How to handle RC Tone Questions

The subject of this article is RC tone/attitude question.

Before we delve into the tips for this question type, let
us explore what tone/attitude stands for.
Every author adopts a certain attitude towards the
issue he is talking about. Some wish to highlight the
facts about a matter (thereby adopting a factual tone);
some wish to explore the pros and cons of a decision
(thereby adopting a critical tone); some wish to
explore each and every facet, cause, effect and so on
with regards to a certain topic (thereby adopting an
analytical tone); some wish to narrative an instance
from
their
life
(thereby
adopting
a
sentimental/narrative tone); some wish to express
their emotions, happy or sad (thereby adopting
emotional/happy/grief-stricken tones).
These different reasons/methods of expressing
themselves actually become the tone of the author.
Now that you have a basis understanding of tones, the
next step is: how do you identify these tones.
Things to consider for the title question:
1. Identify the nature of the passage:
The first classification for the passage is that you
understand whether the passage is highlighting facts
only or does it also reflect the opinions of the author.
This is an important classification. Classify all tones
that you know of into these two categories. For
example, the objective tone is a factual one, and
criticizing someone is only possible with the help of
opinions.

2. Identify passage sentiment:

The second thing that you need to do is understand the
sentiment of the passage i.e. whether the passage can
be classified as:

Positive: the author is appreciating something

Negative: the author is criticizing something

Neutral: the passage does not fall into any of the

above categories
Classify all tones that you know of into these three
categories. For example: being appreciative reflects a
positive approach, being sarcastic reflects a negative
approach and being objective is neutral in nature.
3. Identify the adjectives/adverbs used in the
passage:
Make a mental note of the language used by the
author, and what kind of adjectives he is using.
Adjectives reflect the mood and emotions of the author.
4. Make a note of conflicting attitudes
Understand and identify where the author changes his
attitude and starts to move along different lines. It is
important to understand these mood changes, and
from this understanding, try to infer the most dominant
sentiment in the passage. A common mistake
committed by students is that they focus on one
particular sentiment only, whereas the author has
displayed multiple ones in the passage. Remember,
you need to pick the sentiment which dominates the
passage and co-related with the central idea of the
passage.

5. Make a list of all relevant adjectives you

discover:
make
your
own
tone
list
It is easy to find a list of common RC tones but you are
advised to make your own list of tones, and put in all
the relevant adjectives that you discover in tests,
mocks and so on. Having your own list will gel with
your vocabulary levels and ensure that all bases are
covered for you.
How do we reach at the final answer?
1. Identify the nature of the passage (facts or opinion),
and eliminate the options that do not match with your
analysis.
2. Identify the passage sentiment and again eliminate
options that do not match with your analysis.
3. Identify the main idea of the passage, and co-relate it
with the tone of the passage (there should be
synergy between the two).
4. Keep 3 and 4 in mind while marking your answer.
5. Also, you should try to label the tone of the passage
in your own words, and see which one co-relates
with the author of the passage.
6. Eliminate options. Do not select an answer, always
eliminate options and be sure why you are rejecting
a particular option.
The above form some of the basic things that you
should be doing for a Reading Comprehension tone
question. Using these tips and strategies is surely
going to help you master this question type.
BMC: The classic approach for quant in CAT
BMC stands for Basic Magnitude checking. It means

instead of adopting the whole process of calculating

and finding the answer, one uses the answers options
to identify the correct answer. In other words, this is the
art of solving the question in reverse, that is through
answer options. Believe it or not, you can attempt 25%
to 30% of the questions in Quantitative Ability Section
without solving them. Lets take a few examples to
understand how this magic approach works.
Example 1: A Principal asked the teacher how many
students there were in his math class. "Well," The
teacher replied, "3/4 of them are less than 22 years
old, 2/3 are less than 21 years old, 12 are not yet 20
years old, and there are twice as many between the
ages of 20 and 21 as there are between the ages of 21
and 22." How many students are there in the class?
1. 18
42

2. 16
4. 34

3.
5. 24

Solution: This is a classic example of BMC use.

Instead of making lengthy equations and finding the
solution, we will try to identify the possible option using
a few tricks up our sleeve. Remember the question is
talking about of the students in the class. Can this
number be a fraction or be negative? Answer is clearly
No. So answer should be a number which is exactly
divisible by 4. Hence, options 1, 3 & 4 are ruled out.
Now we are also talking 2/3 of the students in the
question. Using the same logic, the correct answer
should also be multiple of 3. This helps us rule out
option 2. There is only one option which is both a
multiple of 3 as well as 4: option 5.
Example 2: There are four consecutive odd natural
numbers. The product of first three is 9177 and the

product of the last three is 12075. What is the sum of

these four numbers?
1. 87
89

2. 88
4. 91

3.
5. 93

Solution: Instead of taking the numbers as x, x + 2, x

+ 4 and x + 6, then building equations and solution
them, we can again deduce the answer from the
options. What can be the nature of sum of four odd
numbers? Will the sum even or odd? The sum has to
be definitely even and the only even option is 2nd i.e.
is 88. Thus, the correct answer is option 2nd option.
Example 3: Some balls are arranged in rows to form
an equilateral triangle. The first row consist of one ball,
the second row consist of 2 balls and so on. If 669
more balls are added to the initial set of balls, then all
the balls can be arranged in the shape of a square and
each of the side of the square contains 8 balls less
than each side of triangle did. Determine the initial
number of balls.
1. 1540
47

2. 2209
4. 55

3.

Solution: When balls are arranged in the shape of a

square then total no. of balls is definitely a perfect
square. So we need a number which on adding 669
becomes a perfect square. Only 1st option satisfies
this as 1540 + 669 = 2209 is the square of 47. Hence
the answer is option 1.
In short, this approach can play a massive role in
saving time and energy in the exam. With the help of
this approach, you can solve a number of questions in

the exam. All you need to do to apply this approach is

keep this mind, and try to apply it to as many practice
questions as possible.
How to Approach Reading Comprehensions
One of the most significant factors for solving
Reading Comprehensions and being accurate in
this area actually revolves around the approach
you adopt for this topic. At the best of times, you
are likely to find a passage that you have never
read previously. How do you cope with such a
challenge actually becomes a central aspect of
how you perform in reading comprehensions.
With regards to the approach you should
have for reading comprehensions, you
should adopt keep the following in mind:

Dont expect to be stimulated: In fact

expect the opposite! Majority of the times
you would be bored by RC topics, and you
should not allow this to drain your energy.
Maintain an impartial attitude towards the
passage, and do not get mentally hassled
by
obscure
content.

Make
Notes: While
reading
obscure/abstract text, make sure you make
some quick notes for ready reference. You
can write the general flow, structure,
paragraph-wise flow and important points.
Remember that you do not have make
really long notes, just make a quick note of
the important markers/points in the
passage.

Do not over-read: Yes, you read this right,

we said do not over-read. How can you
over-read? You over-read when you focus
on each and every detail, rather than
keeping a general outline at the back of
your mind. You do not memorize the
passage; you need to simply remember
the key points.

Try to preempt questions: This is a really

difficult skill but if you can master this, you
will surely by the King of Reading
Comprehensions. While reading the
passage, try to identify the possible
questions that could be asked, and which
parts of the passage seem the most likely
candidates for question-setting.

Opening and Closing paragraphs require

extra focus: Questions such as the main
idea question are based on the overall
subject of the passage, and majority of the
times the answer for this question type lies
in the first and last paragraph of the
passage. Ensure you derive the maximum
possible
information
from
these
paragraphs.

Constantly question yourself while

reading the passage: In order to maintain
your concentration while reading, make
sure that some basic questions keep
playing at the back of your mind: What is
the authors main point? Why is the author
writing this? How has the author chosen to

convey his main point? How has the author

organized his material?
The above form some of the basic points that
should be kept in mind while approaching
reading comprehensions. These would improve
your focus, increase your grasp of the subject
matter and deliver greater understanding. If you
achieve these three, your task is more or less
done.
Vedic Mathematics Squaring a Number More
than the Base
In this article, we learn a simple technique of
squaring a number more than its base. What
does this mean? Read this article further and
you would have the answers soon.
In order to square a number, a base is needed.
All those numbers can be taken as a base that
have a 1 and the rest number of zeroes with
them (i.e. the complete round numbers like 100,
1000, 10000 etc.). The square of a number will
have two parts, the left part and the right part.
There is no limit for the left side, but the right
side must have as many digits as the number of
zeroes in the base i.e. if 100 is taken as base
there should be 2 zeroes on the right side and if
1000 is taken as base then the number of digits
on RHS should be 3.
If the number to be squared is greater than the
base, then the difference between the number
and the base is to be added in the number

instead of subtracting. Take a number 107. Its

base will be 100. The difference is 7. The right
side will have square of difference i.e. (7)2 = 49.
And the left side will be 107 + 7 = 114 (that is
the sum of the number and the difference
between the base and the number) So the
square is 11449.
Lets take one more example, say you need to
square the number 103. The number is 3 more
than the base and square of 3 is 9 i.e. it has a
single digit. Now on the right hand side you will
write 09 and the left hand side will be 103 + 3 =
106. Thus the square of the number is 10609.
In case the square of the difference is a 3-digit
number, then the third digit would be carried
and added to the left hand side. Consider one
number
say
118.
The
difference
is
18 (18)2 324. Out of this 3-digit number,
the third digit 3 would be taken to the left side.
The left side would become 118 + 18 + 3
(Carried) = 139 and the square would be 13924.
Similarly for the higher numbers, you can take
the larger bases like 1000, 10000, 100000 etc
and the squares of the numbers can be found
out using a similar technique.
Words Based on prefix/suffix Phile
What is a suffix?
A suffix is a letter or a group of letters attached to the
end of a word to form a new word or to alter the
grammatical function of the original word. For example,

the verb read can be made into the noun reader by

adding the suffix -er; read can be made into the
adjective readable by adding the suffix -able.
What is a prefix?
A prefix is a letter or a group of letters attached to the
beginning of a word that partly indicates its meaning.
For example, the word prefix itself begins with a prefix-pre-, which generally means "before."
Why do we need know what prefixes and
suffixes are?
Well, for a simple reason: we are going to study 20
words that use phile either as a prefix or a suffix. Dig
into this list of words here:
1.
Anglophilia -love or fondness for England or
the English. The word is formed by using Anglo
for English and philia for fondness.
2. Astrophile - person interested in astronomy.
3.
Bibliophile - A bibliophile is someone who
loves reading books and in most cases loves
collecting books too.
4. Foodophile - A foodophile is a person who is
really fond of eating or loves to eat.
5. Logophile - a lover of words.
6.
Necrophile - A necrophile is a person who
feels an attractive pull towards dead bodies.
7.
Paedophile - A paedophile is a person who
gets sexually attracted towards children.
8. Philalethist - lover of truth.
9. Philanthropy - Love for mankind.
10.
Philogyny - love of women.
11.
Philomath - lover of learning.
12.
Philosophy - Love for wisdom.

13.
Philotherianism - love of animals.
14.
Theophile - one who loves or is loved by God.
This term is mainly used for those people who
believe in God and pray regularly.
15. Xenophilia - love of foreigners

50 Commonly Discussed GD topics

1. Is the concept of Non- Violence still applicable?
2. Rural Vs Urban development
3. Social Networking is a menace.
4. 100% privatization - good or bad?
5. 20 years of liberalization has pushed India to pre
1991 era
6. A black man motivating people against America on
grounds of social, economic, injustice and inequality.
7. Mobilizing masses on basis of caste, creed, and
colour. Is it right or wrong?
8. A video on rural India was shown and a bicycle was
used to work as a washing machine and the topic
to discuss was "What drives innovation?".
9. A video shown on rural India, showing initiative by
the
government
and
the
author
spoke
about sustainable
income. The topic to discuss
was "How has India incorporated inclusive capitalism
inits growth model"."
10.
Animal research is a moral Crime
11.
Anna Hazare movement on Lokpal Bill, whether
India needs it or not?
12.
Appropriate age for adulthood is 18, 21 or 25
years?
13.
Are call center employees cyber coolies?
14.
Are we producing a generation of burnt out

children?
15.
Are women capable of taking more stress as
compared to men?
16.
Are women fit to join Army?
17.
Arranged marriages vs. love marriages
18.
Black money- How black is it?
19.
Brain Drain is good for the country
20.
Are women good manager
21.
Marketing decisions at shopping mall.
22.
Privatization in India and its impact
23.
Advertisements- helpful to customers or just
eye wash
24.
Is blackboard learning superior to managerial
experience?
25.
Does
Corporate
World
promote
Entrepreneurship?
26.
B-schools fit square nuts into round holes.
27.
How professional are the professional
companies today?
28.
Make any advertisement in group of 3 students
29.
Advertising is all glitter and no substance.
30.
Consumer is never satisfied.
31.
Outsourcing: Boon or Bane?
32.
Customer is always right
33.
Is management degree essential to be a
manager?
34.
Consumer is the king in today's market.
35.
What matters more - Outlook or Talent?
36.
You would not like to be the Prime Minister of
India because
37.
Hope for ill gains is the beginning of loss
38.
Happiness is a mystery; like religion and it
should not be rationalized
39.
Law is the creation of the strong to rule the
weak

40.
Haste makes waste.
41.
Food is more important than Ethics
42.
Indians perform better as a group?
43.
A bullet for a bullet - is this a right strategy
44.
Is it necessary to wear a tie to office meetings?
45.
A ship docked on the shore cannot move into
the storm
46.
There is no right way to do a wrong thing.
47.
Year 2025
48.
Grass is Green, Sky is Blue
49.
Lionel Messi a flop or a hit
50.
Indian Democracy

NUMBER SYSTEM EULERS NUMBER

192200002/23, Remainder = ?
All of you know that the most difficult questions to be
solved are such kind of remainder questions in number
system. The concept which makes such questions
simpler is the concept of Euler number.
The Euler number of a number x means the number of
natural numbers which are less than x and are co-prime
to x.
e.g. The Euler number of 6 will be 2 as the natural
numbers 1 & 5 are the only two numbers which are less
than 6 and are also co-prime to 6.
The Euler number of a number z denoted by the symbol
E(z) is calculated as explained below.

E(z) = z
where P, Q and R are the DIFFERENT prime factors of z.
Ex What is the Euler number of 20?
Now the factorization of 20 is 2 2 5.
It has only two prime factors i.e. 2 and 5.
So the Euler number of 20 will be
E (20) = 20

So there are 8 numbers less than 20, which are coprime to it. Let us check:
Numbers co-prime to 20 are 1, 3, 7, 9, 11, 13, 17 and
19.
This concept has a wonderful application in answering
remainder questions. When yE (z) is divided by z, the
remainder will always be 1, where E(z) is Euler number
of z and y and z are co-prime to each other. This is also
applicable when yE(z). k is divided by z, where k is an
integer. That is if the power is any multiple of the Euler
number of the divisor, even in that case the remainder
will be 1.
1. What is the remainder when 1318 is divided by 19?
The application says that if yE(z) divided by z the
remainder will always be 1, provided y and z are coprime to each other.

Now in this case the Euler number of 19 is 18

(The Euler number of a prime number is always 1 less
than the number).
As 13 and 19 are co-prime to each other, the remainder
will be 1.
2. What is the remainder when 1332 is divided by 15?
The application says that if yE(z) divided by z the
remainder will always be 1, provided y and z are coprime to each other.
Now in this case the Euler number of 15 is 8
[i.e. E (15) = 15

].

Now the Numerator can also be written as 1384. Thus

the remainder in this case will be 1.
3. Now the question is 192200002/23, Remainder = ?
Solution : As the divisor is given to be 23 and it has a
Euler number 22. Moreover 19 and 23 are co-prime.
Hence the remainder will be 1 for any power which if of
the form of 22K. The given power is 2200002. Dividing
that power by 22, the remaining power will be 2. Your
job remains to find the remainder of 192/23. As you
know the square of 19, just divide 361 by 23 and get the
remainder as 16.

Words related to Food

Howsoever hard you may try; it is next to impossible to
leave out food from our daily lives, schedules and
discussions. As they say, food is always on the table,
and in the same way, we serve 15 words related to
food here. Many of these words would not be common
and you might hear them for the first time. Make sure
you chew them well and ingrain them in your memory.
1. Aliment: It can be defined as something that
supports or nourishes life .i.e. food.
2. Bite: An act of biting .i.e. cutting into an edible
item. Bite can also be defined as an amount of
food taken into mouth at one time.
3. Board: Board in terms of food can be defined as
a table that is meant for serving food. Also, board
can also be defined as food being considered as
whole .e.g. when we say boarding and lodging.
4. Chow: Slang used for to eat.
5. Comestible: Characteristic of food that makes it
fit to be eaten. Comestible can also be used in
place of edible.
6. Comfort food: Food that is prepared to give
someone a sense of well being .i.e. is easy to eat
and easy to digest. Also, it can be defined as that
food, which has a nostalgic appeal to it.
7. Ambrosia: This is a word borrowed from Greek
Mythology and refers the food of the gods.
Mortals who ate this food became immortal
supposedly.
8. Entre: The principal dish of a meal, the star
attraction, the centerpiece around which chefs
build the complete meal. There is a second
meaning for entre. It is as times used to refer to

a dish served in formal dining immediately before

the main course or between two principal
courses. or starters.
9. Fare: In simple words fare is also called food or
diet, which can either be cooked at home or can
also be something that is traditionally eaten .e.g.
traditional fare or home-cooked fare.
10. Grub: It is a slang often used for food.
11. Handout: food given free for charitable
purposes.
12. Larder: It is the cool area where food is stored
prior to use. Larder can also be used as a
synonym for pantry or a cellar. Larders were in
use when refrigerators were not in vogue.
13. Pabulum: Something that has been made to
be bland; also it is a solution of nutrients prepared
in such a way that it is perfect for absorption by
the body.
14. Provender: In simple words it is food; also, it
can be called as a dry food for domestic animals.
It can also be used as a synonym for fare, grub,
foodstuffs and eatables.
15. Provisions: A stock of food or needed
materials made available for specific use, as by
an expedition
16. Ration: Share or supply of food that is
determined and supplied to a person; also, a
supply of another commodity as dictated by
availability. It can also be called a food allowance
for one day.
17. Subsistence: the minimum amount of food
necessary for survival; also, the equivalent in nonedible commodities
18. Sustenance: Something that maintains and
supports survival/life; also, food and drink that can

be a source of strength.
19. Viand: An item of food, particularly delicious
one. In plural form, see provisions
20. Victuals: In simple words it is food that can be
consumed by humans. See provisions; as victual,
a verb synonymous with provision in the sense of
supplying with provisions

Tips on Presentation Skills

Effective presentations follow a pattern:
"First tell them what you're going to tell them;
then tell them;
then, tell them what you've told them."
In outline format it looks like:Introduction:
A good introduction should accomplish the following.
1. Capture your listener's attention
2. Give your audience a reason to listen
3. Set the proper tone
4. Establish your qualifications
You can open the presentation in the following ways:
1. Ask a question. Asking a question is a good way to
involve your listeners in the topic and establish
its importance to them.
2. Tell a story which is short and relevant.
3. Present a quotation. Someone else has already said what
you want to say in a very clever way.
4. Use humor. The right joke can be an effective way to get
attention, make a point, and increase the audience's liking

for you.
Body
For the main part of the presentation keep in mind the
following:
1. There has to be coherence between the different parts of
the main body.
2. There has to be a sequential flow of ideas.
3. There has to be a structure to avoid random presentation
of content.
4. Make the main body interesting by including examples
and cases.
5. Establish and maintain eye contact. A speaker with good
eye contact is seen to be more sincere.
6. Move effectively. Having a good posture doesn't mean
being rooted one place. Moving about can add life to your
presentation and help release nervous energy. You can
approach and refer to your visual aids, walk away and
return to your original position, and approach the
audience.
Conclusion
A conclusion has two parts: a review and a closing
statement.
1. The Review should contain a restatement of your thesis
and a summary of the main points.
2. A strong closing statement will help your listeners
remember you favorably; a weak ending can nullify many
of your previous gains. Besides it will give a sense of
completion.

Words & Terms related to Economics

Economics is one area that dictates your understanding of
the financial dealings in the world. Amassing a word-bank
pertaining to economics will no doubt ensure that you
understanding the world of finance, business and
economics a lot better. Through this post, we illustrate a list
15 of commons words for the area:
1. Balance of payments: The total of all the money
coming into a country from abroad less all of the
money going out of the country during the same period.
2. Business Cycle: The cycles of boom and bust. The
long-run pattern of economic growth and recession.
3. Capital: Material wealth used or available for use in
the production of more wealth.
4. Deflation: A sustained reduction in the general price
levels. Deflation is often accompanied by declines in
output and employment and is distinct from
disinflation, which refers to a reduction in the rate of
inflation.
5. Depreciation: A fall in the value of an asset or a
currency; the opposite of appreciation.
6. Economies of scale: Bigger is better. In many
industries, as output increases, the AVERAGE cost of
each unit produced falls. One reason is that overheads
and other FIXED COSTS can be spread over more
units of OUTPUT. However, getting bigger can also
increase average costs because it is more difficult to
manage a big operation, for instance?
7. Exchange rate: The price at which one currency can
be converted into another.
8. Factors of production: The ingredients of economic
activity: land, labour, capital and enterprise.
9. Foreign direct investment: Investing directly in

production in another country, either by buying a

company there or establishing new operations of an
existing business.
10. GDP: Gross domestic product, a measure of
economic activity in a country. It is calculated by
adding the total value of a country's annual output of
goods and services. GDP = private consumption +
investment + public spending + the change in
inventories + (exports - imports).
11. GNP: Short for gross national product, another
measure of a country's economic performance. It is
calculated by adding to GDP the income earned by
residents from investments abroad, less the
corresponding income sent home by foreigners who
are living in the country.
12. Hedge funds: A fund, usually used by wealthy
individuals and institutions, which is allowed to use
aggressive strategies that are unavailable to mutual
funds, including selling short, leverage, program
trading, swaps, arbitrage, and derivatives.
13. Inflation: Persistent increase in the general level of
prices. It can be seen as a devaluing of the worth of
money.
14. Paid-Up Capital: That part of the issued capital of
a company that has been paid up by the shareholders.
15. Venture capital: Money made available for
investment in innovative enterprises or research,
especially in high technology, in which both the risk of
loss and the potential for profit may be considerable.
Also called risk capital.

How to learn words?

It is a challenge to expand ones vocabulary. And it
gets particularly challenging when one sees
the plethora (meaning extreme excess) of options
available from which to learn words. In this article, our
objective is to synthesize (meaning to combine or
cause to combine into a whole) the best of these
options and form the best possible approach to learn
new words and enrich (meaning make wealthy or
richer) our learning quotient.
The methods we will cover in this article include the
various approaches that can be used to learn words.
Method 1: Learning through Word Roots
Like all things on this planet, words also have an
origin story. They come from all sorts of places: the
land of the Greeks and Romans, through the Indian
Subcontinent and through any possible reference in
the past that is filtered into the present.
Let us take the example of the root nasc-,nat-.
Nascent is derived from the Latin Root nasc-,nat-,
meaning born or birth. The very root of the word
points to its meaning. Some interesting words based
on this root are:

Natal: Relating to or accompanying birth.

Prenatal: Occurring or existing before birth.
Neonatal: Concerning the first 28 days after the
birth of a child or pertaining to a new born. This
word is the combination of natal and neo (which

means new).
Learning words through their roots is an amazing
learning method. One gets the benefit of learning
multiple words through a single root; it is this
multiplicity of knowledge that works wonders for an
individual. YOU LEARN A SINGLE ROOT and YOU
GET TO LEARN MULTIPLE WORDS.
Method 2: Contextual vocabulary
This is the most used method of learning words, and
is in fact part of our intrinsic (meaning belonging to
a thing by its very nature) learning methodology.
Lets take a sample word with a sentence extracted
from the New York Times, and see how this method
works.
Sample Word: Lure
Sentence Example: To lure business, some states are
offering a refuge from rules, especially those requiring
companies to set aside enough money to pay future
claims.
Meaning: Lure means to tempt or attract with the
promise for reward.
In this example, companies are being lured b different
states by giving them special benefits.
This is an example of learning words through the
context they appear in. The more you read, the more
such contexts you discover. And the more contexts
you discover, the more you learn. So the
effectiveness of this method comes down to your
reading habit.

Method 3: Learning through Pictures and movies

They say pictures speak a thousand words. Words
can be easily learnt through this method of
associating words with images. In fact, this is method
of learning that we have used since our childhood.
You can easily explore the net for such photographs.
Use Google Images and picture dictionaries
like www.wordpandit.com to the fullest to learn
words.

Different types of Phobia

We all have some fears, some phobias. Some of us
are aware of our phobias; some of us take time to
realize what is hiding in the closet. Go through the
following list of fears and pick the ones that match your
symptoms (hope they are too many):
1. Ablutophobia: Fear of Bathing, washing and
cleansing.
2. Acrophobia: Fear of heights
3. Agoraphobia: Fear of Open spaces.
4. Anthropophobia: Fear of people or the company of
people, a form of social phobia.
5. Autophobia: Fear of being alone or isolated.
6. Bibliophobia: Fear of books. Biblio is the root word
here which means Book.
7. Chrematophobia: Fear of money.
8. Claustrophobia: Fear of closed spaces.
9. Cynophobia: Fear of dogs.
10.
Emetophobia: Fear or anxiety pertaining to

vomiting.
11.
Ergophobia: Fear of work
12.
Gamophobia: fear of marriage.
13.
Herpetophobia: Fear of reptiles.
14.
Hydrophobia: Fear of water.
15.
Ophthalmophobia: Fear of being stared at.
16.
Paedophobia: Fear of children; fear of dolls or
fear of infants, childhood.
17.
Pantophobia: Fear of everything.
18.
Pentheraphobia: Fear or hatred of ones
mother-in-law.
19.
Phonophobia: fear of noise or of speaking
aloud.
20.
Photophobia: Fear of light.
21.
Pyrophobia: Fear of fires or flames. Pyro
means fire.
22.
Spectrophobia: Fear of looking in a mirror
23.
Technophobia: Fear of technology.
24.
Thanatophobia: Fear
of
death.
Triskaidekaphobia: fear of the number thirteen.
25.
Ablutophobia: Fear of foreigners or strangers.

Why Learn Words?

