo your prep.
1PL 1Ln CCMMAnuMLn1S
l. ?ou shall noL puL pen on paper unless requlred, Lhe mlnd ls mlghLler Lhan Lhe pen.
ll. ?ou shall noL leave a quesLlon based on lLs lengLh.
lll. ?ou shall noL leave a quesLlon based on lLs area.
lv. ?ou shall noL Lry Lo flll up empLy ul-L8 Lables wlLhouL looklng aL Lhe whaL Lhe quesLlon ls
asklng.
v. ?ou shall noL read enLlre 8C passages Lwlce.
vl. ?ou shall noL make wlld guesses ln vA.
vll. ?ou shall noL mulLlply and dlvlde uslng meLhods LaughL ln school.
vlll. ?ou shall noL have unread quesLlons aL Lhe end of 70 mlnuLes.
lx. ?ou shall noL panlc, lf lL ls Lougher for you lL ls Lougher for everyone else.
x. ?ou shall noL go unprepared and expecL a mlracle.
lor besL resulLs, sLarL uslng Lhem sLralghL away.
All Lhe 8esL!
SlmCA1 4 1he LxperL's 1ake