In this article, we try to answer the very important
question: what is the impact of vocabulary on your life?
Students who are preparing for entrance exams such
as CAT/MAT/GRE/GMAT/BANK PO etc. have an easy
answer for this question. They learn words as it is part
of their curriculum and it helps them with their
academic learning. A number of questions in these
exams are based on words, and it is prudent to
increase their vocabulary bank.
But the question before us is a broader one. Why
should any person, say a student not preparing for any
exam, learn words? Other than intangible benefits,
such as increased comprehension and understanding,
enhanced vocabulary for communication, and
supposedly better academic performance, is there any
other benefit of learning words? After all, learning
words is an inexact science.
Lets get straight to the point:
What is the need of learning words?
The answer lies in the relationship between Vocabulary
& Success.
As proof for our claims, read the following Case
Studies.
Case Study A Word about Business
In America, Dr Johnson OConnor, who worked at the
Human Engineering Laboratory in Boston, was
fascinated by the relationship of vocabulary and

professional success. He gave a vocabulary test to 100

young men who were studying to be industrial
executives. Five years after the original experiment, Dr
OConnor checked how successful the young
businessmen had been in their careers. The correlation
was astonishing. All those who had scores in the top
25 per cent of the original vocabulary test, all were in
executive positions. All those who had scores in the
bottom 25 per cent of the original test, not a single one
had become an executive!
Case Study Verbal Intelligence and Academic
Success
Dr Wilfred Funk reports on an experiment on
vocabulary improvement and academic success, which
was carried out in two American school classes. The
ages and background of the two groups of students
were similar and each contained a similar crosssection of the local community. One class, the control
group, carried on with its normal studies. The second
group of students, the experimental group, were given
extra classes, in which they had special and rigorous
training to develop their vocabulary and verbal
Intelligence.
As you might expect, at the end of the study the
students who had Verbal Intelligence training scored
higher marks in English tests than did the control
group. However, far more significant than this was the
fact that they scored higher marks in every other
subject, including all the sciences and mathematics!
Improving Verbal Intelligence has a dramatic and
positive effect on all aspects of academic success.

Power of Words
Case Study Word Power, Hats and Stockings!
Dr Funk reports two experiments that demonstrate the
power of the word, both involving word power and
fashion. The first experiment involved men and a
stores hat department. Two counters in the
department were covered with same numbers of
identical hats, each hat being of the same make, and
the styles and colours on each counter being exactly
the same. The only difference between the two
counters was that on one there was printed the large
word Tyrolean. The other counter had no sign.
Do you think this single word had any effect on sales
and, if so, how much? The amazing result was that
three times as many of the worded hats were sold!
The second experiment involved women, fashion and a
similar experimental design. This time, two counters
were stocked with identical brands and styles of plain
beige stockings. As with the hat experiment, the two
counters were identical, except that on one the
stockings were labeled Gala, and the other had no
sign at all. Ten times as many pairs of the Gala
stockings were sold!
The above are some results that not only astound but
also prove how vocabulary can impact your life. So
what are you waiting for? Start work on your
vocabulary skills as soon as possible.

5 Must Read Philosophy Books for CAT

The first question that should come to your mind as
soon as you read the title of this article is why should I
read philosophy books? Well, keeping the answer
simple and short: if we have a look at the various CAT
reading comprehension topics of the last five years,
philosophy articles are right up there in terms of
frequency of appearance.
Why does CAT ask reading comprehensions from
philosophy?
Well, in order to test your understanding of abstract
and complex text. Since the material asked in the CAT
exam also needs to carry a novelty factor, we see a lot
of non-fiction topics make an appearance in the exam.
Most of these are from art subjects such as
philosophy/sociology etc.
How can this tricky matter of CAT passages be
handled?
Again a simple answer: read a few of these abstract
topics before the CAT exam. The target of such an
approach is not to make you a philosopher but rather
to acquaint you with the different kinds of passages
featuring in the exam. You read these books not to
become a master of the subject but just to expose
yourself with the terminology and general language
structure adopted by these subjects.

Five Books that you can refer to:

1. Sophies World by Jostein Gaarder (fiction): This is
the best book you can begin from. The book is weaved
with the help of the young Sophie who explore various
philosophers and their works. This should give you a
good understanding of the subject.
2. The Story of Philosophy by Will Durant (Nonfiction): This is a technical text that you can use as an
accompaniment to Sophies world. It provides an
account of the famous philosophers/philosophies listed
in a chronological order.
3. Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance by
Robert Pirsig (Fiction): Classified as a work of
philosophical fiction, the book explores some topics
related to metaphysics. This is an intriguing read that
will surely give you a mental workout.
4. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand: This is book based on
Any Rands philosophy of objectivism. Though
tiresomely long, the book does contain a number of
passages which are apt for CAT reading
comprehensions.
5. The History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand
Russell: This is a monster text but a super relevant
one. A CAT passage has also previously figured from
this books introduction. The book is extremely dense
and long but covers each and every philosopher and
his work analyzed through the lens of Russell. You are
advised to read a few pages of this text (covering this
in totality will take too long) and sample the writers
thoughts and observations.

Additional Texts: A few more philosophy texts that

you can go through are:

Essays and Aphorisms by Arthur Schopenhauer

Essays by Montaigne
Mans Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
Fragments by Heraclitus
Letters from a Stoic by Seneca
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
Nature and Selected Essays by Ralph Waldo
Emerson

5 Must Read Fiction Books for CAT

One general perception that a lot of us carry is that
reading fiction books is not of any use for CAT
preparation. We believe that since most of the CAT
RCs are from non-fiction categories, there is no benefit
in reading fiction. Well, this is true only to a certain
extent. If we count the kind of fiction Chetan Bhagat
writes, it is hard to justify it from a CAT perspective.
But if you bring the greats of literature and modern
fiction writing into the picture, all of a sudden the
learning value is immense. The basic benefits of
reading
(improved
vocabulary
levels,
better
comprehension and better understanding of the
language) are applicable to fiction as well. Along with
these, if you read books that carry a certain cultural or
political significance, you are bound to learn a lot
more.
Keeping the above mind, we are going to list five
fiction books that are going to provide immense
learning value and provide additional knowledge
as well.
1. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini: The story is
set against a backdrop of tumultuous events, from the
fall of Afghanistan's monarchy through the Soviet
military intervention, the exodus of refugees to
Pakistan and the United States, and the rise of the
Taliban regime. This is an extremely moving tale, and
in terms of knowledge, offers you a deep insight into
what is wrong with this world.
2. 1984 by George Orwell: As literary political fiction

and dystopian science-fiction, Nineteen Eighty-Four is

a classic novel in content, plot, and style. Many of its
terms and concepts, such as Big Brother, doublethink,
thoughtcrime, Newspeak, Room 101, Telescreen, 2 +
2 = 5, and memory hole, have entered everyday use
since its publication in 1949. Make sure you read this
all time classic.
3. Fountainhead by Ayn Rand: Fountainhead is the
first literary success of Any Rand, and the book
represents a lot more than its fictional story.
Representing powerful thoughts on individualism, the
book presents Any Rands philosophy of objectivism
through a fictional narrative. Read the book and your
world view is surely meant to change (for better or
worse).
4. The Diary of a Bad Year by JM Coetzee: The
protagonist, called Seor C. by the other characters, is
an aging South African writer living in Sydney. The
novel consists of his essays and musings alongside
diary entries by both Seor C. and Anya, a neighbor
whom he has hired as a typist. Set against the
backdrop of fiction, this book is surely meant to
exercise your brain cells and provide you much needed
reading practice.
5.
The
Great
Gatsby
by
F.
Scott.
Fitzgerald: Considered to be Fitzgerald's magnum
opus, The Great Gatsby explores themes of
decadence, idealism, resistance to change, social
upheaval, and excess. As an accompaniment, you can
watch the movie-adaptation for this book as well.
Additional Texts: A few more fiction books that you
can go through are:

Animal farm by George Orwell

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Siddartha by Hermann Hesse
Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
The Witch of Portebello by Paulo Coelho
The catcher in the rye by J.D.Salinger
To kill a mockingbird by Harper Lee
English August by Upamanyu Chatterjee
The Zahir by Paulo Coelho
Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
The Outsider by Albert Camus
Snow by Orhan Pamuk
Narcissus And Goldmund by Hermann Hesse
My name is red by Orhan Pamuk
Disgrace by JM Coetzee

Words related to Governments

Governments are the most important part of the way our
societies function. Given how important is to understand
the way governments function, it makes sense that you
explore what are the different forms of governance that
are possible. Explore the list of different forms of
governments here:
1. Anarchy: Anarchy is a state of absence of law.
2. Authoritarian: A rule characteristic of a ruler
having absolute sovereignty and a centralized and
highly concentrated power maintained by political
repression can be termed as authoritarian.
3. Autocracy: A form of government controlled by
absolute power, concentrated in the hands of a
single person with minimal restraints on the

decisions and lack of any regularized mechanisms

of popular control.
4. Communism: It is a revolutionary socialist
movement aimed at creating a classless society
that abolishes private ownership. The property is
held by the community rather than the individuals
and all activity is controlled by the government.
5. Democracy: Originating in Ancient Greece,
democracy means rule of the people .The term
today refers to a political system in which the
people or their elected representatives govern
themselves, rather than being governed, so
everyone has a equal say in the decisions affecting
their lives.
6. Dictatorship: A form of government or social
situation where the power rests entirely on one
person or a group of persons.
7. Fascism: A way of ruling that advocates total
control of the people and seeks to promote the
ancestral and cultural values and eradicate foreign
influences that are deemed to cause degeneration
to the national and moral values of the people.
8. Junta: Having its origin from Spanish word Junta,
which has its roots in Latin jungere (to join), it
refers to a group or coalition that takes control of
the state after overthrowing a government.
Monarchy: It is the type of government having a
hereditary chief of state(a king or queen), usually
known as a monarch, with life tenure and powers
varying from nominal , where the powers of the
monarch are regulated by a constitution to
absolute, where the monarch enjoys unlimited
powers.
9. Tyranny: A form of government or authority of an
absolute ruler; hence, arbitrary exercise of power

over subjects and others not requisite for the

purposes of government or approved by law and
justice.
10. Oligarchy: The word is from the Greek term for
rule of the few. It is a form of power structure in
which power effectively rests with a faction of
persons or families.
11. Plutocracy: The Greek word ploutos means
wealth, so plutocracy is a government ruled by the
rich or power provided by wealth.
12. Technocracy: A form of government where
scientists and technical experts are in control of
the state.
13. Theocracy: A government of a state by priests
ruling in the name of God or gods, or by officials
who are regarded as divinely guided, or consistent
with the doctrines and principles of a particular
religion or religious community.
14. Totalitarian: A system is the one in which a
single political authority regulates total control over
state, that is centralized and dictatorial.

Topic of the week for discussion: 31st July to 6th Aug.

2014
Topic: Panthic Politicking
The Current showdown between the Panth convener
SGPC and newly formed HSGMC with Akali Dal,
Haryana Congress Ministers and others intervening in
the issue has lead to a crisis like situation in Punjab and
Haryana, with everyone taking media as its facilitator to

express views.
The following terminologies need introduction in
understanding the topic:
Panth: It is the spiritual path of Sikh society or in other
words it is symbolic to Sikh community. Its highest
symbol being Harmandir Sahib.
SGPC: Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee. It
is an organization in India responsible for the upkeep of
gurdwaras, Sikh places of worship in three states of
Punjab, Haryana (untill the formation of HSGMC) and
Himachal Pradesh and union territory of Chandigarh.
Akal Takht: It is seat of power of Sikh religion and is
located in one of the five significant religious shrines of
Sikh Community, Sri Harmandir Sahib. The spokesman
in here is called Jathedar. The present Jathedar is Giani
Gurbachan Singh.
HSGMC: Haryana
Committee.

Sikh

Gurdwara

Management

States Reorganization Act 1966: When the Punjab

State (with Punjabi speaking population) and Haryana
State (with Hindi Speaking population) was created.
Latest: Haryana Assembly, on July 11 passed the
Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Management Bill 2014, which
the former Governor Jagannath Pahadia assented on
July 14 despite opposition from SGPC leaders from

Punjab. Hence, HSGMC is formed with Jagdish Singh

Jhinda as its president on July 29. Now this new
organization will take care of all the Gurudwaras falling in
the jurisdiction of Haryana area.
Genesis: The genesis of the present challenge lies in
the promise that the Congress made in 2005 to win the
Sikh votes in Haryana. The Congress would say that it
is only redeeming a pledge that it made to the Sikhs of
Haryana so that they could legitimately manage their
Gurudwaras in the State.
Arguments against the formation of HSGMC:
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) secretly controls the
Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC)
and, thereby, has drawn political mileage from it over
the years. But now the crisis in the SGPC has hit the
Akali Dal like never before. During the last few years it
had made a conscious effort to break free of its Panthic
image by including members from other religions but is
now once again going back to its old agenda. In this
regard, Akali Leaders viewed it as an attempt to
polarise the Sikhs, and thus regain the lost political
ground.
Taking jibe at Haryana Sikh leaders, Badal alleged that
they have violated the Akal Takht directives by
declaring the formation of 41members ad hoc body for
HSGMC, as it has virtually hurt the sentiments of Sikhs
across the globe.

Arguments in favor of formation of HSGMC:

The
present
Congress
Chief
Minister
of
Haryana, Hooda argues, and many legal luminaries
agree, that as per the States Reorganization Act 1966
when the Haryana State was created, a separate
Committee was legal and constitutional. It also says that
the Akali Dal cannot argue that the Congress was trying
to divide the Sikhs since the holy Gurudwaras like that
of Patna Sahib and Nanded were being managed by
committees independent of the SGPC control. It argues
that since the Delhi State has its own Delhi Sri
Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee therefore the Sikhs
of Haryana could also have their own committee that is
free of any outside control.
Status Quo:
As the situation has reached a flashpoint between the
two Sikh bodies with the Punjab and the Centre on one
side and Haryana on the other, the Akal Takht - Sikhs
highest temporal seat has stepped in asking the two
to maintain status quo.
In a fresh directive, Akal Takht, the supreme temporal
body of Sikhs, today restrained from functioning the
newly elected office bearers of Haryana Sikh Gurdwara
Management Committee (HSGMC).
It also instructed that Amritsar-based SGPC will
continue to manage the day-to-day affairs of some 25
big Sikh shrines in Haryana, with an average annual

income to the tune of Rs 30 crore, and directed all Sikh

outfits and parties not to issue any statements to media
till the row over the creation of separate HSGMC is
resolved amicably.
The Controversy Behind the scene:
This entire controversy is due to the Vote bank of
Sikhs in two states and Golak or remittances,
properties and financial accounts of the
Gurdwaras
Read further:
http://news.oneindia.in/feature/riotssaharanpur-the-story-so-far-1491337.html
http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/punjabpoint-blank/panth-in-danger-badals-politicsshifting-back-from-chandigarh-to-amritsar-2/
CAT-2014 Changed Pattern: 5 Important Implications
The dust has finally settled. CAT, once again, has
transformed and with these changes has brought an
expected heap of discussions, analysis, advices and a
lot more. Exploring these changes in details, we detail
how these changes are going to have an impact on
you.
Over the years, CAT has been in the habit of changing
its pattern and structure. On a number of occasions,
these changes have completely transformed the

examination, and the latest series of changes also

qualifies in the same category.
Lets go through the major changes one at a time, and
analyze their impact on your test preparation.
Change 1: CAT is a 2 day test with 4 slots only
As soon as CAT went online, it changed from a single
day exam to a long drawn out affair, with the exam
being held over almost a month (accounting for the
breaks in between as well). Now CAT has reduced
itself to a window of 2 days and 4 slots only. What
does this mean for the student? This essentially means
that the variation observed in the test in the previous
years (with some slots reporting easy tests and the
others reporting hard ones) will more or less end. With
only 4 slots to calibrate, CAT should be able to come
up with tests of similar difficulty levels, thereby
reducing the variations and inconsistencies.
Also, the problem of question repetition goes out of the
window most definitely. Since there are only 4 slots, we
can expect unique papers and no overlap (as seen in
the previous year papers) in questions for the different
slots.
Also, with similar papers for all the slots, the hazy
process of normalization of scores also seems to have
lost its importance. Overall, this is a win-win change for
all students as you no longer have to worry about
issues extraneous to your exam.
Change 2: Increase in duration of the exam from
140 to 170 minutes

An additional 30 minutes in the exam means one thing

for sure: you need to fitter and mentally stronger to
endure the test. 30 minutes more, in an exam like CAT,
is meant to sap your energy and you would do well to
practice the skills required for remaining mentally alert
for a 170 minute test. Also you need to develop the
habit of sitting in front of a computer screen for close to
3 hours, and focusing on actual work (rather than the
flimsy browsing we generally indulge in).
Also, if we keep the pattern of the new CAT exam in
mind, the number of questions has increased by 40
(66%) but the time limit has only increased by 30
minutes (roughly 22%). What this essentially means is
that every second in the exam becomes crucial and
you need to be able to pick the right questions and
solve them in the appropriate amount of time. You to
cut the time spent lingering on questions and be
efficient with your processes. You need to learn the
skills of solving questions backwards (from the answer
options) and eliminating choices.
Change 3: The number of questions goes up to 50
in each section
With the number of questions going up to 50 in each
section, the following break-up can be expected:

Quantitative Aptitude and Data Interpretation: It

should have 30-35 questions on Quantitative
Aptitude and 15-20 on Data Interpretation.

Logical Reasoning and Verbal Ability: Similar to the

first section, 30-35 questions on Verbal Ability and
15-20 questions on Logical Reasoning. Reading
comprehensions traditionally make-up around

45% of the Verbal paper, and that should remain

the same. This means around 15-20 questions (5
to 6 passages) should feature in the exam.
The increase in questions means one thing: there
should be greater variety in the number of questions
being asked, and you should make sure that you study
the basics of most of the topics.
Change 4: Change in exam date
The CAT exam will be held on 16th and the 22nd of
November now. What this means is that you have one
extra month for preparation (at least psychologically, if
not practically). Make your plans accordingly, and
make sure you use each and every of the remaining
days sensibly.
Change 5: Flexible sectional time limits
This is one of the most important changes made to the
exam. What flexible time limits means is that you have
the chance of maximizing your scores by focusing on
your strength areas. This is a major change, and you
should make sure you take advantage of this change.
In the mocks that you appear in from now onwards,
you can experiment with different sections and topics,
and see which approach maximizes your scores. Try to
understand which strategy works best for you, and
this should aid you in your exam. Overall, the flexible
time limits are a plus as they give you a chance to use
your strengths better.
This just about completes a summary of the changes
and their possible impact. The changes adopted by

CAT this year seem to be in response to the issues

faced by the exam in the last 5 years. Lets hope these
changes bring about a positive impact on the exam
and everyone has a pleasant testing experience.
In the coming weeks, we would be coming out with
more such articles that will help you develop an
effective strategy for CAT-2014.Stay tuned for those.

Common Language Pitfalls in Analytical Reasoning

Analytical reasoning is a tricky beast; you make a
mistake with the interpretation of any key term or
phrase, you are bound to go wrong. Keeping this in
mind, we explain some common interpretation
mistakes committed in analytical reasoning.
The following list of statements should be carefully
evaluated (we have presented the statements with the
help of examples, you can derive generalizations from
the same):
At least 1 professor: This term simply means that you
need to consider one professor or more while making a
set or combinations. The number of professors can be
more than 1, but it cannot be zero.
At the most two professors: This term simply means
that you can assume a maximum of two professors
when you make sets or combinations. The number of
professors can be 2,1 or even zero, but in no case it
can be more then 2.
Must be: When a question or statement that states

must be with regards to something, it means that is

100% sure, without any doubt. Something which is
possibly true cannot be the answer for this question.
Could be: A question using could be simply conveys
that out of the given options, only one would be there,
which can possibly happen and rest of the options will
have some conditions which are being violated.
P is next to Q: This only implies that P and Q are
sitting together and would not mean that P is
necessarily on the right hand side of Q.
If M is there, N has to be there: This would not mean
that M and N will always be together. It just implies
that, if M is there, then N will also be there. At the
same time, it can happen that N is there but M isnt.
Remember, the condition is on M, not on N. N can
come alone also.
At least one of M or N must be there: This implies
that every valid combination made must have at least
one out of M & N. They can both come, but the
possibility of neither being there does not exist; one the
presence of at least one out of the two is necessary.
If J and K are there, L cannot be there: This implies
that if both J and K are there, only then L cannot be
there, though L can be there if only one of J or K is
there.
X will be there, only if Y is there: This implies that for
X will be present when Y is present. But this does not
mean that X will be present (at a place or in a group)
every time Y is there. Y can be member alone as well,

but X cannot be present without Y.

All but x can be a member of club II: This implies
that everyone can be a member of club II except
person x. In other words, x cannot be a member of club
II.
The above are some of the common statements that
confuse and baffle students in examinations. As a
piece of advice, try to expand this list of statements
and include other ones that confuse you as well. By
simply doing this exercise, you are significantly
enhancing your capability in analytical reasoning.

Unit Digit of A Number

The concept that revolves around finding the unit digit
of a number uses the basics of number system.
Learning this concept means you have strengthened
your basic concepts.
The concept of unit digit can be learned by figuring out
the unit digits of all the single digit numbers from 0 - 9
when raised to certain powers. The first learning in that
for you will be that these numbers can be broadly
classified into three categories for this purpose:
Digits 0, 1, 5 & 6: When we observe the behavior of
these digits, they all have the same units digit as the
number itself when raised to any power, i.e. 0n = 0,
1n =1, 5n = 5, 6n = 6. So, it becomes simple to
understand this logic.
Examples: Finding the Unit digit of following numbers:

185563 = 5; 2716987 = 1; 15625369 = 6; 190654789321 = 0.

Digits 4 & 9: Both these numbers are perfect squares
and also have the same behavior with respect to their
unit digits i.e. they have a cyclicity of only two different
digits as their units digit.
Have a look at how the powers of 4 operate:
41 = 4, 42 = 16, 43 = 64 and so on.
Hence, the power cycle of 4 contains only 2 numbers 4
& 6, which appear in case of odd and even powers
respectively.
Likewise 91 = 9, 92 = 81, 93 = 729 and so on.
Hence, the power cycle of 9 also contains only 2
numbers 9 & 1, which appear in case of odd and even
powers respectively.
So broadly these can be remembered in even and odd
only, i.e. 4odd = 4 and 4even = 6 and likewise 9odd = 9
and 9even = 1.
Examples: Finding the Unit digit of following
numbers:
189562589743 = 9 (since power is odd); 279698745832 =
1(since power is even);
154258741369 = 4 (since power is odd); 19465478932 = 6
(since power is even).
Digits 2, 3, 7 & 8: These numbers have a power cycle

of 4 different numbers.
21 = 2, 22 = 4, 23 = 8 & 24 = 16 and after that it starts
repeating.
So, the cyclicity of 2 has 4 different numbers 2, 4, 8, 6.
31 = 3, 32 = 9, 33 = 27 & 34 = 81 and after that it starts
repeating.
So, the cyclicity of 3 has 4 different numbers 3, 9, 7,
1.
7 and 8 follow similar logic.
So these four digits i.e. 2, 3, 7 and 8 have a unit digit
cyclicity of four steps.
To summarize, we can say that since the power cycle
of these numbers has 4 different digits, we can divide
the power by 4, find the remaining power and calculate
the units digit using that.
Example: Find the Unit digit of 287562581
The first observation for this question: the unit digit
involved is 7, which has a four step cycle. You need to
divide the power by 4 and obtain the remaining power.
Doing so, you get the result as 1. Now the last step is
to find the units digit in this power of the base i.e.
71 has the units digit as 7, which will become the
answer.
The above set of examples explains how you the
concept of cyclicity to obtain the unit digit of numbers.
In case you understood the above examples, you
should be easily able to obtain the unit digit of the

numbers given above, and in fact, you should be able

to extend this learning to as many examples as you
want.

5 Must Read Psychology Books for CAT

On first look, you would not expect a subject such as
psychology to feature prominently on the CAT exam.
But it does. From passages on psychological
experiments to game theory, CAT does feature
passages from this topic on a regular basis.
Why does CAT ask reading comprehensions from
psychology?
Well, in order to test your understanding of abstract
and complex text. Since the material asked in the CAT
exam also needs to carry a novelty factor, we see a lot
of non-fiction topics that make an appearance in the
exam. Most of these are from art subjects such as
psychology/philosophy/sociology etc.
How can this tricky matter of CAT passages be
handled?
Again a simple answer: read a few of these abstract
topics before the CAT exam. The target of such an
approach is not to make you a psychologist but rather
to acquaint you with the different kinds of passages
featuring in the exam. You read these books not to
become a master of the subject but just to expose
yourself with the terminology and general language
structure adopted by these subjects.
Five Books that you can refer to:
1. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other
Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks: The Man Who
Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales is

a 1985 book by neurologist Oliver Sacks describing

the case histories of some of his patients. The book
comprises twenty-four essays split into four sections
which each deal with a particular aspect of brain
function

2. Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That

Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely: In this book, the
author challenges readers' assumptions about
making decisions based on rational thought. Ariely
explains, "My goal, by the end of this book, is to help
you fundamentally rethink what makes you and the
people around you tick. I hope to lead you there by
presenting a wide range of scientific experiments,
findings, and anecdotes that are in many cases quite
amusing. Once you see how systematic certain
mistakes are--how we repeat them again and again-I think you will begin to learn how to avoid some of
them"

3. Civilization and Its Discontents by Sigmund

Freud: Written in 1929, it is considered one of
Freud's most important and widely read works. In
this seminal book, Sigmund Freud enumerates what
he sees as the fundamental tensions between
civilization and the individual.

4. Memories, Dreams, Reflections by C.G.

Jung: Memories, Dreams, Reflections is a partially
autobiographical book by Swiss psychologist Carl
Jung and an associate, Aniela Jaff. The book
details Jung's childhood, his personal life, and his

exploration of the psyche.

5. How the Mind Works by Steven Pinker: The book

attempts to explain some of the human mind's poorly
understood functions and quirks in evolutionary
terms. Drawing heavily on the paradigm of
evolutionary psychology Pinker covers subjects as
diverse as vision, emotion, feminism, and, in the final
chapter, "the meaning of life."
Additional Texts: A few more psychology texts that
you can go through are:

Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than

IQ by Daniel Goleman
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert
B. Cialdini
Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert
Man and His Symbols by C.G. Jung
The Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud
The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People
Turn Evil by Philip G. Zimbardo
Games People Play by Eric Berne
Motivation and Personality by Abraham Maslow
The Psychology of Intelligence by Jean Piaget
Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Modern Man in Search of a Soul by C.G. Jung

Reading Comprehension Question Types

Reading Comprehension is one topic that throws up a

number of different question types. These question

types vary in their nature and require you to keep some
small things in mind before answering them. Broadly,
we can classify the different question types into two
categories: broad picture questions (based on the
whole passage) and specific purpose questions (based
on some specific element of the passage). Let us
evaluate these two broad categories and take out
some results for our convenience.
Big Picture Questions:
1. Main Idea Question:
This question type can be asked in the following way:

Which of the following most accurately states the

main idea of the passage?
Which of the following best states the central idea of
the passage?
The gist of the passage is:
Which of the following is the principal topic of the
passage?
Summarize the passage in one line.

2. Primary Purpose Question:

This question type can be asked in the following way:

The primary purpose of this passage is to:

The primary focus of this passage is on which of the
following?
The main concern of the passage is to:
In the passage, the author is primarily interested in:
The passage is chiefly concerned with:

This question type can also be asked for a specific

paragraph (The primary purpose of paragraph 3 is

to) instead of the whole passage.

3. Title Question:
This question type can be asked in the following way:

The most apt title for the passage is:

Select the most suitable title for the passage from
the following:

4. Structure & Organization

This question type can be asked in the following way:

Which of the following best describes the

organization of the passage?
The structure of the passage can be outlined as:

Again, this question type can also refer to a particular

paragraph of the passage instead of the whole
passage:

Which of the following best describes the

organization of the first paragraph of the passage?
One function of the third paragraph is to:

Specific Questions:
5. Fact-based or Specific Detail or Target Question:
This question type can be asked in the following way:

According to the passage,....

The passage states that:
Which, out of the following, is true/false?
Which _____ has not been cited as ______?
According to the author, what is ______?
By a _______, the author means..
According to the passage, _______?

Which factor has not been cited _______?

6. Inference Question:
This question type can be asked in the following way:

It can be inferred from the passage:

It cannot be inferred from the passage:
The passage uses _____ to imply that ___
What can be inferred when the author states____?
The sentence, ______, implies that

This question type can be constructed from a specific

portion of the passage or from the whole passage.
7. Must be true Question:
This question type can be asked in the following way:

According to the passage, which one of the must be

true?
According to the passage, which one of the must be
false?
According to the passage, which one of the following
would the author agree with?
According to the passage, which one of the following
would the author disagree with?

This question type can be constructed from a specific

portion of the passage or from the whole passage.
8. Paraphrase Question:
This question type can be asked in the following way:

The following extract , .

paraphrased as:
. can be rewritten as:

can

be

Paraphrase means Express the same message in

different words/
clarification.

Rewording

for

the

purpose

of

9. Vocabulary Question:
This question type can be asked in the following way:

Identify the meaning of the word, . , in the

given context.
In the passage, the phrase _____ refers to
In the sentence, _______, what is the meaning of
___?

The above forms a comprehensive list of question

types
that
generally
accompany
reading
comprehensions. Any new question will essentially be
a derivative of these only

Words related to Family/ families

The most important part of ones personal life is ones
family. Considering the importance of a family unit and
the multifarious roles available under the wide umbrella
of the human family, it makes sense that the English
language has a dedicated set of words to take care of
this important function in human life. A list of 25 familyrelated words is given below:
1. Ancestor: predecessor in family
2. Care-giver: a person who cares for someone who
is sick or disabled.
3. Foster child: a child raised by someone who is not
its natural or adoptive parent.
4. Foster parent: a person who acts as parent and

guardian for a child in place of the child's natural

parents but without legally adopting the child.
5. Fraternal: of or befitting a brother or brothers;
brotherly.
6. Heir: a person who inherits or has a right of
inheritance in the property of another following the
latter's death.
7. Hereditary: descending or capable of descending
to succeeding generations by inheritance, derived
from one's ancestors; traditional:
8. Infant: a child during the earliest period of its life,
especially before he or she can walk; baby.
9. Juvenile: young, youthful, or immature, suitable or
designed for young people:
10. Kin: kindred of the same family; related; akin.
11. Kinship: family relationship
12. Kith: blood relative
13. Lineage: Direct descent from a particular
ancestor; ancestry.
14. Matriarch: A woman who rules a family, clan,
or tribe.
15. Matrimony: the state of being married;
marriage:
16. Nuptial: of or pertaining to marriage or the
marriage ceremony
17. Offspring: children or young of a particular
parent or progenitor.
18. Paternal: Relating to or characteristic of a
father or fatherhood; fatherly.
19. Patriarch: A man who rules a family, clan, or
tribe.
20. Progenitor: a person or thing that first
indicates a direction, originates something, or
serves as a model; predecessor; precursor:
21. Progeny: The immediate descendants of a

person
22. Sibling: A person's brother or sister
23. Spouse: A person's partner in marriage
24. Surrogate mother: A woman who bears a child
for a couple where the wife is unable to do so
25. Wedlock: The state of being a married couple
voluntarily joined for life (or until divorce)

Things not to be done with RC passages

Reading Comprehensions are a trick beast. They are
time consuming, energy sapping and information
intensive. On the other hand, the rewards they offer
are fascinating as well: if you grasp a passage well,
you should be able to get most questions in a single
passage correct, and this means you gain quite a few
marks by solving one set of questions.
While ensuring that you strike a fine balance for this
area, it is important that you keep a number of things in
your mind and ensure you do not fall into the common
pitfalls. Some of the things that you should definitely
avoid for reading comprehensions are:
1. Do not over-emphasize trivial details
Details are important but do not obsess yourself with
examples, illustrations and so on. You need to
understand the main point, not the examples.
2. You do not need to memorize the passage
You do not need to memorize every word in the
passage; understand the flow, structure and main

points in the passage and you are good to go. For

factual or specific point questions, you can always
return to the passage.
3. Focus on the main idea of the passage
An obvious extension of the above points: make sure
you focus on the main points of the passage, and
understand the overall flow and structure of the
passage.
4. Do not dig into the passage at first
Always go through the questions first and then the
passage. This prepares you for what should you
lookout for in the passage. Remember, focus on
question statements alone, and do not need to focus
on particular answer options. A quick overview of the
questions is sufficient.
5. Do not over-emphasize on vocabulary skills for
RCs
Having a strong vocabulary is great; it facilitates
understanding but remember, being average in the
area does not prevent you from understanding the
passage. Vocabulary only offers you incremental
benefits in the exam. So again do not put yourself
under stress in this area, and while reading the
passage, make sure you give directives to your brain to
understand the gist of the passage and not to get stuck
on particular words.
6. Do not spend time on RCs that you cannot
comprehend at first
At times we discover a passage which we are simply

not able to read. If you are struggling with one such

passage in the exam, make sure you have the
patience to avoid such a passage, and first finish the
ones that you can manage easily. Go back to the tricky
passage only if you are required to do so, else avoid
these. These are time killers that spoil your overall
attempt in the exam.

Topic of the week for discussion: 7th to 13th Aug. 2014

Topic: India & Common wealth games: Analysis
The 2014
Commonwealth Games,
officially the XX
Commonwealth Games, were held in Glasgow, Scotland,
from 23 July to 3 August 2014. A total of 71 teams participated
in the 261 events in 18 sports, with England winning the top
position with highest tally of 174 medals.
Indias performance has been decent in this CWG with it
finishing at 5th position with a total of 64 medals including 15
gold, 30 silver and 19 bronze. Squash, racing, archery, boxing,
wrestling, rifle shooting, badminton, table tennis name the
sport and India has done well in it at the CWG.

Vikas Gowda won a gold in the Men's Discus throw event,

thus winning the first gold medal for India in men's
athletics in 56 years.

Joshana Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal scripted history by

winning the first gold for India in Squash at
Commonwealth Games.

Kashyap Parupalli won a gold in Badminton Men's

Singles, becoming the first Indian male shuttler in 32

years to win a gold medal in the singles event at the
Commonwealth Games
But it is definitely not the best, so far.
It is proposed that the 2018 Commonwealth Games will be
held in Gold Coast City, Queensland, Australia between 4 to
15 April 2018.
History of CWG:
It is an international, multi-sport event involving athletes from
the Commonwealth of Nations, which is an intergovernmental
organization of 53 member states that were mostly territories
of the former British Empire. It was formally constituted by the
London Declaration in 1949, which established the member
states as "free and equal". The symbol of this free association
is Queen Elizabeth II who is the Head of the Commonwealth.
The Common wealth Games was first held in 1930 and with
the exception of 1942 and 1946, which were cancelled due to
World War II, has taken place every four years since then. The
games are overseen by the Commonwealth Games
Federation (CGF), with its headquarters at London. It controls
the sporting programme and selects the host cities.
India and CWG: a critical analysis
The 2010 CWG was hosted in India amidst scams, scandals
and criticism of slow pace of work, as well as issues related to
security and hygiene. Even though the performance of India in
hosting the games was not upto mark still its performance in

medal tally was remarkable. India ranked second with a total

medal score of 101.
This, coupled with its performance in CWG 2014 presses us to
contemplate the fact the why such performances are not
replicated in Olympics, specially the 2012 Olympics. To
mention, India poor performance can be vouched from the fact
that its score in Olympics 2012 was 0 gold, 2 silver and 4
bronze.30+ gold medals in CWG and 0 in Olympics is a hard
pill to swallow. But the scores are only symptomatic? But the
real problem question is:Why is it that the Indian athletes
cannot
replicate
their
CWG performances
during
the Olympics?
The probable answers are:
1. Olympics and CWG are different stage for athletes.
Olympics boast the presence of two nations which rule
global sport USA and China hence the competition is
Olympics become intense. The players who succeed in
Commonwealth games are facing less competition and
pressure than what they are facing in Olympics. Hence,
CWG is no way a preparatory ground for the Olympics
considering vast level of differences in levels. Hence it
can be concluded that CWG performance should not act
as judgment for Olympics as the hygiene factors are not
comparable.
2. The sports infrastructure for athletes in India is
inadequate and substandard, which hampers the interest
of general populace in athletic sports in India. Though
India has one of the finest Cricket and Hockey teams in
the world but winning Olympics medals seems such a

daunting task for our nation. Only the very poor or the
very well off in India feel motivated enough (for entirely
different reasons) to focus on competitive sports apart
from cricket and studies. This is the prime reason India
does not win very many medals at the Olympics, and
other world level competitions. No more than a very small
percentage of the population is willing to devote its life to
athletics, shooting, judo, table tennis, gymnastics, fencing
and the like due to lack of encouragement and focus from
Government bodies and sports faculties.
Hence, the probable causes should be dealt in a serious
manner to be seriously proud of the entire gamut of sports
caliber of our India.
Read further:
http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2014/08/04/indiasgold-medals-haul-at-the-commonwealth-games-notas-impressive-as-it-looks/
http://www.firstpost.com/blogs/the-sad-but-truestory-of-indias-olympic-failings-395024.html
http://www.topendsports.com/events/sportevents.htm

Geometry - Wastage is not always a waste

At times, in geometry questions, we have symmetrical figures
inscribed in other symmetrical figures e.g. a circle inscribed in
a square, a circle inscribed in an equilateral triangle etc. and
we have to find the common/wastage areas of such figures.

In such cases, the concept of wastage of area may be

helpful. Just to explain what this wastage area is all about,
lets take an example.
Example: A square paper has an area of 484 sq. cm. The
largest possible circle is cut from this paper, what % area of
the paper is wasted?
Solution: In this case the area of square is 484 sq. cm.
Hence the side of the square will be 22 cm.
So the diameter of the circle will be 22 cm. Area of the
inscribed circle = r2 = 121 cm2.
The area wasted at the four corners = (484 121 ) cm2.

Let me also make it clear to you that as the question was

asking about the percentage change, the actual sides or area
does not matter i.e. even if you take the side of the square to
be 2 or 1, the answer will remain the same. This has
universal application, whenever the percentage wastage is
asked; any figure that makes your calculations easier can be
taken.
Now here the area of the big square is 484 cm2. If we take
any square with side of any length and a largest circle is cut
inside this square, the area wasted would always be 21.5%
and the area used/ inside the circle will be 78.5%. Similarly, if
the largest possible square is cut/drawn inside the circle, then
the % area wasted will be equal to 36.3%. On the same lines,
if the largest possible cube is cut from a sphere, then the
percentage volume wasted is 63% or the volume of cube is
37% of the volume of the sphere.

Some other important universal results are as follows:

Outer
figure
Square

Inner
Wastage
figure
(%)
Largest
21.5
circle
Circle
Largest
36.36
square
Equilateral Largest
39
triangle
circle
Circle
Largest
59
equilateral
triangle
Square
Largest
67
equilateral
triangle
Equilateral Largest
51
triangle
Square
Semicircle Largest
49
Square
In case your brain cells are buzzing now with this new tip that
you have learnt, and you wish to discover how some of the
above percentages were discovered, you have your home
task: try to figure out how the above values were derived; this
should be fun exercise for those who love mathematical
wonders.
*Due to symmetry, all the corners will have equal percentage
wastages.

Words related to Animals

The animal world is one which fills delight in the most

cynical of hearts. From the countless dog lovers to
those who appreciate nature, there are countless fans
of animals in this world. In a world with countless types
of animals, the English language has done its bit in
imbibing words into the language that make a
reference to animals. 15 such words, based on various
animals and their qualities, are explored below:
1. Bovine-an ox, cow, or related animal; having
oxlike qualities; slow, dull, stupid, or stolid.
2. Equine-a horse; of, like, or a characteristic of a
horse. Feline-of or relating to cats
3. Hircine-of or characteristic of a goat, especially in
strong odor or lustfulness.
4. Leonine-of, pertaining to, or characteristic of a
lion.
5. Lupine-wolflike; rapacious or ravenous
6. Ophidian-snakelike; a snake or serpent
7. Ovine-designating sheep or sheeplike; an ovine
animal
8. Piscine-of, pertaining to, or typical of a fish or
fishes.
9. Porcine-of or pertaining to swine or pigs; piglike.
10. Saurian-of or having the characteristics of
lizards; a lizard.
11. Taurine-of or resembling a bull.
12. Ursine-of or characteristic of a bear.
13. Vixen-a female fox, a quarrelsome shrewish or
malicious woman.
14. Vulpine-of, resembling, or characteristic of a
fox; clever, devious, or cunning.

Words related to Science

Ever wondered how many different kinds of science
subjects are out there? Well, we provide a simple list of
15 scientific professions here. See how many of these
you knew already and how many are new to you. Dig
in here:
1. Archaeology: the scientific study of historic or
prehistoric peoples and their cultures by analysis
of their artifacts, inscriptions, monuments, and
other such remains, especially those that have
been excavated.
2. Cardiology: the study of the heart and its
functions in health and disease.
3. Ecology: the branch of biology dealing with the
relations and interactions between organisms and
their environment, including other organisms.
4. Endocrinology: the branch of medical science
concerned with the endocrine glands and their
secretions
5. Gerontology: the scientific study of ageing and the
problems associated with older people
6. Gynecology: the branch of medicine concerned
with diseases in women, esp. those of the
reproductive organs.
7. Morphology: the branch of biology dealing with
the form and structure of organisms, the form or
structure of anything:
8. Neurology: the study of the anatomy, physiology,
and diseases of the nervous system.
9. Paleontology: the science of the forms of life
existing in former geologic periods, as

represented by their fossils.

10. Pathology: the branch of medicine concerned
with the cause, origin, and nature of disease,
including the changes occurring as a result of
disease.
11. Rhinology: the branch of medical science
concerned with the nose and its diseases.
12. Seismology: The geophysical science of
earthquakes and the mechanical properties of the
earth.
13. Speleology: the exploration and study of
caves.
14. Toxicology: the science dealing with the
effects, antidotes, detection, etc., of poisons.

The answer is a NO but is the Data Sufficient?

Data sufficiency questions test your knowledge of basic math
facts and skills coupled with reasoning, analytical and problemsolving abilities. Each data sufficiency item presents you with a
question where you need to decide whether or not the
information presented along with the question would be
sufficient to answer the question. The challenge in DS
questions, as they are popularly called, is not question solving
but rather establishing whether the question has a solution or
not. A special array of five answer choices is provided, each of
which categorizes the relationship between the question and
the information provided in a different way. You must select the
answer choice that describes this relationship accurately.
Lets have a cursory look at these answer options which
generally
feature
in
this
question
type:

Give answer (A) if the data in Statement I alone are

sufficient to answer the question, while the data in
Statement II alone are not sufficient to answer the
question.
Give answer (B) if the data in Statement II alone are
sufficient to answer the question, while the data in
Statement I alone are not sufficient to answer the
question.
Give answer (C) if the data either in Statement I or in
Statement II alone are sufficient to answer the question.
Give answer (D) if the data even in both Statements I and II
together are not sufficient to answer the question.
Give answer(E) if the data in both Statements I and II
together are necessary to answer the question.

One small tip for this question type: students often confuse the
different answer options, and end up marking the incorrect
choice. Always double check whether you are marking the
correct option, and do not assume that the examiner would
always present the options in a default order. Go through the
answer options to check whether the order of statements is as
expected.
Example 1: Is the product of two numbers greater than 100?
A. The sum of the two numbers is greater than 50.
B. Each of the numbers is greater than 10.
Solution: Statement A alone is not sufficient to answer the
question and this can be proved by examples. If the two
numbers are 30 and 31, their sum is greater than 50 and their
product is greater than 100; but if the two numbers are 50 and
1, though their sum is greater than 50, their product is only 50,
and less than 100. Statement B is sufficient. If both of the

numbers are greater than 10, then their product must be

greater than 10 x 10, or greater than 100. Hence only second
statement is sufficient to solve the question.
Example 2: Is x a prime number?
A. 91 <x< 97
B. x is a factor of 121
Solution: Here the first statement is sufficient to answer the
question as we see that there is no prime number between 91
<x< 97. Hence x is not a prime number. What do we learn
from this question?Remember, even if a question has an
answer as no, even then it is a valid answer.
In second statement, the factors of 121 are 1, 11 and 121.
Here 1 and 121 are not prime numbers whereas 11 is a prime
number. Hence in this case x may or may not be a prime
number. Hence, only the first statement is sufficient to solve
the question.
Example 3: Is x = - 5?
A. x2 = 36
B. x is a natural number.
Solution: Here the question directly asks whether x is equal to
5 or not. From statement A, we have x = 6 or 6. In both the
cases x is not equal to 5. Hence first statement is sufficient to
get the answer. Statement B says that x is a natural number.
Since x is a natural number, it cannot be negative. Hence it is
not equal to 5. So, the second statement is also sufficient to
solve the question.Hence, both statements are independently
sufficient to answer the question.
To conclude, it is very important to read the question carefully
in the case of data sufficiency questions. One major mistake

committed by a number of students is that when the answer

has to be yes/no and normally whenever you get the answer
as no, you mark the answer as insufficient. Remember: NO is
also an answer for Data Sufficiency questions.

Small is Beautiful in Mathematics

In spite of all the advances in technology, the brain is
still fairly primitive when it comes to understanding
numbers. The brain works better with smaller numbers
rather than bigger ones. This is the trick that you use
when you need to approximate. Instead of looking at a
very big number, you just concentrate on the first one
or two digits. So 123 x 321 can be seen as 100 x 300 =
30,000. (A little closer to 40,000 actually). We use this
principle in problem solving, by first working with
smaller numbers, getting comfortable with the logic,
and then applying it to larger numbers.
Here is an example: The pages of Jacks book are
numbered from 1. The page numbers have a total
of 555 digits. How many pages does the book
have?
Let us say that the book had 9 pages, it would have 9
digits. If it had 10 pages it would become 9 + 2 = 11.
Now we think bigger: If it had 99 pages, number of
digits would be 9 + 90*2 = 189. You get the hang of it.
Dont even try with 999 it would take the answer
beyond 555. We can now see that each additional
page is adding 3 digits. We need 555 189 = 366
digits. So more pages that are required: 366 / 3 = 122.

So the answer is 122 + 99 = 221 pages.

Lets take one more example: What is the smallest
number with which 20! should be divided so that it
becomes odd ?
Now in this case, since you are not aware of the
concept, lets take a smaller number, say 40. Try to
make it odd. You know a number becomes odd, when
it is not divisible by 2. Start dividing it successively by
2, you will see that you can do so only three times and
now you have 5 left with you, which is odd. In
conceptual terms, a number becomes odd, if all the 2s
it is divisible by are removed. Lets come back to the
original question: how many times 2 can divide 20! or
what is the largest power of 2 in 20!
Following the numbers concept, you can find that to be
18. Hence the number is to be divided by 218.
Hope you have got the hang of how to work with small
numbers and extrapolate the results to larger numbers.
Just to make sure you have learnt something, try your
hands at this problem: How many different positive
integers exist between 106 and 107, the sum of whose
digits is equal to 2?

How important is reading for CAT?

How important is reading really for CAT? Can it be
escaped? Is there a short-cut? In order to find the
answer to this question, why not delve into actual
factual details rather than providing boring theoretical

reasons for reading?

Our factual evidence: previous year CAT Reading
Comprehension sources!
Go through this list of 6 passage sources:
1. RC Sources: CAT 2007
Passage Ref: Paradigms in Scientific Traditions
Source: Knowledge and Post modernism in
Historical Perspective" by Joyce Oldham Appleby
(Page 347)
2. RC Sources: CAT 2007
Passage Ref: Expressions of Experience
Source: "Logological Investigations" by Barry
Sandywell (Page 421)
3. RC Sources: CAT 2007
Passage Ref: Ethnology
Source: "Guns, germs and steel : The Fates of
Human Societies" by Jared M.Diamond
4. RC Sources: CAT 2007
Passage Ref: Sociology
Source: "Sociology: A Very Short Introduction" by
Steve Bruce (Page 22)
5. RC Sources: CAT 2008
Passage Ref: Passage from Chapter 5 The
Maya Collapses.
Source: Collapse: How Societies Choose to fail or
succeed, a book written by Jared Diamond
6. RC Sources: CAT 2008

Passage Ref: Passage from the essay How to

eat ice cream
Source: How to travel with a Salmon and other
essays, a book written by Umberto Eco, Diane
Sterling, William Weaver.
Can you outline a common learning from the sources
quoted above? The one common observation we can
take out from the above is that none of these passage
are from traditional newspapers, and in fact, most of
these are realms such as sociology, psychology,
philosophy and so on (arts-subjects). Considering the
general nature of these passages, it makes a lot of
sense for you to explore such topics for CAT.
Another factor that needs to be considered here is that
we are generally not in the habit of reading such texts,
thus making our job that much harder when we solve
the actual CAT RCs. This is another reason why you
should spend quality time on reading material which is
challenging.Effectively, the above should provide
enough reasons and motivation to read. Happy
reading!
Travel in the RIGHT Direction
The first step for solving the questions using the
concept of directions: understand the direction chart,
which has 8 directions. Have a glance at the figure
below.

The first thing you need to remember is that each main

direction change undergoes a 900 change in direction
e.g. from North to West/East it will be 900 change. But
the change between North and North-east is only 450.
The next important point that needs to be kept in mind
is that directions problems generally quiz you about the
minimum distance, distance by air, crow fly distance
etc. For the purpose of solving these questions, we
assume all these distances to be along straight lines
and between specified points.
Let us go through some practice problems to be able to
understand the mechanism adopted for solving these
questions.
Example 1: A man goes 3 kms. East from point A and
then takes a right turn from point B to move 4 kms. to
point C. What is the minimum distance between point
A and point C?
Solution: In order to find the minimum distance

between these points, we use a little bit of geometry.

We know that the minimum distance between these
points will lie along the hypotenuse of the right-angled
triangle formed by these points.
Now applying Pythagoras theorem, the distance
between the starting point A and final point C is 5 kms
i.e. the square root of the sum of squares of 3 and 4.

An important point to learn from this question could be

the fact that you might be asked to specify the direction
of the specific point, for example, the question might
state: in which direction is he with respect to the
starting point. The answer would be Southeast.
Now, in case the question was: In which direction is
the starting point with respect to C; the answer would
be Northwest.
Another question could be: In which direction is he
walking towards point C; the answer would be South.
While calculating the distance from a starting point to
the destination point when the points form a right
angled triangle, the prior knowledge of Pythogorian
Triplets ( 3-4-5, 5-12-13, 8-15-17 etc.) is generally very
helpful in calculating the distances involved as it saves
time spent on calculations. Let us solve an example

that uses this knowledge.

Example 2: A child is looking for his father. He went 90
metres in the East before turning to his right. He went
20 meters before turning to his right again to look for
his father at his uncles place 30 metres from this
point. His father was not there. From here he went 100
metres to the North before meeting his father in a
street. What is the smallest distance between the
starting point and his fathers position?
1. 80 metres

2. 100 metres

3. 140 metres

4. 260 metres

Solution:

The movement of the child from A to E are as shown in

fig.
Clearly, the child meets his father at E.
Now, AF = (AB FB)
=(AB DC) = (90 30) m = 60 m.

EF = (DE DF) = (DE BC)

=(100 20) m = 80 m.
Now the distance is square root of (602 + 802 ), which
will be 100 metres.
We can clearly see from the above example that
knowledge of basic concepts can go a long way in
reducing the time you take to solve problems, along
with improving your accuracy. Make sure you place
sufficient emphasis on the topics such as direction
based questions, and your performance is surely
meant to improve.

Topic of the week for discussion: 14th to 20th Aug.

2014
Topic: WTO VERSUS INDIA
Is it a Victory for Modi's diplomacy?
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the
government chose to take a tough stand in the recent
WTO talks as it has to protect the interest of the
poor people of the country rather than to look for good
publicity in the international media.Last month, WTO
talks in Geneva failed on account of the tough stand
taken by India on its food security issue. New Delhi
refused
to
ratify
the
Trade
Facilitation
Agreement (TFA), which aims at easing customs
procedures and is dear to the developed world. India
has made its position clear that first address our issue
(food subsidies) then only we (some of the developing

countries) will sign the TFA deal which was agreed

upon last year in Bali, Indonesia as the developing
country especially India and South Africa want that
before pushing for this TFA that why is WTO not
discussing and allaying their concerns on food subsidy
which is a lifeline for millions of poor in these countries.
What is TFA?
The Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) forms part
of the Bali Package agreed by members at the
Ninth Ministerial Conference in Bali on 3-7
December 2013. The accord includes provisions for
lowering import tariffs and agricultural subsidies, with
the intention of making it easier for developing
countries to trade with the developed world in global
markets. Trade facilitation agreement (TFA) is a trade
protocol aiming to give a spur and do away with the
stumbling blocks in doing international trade between
various countries. The deadline to sign the agreement
was July 31 and the deal has to come into force fully
by 2015. It is being believed, especially by the
proponents of the agreement that deal could add $1
trillion to global GDP and can also generate 21 million
jobs by slashing red tape and streamlining customs.
Under the Agreement on Agriculture, a World Trade
Organization (WTO) member country is allowed to give
farm subsidies up to 10 per cent of agriculture
production. India may end up breaching the cap
following the implementation of the Food Security Act.
The agreement also has a peace clause under which
Indias public stock-holding, necessary for its food
security programme, will not be questioned for four
years ending 2017 even if it breached the 10 per cent

WTO ceiling on food subsidy.

In a major boost for Narendra Modi-led NDA
Government, a United Nations body too has supported
India's tough stand at the World Trade Organization
(WTO) on the food security issue. The International
Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) on Monday
said that ensuring food for its people is more important
than creating jobs in other nations.
Why the issue arose?
The main point of contention is not merely technical.
The G33 proposed that procurement from poor farmers
should be exempt from this bound. This would have
given a blanket exemption to the price support for the
farmers in developing countries and predictably the US
objected. This was the beginning of the argument that
erupted at Bali.
What India wants?
India wants its parallel demand of food subsidy be
heard along with TFA deal. New WTO rules limit the
value of food subsidies at 10 per cent of the total food
grain production considering 1986 as the base year.
India is opposing it saying the rule with which food
subsidies is being limited is outdated. India is raising its
concerns by saying that while US is providing $120
billion, to its 3 million farmers, as agriculture subsidy
then why India can't give even one tenth ($12 billion) to
its farmers. Currently India gives a food subsidy of
barely 15 billion dollars to its 500 million farmers. India
is home to about 25 per cent of the worlds hungry and
they depend upon Government's subsidized food
programme. India provides food subsidies through

programme under Food security Bill and PDS system.

What is Food security act?
The Food Security Act entitles 82 crore people to 5 kg
of food grain per person in a month at the rate of Rs 13 per kg. To implement the law, India needs 62 million
tonnes of food grain annually.
The previous commerce minister also raised concern
over excessive conditionalitys imposed on the 'peace
clause' as it would require India to change its domestic
policy. The clause provides a temporary reprieve from
penalties in the event that the subsidy level is crossed.
"While we have committed upfront that public stocks
would not be used for exports, which would be price
distorting, but it should not preclude the use of public
stocks for price stabilization measure in domestic
market. We would need safeguard from any challenge
under Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing
Measures," the letter said.
WTO has a point in objecting to Indias food
security act
WTO is objecting because our present system of
delivering food subsidy involves producer support. The
central government procures wheat and rice not at
market price but at an administered minimum support
price (MSP).
There is another WTO issue. Over the last decade it
has consistently procured more than it has dispensed
through its public distribution system. The stocks thus
have grown way beyond what would be necessary for
dampening price volatility. Such massive stocks are

perceived as a threat by other countries because India

could be dumping them in the international market.
These are legitimate fears as India is a big player in
the world grain market.

How to prepare CAT Grammar?

As you enter the most important phase of your CAT
preparation, a number of questions must be popping in
your head. One of those questions must be: how to
study for CAT grammar in the next few days?
But before you read the answer to this question, you
need to understand the anatomy of CAT grammar
questions and the areas probed traditionally. These
would give you a fair estimate of what you need to
study in the coming months.
As far as the types of questions go, CAT generally
provides a series of sentences (on most occasions,
from the same paragraph) and asks you to identify the
correct/incorrect sentences. The tricky part in these
questions is actually not the format but the kind of
errors probed in the question. A lot of these questions
feature pure grammar-based errors. The list of these
errors includes:

Basic Parts of Speech Errors (correct usage of

noun, verb, adjectives and adverbs):
Subject Verb Agreement
Verb Tense errors

Parallelism errors
Modifier errors
Pronoun Case and Usage
Redundancy and Meaning Clarity
Correct Usage of Articles

The above errors form the core of basic grammar

errors that you should prepare. An ideal approach for
preparation involves working on each one of the above
mentioned areas one at a time.
The second set of errors that make an appearance in
CAT (and it is not a friendly appearance) involve the
following type of errors:
Punctuation errors
Idiomatic errors
Prepositional errors

Out of these, the first one can be managed fairly easily

but the latter two will be challenge. One option for
studying idiomatic and prepositional errors involves
going through books such as High School Grammar
and Composition by Wren and Martin. The other option
is to use your reading skills for identifying these errors.
You are advices to build a basis list of these errors
(you can do so by writing down all the errors that
appear in your tests), and keep revising this list to
ensure that you able to memorize these errors.
This brings us to the books that you can refer to. Two
books that you can use for your CAT preparation are:

High School Grammar and Composition by Wren

and Martin: Treat this as your textbook which you
use for reference purposes, and clarifying core

topics.
Better English by Norman Lewis: Written in an
informative and interesting style, this is an easy to
read grammar text that will help you learn
grammar basics.
Along with the above, you need to carry out a one
simple exercise to ensure that you maximize your
score in grammar questions. Solve 10 to 20 grammar
questions per day, and as stated above, make a list of
the new errors you learn from every test. Going into the
last thirty days, this list will work as your readyreckoner for grammar.
The above form the rudimentary basics of CAT
Grammar preparation. We will also be providing
targeted articles that will provide you handy tips and
tricks to solve grammar questions.

Words related to Law

The language of law is a very important one to
understand; a significant portion of our lives is driven
by law and legal procedures. Go through the following
list to understand 20 important words that have a legal
implication:
1. Abscond: to depart in a sudden and secret
manner, especially to avoid capture and legal
prosecution.
2. Amicus curiae: a person not directly engaged in a
case who advises the court.
3. Arson: the act of intentionally or recklessly setting
fire to another's property or to one's own property
for some improper reason.
4. Battery: An assault in which the assailant makes
physical contact
5. Bequest: the act of bequeathing, a gift of property
by will, esp personal property.
6. Cause celebre: any controversy that attracts great
public attention, as a celebrated legal case or
trial, a famous lawsuit, trial, or controversy.
7. Caveat emptor: the principle that the buyer must
bear the risk for the quality of goods purchased
unless they are covered by the seller's warranty.
8. Codicil: a supplement modifying a will or revoking
some provision of it, an additional provision;
appendix.
9. Contraband: goods that are prohibited by law
from being exported or imported, illegal traffic in
such goods; smuggling.
10. Disenfranchise: to deprive (a person) of the
right to vote or other rights of citizenship, to
deprive (a place) of the right to send

representatives to an elected body, to deprive (a

business concern, etc) of some privilege or right.
11. Extradition: the surrender of an alleged
offender or fugitive to the state in whose territory
the alleged offence was committed.
12. Habeas corpus: a writ ordering a person to be
brought before a court or judge, esp so that the
court may ascertain whether his detention is
lawful.
13. Incarcerate: to imprison; confine.
14. Injunction: law an instruction or order issued
by a court to a party to an action, esp to refrain
from some act, such as causing a nuisance, the
act of enjoining.
15. Jurisprudence: the science or philosophy of
law, a system or body of law, a branch of law:
medical jurisprudence.
16. Litigious: inclined to dispute or disagree;
argumentative.
17. Miscreant: depraved, villainous, or base,
archaic, holding a false or unorthodox religious
belief; heretical.
18. Perpetrator: to perform or be responsible for
(a deception, crime, etc)
19. Plagiarism: an act or instance of using or
closely imitating the language and thoughts of
another author without authorization and the
representation of that author's work as one's own.
20. Probation: the testing or trial of a person's
conduct, character, qualifications, or the like.

Topic of the week for discussion: 21st to 27th Aug. 2014

Topic: FDI in Indian Defence sector: Debate
Background for the topic
FDI means Foreign Direct Investment. In Indian context, in
simple terms it means setting of business of foreign
companies in India.
Latest News
The Union Government on 6 August 2014 approved a
proposal to raise the amount of foreign direct investment
allowed in Indias defense. Under this proposal the
government is to increase the FDI limit in the defense
industry to 49% from 26%.
Status of Defence FDI at present:
At present 26% FDI allowed through the Foreign
Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) route.
Clearance from the Cabinet Committee on Security
(CCS) is required for FDI beyond 26%.
The FDI proposals in Defense are approved on a caseto-case basis at present.

New position of FDI in Defence as approved by the

Parliament:
Up to 49% FDI would be allowed after approval from
FIPB.
Management control of companies receiving these
investments must remain in the hands of Indians.
Proposals, even those for less than 26%, will require
approval from the Foreign Investment Promotion
Board (FIPB).

Even after allowing 49% FDI in defense, clearances will

be given on a case-to-case basis

Debate:
India is at present the worlds largest importer of arms. It
imports almost 70% of its military hardware. It, therefore,
wants to open up the domestic weapons industry to help
boost domestic manufacturing and modernize its Soviet-era
military.
In May 2001, the defense industry was thrown open to the
private sector. The Government permitted 100 per cent
equity with a maximum of 26 per cent FDI
component, both subject to licensing. Unattractiveness of
the policy became evident in a short span of time. By 2004,
Defense Minister George Fernandez was forced to admit in
the Lok Sabha that India had received no FDI proposal till
then.
To attract foreign players, the union government has
increased the cap to 49%, against the foreign players hope
of 51%. Few feel that this new cap is as good as 26% as it
does not give foreign players any independent control on
production of armed goods and other Research &
Development activities. Some analysts say the government
should have raised the limit to 74 per cent to give foreign
firms actual control and even some supporters decries for
100% FDI in Defense sector.
Industry bodies said the decisions to raise the FDI limit will
help attract much-needed capital, create jobs, encourage
collaboration and benefit cash-starved small and medium
enterprises (SMEs).
But many are putting forward the argument that FDI will

stymie the growth of indigenous defense industry. The

indigenous industry has not been able to meet the demand
as imports have now climbed to close to 75 per cent when
it was expected to reduce from 70 % to 30 % in last 2
decades.
One reason is the dismal performance of the Defense
Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the
public sector. Although DRDO has 51 laboratories with
5,000 scientists and over 25,000 support personnel, it has
not been able to develop a single system in the promised
time-frame and conforming to the accepted parameters.
Another argument put forward is that more FDI will put
the security
concerns at
vulnerable
position.
Apprehensions are often expressed that during operational
emergencies, foreign investors may shut down their
factories and choke supplies to the armed forces.
Presently, India is procuring all critical weapon systems
produced/integrated abroad. It is not understood as to how
Indias security would get threatened if the same weapon
systems are produced/integrated in India. As a matter of
fact, indigenous production will insulate India from
unilateral imposition of embargos on contracted supplies by
whimsical foreign governments. The degree of assurance
and resulting comfort accruing from indigenous facilities will
always be significantly more than dependence on imports.
Additionally, indigenous manufacturing facilities will also
ensure better life-time support including supply of spares.
On the contrary, it is important to understand that any
investment in defense production by a foreign player
means a lasting and protracted relationship; he seeks a
stable environment with long-term, well-defined economic
policies which are fair and consistent. In addition, there are

four factors which influence such decisions availability of

abundant raw material, skilled work force, low cost of
production and lucrative market. It is the interplay of all
these factors which influence an investment decision.
If India is serious about attracting FDI in defense, it has to
position itself as the most lucrative FDI destination with
improved FDI Confidence Index. For that, it must make
structural adjustment to provide functional freedom to joint
ventures to respond to market dynamics.
Read further:
http://scroll.in/article/666232/Why-some-peoplefear-that-100-percent-FDI-in-defence-sector-willcompromise-national-security
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/indiasdefence-needs-fdi/article4712277.ece
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/whatsailing-indias-defense-sector/
http://thediplomat.com/2014/06/up-in-armsforeign-investment-in-indian-defense/

FACTs about Factors

Factors are an extremely important part of Number
System, and in this article, we understand the basics of
factors, and some tips related to them that you can use

I questions.
Factors of a number N refer to all the numbers which
divide N completely. Those are also called divisors of a
number.
Example 1: Find the numbers of divisors of 432?
Solution: Firstly, complete the prime factorization of the
number i.e. 432=24 *33. Now, in order to make factors
of 432, either we will choose 2s power or 3s power or
combination of both. The number of 2s in 432 can be
chosen in 5 ways (the power of 2 can be taken from 0
till 4) and the number of 3s can be chosen in 4 ways
(the power of 3 can be taken from 0 till 3). So the total
number of factors of 432 is = 5*4 = 20.
Let us learn this concept algebraically:
For any number N = pa qb rc..where p, q, r are
distinct primes.
No. of factors = (a+1)(b+1)(c+1)
Example 2: Find the numbers of divisors of N=23*32*53.
Solution: Any combination of 2s, 3s or 5s power will
give the required factor. So, there are 4*3*4= 48
factors.
Example 3: How many factors of N= 22*33*51 are odd?
Solution: In this question, we only need to determine
the odd factors of the given number. The factors will be
odd only, if they do not have any 2 in it or those are not
divisible by 2. So all you need to do is neglect the
powers of and rest of the steps remain the same as in

example 2. The power of 3 can be selected in 4 ways

and the power of 5 can be selected in 2 ways. Hence
the total number of factors is 4*2 = 8.
Example 4: In how many ways can 360 be written as a
product of two factors?
Solution: It will be very difficult to calculate every factor
of 360, and if you try to solve this question by listing all
the factors, you would surely be in trouble.
Let us understand the approach to solve the question
with the help of a smaller number say 72. Now it can
be written as 1) 72=1*72; 2)2*36; 3)3*24; 4) 4*18; 5)
6*12; 6) 8*9. Hence, it can be written in 6 ways as a
product of two factors. Now instead of calculating, you
can just observe that 72=23*32 has 4*3=12 factors.
Factors taken two at a time, it can be written in 12/2 =
6 ways. Similarly 360 = 23*32*51 i.e. it has 4*3*2 = 24
factors. Hence, it can be written as a product of two
factors in 24/2 = 12 ways.
The above form some basics tips for factors, and you
would do well to execute these tips
Answer Choices to Avoid in RCs
In terms of aptitude exams, it is easy to identify answers for the
Quantitative Ability section; after all every question can only
have one correct answer. But as soon as we start to consider
Verbal Ability, things go haywire. We are not sure which option
to select and which option to reject. The problem gets even
worse for reading comprehensions, where the options seem to
be too close to discern differences among them, and this
makes your job very tough.

Keeping this mind, we are going to list down the types of

answer choices that you should generally avoid or be very
wary of in the exam. Most incorrect answer options can be
divided into these categories, and follow this classification.
Types of Incorrect
Comprehensions:

answer

Choices

in

Reading

Extreme Words: Answer choices that use extreme words

such as only, all, always, never and exclusively
are generally not correct, and you should avoid them.
Scope trap: Some answer choices sound very good but are
not actually related to the topic of the passage. They are
outside the scope of the passage, that is they are not
related to the actual topic of the passage.

Single Fact Focus: An answer choice might place focus on

a single fact of the passage only whereas the question
requires a more holistic answer. Avoid these types of
choices which actually dont answer the given question
(even though they present partially correct information).
Mish-Mash: Some answer choices might present partly
correct information but might also contain incorrect
information. Be careful of these answer choices; these
are pretty inviting ones.
Opinion Answers: In some answer choices, the question
setter might use words such as more successful, more
efficient or more efficient and convert a factual piece of
information into an opinion. Be careful of this trap.
Irrelevant Answers: Some answer choices are simply
irrelevant. Make sure you are able to identify these pesky
options.

The above provides you information with regards to the

different kinds of answer choices built in reading

comprehension questions. Whenever you sit to solve a RC

passage, try to classify the incorrect choices into these
categories, and this should greatly enhance your learning.

Mastering DI - Tricks & Traps Bar Diagrams

Most of the time Bar diagrams questions appear to be easy on
face but they may be deceiving. Let us learn some typical
example of bar diagram, and derive key take away points.
DIRECTIONS: The following graph gives the data about
Foreign Equity Inflow (FEI) for the five countries for two years
97 and 98.FEI is taken as the ratio of foreign equity inflow to
the country's GDP, which is expressed as a percentage in the
following graph.

Q1. The country with the highest percentage change in FEI in

1998 relative to its FEI in 1997, is
a. India
c. Malaysia

b. China
d. Thailan

Solution: The basic mistake which the students do while

solving this problem is just taking the difference between the
figures given on the bar tops as these figures are in
percentages. So, as per this the answer is China which has the
maximum difference (5.96 4.8 = 1.16) but this is actually

wrong as we need to find the percent change between the

years 1997 to 1998 for the given countries. Student can follow
the book method by calculating the percent change for all the
given countries and find the answer. Besides that a smarter
approach can also be applied, which is just basic visualization
of the bars of two years for the countries given in the choices.
We find that the bar for 1998 is less than half of 1997 in case
of India, which means that the bar remaining for 1998 is less
than even 50% of the bar for 1997, and no other country it is
even close to this kind of a change. Hence, the answer is India
in this case as the percentage decrease is more than 50%.
Q2. Which country has maximum change in the FEI?
a. India
c. Malaysia

b. China
d. Thailand

Solution: In this question, you are only asked to identify the

country with the maximum change and not the percent change.
We can calculate this using the difference between the values
given on the top of the bars. So, as per this, the answer is
China which has the maximum difference i.e.(5.96 4.8) =
1.16.
In this question, you need to apply the basic concept of
subtracting the values given. Essentially, this was the mistake
which was committed while calculating the percentage change
in question 1.
Q3. Supposing in Thailand 20% of FEI in 1997 and 50% of FEI
in 1998 goes to Education sector then find the ratio of the
amounts allocated to Education in 1997 to 1998, assuming the
GDPs of both of these years for Thailand to be same.
a.1 : 3
c. 6 : 11

b. 5 : 21
d. 7 : 25

Solution: Taking the data from the bar chart for Thailand it can
be seen that in 1997, 5.09% of the GDP is FEI and 20% of this
goes to the Education sector and in 1998, 5.82% of the GDP is
FEI and its 50% goes to the Education sector. Now if you try to
calculate it actually by the conventional method, it will take a
lot of time and effort. Now as you only want to find the ratio of
the amount spent on Education sector in the 1997 and 1998,
you can do approximation by taking 5.09% as 5% approx. for
1997 and 5.82% as 6% approx. for 1998. Now just calculate
ratio as 5 20 GDP : 6 50 GDP = 100 : 300 = 1 : 3
approximately.
To conclude, you can notice that the questions which take long
to solve by conventional method, can be solved smartly also
by applying logical and calculation oriented tricks.

10 Basic Subject Verb Agreement rules that you

should know
What is subject-verb agreement?
Subject-verb agreement simply states that the subject
of the sentence and the verb of the sentence must be
in agreement in number.
Okay, that sounds good but what does it actually
mean?
Lets take an example to understand this simple
concept.

Example 1: The dog is playing with his ball.

In this case, the subject of the sentence is dog
and the verb used is singular in nature, is
playing.

Example 1: The dogs are playing with their ball.

In this case, the subject of the sentence is dogs
and the verb used is plural in nature, are playing.

This is what subject-verb agreement means. Hope this

is perfectly clear to you.
In order to enhance our learning, lets learn a
series of subject-verb agreement rules that you
need to learn and understand.
RULE 1: When two subjects are joined by and, the
verb is plural.
For example: My friend and his mother are in town.
RULE 2: When two singular nouns joined by and refer
to the same person or thing, the verb is singular.
For example: The captain and coach of the team has
been sacked.
In case these were two different individuals, two
articles needs to be used: The captain and the coach
of the team have been sacked.
RULE 3: Indefinite pronouns (everyone, each one,
someone, somebody, no one, nobody, anyone,
anybody etc.) are always singular.
For example: Everyone is selfish.
We do not use are in this sentence.
This rule does not apply to: few, many, several, both,
all, some.
RULE 4: When the percentage or a part of something

is mentioned with plural meaning the plural verb is

used.
For example:
malnourished.

40

of

every

100

children

are

RULE 5: When the subjects joined by either or or

neither nor are of different persons, the verb will agree
in person and number with the noun nearest to it.
For example: Neither you nor your dogs know how to
behave.
RULE 6: If connectives/appositives like along with,
together with, as well as, accompanied by etc. are
used to combine two subjects, the verb agrees with the
subject mentioned first.
For example: Mr. Ram, accompanied by his wife Site
and his brother, was banished to the forest.
RULE 7: A number of/ the number or
A number of (some countable noun) is always plural.
The number of (some countable noun) is always
singular.
For example: A number of students are going on the
trip.
RULE 8: The singular verb form is usually used for
units of measurement or time.
For example: Five gallons of oil was required to get the
engine running.
RULE 9: When any of few, many, several, both, all,

some is used with a countable noun, the verb is plural.

For example: Some men are needed for the battle.
RULE 10: When any of few, many, several, both, all,
some is used with an uncountable noun, the verb is
singular.
For example: Some milk is spoilt.
The above are ten basic rules that you can use master
subject-verb agreement.

Topic of the week for discussion: 28th Aug. to 3rd Sept.

2014
Topic: Internal Turmoil in Pakistan
Background
For Pakistani premier Nawaz Sharif, these days are
really a tough one as the opposition parties are hell bent
for the resignation of elected Government in Pakistan as
they claim that last years elections, in which Nawaz
Sharif won 190 out of 342 seats, were rigged. Though
International observers rated the May 2013 general
election as free and credible one but Opposition leaders
Khan and Qadri are not convinced at all.
Is there a role of Pakistans military behind this?
Though there is no such confirmed report but coup might

take place in near future. Pakistan is the witness of three

Military coups till now. According to a Reuter report,
fearing such upheaval, Sharif last week had sent two
emissaries to the army chief. The motive was to know
what exactly was cooking in military corridor. It was
assured to Nawaz Shariff that there is no such plan but
civilian Government has to consult Army for each and
every move. This mean that Shariff will be acted as
subservient of Army chief and all important decisions like
diplomacy with India, fight with Taliban and Pakistan's
role in Afghanistan, everything will now have military's
dominance. So that means Nawaz sharifs power and
authority has reduced!
Why there is a tussle between civilian government
and army?
Pakistani army is angered about the fact that Pervez
Musharraf was tried by the civilian government.
Secondly the pro-India and anti-Taliban stand taken by
Nawaz Sharif has irked the army generals.
The Governments Opinion?
Because of the presence of large number of women and
children amongst protesters, the government has
decided to show maximum restraint.
Pakistans internal turmoils result on India-Pakistan
relations
When Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif visited India

to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister

Narendra Modi in May this year. Sharif was severely
criticised in Pakistan for not meeting Kashmiri
separatists.
Therefore its highly speculated in the media circles that
under the pressure from the Pakistani Military
establishment, Pakistan High Commissioner decided to
hold talks with Kashmiri separatists, despite strong
opposition from India. India scored politically on
diplomatic front on whole issue as India can say now that
look we had tried our best to maintain cordial relation but
Pakistan frequently challenged our patience.
Moreover incidents of cross border firing has increased
tremendously in the last two months.
Read further:
http://news.oneindia.in/feature/why-nawazsharif-government-is-deep-trouble-explained1505785.html
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/MeetingKashmiri-separatists-a-long-standing-practiceAbdul-Basit/articleshow/40483437.cms

Reading Comprehension Passage Types

Reading Comprehensions can be divided according to
the passage type and the particular area they appear
from. Broadly, we have the following 5 categories for
RC passages:
Social Science Passages: These passages would be
areas such as history, politics and geography.
Generally these passages are enjoyable to read and
are not too dense. A lot of inferential questions are
based on these passages, which check your reading
ability as well as how closely you have followed the
passage.
Business & Economics Passages: These passages
are based on important economic theories and
business events. It is important you are acquainted to
the language
of business and economics,
understanding their terminology and their implications.
Work on your business knowledge and vocabulary to
be comfortable with these passages.
Science Passages: These passages deal with areas
such as biology, chemistry, medicine, technology and
mathematics. Generally these passages present a lot
of facts, and since their subject matter is new to you,
you might be bored by them. Do not get confused by
the technical jargon presented and focus on the main
ideas that are being presented by the author of the
passage.
Liberal Art Passage: These passages are related to
philosophy, sociology and psychology. Generally these
passages are very dense and require immense focus
for understanding them. Previous acquaintance with

similar material will go a long way in disarming your

resistance to this particular passage type. Generally
the questions based on these passages are focused
on the overall picture, and check your general
understanding of the concepts presented.
Politics & Current Affairs: The passages from this
area are generally based on current news and these
passages are by far the easiest to read. Since we are
familiar with the topics, it becomes easy for us to
understand what is happening and to follow the author
of the passage. Though these passages are simple on
most occasions, they can pose some tricky inferential
questions at times.
From the above analysis, you can identify the areas
you are comfortable with and the ones that require
work. The above classification gives you the power to
understand your passage preference, and the areas
which require work from your side

5 Must Read Non-Fiction Books for CAT

The importance of non-fiction cannot be stressed
enough, after-all, almost every CAT reading
comprehension falls under the non-fiction category.
Non-fiction is a vast field, and
Keeping the above mind, we are going to list five
non-fiction books that are going to provide
immense learning value and provide additional
knowledge as well.
The Idea of India by Sunil Khilnani: The Idea of India
is a non-fiction book that provides a comprehensive
account of India's economic and political journey from
the independence movement to the post-nuclear era,
from the legacy of Nehru and Gandhi, and the
shattered world of Partition, to the changing
socioeconomic values of the present.
The Naked Ape by Desmond Morris: This is a book
by zoologist and ethologist Desmond Morris that looks
at humans as a species and compares them to other
animals.
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell: The book
seeks to explain and describe the "mysterious"
sociological changes that mark everyday life. As
Gladwell states, "Ideas and products and messages
and behaviors spread like viruses do".
India Unbound by Gursharan Das: It is an account of
India's economic journey after its Independence in
1947. The book is a great mixture of memoir, economic
analysis, social investigation, political scrutiny and
managerial
outlook
being
thrown
into
the

understanding of India.
Lateral Thinking by Edward Bono: Lateral thinking is
solving problems through an indirect and creative
approach, using reasoning that is not immediately
obvious and involving ideas that may not be obtainable
by using only traditional step-by-step logic. The term
was coined in 1967 by Edward de Bono.
Additional Texts:
A few more fiction books that you can go through are:
Blink, the power of thinking without thinking by
Malcolm Gladwell
Powershift by Alvin Toffler
Future Shock by Alvin Toffler
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas
Kuhn
The Unschooled Mind by Howard Gardner
The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman
Think & Grow Rich by Napolean Hill
India Midnight To Millennium by Shashi Tharoor
Imagining India by Nandan Nilekani
Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People by
Stephen R. Covey
Six Thinking Hats by Edward de Bono
Small is beautiful by EF Schumacher
The Myth of Sisyphus: And Other Essays by Albert
Camus

How to handle RC Title Questions?

In this article, we explore another particular Reading
Comprehension question type: title of the passage.

Before we get to the actual tips and strategies for this question
type, let us consider what titles are exactly. If you consider a
newspaper, how would you analyze the title of an article?
Newspaper titles have the following qualities:
1. They are succinct (brief)
2. On most occasions, they contain the subject of the
passage. On other occasions, they might talk about the
subject in an indirect manner, implying it rather than
stating it.
If you consider books, academic journals and so on, the titles
are generally more direct, but they can also have implied titles.
Effectively we have two types of titles:
1. Explicit: containing the subject
2. Implicit: subject not directly stated
The first ones generally dont post a problem, it is the second
one you need to be careful about.
Things to consider for the title question:
In general, you should keep the following things in mind while
answering this question type:
1. Identify the subject
As with the main idea question, you need to identify the
subject of the passage, and make sure it reflects in the
answer options (implicit or explicit reference).
2. Dont focus on the details
Details are not relevant, only key ideas are.

3. Do not obsess with single ideas/points

Always keep the whole picture in mind, single points
cannot form the answer.
How do we reach at the final answer?
Keeping the above in mind, ensure that your chosen title
reflects the main idea and subject of the passage, and does
not fall outside the scope of the passage. Wait, what does
scope mean here? Generally when we pick an answer option,
we are misguided by its construction and we do not realize the
options are about another subject or one that is vaguely
related to the passage, thus rendering it outside our scope.
Ensure you do not fall into the scope trap and you should do
fairly well for this question type.

Must Read Online Sections for CAT

Considering how important reading comprehensions are, it
does make a lot of sense to focus on reading. But considering
the amount of time left for CAT, it might be a challenge for
some of you to fit in books that you wish to read. We have a
simple solution for you: a list of online resources that you can
use to read articles and content that would help you develop
your reading skill for CAT.
Depending on what you wish to read, you can select from the
following resources which are divided topic-wise. Keep in mind
that you are advised to read articles from all areas so that you
develop your reading skills holistically.
Philosophy Websites & Sections:
The Philosophers Beard

The Stone (New York Times)

Sophia Project
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Philosophy Hub
Economics & Business:
The EconomistThe New York Times (Paul Krugman Articles)
Project Syndicate
Financial Times
Art, Culture & Literature:
The New Yorker
Granta
The Culture Vulture
Science & Technology:
Scientific American
National Geographic
The above represent some of the links you can use for
improving your reading skills.
Keep the following things in mind:
1. Try to challenge yourself with areas and subjects that
pose a problem.
2. Diversify your reading and dont only read what you like.

3. Define a purpose every time you sit to read and dont let
your focus slip.

Is TIME available for the WORK?

In this article, we understand a simple approach that would
help us solve time and work questions. The basic mantra we
must learn is that "one days work or the number of units a
person does in one day". If a man does a work in 10 days, then
his efficiency is defined as work done by him in 1 day i.e. he
does 1/10th of the work every day. Now, another person, B
does the same work in 15 days then he does 1/15th of the
work in 1 day. Now if they both work on it together they will
complete 1/10 + 1/15 = 5/30th of the work in 1 day or complete
the work in 30/5 = 6 days (as Time and Efficiency are inversely
proportional to each other).
The same question or concept can be learnt with units work
approach, which assumes the total work to be done as the
LCM of the number of days taken by each of the persons to
complete the work. Now in this case let us assume that the
work consists of the LCM of 10 & 15 i.e. 30 units to be done by
A & B. Now since A completes 30 units in 10 days so he
completes 30/10 = 3 units of work per day. On the other hand,
B completes 30 units of the work in 15 days so he completes
30/15 = 2 units per day. Now as they are doing the same work
so they make 3 + 2 = 5 units per day. So 30 units will be made
in 30/5 = 6 days.
The same concept is also applicable to "Pipes and Cisterns" in
which two pipes fill/empty a tank in x & y hours respectively.
Taking the above case only: say Pipe A can fill a tank in 10 hrs
and Pipe B can empty a full tank in 15 hrs. Now assuming the
capacity of the tank to be 30 litres, A fills 30/10 = 3 ltr in an

hour and B drains 30/15 = 2 ltr. in an hour. The net inflow in

the tank after one hour is 3 2 = 1 ltr. So, the tank will be filled
in 30/1 = 30 hrs.
Example : Two pipes A and B can fill a cistern in 20 and 24
minutes respectively. Both pipes being opened, find when the
first pipe must be turned off, so that the cistern may be filled in
12 minutes?
Solution: Do not try to solve this question by making an
equation. Understand and apply the concept discussed in this
article. As the cistern is to be filled in 12 minutes, pipe B can fill
only 12/24 = half of the cistern in total time. This means the
other half must be filled by the pipe A. Now A can fill the whole
tank in 20 minutes, so half of the tank it can fill in half of 20
minutes i.e. 10 minutes. Now the pipe A is opened from the
beginning, it should be turned off after 10 minutes and that is
the answer.

Topic of the week for discussion: 4th to 10th Sept. 2014

Topic: PM MODIs visit to JAPAN
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's maiden five-day visit to Japan
saw the latter nation pledging financial support for building
infrastructure in India. Sticking to his 'Make in India' slogan,
Modi gave an open invitation to Japanese companies to
consider India as a 'competitive low-cost manufacturing hub'.
The meet also saw India-Japan relations being upgraded to
the level of Special Strategic Global Partnership
INDIA-JAPAN RELATION: Background
IndiaJapan relations have traditionally been strong. Political
relations between the two nations have remained warm since
India's independence. Japanese companies, such as Sony,
Toyota, and Honda, have manufacturing facilities in India, and
with the growth of the Indian economy, India is a big market for
Japanese firms. Japanese firms in fact, were some of the first
firms to invest in India.
Key Discussion Points & Outcomes of the PM Modis Visit
to Japan:
1. India,
with
its demographic
wealth can
offer
demographic advantage to Japan, which lacks poorly on
demographic basis. It is important for Japan to move to
low cost hubs of manufacturing. Moreover, India with its
demographic dividend coupled with its growing
purchasing power can offer new markets and demands
for
Japanese
products.
2. Modi's dream project got a big push after Japan
expressed readiness to provide financial, technical and

operational support to introduce bullet trains in India in a

joint
statement.
3. PM Modi announced that a special management
team would be set up directly under the Prime Minister's
Office to facilitate investment proposals from Japan.
The decision to include two nominees of Japan in the
special management team is unprecedented and such a
system of having nominees of the foreign government will
happen for the first time. Modi said that the two nominees
selected by Japan would also be part of the decisionmaking team which evaluates business proposal.
4. A defence pact has been signed between Japan & India
with Japan intending to double its FDI In India. The two
sides signed a Memorandum of Cooperation and
Exchanges
in
the
Field
of
Defence.
5. The final agreement on Civil Nuclear Deal has not yet
been achieved. The two sides could not narrow down
differences over Tokyo's insistence for a tougher safeguard regime and "no nuclear test" clause in the bilateral
agreement.
6. Japan announced doubling of its private and
public investment in India to about $34 billion over the
next five years. This seems a solution to the
infrastructural projects India is keen to take up in near
future, like building of smart cities.
7. Japan lifted ban on Hindustan Aeronautical Limited (HAL)
and five other Indian entities, which had been imposed in
the aftermath of the 1998 nuclear tests. The removal of
the ban will enable these companies to have cooperation

with Japanese firms, including transfer of technology.

8. PM Modi inaugurated TCS Japan Technology and
Culture Academy, which will work towards enhancing
technology and cultural knowledge between IT
professionals of the two nations. Modi also flagged off the
first batch of 48 TCS Japan trainees, who will proceed to
India to undergo training for 6-8 weeks at various TCS
locations.
Finally, Modi indirectly targeted China for its encroachment
activities by making the following comment during this visit:
"We have to decide if we want to have 'vikas vaad'
(development) or 'vistar vaad' (expansionism) which leads
to disintegration. Those who follow the path of Buddha and
have faith on 'vikas vaad', they develop. But we see, those
having ideas of the 18th century, engage in encroachments
and enter seas (of others),"
Read further:
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/standpoint-narendra-modi-sjapan-visit-will-new-inroads-be-made-in-indo-japanesestrategic-ties-2014876
http://www.livemint.com/Politics/l7R2H99SzX0fFvY6S
BBwgP/China-reacts-guardedly-to-Modis-expansionistremark-in-Ja.html
http://time.com/3255880/japan-india-narendra-modishinzo-abe-business-economy-trade-china/

CODE for Coding-Decoding

Coding and decoding forms an important part of the reasoning

section in all the aptitude related papers, with usually three to
five questions appearing from this area in various entrance
exams. In the alphabetic coding and decoding area, the
majority of the questions are of the following types:
Pattern Based Coding: To solve the pattern based questions
quickly, you should learn the positions of the letters in English
alphabet. For this, you should learn the basic five letters of the
non-dictionary word EJOTY which are respectively positioned
at 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25th position. With these five land marks in
between the positions of all the other letters can be easily
found.
For examples: Let us take the case of R.
Since R is two letters behind T, so its position will be 18. The
questions covered in this type are like If TEACHER is coded
as VGCEJGT, how you will code HUSBAND. Here you need
to check what logic of coding is applied between the letters of
the given word and that of the code. Here code for T is V i.e. 2
is added in the position of T to get its code. The same thing
happens for the other letters too. Now to write the code of the
word HUSBAND, you need to add 2 in the positions of the
letters of the HUSBAND and its code will be JWUDCPF.
Reverse Pattern: You must keep one important point in mind
that in many cases of pattern coding, the coding is written in
the reverse order i.e. the code of the first letter is written in the
last, the code of the second letter is written at the second last
position and so on.
For example: The code of the word TEACHER may have been
TGJECVG.

Here the basic concept in coding is the same as the earlier

one, the only difference is that the code is written in the
reverse order. Similarly, the difference in the letters of the word
and the code may vary. E.g. the code for the word TEACHER
could have been UGDGMKY, then the letters are moved + 1, +
2, + 3, + 4, + 5, + 6 positions.
Random Pattern Coding: In this type of questions, the code
of the word is written randomly and the question asked
contains the same letters as given in the original word. In order
to answer this, you just have to check for the code of each
letter from the given word and place the corresponding code
for every letter.
For example: If the code of the word TEACHER is XHDIKHL,
what will be the code of HEAT.
Observe the question closely and you should be able to
conclude that there is no relation between the letters of the
word TEACHER and the letters of the code, but the letters of
the word HEAT are already contained in the parent word
TEACHER. So picking the corresponding code from the parent
word, the code for HEAT will be KHDX.
Coding of a Word in a Sentence: In this type of coding
questions, generally three or four sentences or words are
given with sentences or words containing codes. You just have
to check for the common words/letters in the sentences/words
and corresponding common words/letters in the codes to get
the answer e.g. Ram is Smart is coded as LPG and Smart
means intelligent is coded as SLY. From this, you should
analyse that the only common word is smart and the only
common letter is L, that means L is the code for the word
smart. Do remember, in such cases the codes are not seen at
the corresponding positions but for the common words.

Hope you are able to decode some codes with the help of this
article. Happy Learning and continue to work on your codingdecoding skills

Russian Words in English

The nature of the English language is such that it encapsulates
in itself words from a vast number of languages, and Russian
is one such language that lends a number of words to the
language. In this piece, you have 13 Russian words that are
commonly used in English:
1. Agitprop: Political propaganda, especially favoring
communism and disseminated through literature, drama,
art, or music.
2. Apparatchik: A member of a Communist apparat (an
organization or existing power structure, especially a
political one). It is often used in a derogatory way to refer
to an unquestioningly loyal subordinate, especially of a
political leader or organization.
3. Bolshevik: Bolsheviks were members of the left-wing
majority group of the Russian Social Democratic Workers'
Party that adopted Lenin's theses on party organization in
1903. This word is also used to refer to communists, and
in disparaging terms, to people who are extreme radicals.
4. Commissar: A person who tries to control public opinion.
5. Dacha: A country house, as simple as that.
6. Glasnost: The declared public policy within the Soviet
Union of openly and frankly discussing economic and
political realities: initiated under Mikhail Gorbachev in
1985.
7. Gulag: A place or situation of great suffering and
hardship, likened to the atmosphere in a prison system or
a forced labor camp.

8. Intelligentsia: Derived from the word intelligent, it is used

to refer to The intellectual elite of a society.
9. Mammoth: A prehistoric mammal, and, by extension, is a
synonym for the word massive.
10. Pogrom: Any officially sanctioned attack on a
particular group.
11. Samizdat: This word refers to the underground press
and the literature produced by it.
12. Tzar/tsar/czar: An emperor or king/an autocratic ruler
or leader/any person exercising great authority or power
in a particular field: a czar of industry.
13. Troika: A team of three horses abreast/ Triumvirate.

10 Tips that form the basis of reading

How can reading skills be improved? Is there some magic pill
that can make all your reading woes disappear? Well, sadly
there is neither such pill nor any such magic. But there is a set
of 10 reading fundamentals that can improve your grasp and
make you a better reader, if not the best.
Lets dig into them:
1. You dont need to understand everything:
Well, different people have different reading styles and most of
them dont get everything they read. Reading speed and
comprehension levels may vary but as long as you get what
you read, you are fine. The point is to get the central idea, the
core concept; the specifics can be given a miss.
2. Discover your reason for reading:
At the end of it, it is about discovering your reason for reading.
Why are you reading? To learn more? For an exam alone? To

establish yourself in your peer group? I think the first answer

forms the best approach. IDENTIFY ONE PIECE OF
KNOWLEDGE that you like to learn from every piece you
would read.
3. Be selective with respect to what you read:
Well, you dont need to read everything that is placed in front
of you. Most of what is offered to us is junk. Pick up a
newspaper and identify the things that really matter to you.
You would be amazed how little bothers you actually. So best
way to go about it: delete all the junk and read what is
important.
4. In your selections read the best alone:
In the stuff you have chosen above, read the best and best
along. You have got to keep filtering stuff. Till the time you do
so, you will not discover the best reading material.

5. Scan before you dig in:

Make sure you have gone through the table of contents before
you actually dig in. I know this sounds a little lame but most of
flip through magazines and stuff, and dont pay attention to the
index. If you do so, you might be able to pick you what is the
best that particular piece offers.
6. Make a preference order:
Its great to have loads of reading material available to you. But
you wont dig into them till the time you actually make an order
of what you want to read first. The ones that are not that
important can be left aside and only the important ones should
be on top of the pile.

7. Choose a pleasurable reading environment.

At times more than what you reading, where you are reading
matters more. It would be great if you can choose a spot or
locale where you are most comfortable reading in.
8. Do reach the finish line:
Once you start, make sure you reach the end. Go back to the
parts you do not understand, and think deeply about the
questions that are raised while you are reading.
9. Read with focus:
The best fruit of reading can be derived if you keep your focus
on the books and reading material. The more you concentrate,
the better it is. Reading without a purpose makes it a pretty dull
activity.
10. Last but not the least:
Only one thing can make you better at reading: reading more!

Different types of Friends

All of us have friends, some we adore, some we like,
some we appreciate and some we barely
acknowledge. Keeping the above in mind, we have 15
such types of friends listed here; try to classify your
friends according to this list and in the process,
memorize the word as well.
1. Acquaintance: A relationship less intimate than
friendship

2. Ally: An associate who provides cooperation or

assistance
3. Amigo: A friend or comrade
4. Backer: Someone who provides financial support for
some venture
5. Beau: A man who is the lover of a girl or
young woman
6. Benefactor: A person who helps people or
institutions (especially with financial help)
7. Chum: A close friend who accompanies his buddies
in their activities
8. Cohort: A company of companions or supporters
9. Compadre: A close friend who accompanies his
buddies in their activities
10.
Companion: A friend who is frequently in the
company of another
11.
Comrade: A friend who is frequently in the
company of another
12.
Confidant: Someone to whom private matters
are confided
13.
Patron: Someone who supports or champions
something
14.
Sidekick: A close friend who accompanies his
buddies in their activities
15.
Well-wisher: A close friend who accompanies
his buddies in their activities

Dos and Donts in an Interview

Do's in an interview
1. Use a strong voice and clear diction.
2. Make sure your personal appearance is prim and proper,
and you dress appropriately.

3. In case of a handshake with the panelists, make sure it is a

firm one.
4. Establish eye contact with the interviewer but do not stare at
him.
5. Do equip yourself with sufficient knowledge about the Bschool/organization you are seeking admission to. Equip
yourself with good knowledge of the company / institution,
both the ones that you have been in, and the one that you
want to join.
6. Take criticism gracefully.
7. Take time to think before answering tricky questions and do
not be rushed into your answers.
8. Make concrete goals in planning for your career.
9. Demonstrate sufficient grasp of the key concepts of your
favourite subject, your key projects & papers.
10.
Support your answers with examples, wherever
possible.
Donts in an interview
1. Don't be arrogant, overaggressive or vain.
2. Don't show a lack of attention or lack of energy.
3. Don't make excuses for adverse conditions in your record,
such as below average marks.
4. Don't condemn past institutions of education; keep
comments positive.
5. Don't display a noticeable aversion for schoolwork.
6. Don't be uncertain and indecisive in your thoughts.
7. Don't display prejudice or bias.
8. Don't be late for the interview.
9. Don't contradict your own answers.
10.
Don't glorify experiences dating back to formative years
of schooling.

Effective Communication Techniques

Communication is the ability to express yourself and connect
with the surrounding environment. For an effective
communication you should:
Listen Actively

Be attentive - concentrate on what is being said.

Be impartial - don't form an opinion, just listen.
Reflect back - restating what has been said helps the
speaker know that you understand.
Summarize - pull together the important messages so that
you and the speaker recognize what was important during
the conversation.

Nonverbal Messages

Posture - let your body show that you are interested by

sitting up and leaning toward the speaker.
Equal positioning - if the speaker is standing, you stand. If
the speaker is sitting, you sit as well.
Facial expression - remember that feelings are reflected in
facial expressions.
Gestures - your body language reveals a lot about how you
interpret a message, so be aware of times when you send
signals that might cause the speaker to believe that you are
angry, in a hurry, bored, etc.

Express Thoughts & Feelings

Be open and honest collaboration between two people

begins with the understanding that you trust each other with
all information.
Speak clearly - don't mumble and don't talk too quietly. If you
don't know the word for something, describe what you mean

so that you and the speaker can have a shared

understanding of your concern or question.
Communicate without being adversarial

Express concerns non-judgmentally - talk about your

questions or concerns without blaming other people. For
example, you might be angry that your child is not receiving
enough speech therapy. Rather than talk about the speech
therapist not doing his/her job, discuss your idea of how
often your child should receive this service. Use "I"
messages. Rather than say, "You didn't explain that very
well," say, "I didn't understand what you just said. Please
explain it again."

How to improve your calculations

The first step in improving your calculations is to learn tables,
squares, cubes and fractions by heart. This helps you
recognize numbers which you generally do not encounter in
normal routine. By learning these numbers through tables,
squares and cubes you get to know their factors and multiples
which also help you in solving problems.
For multiplying numbers like 107 & 109 or 87 & 113, you can
use the technique of base multiplication. To multiply 107 and
109, take the base as 100. These numbers are 7 and 9 more
than the base. In order to get the answer add 9 and 7 in the
numbers to the base and get the number as 116 (100 + 7 + 9).
This becomes the left hand side. Take the product of the two
earlier numbers i.e. 9 & 7 and get the product as 63. Now just
attach this at the end of the earlier result i.e. 11663.
We can use knowledge of standard fractions to reduce
calculation time. Say you want to find 91.67% of 2400. Now
finding this will be really tough, if you take the actual numbers
into consideration, but knowing that 91.66% is actually 11/12 of
a number, you can just divide 2400 by 12 and then multiply by
11 and find the answer as 2200.
Similarly calculating 42.85% of 700 will be quite a time
consuming process, but knowing that 42.85% is 3/7 of a
number, you can answer this within 5 seconds that the answer
will be 300.
To conclude, memorize the decimal equivalents of fractions
starting from 1/2, 1/3, 2/3, 1/4, 2/4, 3/411/12.

How to prepare for the CAT

Verbal Ability section?
The CAT Verbal Ability section (CAT English section for the
layman) is a peculiar beast; it not only tests you on core
language skills (reading, grammar and vocabulary) but also
lays particular emphasis on a certain ability to read between
the lines and draw inferences from the given text. Given the
complexity of the exam, and the challenge posed by it, it
makes sense that you have a specific roadmap to overcome
the challenges posed by this section of the exam. In this
article, we break down the overall section into discernible subsections (topics), and provide individuals tips for each.
Reading Comprehensions:
The more important part of your preparation strategy: Reading
Comprehensions. The obvious piece of advice is in fact implied
in the title of this section itself: reading. Make sure you are
regular with your reading, you read on a daily basis, and
expose yourself to the best in diverse fields. Also do not blinker
yourself by reading only regular newspaper editorials; try to
read as many non-fiction articles as possible. Read articles on
different topics such as philosophy, art, history etc.
The second thing that you need for reading comprehensions is
that you need to solve 2 to 3 comprehensions every day. This
is an absolute must; nothing works like practice does.
Grammar & Usage:
The second most important part of your preparation should
revolve around Grammar & Usage. If we look at the last four
years of the exam, CAT has actually placed a lot of emphasis
on questions based on areas such as common confusables
and phrasal verbs (which are actually usage based questions

than pure grammar questions). Considering this, place

sufficient emphasis on these two areas.
For grammar, ensure that you first go through the
fundamentals by using a traditional grammar text book (such
as Wren & Martin) before you actually starting learning the
rules and exceptions. Only conceptual clarity can ensure that
you learn the rules in a time-bound manner.
Vocabulary:
If we specifically observe CAT in the last 4 years, the one pure
vocabulary question type that has made an appearance on the
exam is sentence completion (fill in the blanks). For this
question, you need to work on your vocabulary skills on two
levels:
1. You need to have a decent word bank (use and explore as
many methods to learn words as you can)
2. You need to understand the usage of words (memorizing
word-meanings wont help alone).
The combination of above skills will surely enhance your
performance in this portion of the exam. For non-CAT exams,
other questions types such as synonym/antonym identification,
match the following, analogies etc. assume importance as well.
Since ones vocabulary bank can be built only over a period of
time, it makes sense that you should start to learn words
(adopt a word-list preferably) from now onwards.
Verbal Reasoning:
This is a tricky area, as far as CAT is concerned. What all do
you have to do to this area? In the last 4 years, CAT has
primarily focused on 3 topics:

1. Para-completion: last line missing from the paragraph

2. Para-Jumbles/Sentence Rearrangement: sentences in a
paragraph are jumbled and you need to identify their correct
order.
3. Coherent paragraph: identify the odd sentence from a group
of four sentences, which is the one that does not fit in the
given paragraph.
In terms of a common approach for these three question types,
it makes sense that you focus on solving a lot of tests for these
three areas. Also reading is a major help for this area, as the
questions from this area are driven by understanding and logic,
and the more you read, the more you strengthen these core
skills. Also make sure you prepare critical reasoning and FIJs
(fact, inferences and judgments) for CAT. One never knows
when CAT springs a surprise by changing a question type.
How to approach practice tests for Verbal Ability?
This is an important aspect of preparation that is generally
skipped by students. Most students give section and topic tests
for mathematics, and do not place the same emphasis on
Verbal Ability tests. Make sure you do not commit this mistake,
and give as many timed-practice tests for Verbal Ability as you
can. In fact, try to solve verbal questions under time pressure
as this will reflect your actual understanding of the topics, and
whether you really are able to identify the fine nuances in the
paper or not.
The above forms some of the guidelines that you should be
following for your CAT verbal ability preparation. Follow these
guidelines and you are surely on the road to success as far as
the CAT exam is concerned.

How important is Goal Setting?

Are they Dreams?
Though you can translate dreams into reality, dreams
themselves aren't goals. By definition, dreams are abstract and
not exact. Dreams - at best - may have a quantitative angle but
seldom a time frame. Goals cannot be abstract. Goals are
objectives that are specific both in terms of quantity and more
importantly in terms of time.
Are they Wishes?
Though wish is a strong driving force behind success, a wish
by itself is not a goal. You wish to become successful, rich and
what not. But do you really work towards these? Though it is
great to have wishes as motivators, it is goals that actually
make you work towards achieving them. Just like dreams,
wishes are also abstract and without a time frame.
Goals are specific, close-ended quantifiable objectives with a
fixed time frame for achieving them. Secondly, in case of
goals, the results have a strong correlation to the level of
efforts to achieve them, unlike a wish or a dream that might
come true out of sheer luck. Unlike dreams and wishes, goals
can be broken down into smaller and short terms objectives,
which then become checkpoints for making sure you, are on
the right track.
Why Set Goals?
You may have general life goals: happiness, security, and
wealth, acceptance by others, health, and some measures of
success but these goals often remain vague. You may be quite
busy, and may even be overwhelmed with responsibilities, but
you goals are never achieved because they are never properly

set in the first place. Without clear, specific goals, even the
most diligent work inevitably turns into nothing more than an
unavoidable interruption between weekends.
While it's important to have specific goals, it's equally important
to keep them manageable. Break goals into sub-objectives that
are easier to achieve, because they are incremental.
Remember that results you achieve will be in proportion to the
effort you apply.
Consistency is extremely important in your efforts to achieve
your goals. All of us have an "energy bank account" deposited
in our bodies. But we can't make any more deposits into our
energy account; we can only make withdrawals. So we should
strive to spend our energy as creatively and wisely as we can
over the longest possible time span
To understand the importance of goals, you can take the clich
of traveling without a destination. It might actually give you
pleasure if you are on a vacation. But does it make sense
when you are not on a vacation? Goals have the same effect
on the journey of life. You decide the destination and the time
frame and it automatically facilitates your decision regarding
the route. Once the route is decided, you can check whether
you are on the right track and on schedule.

PERCENTAGE CHANGE
We need to calculate 21% of 578. A good approximation of a
percentage change can be done using the 10-1 approach. In
the 10-1 approach, one starts by calculating the rounded off
values representing 10% and 1% of the number. Now 10% of
578 is 58 (rounded off) and 1% is 6 (rounded off).
Now we can calculate any percentage of this number by using
10% and 1%
To calculate 21% of this number, we start by getting 20%,
which is 10%*2 = (58 2) = 116. We now add 1% i.e. 6 in this
and get the answer as 122.
To calculate 19%, we subtract 1% from 20% and get the
answer as 116 6 = 110.
Now lets say a problem requires us to calculate 52% of 281.
Its 10% is 28 and 1% is 3, both being rounded up values. First
we find 50% of this number i.e. 140 (half of the number) and
then 2% of this will be added in this i.e. 6 to get the answer as
146.
Knowledge of percentage change is also important for cracking
data interpretation questions. The formula that we use for
percentage change from P to Q is: 100 * (Q P)/P. In the
pressure of an exam, especially when we are working with
larger numbers, we take more time when we write. Lets try to
do this mentally.
We have to find the percentage change from 271 to 353. Here
the difference between the two numbers are 82 and 10% of the

base value i.e. 271 is 27. How many 27s can fit into 82? Three
times of 27 is 81. Hence it is approximately 30%.
Let us take another example, say find percentage change from
911 to 938. The difference between the two is 27. In this case
10% is 91 and 1% is 9. Multiplying 9 by 3 we get 27. Hence
percentage change is 3%.
To conclude, the 10-1 approach can be used to be able to
calculate percentage change mentally, thereby saving precious
time in an exam!

Vedic Math Squaring a number

Less Than Base
Many a times you can save time in an exam, if you can
calculate squares of numbers mentally. It is easy to calculate
squares of numbers ending in 0. For example square of 100 is
10,000. But what if we have to find the square of say, 92. Let
us use elementary algebra to arrive at an answer. We can
write 92 as 100 8. If we square, we get three terms, = 100^2
- 2 *100*8 + 64. Now we have the last two digits of the square
as 64, because the other two terms have got 2 or 4 zeroes in
them. For the remaining terms 10,000 1600, which can also
be written as 9200 800 = 8400. Now these will be the first
two digits of the answer because of the two zeroes present. So
the answer comes out to be 8400 + 64 = 8464.
While squaring a number, you need a base. All those numbers
can be taken as bases, which have a 1 and the rest number of
zeroes with them (i.e. the complete round numbers like 100,
1000, 10000 etc.). So the method that we can develop is start
by taking the nearest complete base, in this case 100. The
difference between the base and the number given is 8. The
square of this difference is 64, which will become the right
side. Because it is already having two digits, so it would be
simply placed on the right side. Now the difference of 8 is
subtracted from the number given i.e. 92 8 = 84 and it will
become the left side. Therefore the square of 92 is 8464.
If the square of the difference is having lesser digits then
required, then in order to have the needed number of digits on
the right side, 0s can be put with the square. e.g. if you square
a number like 97, difference is 3. The right side in this case
would become 09, because 9 is a single digit number and
youll have to put a 0 before it to make it a two-digit right hand
side. The left side would be 97 3 = 94. The square is 9409.

In case, the number of digits is more than needed, then the

extra digits are carried to the left side. e.g. take 86. The
difference is 14 and the square of the difference is 196, which
is a 3-digit number, so the 3rd extra digit 1 would be carried to
the left side. The left side is 86 14 = 72 + 1 (carried over) =
73. So the square of the number is 7396.
The square of a number will have two parts, the left part and
the right part. There is no limit for the left side, but the right
side must have as many digits as the number of zeroes in the
base i.e. if 100 is taken as base there should be 2 zeroes on
the right side and if 1000 is taken as base then the number of
digits on RHS should be 3.
To conclude, to get the square of a number less than a base,
find the difference. The important thing is the left hand digits.
These will be the number minus the base, and the right hand
digits will be the square of the difference.

Unleash your Personality

Your personality is the individuality that comes from your
interaction with the world in which you live. Personality is
usually described in terms of your behavior; your actions,
postures, words, attitudes and opinions regarding the
world. But personality may be more basically described in
terms of your hidden feelings about your external world;
feelings that may not be apparent in the behavior that the
world at large sees. It is also described in terms of your
feelings about yourself.
Personality is usually broken into five components. These
components are stable over time and appear to be caused by
a person's genes more than the environment.

Openness
to
experience (inventive/curious
vs.
consistent/cautious).
These include appreciating art, taking up adventures and
unusual ideas. Openness represents the degree of an
individuals curiosity and originality.
Conscientiousness (efficient / organized vs. easy-going /
careless).
The ability to be self-disciplined. a planned approach Vs
spontaneity in behavior.
Extraversion (outgoing / energetic vs. solitary / reserved).
Extraversion is a combination of qualities such as energy
and friendliness. The extroverted individual is sociable and
outgoing.
Agreeableness (friendly / compassionate vs. cold /
unkind).
The ability to act with compassion and co-operation.

Neuroticism (sensitive / nervous vs. secure / confident).

The inclination to experience disagreeable emotions easily,
such as anger, nervousness, despair, or susceptibility.

An additional development in personality assessment is that of

Emotional Intelligence (EI), which looks at traits that are
thought to differentiate average and high performers in a work
setting. EI measures things like:

Self-awareness: Our understanding of our own feelings and

how we control them.
Emotional resilience: Our ability to perform under pressure
and to adapt to new situations.
Motivation: The drive and energy we have to achieve
results and to work towards goals.
Interpersonal sensitivity: The degree of respect we have
for others' needs.
Influence and persuasion: Our ability to bring other people
around to our point of view.
Intuitiveness: The process of being able to come to a clear
decision when we only have incomplete or ambiguous
Conscientiousness and integrity: Our ability to display
commitment and match words with action.

What Should I Speak in a GD? Sample GD with points.

Should we allow incurably diseased persons to live or
not?
Points In Favour:
1. If we feel sad to kill even an animal or a bird, how can our
conscience allow us to kill a fellow human being
just because he is incurably ill? Moreover he has done no
harm to society and his illness is not because of his fault.
Therefore, we must provide him proper treatment and
allow him to live as long as nature has willed it
2. God has gifted us life. So, he alone has the right to take it
back. No human being has a right to interfere in His
scheme of things. Once on this earth, every man has a
right to live as long as God does not want him to die.
Therefore, the reasoning that just because a man is
suffering from an incurable disease, he should be put to
death is untenable and beyond reason
3. It is not always the case that incurably diseased persons
spread contagious diseases as some might argue. Even
in those rare cases where it may be true, these persons
are not real health hazards because it is medically
established now that all incurable diseases are not
contagious. However, as a precautionary measure, we
should open separate hospitals or isolation wards for
persons suffering from incurable contagious diseases and
thus quarantine them.
Points against:
1. This world is governed by Darwin's survival of the fittest
principle. An incurably diseased person is weak and has
no value whatsoever to the society. Moreover, he has no

means to live. Therefore, it would be in the fitness of

things to kill him even against his wish.
2. An incurably diseased person is the cause of constant
worry to his family, his demands are unending and
notwithstanding the best possible attention, care and
treatment given to him, he always remains dissatisfied
and disgruntled.
3. These days we are saddled with the responsibility of
reducing our burgeoning population. The many diseased
persons constitute a good part of it. Even otherwise their
contribution to society being nil and burden great, it would
be justified and reasonable not to allow them to drag on
their agonizing life.
Conclusion:
Defining gray areas is something which any amount of
legislation can never achieve. Our policies need to ensure that
the group of people taking a decision to terminate the life is
doing so in the best interest of the patient and society.

HINT for the GINT (Greatest Integer Function)

The greatest integer function or floor function, written as or [x],
gives the greatest integer less than or equal to x. e.g. [3.4] = 3 as
integers less than 3.4 are 3, 2, 1, 0. and the greatest among
these is 3.
Similarly [- 5.4] = - 6 and [7] = 7.
The floor function satisfy the identity [x + n] = [x] + n, where n is
any integer. e.g. [7.6 + 8] = [15.6] = 15 and [7.6] + 8 = 7 + 8 = 15.
Hence [7.6 + 8] = [7.6] + 8.
When the interval is of the form [n, n + 1), where n is an integer,
the value of the greatest integer function is n. For example, the
value of the greatest integer function is 5 in the interval [5, 6).
With the help of this sample concept, we will solve two questions
in this article which would actually help you understand the
application of GINT function.
Example 1 : Find the value of [ ] + [ ] + [ ] + [ ] + .. + [
], where [x] is the greatest integer less than or equal to x.
Sol. Here from [ ] to [ ] each term has value 1, as the square
root of all these numbers will be greater than equal to 1 but less
than 2. The greatest integer less than those will be 1. So, the
total of these three terms will be 3. The value of each term from [
] to [ ] is 2 on the base of the same logic as explained above,
so the total of these 5 terms is 10. From [ ] to [ ], the value of
each term is 3 and total of these 7 terms is 21. Similarly, the value
of each term from [ ] to [ ] is 4 and the sum of these 9 terms is
36. So we have [ ] + [ ] + [ ] + [ ] + .. + [ ] = 3 + 10 +
21 + 36 = 70.
Example 2: Which of the following cannot be the value of [ ] + [
] + [ ] + ...+ [ ] ?

1.
190

37

2.

188

3.

4. 153

Sol. The value of [ ] is 1 and it will remain 1 till [ ] as cube of 2 is

8, so [ ] = 2. Hence, the sum of first 7 terms is 7. The values of
each term from [ ] to [ ] is 2. The sum of these 19 terms is 38.
The sum of all the 26 terms will be 7 + 38 = 45. It also implies that
for 7 < n < 27, the sum of these terms will be 7 + 2k. That means
the sum 37, which is of this form only is definitely possible. So the
first option is possible. From [ ] to [ ], each of the 37 terms has
value 3 and their total will be 111. Now total up to this point is
156. Hence 153 is also possible. Now [ ] = 4 and the value of
next 61 terms will be 4 each. That also means the sum for n > 63
will be 156 + 4k. Now 188 is a number of this form and is possible
and 190 is not possible as it cannot be written in the form of 156 +
4k. Hence, we have successfully identified the answer.

Words related to Mathematics

In this article, words related to the field of mathematics are
explored. Generally, mathematics enjoys a love-hate
relationship with most students, and depending upon the side
of the divide you find yourself, you vocabulary of the subject
will mirror a similar relationship. Explore mathematics-related
see and evaluate how many of these words are already there
in your vocabulary bank:
1. Addend: Any of a set of numbers to be added.
2. Cardinal: The number of elements in a mathematical set.
3. Equilateral: Having all sides or faces equal.
4. Exponent: A mathematical notation indicating the number
of times a quantity is multiplied by itself.
5. Focus: A fixed point or one of a pair of fixed points used
in generating a curve such as an ellipse, parabola, or
hyperbola.
6. Identity: An equation that is satisfied by any number that
replaces the letter for which the equation is defined.
7. Imaginary: Involving only a complex number of which the
real part is zero.
8. Modular: Of or relating to fields having a characteristic
greater than zero.
9. Multiplicand: The number that is or is to be multiplied by
another.
10. Orb: A sphere or spherical object.
11. Ordinal: A number denoting relative position in a
sequence, such as first, second, third.
12. Torus: A toroid generated by a circle; a surface having
the shape of a doughnut.

List of occupations

Try to guess the list of occupations that you are aware of and
you would generally have the following answers: engineer,
manager, doctor, lawyers, judges, officers and so on. But is
this list representative of the all the different professions that
people are indulged in across the globe? Afraid not, people do
a lot more, and the following list of 40 professions would surely
introduce you some professions you would have never heard
about previously. Go through the list there:
1. Alchemist: Medieval chemist who claimed to be able to
turn base metals into gold.
2. Book keeper: Looked after the accounts for businesses.
3. Calligrapher: Someone skilled in penmanship.
4. Cartographer: Map maker.
5. Chiropodist: Treats diseases of the feet & hands.
6. Dermatologist: A doctor who specializes in the physiology
and pathology of the skin.
7. Entomologist: A zoologist who studies insects.
8. Entrepreneur: Someone who organizes a business
venture and assumes the risk for it.
9. Fancy man: Pimp.
10. Fancy woman: Prostitute.
11. Filibuster: American mercenaries in south America,
gun runners.
12. Gaoler: Jailer.
13. Internist: A specialist in internal medicine.
14. Midwife: A woman skilled in aiding the delivery of
babies.
15. Muralist: A painter of murals.
16. Ophthalmologist: A medical doctor specializing in the
diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the eye.
17. Oracle: An authoritative person who divines the future.
18. Ornithologist: A zoologist who studies birds.
19. Paralegal: A person with specialized training who
assists lawyers.

20. Pathologist: A
doctor
who
specializes
in
medical diagnosis.
21. Pawnbroker: A person who lends money at interest in
exchange for personal property that is deposited as
security.
22. Pediatrician: A specialist in the care of babies.
23. Percussionist: A
musician
who
plays
percussion instruments.
24. Philanthropist: Someone who makes charitable
donations intended to increase human well-being.
25. Physician: A licensed medical practitioner.
26. Proctor: Official of a university.
27. Rag picker: Sorted through the left over rags to find re
usable ones.
28. Runner: A person who is employed to deliver
messages or documents.
29. Seamstress: Someone who makes or mends dresses.
30. Silversmith: Worked with silver.
31. Solicitor: Lawyer.
32. Townswaiter: Customs man.
33. Turnkey: Prison warder or jail keeper.
34. Undertaker: One whose business is the management
of funerals.
35. Vassal: Servant of the lowest order.
36. Veterinarian: A
doctor
who
practices
veterinary medicine.
37. Vicar: A Roman Catholic priest who acts for another
higher-ranking clergyman.
38. Warder: In charge of prisoners.
39. Wet nurse: Woman employed to suckle the child of
another (common practice with the rich).
40. Yeoman: Farmer who owns his own land.

Topic of the week for discussion: 18th to 24th Sept. 2014

Topic: Poverty in India: Insight
What is poverty? How can poverty be measured? Who are
poor? What are reasons of people being poor? How can
poverty be alleviated? Identifying the poor and measuring the
poverty is a contentious issue
India happens to be a rich country inhabited by very poor
people. Dr Manmohan Singh
Who are poor? Poverty Defined:
IndiaJapan relations have traditionally been strong. Political
relations between the two nations have remained warm since
India's independence. Japanese companies, such as Sony,
Toyota, and Honda, have manufacturing facilities in India, and
with the growth of the Indian economy, India is a big market for
Japanese firms. Japanese firms in fact, were some of the first
firms to invest in India.
It has to be agreed upon that there can neither be consensus
upon the number nor can there be any flawless parameter to
judge poverty.
India estimates the incidence of poverty at the national and
state level on the basis of household consumer expenditure
surveys .These studies are conducted by the National Sample
Survey Organisation (NSSO) at an interval of approximately
five years. The poor are defined as those who lack command
over basic consumption needs, including food and non-food
components.
The poverty line is obtained by specifying a consumption
bundle considered adequate for basic consumption needs, and
then by estimating the costs of these basic needs. The

commission bases the calculation on a minimum calorie intake

associated with a fixed consumption basket.
Based on the Suresh Tendulkar panel's recommendations in
2011-12, the poverty line had been fixed at Rs 27 in rural
areas and Rs 33 in urban areas, (Tendulkars Poverty
Line). A New line, according to C. Rangarajan implies that
those spending over Rs 32 a day in rural areas and Rs 47 in
towns and cities should not be considered poor. These figures
are based on average monthly per capita expenditure.
The common international poverty line has in the past been
roughly $1 a day. In 2008, the World Bank came out with a
revised figure of $1.25 at 2005 purchasing-power parity (PPP).
Reasons of Poverty in India:
Social Inequality Leading to Exclusion and Marginalization
Illiteracy
Population
Gender Inequality
Unequal Distribution of Wealth
Faulty Economic Reforms
Corruption
The Colonial Rule

Critical evaluation of BPL (below poverty line)

By using poverty line estimates, we infer that a person earning
47/- is not poor, but this figure is only taking care of his two
earnest meals. But can we call that person, not a poor one!!
The expenditure relating to sanitation, health, education, rent
etc are included. Moreover by increasing the poverty line,
number of people labeled poor, or people living below poverty
line increases and it can give an implication that number of

poor have increased. This is a very sensitive and critical

estimate to follow and understand.
As economists and food right activists have rightly pointed out,
the planning commissions poverty line estimate is actually a
benchmark for the destitute rather than the poor. One may
survive on the paltry sum of Rs 32 and Rs 26 in urban and
rural areas, respectively, but not find healthy living condition or
proper education.
Earlier BPL cards were issued to all the people earning below
the benchmark of 27/- and 32/- in rural and urban areas. Many
schemes like issuance of subsidized food, welfare schemes;
RTE, etc were linked to BPL cards. But this method had its
own issues. The most important issue was the lack of
adjustment of inflation on yearly basis in this stipulated poverty
line numbers. Moreover it was not the best estimate as the
benefits did not reach maximum poor people and their were lot
of discrepancies. This is the reason for dismantling of the
public distribution system and replacing it with the direct cash
transfer.
Read further:
http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/new-measureurban-poverty
http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/who-are-poor0
http://www.globalissues.org/issue/2/causes-ofpoverty

Words related to being happy

Who does not like to happy? We all do but are there different
types of being happy? Well, in fact, there are and this little
article illustrates 14 different happy moods that you can use for
various situations. Explore the list of words here:
1. Amused: To cause to laugh or smile by giving pleasure.
2. Blissful: Completely happy and contented.
3. Blithe: Very happy or cheerful; joyous.
4. Buoyant: Lively and lighthearted; chirpy.
5. Ecstatic: Feeling or showing great enthusiasm or delight.
6. Elated: Full of high spirits, joy, pride or optimism; very hap
py.
7. Enraptured: Delight beyond measure.
8. Euphoric: A feeling of great happiness or well-being.
9. Exhilarated: Feeling of happily refreshed and energetic;
enliven, made joyful.
10. Gleeful: Full of high-spirited delight; joy or merry.
11. Jovial: Characterized by high-spirited merriment and
good cheer.
12. Jubilant: Feeling or expressing great joy, satisfaction.
13. Rapturous: Full of, feeling, or manifesting ecstatic joy
or delight.
14. Thrilled: Feeling intense pleasurable excitement.

Different types of people

Different people have different abilities. In general, we find

ourselves short of words when we try to describe these
individual qualities, and are generally stuck with regular
descriptions such as happy, sad, cheerful, dull and so on.
What if you have a bank of words that you can use to describe
people in varied hues and identify peculiar individual traits of

people? This articles provides you a comprehensive list of 45

such qualities that you can explore and start using for the
different types of people you know.
1. Able: (Usually followed by to) having the necessary
means, skill, know how or authority to do something.
2. Absent-minded: Lost in thought; showing preoccupation.
3. Adventurous: Willing to undertake or seeking out new and
daring enterprises.
4. Apathetic: Showing little or no emotion or animation.
5. Ardent: Characterized by intense emotion.
6. Awful: Exceptionally bad or displeasing.
7. Boisterous: Noisy and lacking in restraint or discipline.
8. Callous: Emotionally hardened.
9. Cantankerous: Stubbornly obstructive and unwilling to
cooperate.
10. Churlish: Rude and boorish.
11. Circumspect: Heedful of potential consequences.
12. Conceited: Characteristic of false pride; having an
exaggerated sense of self-importance.
13. Condescending: (Used of behaviour or attitude)
characteristic of those who treat others with
condescension.
14. Conscientious: Characterized by extreme care and
great effort.
15. Crabby: Annoyed and irritable.
16. Dainty: Delicately beautiful.
17. Demonic: Extremely evil or cruel; expressive of cruelty
or befitting hell.
18. Dowdy: Lacking in smartness or taste.
19. Egotistical: Characteristic of those having an inflated
idea of their own importance.
20. Fastidious: Giving careful attention to detail;
hard to please; excessively concerned with cleanliness.
21. Ferocious: Marked by extreme and violent energy.

22. Fervent: Characterized by intense emotion.

23. Glutinous: Able or tending to stick; having the
properties of an adhesive.
24. Immodest: Having or showing an exaggerated opinion
of your importance, ability, etc.
25. Irascible: Quickly aroused to anger.
26. Listless: Marked
by
low spirits;
showing
no
enthusiasm.
27. Lithe: Moving and bending with ease.
28. Lively; Full of life and energy.
29. Meddlesome: Intrusive in a meddling or offensive
manner.
30. Mercurial: Liable to sudden unpredictable change.
31. Meticulous: Marked by precise accordance with
details.
32. Moronic: Having a mental age of between eight and
twelve years.
33. Obnoxious: Causing disapproval or protest.
34. Paternalistic: Benevolent but sometimes intrusive.
35. Peevish: Easily irritated or annoyed.
36. Persnickety: (Used colloquially) overly conceited or
arrogant.
37. Prejudiced: Emanating from a person's emotions and
prejudices.
38. Querulous: Habitually complaining.
39. Resourceful: Having
inner resources;
adroit
or
imaginative.
40. Sentimental: Given to or marked by sentiment or
sentimentality.
41. Slovenly: Negligent of neatness especially in dress
and person; habitually dirty and unkempt.
42. Stoic: Someone who is seemingly indifferent to
emotions.
43. Testy: Easily irritated or annoyed.

44. Volcanic: Relating to or produced by or consisting of

volcanoes.
45. Zealous: Marked by active interest and enthusiasm.

Words related to Winter

Earth, and its inhabitants, is blessed with the wonder of
different seasons and climactic conditions. What these
seasons provide is a whole gamut of words that can be used to
describe them. In this article, we explore 22 words that can be
used to describe winter-climes. Explore and learn words that
might help you describe situations the next time you encounter
the winters.
1. Balaclava: A woolen face mask to protect the face from
cold while skiing on snow.
2. Blizzard: A storm with widespread snowfall accompanied
by strong winds.
3. Blustery: Blowing in violent and abrupt bursts.
4. Chills: Coldness due to a cold environment.
5. Eggnog: A punch made of sweetened milk or cream
mixed with eggs and usually alcoholic liquor.
6. Grain: Foodstuff prepared from the starchy grains of
cereal grasses.
7. Frigid: Sexually unresponsive.
8. Frostbitten: Injured by freezing or partial freezing.
9. Gust: A strong current of air.
10. Hailstone: Small pellet of ice that falls during a
hailstorm.
11. Hibernate: Sleep during winter.

12. Hypothermia: Subnormal body temperature.

13. Icicle: Ice resembling a pendent spear, formed by the
freezing of dripping water.
14. Mittens: Glove that encases the thumb separately and
the other four fingers together.
15. Quilt: Bedding made of two layers of cloth filled with
stuffing and stitched together.
16. Shiver: Tremble convulsively, as from fear or
excitement.
17. Sledge: A heavy long-handled hammer used to drive
stakes or wedges.
18. Sleet: Partially melted snow (or a mixture of rain and
snow).
19. Solstice: Either of the two times of the year when the
sun is at its greatest distance from the celestial equator.
20. Slippery: Causing or tending to cause things to slip or
slide.
21. Slush: Partially melted snow.
22. Wintry: Characteristic of or occurring in winter.

Topic of the week for discussion: 25th Sept to 1st Oct. 2014
Topic: U.S. Strikes ISIS
The United States and five Arab partner nations (Jordan,
Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates)
launched airstrikes against ISIS targets in Syria for the first
time on 22nd Sept. In a major escalation of the U.S. war against
ISIS, the military planned to strike up to 20 targets, including
fuel and weapons depots, training sites, troop encampments,
command and control centers and the Sunni fighters'
headquarters.

The strikes are part of a military campaign the Obama

administration authorized nearly two weeks ago to "degrade,
and ultimately destroy" the ISIS fighters, who have killed
thousands of people, beheaded Westerners including two
American journalists and seized a broad swath of territory
along the border of Syria and Iraq.
The U.S. has carried out more than 170 airstrikes targeting
ISIS, and Congress voted on Friday to arm and train moderate
Syrian rebels against the group. But it has also decided not to
use ground troops to combat ISIS.
The strikes targeted Raqqa, an IS stronghold in eastern Syria
the group captured in 2013, and the cities of Deir al-Zour,
Hassakeh and Abu Kamal.
Reason for the Air strike:
Fighters from ISIS have swept across swathes of Iraqs Sunni
heartland since launching an offensive two months ago,
attacking several towns and villages east of its main hub of
Mosul, the country's second-largest city.
The group, which has declared an Islamist caliphate in the
areas it controls in Iraq and Syria, has continued an advance
across northern Iraq in recent days towards the capital of the
Kurdish region, sending tens of thousands of Christians and
other religious minorities fleeing for their lives. ISIS militants
have forced 100,000 Christians to flee and have occupied
churches, removing crosses and destroying manuscripts.
Now, they plan to extend further west to bring all the arab
region under their control and to declare a single caliphate. If
they are not controlled or stopped here, it will become
extremely difficult to control them later.

These air strikes mark a major shift in operations against

IS for two reasons:
1. Firstly, they now expand the fight across the border into
the group's heartland in Syria. IS known they were
coming and had already dispersed some of their key
assets. But it will still be a shock to many that their de
facto capital of Raqqa is no longer a safe haven.
2. Secondly, the participation of Arab states spreads the
responsibility to some extent away from just the US.
Islamic State will be enraged by this - it has no effective
military answers to US air power - so those Arab
countries that supported or took part in the action may
well now be bracing themselves for possible reprisals.
Obamas dilemma:
In early June in a lightning advance, President Barack Obama
examined his options and announced that he would be
prepared to "take targeted and precise military action."
Nearly two months later, Obama, albeit reluctantly, on
Thursday approved the use of airstrikes in Iraq. He said the
step was taken to defend U.S. personnel in the city of Irbil and
protect religious minorities facing what he called a "potential
act of genocide" from the Islamic State, the extremist group
most recently known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria
(ISIS).
The escalation marks a turning point in the Obama
administration's foreign policy, which has avoided direct
military involvement in Iraq and Syria until now.
It's been a cautious policy that has come under fire from
Republicans and some military and foreign policy experts.

And while Obama's foreign policy ratings have plummeted, he

has sought to avoid dragging a war-weary nation into another
Mideast conflict.
Refugee Crisis:
The IS advance in northern Syria has created a refugee crisis
in neighbouring Turkey, with about 130,000 Kurdish refugees
crossing the border at the weekend.
Most refugees are from Kobane, a Syrian town close to the
Turkish border that is under siege by IS militants.
The UN refugee agency said it was making contingency plans
to deal with the rest of Kobane's 400,000 inhabitants fleeing
into Turkey.
Before the latest influx, there were already more than one
million Syrian refugees in Turkey.
Read further:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/22/syria
n-kurdish-fighters-islamic-state-isis-kobani
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/08/28/world/meast/usoptions-syria/
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/obamareturning-hispanic-caucus-event-amid-some-latinoanger-n209886

Cracking Analytical Reasoning By Trial and Error

In real life, most of the time we are not presented with options.
A lot of effort is in identifying the options or creating them.
What works best in real life is what we call as a trial and error
strategy. Try something (Guess), if it does not work, guess
again. Over time, our guesses become more educated and
we tend to require fewer trials to reach our solutions.
This strategy can work in lot of math & analytical resoning
questions. But remember golden rule- be sytematic when you
guess and don't do wild guessing.
Lets take an example:

44 people live in the eight houses (3 on each side of Albert

Square)

Each house has a different number of people living in it.

Each line of three houses has 15 people living in it. How
many people live in each house? So simplifying we have
to get 4 sets of numbers, each of which add up to 15. So
start guessing.

First for some education:

The average number of people in a house is 36/8 is roughly
4.5. So what numbers should we take? 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,
9. Now we should also have an average close to 5 for each
set.
Lets start:

Set 1: 3, 5, 7

Set 3: 2, 4, 9

Now the other two sets will have an overlap. So lets guess the
overlaps:
Set 2: Overlaps are 2 and 7. So the third number will be 6.
Good, because we have not used 6 still.
Set 4: Overlaps are 3 and 9. Then the third number ends
up to 3 again. Wrong guess. So we need to try again.
Overlaps are 3 and 4. In this case third number works out
to be 8, which we have not used. Wow.

So here is an answer:

Note that this is not the only solution. There are others
possible.
Here is an assignment for practice:
Mrs. Choy spent exactly Rs. 10 on 100 eggs for her shop.
Large eggs cost her 50 p each. Medium eggs cost her 10 p
each. Small eggs cost her 5 p each. For two of the sizes, she
bought the same number of eggs. How many of each size did
she buy?

Simple Interest is really SIMPLE

The basic formula for calculating simple interest is: (Principal
Rate Time) /100.
Since for a particular time a fixed rate of interest is applicable
on a fixed principal, so the interest received for every year is
constant.
For example: If rate of 10% p.a. is applicable on Rs. 1000
principal, the interest is Rs. 100 for every year. In short, it can
be stated that the total interest as a percentage of principal, is
a multiple of time and rate as principal is constant, i.e. interest
on Rs. 1000 invested for 4 years @ 12.5% p.a. is same as
50% (12.5 4) on Rs. 1000 which is Rs. 500. Thus, it can be
concluded that total interest as a percentage of principal can
be converted to a percentage question by multiplying rate and
time before hand and calculating an effective rate of interest
per annum.
Example 1: Amount: Rs. 3750; Rate: 6.25%; Time: 4 years;
Principal: ?
Solution: As 6.25 4 = 25%. Now this question has effectively
been converted into a number questions, with a number being
increased by 25%. Hence, the original number or the principal
is 3750/1.25 = 3000.
Example 2: Amount after 5 years = 6000 and Amount after 3
years = 5500. Find the Principal and Rate %.
Solution: It can be seen that in 2 years Rs. 500 is added (as
simple interest remains same for every year) or Rs. 250 is
added every year. Now, 5500 is the amount in which 3 years
interest is added which is 250 3 = 750. So, Principal = 5500
750 = 4750. Rate % = 250/4750 100 = 5.25% approx.

Example 3: A sum doubles itself in 4 years. It will take how

many years to become 8 times?
Solution: Rs. 100 becomes Rs. 200 in 4 years, so Rs. 100 is
the interest earned in 4 years. Hence every year Rs. 25 is
earned, which makes the rate as 25%. Now you need to make
Rs. 100 as Rs. 800 in order to become 8 times, which requires
Rs. 700 as total interest. As 25 is received every year, so 700
is received in 700/25 = 28 years.

More FACTS about Factors

In this article, we extend the application one very simple
mathematical concept: factors. With the help of different
examples, the article explores the different types of questions
that can be based on factors, and how these should be
approached.
Example 1: Find the sum of divisors of 72.
Solution:The first step that you carry out in this case is the
prime factorization of 72 is = 23 * 32.
Now in order to find the sum, firstly list down all the factors.
Now the different ways of expressing powers of 2 and 3 are as
follows:
(20+21+22+23)*(30+31+32) = (1+21+22+23) (1+31+32)
=1(1+3+32) +2(1+3+32) + 22(1+3+32)+23(1+3+32)
=1+ 3 + 9 + 2 + 6 + 18 + 4 + 12 + 36 + 8 + 24 + 72 = Sum of
factors of 72
Now algebraically it can be found as (24 1)*(33 1)/[(2-1)(31)]= 195.

If you observe closely, the same formula is applied in the case

of calculating the sum of a GP. It can be concluded that:
Sum of factors = [(Pa+1-1)(qb+1-1)(rc+1-1)]/[(p-1)(q-1)(r-1)], where
P, Q and R are the different prime factors of the number.
Example 2: N=23*32*53. Find
i) Number of Factors
ii) Sum of factors
Solution: i) The power of 2 can be selected in 4 ways. Similarly
powers of 3 and 5 can be selected in 3 and 4 ways
respectively. So any combination of 2s, 3s or 5s power will
give you the required factor. So, there are 4*3*4 = 48 factors.
Solution: ii) Now the sum will be
= (20+21+22+23)(30+31+32)(50+51+52+53)
= [(24 -1)(33 -1)(54 -1)]/[(2-1)(3-1)(5-1)] = 30420.
Example 3: How many factors of N= 22*33*51 are odd factors?
Also, find their sum.
Solution: For odd factors of N, the only primes worth
consideration will be 33 and 51 as the power of 2 cannot be
taken. Now 3 can be selected in 4 ways and 5 can be selected
in 2 ways. Thus, the total number of odd factors is 4*2 = 8
ways. The sum of these will be (30+31+32+33) (50+51)
= [(34 -1)(52 -1)]/[(3-1)(5-1)] = 240.
Example 4: In how many ways 72 can be written as product of
two factors?
Solution: Lets solve this question using the longer method
first. The total factors of 72 can be listed as a combination of
two
factors
in
the
following
ways:
72 = 1*72 ; 2*36 ; 3*24 ; 4*18 ; 6*12; 8*9. So the number of

ways
is
3 2
Also, 72 = 2 *3 has 4*3 = 12 factors.

6.

In this arrangement, all the 12 factors are written by taking two

at a time. So, you get 12/2 = 6 ways.
Example 5: Find product of factors of 72.
Solution: Here the required product is:
= (1*2*3*4*6*8*9*12*18*24*36*72)
= (1*72)(2*36)(3*24)(4*18)(6*12)(8*9).
It can be seen that every product is giving 72 and as per the
last question 72 can be written as product of two factors in 6
ways. So answer will be 726 and it can be concluded that
Product of factors of N is= (N)Total no. of factors/2.
Different types of Mania
Most of us suffer from some obsession or the other, but we
might not have the word to describe our obsessions. In this
article, we explore 20 extreme reactions, 20 irrational kinds of
beliefs and action. Explore the list and see if any one of these
matches with your obsessions:
1. Ablutomania: Mania for washing oneself.
2. Arithmomania: Obsessive preoccupation with numbers.
3. Bibliomania: Craze for books or reading.
4. Clinomania: Excessive desire to stay in bed.
5. Dinomania: Mania for dancing.
6. Dipsomania: Abnormal craving for alcohol.
7. Egomania: Irrational self-centered attitude or self-worship.
8. Ergomania: Excessive desire to work; workaholism.
9. Graphomania: Obsession with writing.
10. Hydromania: Irrational craving for water.
11. Hypermania: Severe mania.

12. Hypomania: Minor mania.

13. Kleptomania: Irrational predilection for stealing.
14. Megalomania: Abnormal tendency towards grand or
grandiose behaviour.
15. Monomania: Abnormal obsession with a single
thought or idea.
16. Nymphomania: Excessive or crazed sexual desire.
17. Plutomania: Mania for money.
18. Pyromania: Craze for starting fires.
19. Theomania: Belief that one is a god.
20. Xenomania: Inordinate attachment to foreign things.

French Words in English

The nature of the English language is such that it encapsulates
in itself words from a vast number of languages, and French is
one such language that lends a number of words to the
language. In this piece, you have 15 French words that are
commonly used in English:
1. Coiffure: A style of arranging the hair, a style of arranging
or combing the hair.
2. Demarche: A move, step, or manoeuvre, esp in
diplomatic affairs
3. Denouement: The final resolution of the intricacies of a
plot, as of a drama or novel.
4. clat: Brilliance of success, reputation, showy or
elaborate display.
5. lan: Dash; impetuous ardor, a combination of style and
vigour.
6. Entrepreneur: A person who organizes and manages any
enterprise, especially a business, usually with
considerable initiative and risk.

7. Impasse: A situation in which progress is blocked; an

insurmountable difficulty; stalemate; deadlock.
8. Ingnue: The role of an artless, innocent, unworldly girl or
young woman, esp. as represented on the stage.
9. Malaise: A condition of general bodily weakness or
discomfort, often marking the onset of a disease, a feeling
of unease or depression.
10. Mlange: A mixture; confusion.
11. Repartee: A sharp, witty, or aphoristic remark made
as a reply.
12. Sangfroid: Coolness of mind; calmness; composure.
13. Tete-a-tete: A private conversation or interview,
usually between two people, without the intrusion of a
third person; in intimate privacy.
14. Tour de force: An exceptional achievement by an
artist, author, or the like, a particularly adroit maneuver or
technique in handling a difficult situation.
15. Vignette: A decorative design or small illustration used
on the title page of a book or at the beginning or end of a
chapter, a decorative design representing branches,
leaves, grapes, or the like, as in a manuscript, an
engraving, drawing, photograph, or the like that is shaded
off gradually at the edges so as to leave no definite line at
the border.

Mastering Grammar : That versus Which

Technically speaking, this is one rule that might actually cause
you some pain. Why so?
Go through the rule that differentiates the two:

THAT should be used to introduce a restrictive clause.

WHICH should be used to introduce a non-restrictive or

parenthetical clause.

Easy-peasy right? Well, not quite. Let's break it down and

make it into something which is easier for you to digest.
Usage of That:
Definition of a restrictive clause: A restrictive clause is an
element of the sentence that cannot be deleted, because it
restricts the noun.

For example: Issues that concern the minorities cannot

be ignored.

Try to delete that concern the minorities' and see the

trouble you will find yourself in. It simply cannot be left because
it is doing the vital job of defining the types of issues in
concern.
Try to delete the phrase in bold in the following sentences:
Men that dont have morals are living inconsequential
lives.
Matches that involve Ronney generally do not end in a
draw.
To our knowledge, it is the only body in the solar
system that currently sustains life.

You cannot delete any of the phrase in 'bold' and hence we

use that in all of these sentences.
Usage of Which:
If a restrictive clause could not be left out of the sentence, a
non-restrictive clause is its exact opposite and can be left out
without changing the meaning of a sentence. Non-restrictive

clauses are either in brackets or have a comma before and

after them (or only before them if they come at the end of a
sentence).
Alphonso Mangoes, which are grown in 5 countries, are
the juiciest variety of mangoes.
There was a tsunami in Japan, which is horrible news to
be honest.

In both the sentences above, the fragment in bold can be

easily left.
Easy way to remember:
In essence, if you can remove 'which' from a sentence and the
meaning of the sentence is not harmed, that sentence will take
a 'which' only. In case the meaning is harmed without that
fragment, you need to use that.

Topic of the week for discussion: 2nd to 8th Oct. 2014

Topic: Pollution is the price of progress
Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the
environment through depletion of resources such as air, water
and soil; the destruction of ecosystems and the extinction of
wildlife. It is defined as any change or disturbance to the
environment perceived to be deleterious or undesirable.
Though there are major negative impacts as soil pollution,
water pollution, air pollution, the main area of concern for
environmentalist and general public is Global Warming.
Global Warming and Ozone Layer Depletion:

Human activities contribute to climate change by causing

changes in Earths atmosphere in the amounts of greenhouse
gases, aerosols (small particles), and cloudiness. The largest
known contribution comes from the burning of fossil fuels,
which releases carbon dioxide gas to the atmosphere.
Greenhouse gases and aerosols affect climate by altering
incoming solar radiation and out-going infrared (thermal)
radiation that are part of Earths energy balance. Changing the
atmospheric abundance or properties of these gases and
particles can lead to a warming or cooling of the climate
system.
Since the start of the industrial era (about 1750), the overall
effect of human activities on climate has been a warming
influence. The human impact on climate during this era greatly
exceeds that due to known changes in natural processes, such
as solar changes and volcanic eruptions.
Global Warming Impacts:
1. Rising Seas--- inundation of fresh water marshlands, lowlying cities, and islands with seawater.
2. Changes in rainfall patterns --- droughts and fires in some
areas, flooding in other areas.
3. Increased likelihood of extreme events--- such as
flooding, hurricanes, etc.
4. Melting of the ice caps --- loss of habitat near the poles.
Polar bears are now thought to be greatly endangered by
the shortening of their feeding season due to dwindling
ice packs.
5. Melting glaciers - significant melting of old glaciers is
already observed.
6. Widespread vanishing of animal populations --- following
widespread habitat loss.

7. Spread of disease --- migration of diseases such as

malaria to new, now warmer, regions.
8. Bleaching of Coral Reefs due to warming seas and
acidification due to carbonic acid formation --- One third of
coral reefs now appear to have been severely damaged
by warming seas.
9. Loss of Plankton due to warming seas --- The enormous
(900 mile long) island ecosystems of orcas (killer whales),
sea lions, sea otters, sea urchins, kelp beds, and fish
populations, appears to have collapsed due to loss of
plankton, leading to loss of sea lions, leading orcas to eat
too many sea otters, leading to urchin explosions, leading
to loss of kelp beds and their associated fish populations.
Carbon footprint:
It is the measure of direct or indirect CO2. Greenhouse gases
like CO2 and methane are believed to lead to global warming.
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), used in refrigeration, and
aerosols destroy the ozone layer that shields the earth from
UV rays.
Carbon Trading:
An exchange of credits between nations designed to reduce
emissions of carbon dioxide. The carbon trade allows countries
that have higher carbon emissions to purchase the right to
release more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere from
countries that have lower carbon emissions.
The carbon trade originated with the 1997 Kyoto Protocol and
is intended to reduce overall carbon dioxide emissions to 5%
below 1990 levels between 2008 and 2012.
Kyoto Protocol:

The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement linked to the

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change,
which commits its Parties by setting internationally binding
emission reduction targets.
Recognizing that developed countries are principally
responsible for the current high levels of GHG (green house
gases) emissions in the atmosphere as a result of more than
150 years of industrial activity, the Protocol places a heavier
burden on developed nations under the principle of "common
but differentiated responsibilities."
IPCC: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change:
In 1998, IPCC was established by the World Meteorological
Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP), in recognition of the threat that global
warming presents to the world.
The most recent report, in 2001, concluded that "There is new
and stronger evidence that most of the warming observed over
the last 50 years is attributable to human activities".
Read further:
http://timeforchange.org/global_warming
http://greenliving.lovetoknow.com/How_Do_Humans_
Affect_the_Environment
http://www.carbonify.com/articles/kyoto-protocol.htm
http://www.krvp.org/NCSC/NCSC_201415/subtheme_2.pdf
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2012/
nov/26/kyoto-protocol-carbon-emissions
German Words in English

The nature of the English language is such that it encapsulates

in itself words from a vast number of languages, and German
is one such language that lends a number of words to the
language. In this piece, you have 15 German words that are
commonly used in English:
1. Angst: An acute but unspecific feeling of anxiety; usually
reserved for philosophical anxiety about the world or
about personal freedom.
2. Blitz: Attack suddenly and without warning.
3. Delicatessen: Ready-to-eat food products.
4. Doppelgnger: A ghostly double of a living person that
haunts its living counterpart.
5. Flak: Intense adverse criticism.
6. Gestalt: A configuration or pattern of elements so unified
as a whole that it cannot be described merely as a sum of
its parts.
7. Hinterland: A remote and undeveloped area.
8. Kitsch: Excessively garish or sentimental art; usually
considered in bad taste.
9. Leitmotiv: A melodic phrase that accompanies the
reappearance of a person or situation (as in Wagner's
operas).
10. Nazi: A
German
member
of
Adolf Hitler's
political party.
11. Poltergeist: A ghost that announces its presence with
rapping and the creation of disorder.
12. Putsch: A sudden and decisive change of government
illegally or by force.
13. Realpolitik: Politics based on practical rather than
moral or ideological considerations.
14. Schadenfreude: Delight
in
another
person's
misfortune.
15. Zeitgeist: The spirit of the time; the spirit characteristic
of an age or generation.

Words used in a positive way

Words can carry a negative or a positive sentiment, and in this
article, we explore 35 positive words that you can use in a
variety of situations:
1. Acclaimed: Greatly praised or lauded.
2. Affirmative: Pertaining to truth.
3. Affluent: Abundant of goods or riches.
4. Angelic: Belonging to or proceeding from Angels.
5. Beaming: Showing happy emotion.
6. Bliss: Happiness and joy.
7. Bountiful: Generous or plentiful.
8. Bubbly: Full of bubbles.
9. Commend: To praise or acclaim.
10. Dazzling: Shining intensely.
11. Earnest: Serious.
12. Ecstatic: Extremely happy.
13. Effervescent: Enthusiastic;
excited
interest
or
eagerness.
14. Enchanting: Having the ability to enchant; charming.
15. Exquisite: Carefully adjusted; precise.
16. Graceful: Having or showing elegant or charming
qualities in movement, shape.
17. Instinctive: Driven by impulse; Spontaneous and
without thinking.
18. Intellectual: Characterized by intelligence or mental
capacity.
19. Jovial: Cheerful and good-humored.
20. Jubilant: Delighted, joyful.
21. Lucid: Mentally rational easily understood.
22. Marvelous: Exciting wonder or surprise.
23. Novel: New and original.

24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.

Nurturing: Taking care and nourishing.

Poised: Having self-confidence.
Robust: Having strength.
Stirring: Inspiring.
Stupendous: Astonishingly great or large.
Thriving: One that thrives or is successful.
Tranquil: Free from mental or Emotional Disturbance.
Unwavering: Always steady and on course.
Upbeat: Having a fast pace.
Virtuous: Having excellent moral character.
Vivacious: Full of life and energy.
Zealous: Exhibiting enthusiasm or strong passion.

Words related to being big in shape or size

This is an interesting group of words that can be used to
describe anything and everything that is large, big or huge in
life. This group of words can be especially useful in describing
the scale and impact of situations and events, and you would
do well to use these words for impact. Go through the list here:
1. Astronomical: Inconceivably large.
2. Colossal: Of immense size; huge; gigantic.
3. Considerable: Rather large or great in size, distance, exte
nt etc.
4. Elephantine: Huge, ponderous, or clumsy.
5. Extensive: Large in extent, range, or amount.
6. Gargantuan: Huge; enormous.
7. Gigantic: Extremely large and huge.
8. Ginormous: Very large.
9. Hefty: Big and strong.
10. Hulky: Of great size and bulk.
11. Humongous: Extraordinarily large; enormous.
12. Jumbo: Unusually large.

13.
14.
15.
16.

Mammoth: Anything very large.

Monstrous: Abnormally large.
Mountainous: Resembling a mountain in size; huge.
Prodigious: Impressively great in size, force, or extent;
enormous.
17. Sizable: Of considerable size; fairly large.
18. Titanic: Huge or colossal.
19. Voluminous: Of great size, quantity, volume, or extent.
20. Whopping: Exceptionally large.
Mastering Grammar: Indefinite Pronouns - Singular or
Plural?
Before we actually delve into indefinite pronouns, let us solve a
mini-exercise.
Read the following sentences and identify the correct word from
the two options provided:
1. Everybody loves/love Richard.
2. Everyone is/are happy.
3. Everyone brought his/their phone.
Sentence 1: In the first case everybody (indefinite singular
pronoun) uses singular verb .i.e. loves, which is a correct way to
use everybody.
Sentence 2: Use the singular verb 'is'.
Sentence 3: His or her need to be used with used with
everyone.
What is an Indefinite Pronoun?
An indefinite pronoun is a pronoun that refers to non-specific
beings, objects, or places.

Examples of indefinite pronouns: all, any, both, each, every,

few, many, neither, nobody, and none. They are as
indefinite pronouns as they do not refer to a specific,
definite person.

Indefinite pronouns can be divided into three categories based

on whether they take a singular or plural verb:
Always singular: anyone, everyone, someone, someone,
anybody, somebody, nobody, each, one, either and
neither.
Always plural: both, few, many, others, and several.
Singular and plural both (depending upon usage): all, any,
more, most and some

For the third category, you need to identify whether the subject
is singular or not. In the case of a singular subject, you singular
verb else use a plural verb.

For example:
Some of the money is needed by Ram.
Some of the children are creating a raucous.

In the first case, money is an uncountable noun, and thus is

singular in nature. We need to use is in this sentence.
In the second case, children is countable plural noun, and thus
we use are in this sentence.
Keep these simple rules in mind next time you see an 'indefinite
pronoun'.

Topic of the week for discussion: 9th to 15th Oct. 2014

Topic: Indias Mission to Mars: MOM

Background:
More missions have been attempted to Mars than to any other
place in the Solar System except the Moon, and about half of
the attempts have failed. Some of these failures occurred
because Mars was the first planet Earth attempted to explore,
and the early exploration attempts taught us many lessons that
have made subsequent missions more successful. But many
failures have occurred relatively recently, proving again and
again that space exploration is very, very difficult.
But since 1996, Mars exploration has undergone a
Renaissance, with data from four orbiters and four landed
missions developing a revolutionary new view of Mars as an
Earth-like world with a complex geologic history.
The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), also called Mangalyaan
Mars-craft is a Mars orbiter launched into the Earths orbit on
November 5, 2013 by the Indian Space Research Organisation
(ISRO).
It successfully entered Mars orbit on 24 September 2014,
which has made India the first Asian nation to send a
satellite to Mars, and the first nation in the world to do so
on its first attempt.
Need of this Mission:
The mission is a "technology demonstrator" project to
develop the technologies for design, planning, management,
and
operations
of
an
interplanetary
mission.
Moreover, the search for methane in the Martian atmosphere
is probably the most significant part of the MOM mission.
Mangalyaan has gone equipped with an instrument that will try
to measure methane in the atmosphere. MOM will measure
methane in the Martian atmosphere. So, even though
Mangalyaan has a small payload, it will actually address some

of
the
biggest
questions
on the
Red
Planet.
Earths atmosphere contains billions of tonnes of methane, the
vast majority of it coming from microbes, such as the
organisms found in the digestive tracts of animals.
The speculation has been that some methane-producing bugs
could perhaps exist on Mars if they lived underground, away
from the planets harsh surface conditions.
Importance of this Mission:
The Mars Orbiter Mission cost Rs. 450 crore (46 million) in
comparison to NASAs Maven orbiter costing 413 million.
It is the cheapest inter-planetary mission ever to be
undertaken since Martian exploration began. The low cost of
the mission was ascribed by Kopillil Radhakrishnan, the
chairman of ISRO, to various factors, including a "modular
approach", a small number of ground tests and long (18-20
hour) working days for scientists. Other factors mentioned are
lower worker costs, home-grown technologies, simpler design,
and significantly less complicated payload.
Criticism of this mission:
After Indias successful Mars mission, there was a supposition
among many Western as well as Indian media and people, that
space activity should be left to the wealthy, developed
countries and that it can have no worth to the developing
nations.
The argument was that money could be rather spent on
healthcare and improved sanitation. But what was thus
disregarded is that investment in science and technology
builds competence and aptitude and helps develop the people
who further profit the financial system and the society.
The developed nations already know that space activity is also
a wealth producer, and have radically increased their spending
on
space
activities
in
recent
years.

India wants to be a part of this too, and through Mangalyaan

and its other space missions, the nation is putting itself into a
strong position in international markets for space products and
services.
Whats next ?
The Mars spacecraft will orbit the Red Planet, mapping its
surface and studying the atmosphere. Mangalyan has already
starting sending photographs of the red planet.
Further, a Nasa-backed study is exploring the feasibility of
lowering the cost of a human expedition to Mars by putting the
astronauts
in
deep
sleep.
The deep sleep, called therapeutic torpor, would reduce
astronauts' metabolic functions with existing medical
procedures. This is a form of deep sleep, also referred to as a
type of hibernation. The crew would be put to sleep for the
180-day journey to Mars by lowering their body temperature
through their nose. They would then be woken by stopping the
flow of coolant at the red planet. Once mission was complete,
they'd be put to sleep again for the return trip.
Read further:
http://www.spaceflight101.com/mars-orbitermission.html
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/science/na
sa-to-put-astronauts-in-deep-sleep-for-marsmission/articleshow/44415644.cms
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/indi
a/11119362/India-celebrates-Mars-mission-cheaperthan-a-movie.html

Number System: Get DIGITAL with DIGITAL ROOT

One of the short cut which you must learn in number system is
that of digital roots. This amazing concept of Digital Roots will
help you solve numerous questions on remainders, divisibility
and sum of digits. Keep in mind that from now onwards in the
article, the term digital root will be referred to as DR.
DR (also known as repeated digital sum/seed number) of a
number is the number obtained by adding all the digits, then
adding the digits of that number, and then continuing until a
single-digit number is obtained. First try to understand this with
the help of the following examples:
Example 1: DR (48512) = DR (4+8+5+1+2) = DR (20) = DR
(2+0) = 2.
Example 2: DR (9873429222) = DR (9+8+7+3+4+2+9+2+2+2)
= DR (48) = DR (4+8) = DR (12)= DR (1+2) = 3.
DIVISIBILITY RULE OF 9: What is the remainder when 48512
is divided by 9?
In order to check for the divisibility of a number by 9, we add all
the digits and check the remainder of these with 9.
Here the approach we follow is that we determine the sum of
digits (SOD) = 4+8+5+1+2 = 20=2+0=2. So, the remainder when
the number 48512 is divided by 9 is 2.
Example 1: What is remainder when 9873429222 is divided by
9?
Solution: Again the divisibility rule of 9 will be applied.

9+ 8 + 7 + 3 + 4 + 2 + 9 + 2 + 2 + 2 = 48 = 4 + 8 = 12 = 1+ 2 =3
So, remainder is 3 in this case.
It can be concluded from the above examples that whether we
take DR of any number say N or remainder when N is divided by
9, the answers are same. Actually both these concepts are
same. To review the same, it can be stated that if a number has
a DR 1, it will leave a remainder 1 when divided by 9. If it has a
DR 2, the remainder will be 2 and so on, till the last point where
if it has a DR 9, the remainder will be 0, when divided by 9.
Example 2: What is the digital root of 26! (factorial)?
Solution: Since 26! has the product of all the digits from 1 till 26,
it will be divisible by 9. Or in other words, it will have a digital
root equal to 9.
Example 3: How many natural number < 500 exist whose seed
number is 9?
Solution: Digital root or seed number means remainder is 0
when number is divided by 9. So, question is How many natural
numbers < 500 divisible by 9 and it can be calculated that there
are 500/9=55 such numbers as it is starting from 1 only. Thus,
55 will be the answer.

Data Sufficiency Simplified

In data sufficiency problems, a question has two statements
labeled A and B, which contain certain data. In these
questions, the important point is that you need not to solve the
question but to check that whether the data given in the
statements are sufficient to solve the question or not. The
statement will be considered sufficient if the answer you obtain

is unique. If a question cannot be solved with the help of the

statement or it has multiple answers, then the given statement
will be insufficient.
The first step for solving these questions is that you should
take both the statements as the individual statement i.e. there
is no relation in the statements. To solve the question, take the
first statement and check whether the question can be solved
by using this statement or not. If you get answer from first
statement then it is sufficient.
Now come to the second step. If with the help of the
information given in the second statement you are able to
solve the question then this statement is also valid and mark
your answer accordingly. There is possibility that first
statement has the required information to solve the question
but not the second and vice a versa. In this case you will mark
the answer as only one statement is sufficient.
There is still a change that you are not able to solve the
question with the help of given statements individually. In this
case, try to solve the question by combining the information
given in both the statements together. If you get the answer
then mark your answer as both statements are required. If you
do not get the answer, then mark your answer as data is
insufficient.
Keep one thing in mind that you cannot combine the
information given in the statements as long as at least one of
the statements is sufficient.
Example: If n is a prime number between 10 and 20, what is
the
value
of n?
A. n 12
B. n 17

Solution: In this question, you are being asked to determine

the value of n. This means the exact value that n represents.
One and only one number is an acceptable answer to a
question so phrased. What would you need to know to answer
this? If you know the definition of a prime number, then you
can quickly figure out that there are four prime numbers
between 10 and 20 ; 11, 13, 17 and 19. Now consider the two
statements and see whether either or both can give you the
information you need. Firstly statement A, it tells you that n is
greater than 12, which does not enable you to answer the
question uniquely. It still leaves three possible answers (13, 17
and 19). Hence statement A alone is not sufficient. Now
statement B by itself is also not sufficient as if n is less than 17,
there are still two possible answers (11 and 13). Finally, if you
combine both the statements, you know that n is greater than
12 and that n is less than 17, only one possible number that
fits in these conditions is 13. Hence the question can be solved
with the help of both statements together.

Mastering Grammar: Like versus As

The difference between 'like' and 'as' is a small one. In this
article, we use simple examples to help you learn the
difference for the two words.
The basic bone of contention for the usage of these two words
is because of the fact that like is a preposition and as is a
conjunction. This is often forgotten and like is used as a
conjunction.
What is a Preposition and what is a Conjunction?
Definition of Prepositions: A word governing, and usually
preceding, a noun or pronoun and expressing a relation to

another word or element in the clause, as in the person on the

platform, he arrived after lunch.
Definition of Conjunctions: A word used to connect clauses or
sentences or to coordinate words in the same clause/a
connecting word.
When to use Like and As:
In case you are comparing clauses (a clause is a part of a
sentence that contains a subject and a verb), you must use
'as'. On the other hand, 'like' is used when the comparison only
includes a subject.

Example Set-1
Usage of Like: Tarun cooks like his father.
Usage of As: Tarun cooks as his father does.
Example for incorrect usage: Tarun cooks like his father
does.

The last sentence is incorrect as a verb (that is does) cannot

be used when we use like.

Example Set-1
Incorrect: Vipin and Nitin, as their father Hiten, are
extremely short.
Correct: Vipin and Nitin, like their father Hiten, are
extremely short.

Easy way to remember:

An easy way to differentiate between like and as is to simply
remember to use like when no verb follows.
For example: Arun sleeps like a baby If the clause that
comes next includes a verb, then you should use as.
For example: Arun sleeps as if he were a child.

Words used in a negative way

Words can carry a negative or a positive sentiment, and in this
article, we explore 30 negative words that you can use in a
variety of situations:
1. Abysmal: Very great; limitless.
2. Apathy: An absence of emotion or enthusiasm.
3. Atrocious: Shockingly brutal or cruel.
4. Bemoan: Regret strongly.
5. Cold-hearted: Lacking in sympathy or feeling.
6. Deplorable: Bad; unfortunate.
7. Despicable: Morally reprehensible.
8. Detrimental: (Sometimes followed by 'to') causing harm or
injury.
9. Dreadful: Causing fear, dread or terror.
10. Ghastly: Shockingly repellent; inspiring horror.
11. Grotesque: Distorted and unnatural in shape or size;
abnormal and hideous.
12. Gruesome: Shockingly repellent; inspiring horror.
13. Hard-hearted: Lacking in feeling, pity or warmth.
14. Insidious: Intended to entrap.
15. Insipid: Lacking taste, flavour.
16. Malicious: Marked by deep ill will; deliberately harmful.
17. Monstrous: Abnormally large.
18. Noxious: Injurious to physical or mental health.
19. Offensive: The action of attacking an enemy.
20. Oppressive: Weighing heavily on the senses or spirit.
21. Pessimistic: Expecting the worst possible outcome.
22. Prejudice: A partiality that prevents objective
consideration of an issue or situation.
23. Repulsive: Offensive to the mind.
24. Ruthless: Without mercy or pity.

25. Sinister: Indicating evil intent or suggesting tragic

developments.
26. Vice: A holding device attached to a workbench; has
two jaws to hold workpiece firmly in place.
27. Vicious: Having the nature of vice.
28. Vile: Morally reprehensible.
29. Villainous: Extremely wicked.
30. Vindictive: Disposed to seek revenge or intended for
revenge.

Lowest Common Multiple and REMAINDER Theorem I

In this article, we explore the concept of Lowest Common
Multiples and Remainder Theorem. The article is built on a
series of examples that classify questions into types. These
examples will help you understand the concepts as well as
their application.
Type 1: Which series will give all the positive numbers, when
divided by 15, 18, 24, remainder is 1?
Solution: Of course this is an easy nut 2 crack. You will
immediately
say:
The series will be represented by L.C.M.(15, 18, 24)K + 1 ;
Where k = 0, 1, 2, 3..........
Type 2: Which series will give all the positive numbers, which
when divided by 15, 18, 24, remainders are 13, 16, 22
respectively?
Solution: This is the same question as above, just watch it
carefully. For divisors 15, 18 and 24 the remainders are 13, 16
and 22 respectively.

Now in each case, the remainder can be written as - 2

(negative remainder) also. This is what the question requires,
but now since the remainders are same, it can be made as the
1st type only. So, it will be L.C.M. (15, 18, 24) k 2, where k =
1, 2, 3, 4 ......... (neglecting zero because we want positive
numbers.
Type 3: Which series will give all the numbers, which when
divided by 9 and 8, remainders are 5 and 1 respectively?
Solution: We will obviously use Chinese Remainder theorem
but not algebraically. We will use logic in the given question.
The first condition is that the numbers should leave remainder
5 when divided by 9. It will be of 9k + 5 type. Now here taking
K as 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4 the value of 9K + 5 comes out to be 5, 14,
23, 32 and 41 respectively and so on. Now you need to divide
all these numbers by 8 and find where you get the required
remainder.
Out of these numbers the last number 41, when divided by 8,
gives the remainder 1 and hence it is the answer. The series
for this will be L.C.M. (9, 8)k + 41, where k = 0, 1, 2, 3..
This series will give all the numbers of type probed in the
question.

Topic of the week for discussion: 16th to 22th Oct. 2014

Topic: The Big, Bigger, Biggest Online sales are here!
Flipkarts much hyped and advertised The Big Billion
Day offer on 6th Oct 14 created a stir online both for positive
reasons such as record sales of about $100 million in 10 hours
flat and negative reasons such as non processing of orders,
flipping of prices & bargains, non availability of stock, non
connectivity of server, etc.
It was being billed as the mother of all discount sales and
designed to capture the imagination, mindshare as well as the
share of the consumers wallet in the now cluttered but growing
world of e-commerce. But what it lead to is an irate customer
and a perception that online purchase is a sour experience,
which is a big blow, specially to the biggest online portal of
India; flipkart and otherwise to the entire e-commerce industry
in India.
So, what went wrong?
Did Flipkart, by far the biggest e-commerce player in the
country, underestimate the shopping prowess of the over 25
million online shoppers in India? Or was it just a case of bad
planning?
It is pertinent to analyse it because every other online retailer
is offering huge discounts to woo customers due to the festive
season in India, though in different manner, for
example, Myntras Cracker of the Sale, Snapdeals
Diwali Fashion Sale etc.
But the discussion here is not what went wrong in one
particular online sale, but about the prospects and problems of

a fast growing, everyday expanding, and highly competitive ecommerce industry in India.
Prospects:
India is a country with a booming economy, rapid growth of
internet penetration, and a market of 1.2 billion.
The most evident factor is the huge young population of
India (65% of its population is 35 or under, and half the
country's population of 1.25 billion people is under 25 years of
age), who is earning to spent rather than save and is an
impulse buyer and experimental by nature.
Moreover, its also a place where consumers have a lot to gain
from not going to the stores. A shopping trip can mean being
packed into trains like sardines, navigating streets jammed
with stalls and cow herds, or haggling with aggressive
rickshaw drivers. The city centers are chaotic, and the contents
of a shopping list are distributed over dozens of different stores
or street stands. It seemed the perfect place to build a robust
online economy.
The Click & Click Companies can offer discounts, which
obviously please customers as against the Brick & Mortar
companies, in which inventory & infrastructural costs pose a
major hindrance against such discounts.
Problems:
Indian e-commerce companies have had to overcome serious
hurdles. Among the largest of them is logistics. While major
multi-nationals like DHL and Fed-Ex operate in India, goods
are normally shipped through smaller and much cheaper third
party carriers. The difficulties and unreliability of the carriers
has forced some of the largest and best funded players to

develop their own logistics arms to deliver their packages. The

decision however, carries massive capital expenses in an
industry that is still not standing on its own feet. It also means
a huge increase in exposure, and a business that is now
seeking success in two industries instead of one.
Another difficult problem is that the Indian market demands a
cash on delivery (COD) option, in which the consumer pays
the courier once they have received the product. Its a hard
problem to get around, because credit card penetration is
relatively low in India, and consumers are still not trusting of
putting financial information into online forms.
Moreover, Despite a country of 1.2 billion people, there arent
very many customers to go around right now. India has 150
million registered internet users as of December 2012, but
perhaps only 50 million access the internet through PCs. The
estimates are that the most active group of e-commerce
customers numbers only 2-3 million. Moreover,
Yet the greatest hurdle of all is the fierce competition that has
been spurned by the glut of investments over the last few
years. There can be as many five different well-funded
players battling it out for the same small niche, which ultimately
lead to price wars.
Future Story:
Foreign Direct Investment: A comprehensive yet sensible
FDI policy in retail is the need if the hour.
Organised Retail: Most of the retail is unorganized in India,
which leads a deep impact on online procurement &
delivery.
Allainces & Patnerships: From being dismissive about the
potential of e-commerce in India to joining hands with the
sector, leading 'brick and mortar' retailing entities seem to

have had a change of thinking on the former. Kishore

Biyani's Future Group has made a tie-up with Amazon to
sell its private labels in the fashion category. Last month,
Tata Groups Croma entered into an alliance with
Snapdeal. These partnerships are not the ones between
two retailers but of vendor and technology platforms
offering technology and logistics services.
Read further:
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/201408-21/news/53073057_1_travel-portals-yepmedressberry
http://www.asmgroup.edu.in/incon/publication/incon13-fin014.pdf
http://www.slideshare.net/digitalvidya/changingconsumer-behavior-towards-ecommerce-in-india

Words representing Feelings

Human beings have a whole gamut of emotions and feelings
that they feel under different situations. This article explores 37
feelings, and you can use these words in future to describe
your state.
1. Attraction: The action or power of evoking interest in or
liking for some or something.
2. Affection: A gentle feeling of fondness and liking.
3. Agony: Extreme physical or mental suffering.
4. Amazement: A feeling of great surprise or wonder.
5. Anxiety: A feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease about
something with an uncertain outcome.
6. Bliss: Perfect happiness; great joy.
7. Bitterness: Anger or disappointment of being treated
unfairly.
8. Compassion: Sympathetic pity and concern for the
sufferings or misfortunes of others.
9. Contentment: A state of complete satisfaction.
10. Disenchanted: Disappointed
by
someone
or
something.
11. Dismay: Concern and distress caused by something
unexpected.
12. Elation: Great happiness and exhilaration.
13. Enthralled: Captured the fascinated attention of.
14. Enraged: Very angry; furious.
15. Equanimity Calmness and composure, especially
during a difficult situation.
16. Euphoria: A feeling or a state of intense excitement
and happiness.
17. Envious: A feeling of intense jealousy.
18. Furious: Extremely angry.
19. Gloomy: A feeling of dullness and depression.
20. Hopeless: A feeling of despair.

21. Humiliation: The act of making someone appear

foolish by hurting their dignity and pride.
22. Hysteria: Exaggerated or uncontrollable emotion or
excitement.
23. Insecurity: Uncertainty about oneself.
24. Jaded: Bored or lacking enthusiasm, typically after
having too much of something.
25. Joviality: Cheerful and friendly.
26. Loathing: Intense hatred.
27. Modesty: The quality or state of being unassuming in
the estimation of one's abilities.
28. Mortification: Great embarrassment or shame.
29. Nirvana: (In Buddhism) a transcendent state in which
there is neither suffering, desire, nor sense of self, and
the subject is released from the effects of karmas and the
cycle of death and rebirth.
30. Ornery: Bad tempered.
31. Querulous: Complaining in a rather petulant or
whining manner.
32. Repentance: Sincere regret or remorse.
33. Sardonic: Grimly mocking or cynical.
34. Spellbound: Hold complete attention of someone as
though by magic.
35. Timidly: Showing a lack of courage or confidence.
36. Venal: Showing or motivated by susceptibility to
bribery; corruption.
37. Vivacious: Attractively lively and animated.

Words related to Weapons

In our stay on the planet, along with the good, we have busily
created a vast set of weapons, to be used under different
conditions and in different ways. This article explores 41 such
words and go through this article to make valuable additions to
your word-arsenal.
1. A-bomb: A nuclear weapon in which enormous energy is
released by nuclear fission (splitting the nuclei of a heavy
element like uranium 235 or plutonium 239).
2. Ammunition: Projectiles to be fired from a gun.
3. Ballistic missile: A missile that is guided in the first part of
its flight but falls freely as it approaches target.
4. Bayonet: A knife that can be fixed to the end of a rifle and
used as a weapon.
5. Bazooka: A portable rocket launcher used by infantrymen
as an antitank weapon.
6. Biological
weapon: Any
weapon
usable
in
biological warfare.
7. Blowgun: A tube through which darts can be shot by
blowing.
8. Boobytrap: An unforeseen, unexpected or surprising
difficulty.
9. Bullwhip: A long whip made from hide.
10. Cannon: Heavy gun fired from a tank.
11. Carbine: Light automatic rifle.
12. Cudgel: A club that is used as a weapon.
13. Firearm: A portable gun.
14. Flamethrower: A weapon that squirts ignited fuel for
several yards.
15. Flintlock: A muzzle loader that had a flintlock type of
gunlock.
16. Gatling gun: An early form of machine gun having
several barrels that fire in sequence as they are rotated.

17. Grenade: A small explosive bomb thrown by hand or

fired from a missile.
18. Hand grenade: A grenade designed to be thrown
by hand.
19. Handgun: A firearm that is held and fired with one
hand.
20. Harpoon: A spear with a shaft and barbed point for
throwing; used for catching large fish or whales; a strong
line is attached to it.
21. Howitzer: A muzzle-loading high-angle gun with a
short barrel that fires shells at high elevations for a short
range.
22. Kris: A Malayan dagger with a wavy blade.
23. Lance: A long pointed rod used as a tool or weapon.
24. Landmine: An explosive mine hidden underground;
explodes when stepped on or driven over.
25. Longbow: A powerful wooden bow drawn by hand;
usually 5-6 feet long; used in medieval England.
26. Mace: An official who carries a mace of office.
27. Machete: A large heavy knife used as a weapon or for
cutting vegetation.
28. Munitions: Weapons considered collectively.
29. Musket: A muzzle-loading shoulder gun with a long
barrel; formerly used by infantrymen.
30. Muzzleloader: An obsolete firearm that was loaded
through the muzzle.
31. Nerve gas: A toxic gas that is inhaled or absorbed
through the skin and has harmful effects on the nervous
and respiratory system.
32. Peashooter: A straight narrow tube through which
pellets (as dried peas) can be blown at a target.
33. Pickaxe: A heavy iron tool with a wooden handle and
a curved head that is pointed on both ends.
34. Saber: (Fencing) a fencing sword with a v-shaped
blade and a slightly curved handle.

35. Tear gas: A gas that makes the eyes fill with tears but
does not damage them; used in dispersing crowds.
36. Tomahawk: Weapon consisting of a fighting axe; used
by North American Indians.
37. Torpedo: A professional killer who uses a gun.
38. Trebuchet: An engine that provided medieval artillery
used during sieges; a heavy war engine for hurling large
stones and other missiles.
39. Trident: A spear with three prongs.
40. Tripwire: A wire stretched close to the ground that
activates something (a trap, camera or weapon) when
tripped over.
41. Weapon of mass destruction: (Military) a weapon that
kills or injures civilian as well as military personnel
(nuclear and chemical and biological weapons).

Words related to medical science

The world of medicine is a vast field, and in order to do justice
to its extent and range, its vocabulary shows similar vast
bounds. Explore a set of 25 medicine related words in this
article, and evaluate how many of these words are already a
part of your vocabulary.
1. Abscess: Swollen, inflamed area of body tissues.
2. Amnesia: A condition that causes people to lose their
memory.
3. Amputation: Permanent removal of a limb.
4. Aphasia: Loss of the power to use or understand words,
usually caused by brain disease or injury.
5. Bedsore: Wounds that develop on a patient's body from
lying in one place for too long.
6. Biopsy: Removal of human tissue in order to conduct
certain medical tests.

7. Biopsy: The cutting out a piece of tissue for diagnostic

examination by microscope.
8. Cadaver: Dead body; corpse for dissection.
9. Carcinogen: Any substance that causes cancer.
10. Chemotherapy: Type of treatment used on cancer
patients.
11. Comatose: As if in a coma; lethargic. The greek word
coma means deep sleep.
12. Coroner: A person who determines the cause of death
after a person dies.
13. Cyst: A sac in the body-tissue filled with fluid
(sometimes diseased).
14. Dementia: Loss of mental capacity.
15. Diagnosis: Medical explanation of an illness or
condition.
16. Etiology: The science of the causes and origins of
disease.
17. False negative: A test that incorrectly comes back
negative
18. Malingerer: One who fakes illness and pretends to be
suffering.
19. Mastectomy: The surgical removal of a breast.
20. Prenatal: Of the time period leading up to giving birth.
21. Prosthesis: Replacement for a missing part of the
body.
22. Scrub up: Carefully wash hands before and after
seeing a patient.
23. Scrubs: Plain uniform (usually green, white, or blue)
worn by medical professionals.
24. Therapeutic: Curative; serving to heal.
25. Vasectomy: The surgical removal of a duct that
conveys the male sperm the vas deferens.

TSD: Circular Motion Concepts

Let us explore the concepts of circular motion in time speed &
distance. It involves analyzing problems which involve circular
tracks. Objects (cars etc.) or people generally move around a
track at different speeds, and they begin from a particular point
either in the same direction or in the opposite direction. The
basic objective of this concept is generally to calculate:
i) the time of meeting of people (running around the track) at
the starting point again after they started.
ii) meeting for the first time anywhere on the track.
iii) at how many different points do people meet while running
on the circular track.
Time to meet at the Starting point: The concept here is that
firstly the time taken by each of the persons to run one
complete round at their respective speeds and then take the
L.C.M of these times. This LCM gives the time of their meeting
again at the starting point.
Example: There is a track with a length of 120 mtrs and 2
people, A & B, are running around it at 12 m/min and 20 m/min
respectively in the same direction. Now, the time of their
meeting again at the starting point will be the LCM of
i.e. 10 & 6, which is 30 mins. So, after 30 mins these people
will be together at the starting point.You can also check this as
after 30 mins A would have taken 3 rounds and B would have
taken
5 rounds. So after completing 3 & 5 rounds they will
be at the starting point.

Time to meet anywhere: Now to meet for the first time the
faster person has to complete one full round extra over the
slower person. The faster person is ahead of the slower one
right from the first minute only due to his speed being higher
than the speed of the other and they both are moving in the
same direction. It can be said that when the faster is ahead of
the slower by one full track length, he will be overtaking the
slower person from behind. Now, at this very moment these
people meet. In order to calculate the time we can say that
time of meeting =
Taking the previous data examples
data to find when will B overtake A, Time of meeting
=
In order to visualize we can say that B covers 8
mtr/min extra over A. So when B covers 120 mtrs. extra he will
overtake A from the behind and hence they both will meet.
No. of points: Let's suppose the question now is at how many
different points do people running around a circular track meet.
The logic that operates behind this problem: if we divide the
time of their first meeting at the starting point with the time of
their first meeting anywhere on the track, we get the number of
points at which these people would meet including the starting
point.
Again considering the data from the above example, we can
say that number of points =

2 points

This is inclusive of the starting point. There are two points,

where they will meet.

Words related to Time

In this article, we explore a series of words that are related to

time. From adjectives that you can use to describe your state
at times, to nouns that illustrate various aspects of time and
time-keeping, this article covers a set of 22 time-related words
that you can use appropriately at the appropriate time.
1. Ante
Meridian: Before noon, or the period of time between mid
night (0000) and noon (1200).
2. Bedtime: The time when one usually goes to bed.
3. Belated: After the expected or usual time; delayed.
4. Century: A time period of 100 years.
5. Decennium: A time period of 10 years; decade.
6. DST: Daylight Saving Time.
7. Eon: An indefinitely long period of time; an age.
8. Epoch: A period of time marked by distinctive features, no
teworthy events, changed conditions, etc.
9. Era: A period of time as reckoned from a specific da
te serving as the basis of its chronological system.
10. Horology: The art or science of making timepieces or
of measuring time.
11. Hourglass: An instrument for measuring time.
12. Jiffy: A short space of time; a moment.
13. Jubilee: A time or season for rejoicing.
14. Momentarily: For a brief
time
span, moment or an instant.
15. Nanosecond: One billionth of a second.
16. Per Diem: Reckoned on a daily basis; daily.
17. Pico second: One trillionth (10-12) of a second.
18. Sundial: An instrument that indicates the time of day b
y means of the position.
19. Synchronized: To occur at the same time; be simultan
eous.

20. Tardy: Occurring, arriving, acting, or done after the sc

heduled, expected, or usual time; late.
21. Triennium: A time period of three years.
22. Twilight: The time of day immediately following sunset
.

Spanish Words in English

The nature of the English language is such that it encapsulates
in itself words from a vast number of languages, and Spanish
is one such language that lends a number of words to the
language. In this piece, you have 15 Spanish words that are
commonly used in English:
1. Aficionado: A person who is very knowledgeable and
enthusiastic about an activity, subject, or pastime, A fan
of bull fighting, serious devotee of some particular music
genre or musical performer.
2. Barrio: A Spanish-speaking quarter in a town or city
(especially in the United States).
3. Bonanza: A rich mine, vein, or pocket of ore, a source of
great and sudden wealth or luck; a spectacular windfall.
4. Bravado: Defiant or swaggering behavior, A pretense of
courage; a false show of bravery.
5. Desperado: A bold or desperate outlaw, especially of the
American frontier.
6. Flotilla: A small fleet, a fleet of small craft, a group of
vehicles owned or operated as a unit.
7. Grandee: A nobleman of the highest rank in Spain or
Portugal, A person of eminence or high rank.
8. Hacienda: A large estate or plantation in Spanishspeaking countries, a large landed estate, and esp. one
used for farming or ranching, the main house on such an
estate.
9. Lariat: A rope for picketing grazing horses or mules, a
long noosed rope used to catch animals.
10. Machismo: A strong or exaggerated sense of
masculinity stressing attributes such as physical courage,
virility, domination of women, and aggressiveness, an
exaggerated sense of manliness.
11. Manana: tomorrow, some other and later time.

12. Palmetto: Any of several small, mostly tropical palms

having fan-shaped leaves, especially one of the genus
Sabal, Leaf strips of any of these plants, used in weaving.
13. Renegade: One who rejects a religion, cause,
allegiance, or group for another; a deserter, any outlaw or
rebel.
14. Siesta: A rest or nap, usually taken in the early
afternoon, as in hot countries.
15. Torero: A matador or one of the supporting team.

Topic of the week for discussion: 30th Oct. to 5th Nov. 2014
Topic: Reforms in Indian Labour Laws- Review
Indias labor laws are a mess. It is practically impossible
to comply with 100% of them without violating 10% of
them.
Why Indian laws were archaic?
The prime reason is that they have become outdated and
redundant. Rather than being flexible and business friendly
labour laws in India are restrictive and have been a cause of
concern for investors.
The Industrial Disputes Act (1947) has rigid provisions such as
compulsory and prior government approval in the case of
layoffs, retrenchment and closure of industrial establishments
employing more than 100 workers. This clause applies even
when there is a good reason to shut shop, or worker
productivity is seriously low.
The Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act (1970)
states that if the job content or nature of work of employees
needs to be changed, 21 days notice must be given. The
changes also require the consent of the employees, and this
can be tricky.
While the right of workers to associate is important, the Trade
Union Act (1926) provides for the creation of trade unions
where even outsiders can be office-bearers. This hurts investor
faith and restricts economic growth.
Rigid labour laws discourage firms from trying to introduce new
technology, requiring some workers to be retrenched. This
deters FDI because of the fear that it would not be possible to
dismiss unproductive workers or to downsize during a

downturn. Hence getting FDI into export-oriented labourintensive sectors in India has not been fully achieved.
Which laws are reformed & Why?
The two key areas of reform are unified labour and
industrial portal and labour inspection scheme.
The Apprenticeship Act, 1961:

Getting rid of the clause that allows arrest of employers for

not implementing the Act.
Addition of 500 new trades to the list of 238 in the Act.
Companies might also be permitted to begin new trades
without waiting for the Centre to notify those.

More companies will hire apprentices this will boost formal

skilling of workers.
The Factories Act of 1948:

Double overtime of workers to 100 hours per quarter from 50

hours per quarter.
Ensuring safer working conditions for employees working in
hazardous environment.
Provision of canteen facilities in factories having 75 or more
workers.
Allow women for night duty with adequate safety and
provision for transport after work.
Prohibit pregnant women and physically handicapped people
from being assigned to machinery-in-motion.

The changes in Factories Act of 1948 will ensure ease in doing

business for companies, enhanced benefits for workers as it
will double overtime of workers to 100 hours per quarter and
improve workers' safety.

Labour Laws Act 1988:

Exemption to small firms with up to 40 workers, against 10

currently from filing compliance reports.
Small firms will hire more workers and lower regulatory
compliance burden.
The Government is also considering amendments to the
Child Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1986, and the
Minimum Wages Act, 1948.

Critical Analysis:
The labor law changes cleared last month by the union cabinet
were neither comprehensive nor complete, but yet they are
need of the hour and a good breakthrough into the rigid old
system. It is very much required to boost the economy by
strengthening the work force and employer morale by making
labour laws more meaningful. Moreover, it is also a symbiotic
move to go with prime ministers Make in India Campaign,
where labour laws of international standard are required to
facilitate FDI.
On the other hand, most of the Unions and leaders in India are
opposing these changes are calling then anti-worker, as they
claim it to be only employer friendly and has capacity to exploit
workers more.
The changes recognize that the one million youth joining the
labor force every month need manufacturing jobs, they
recognize that most job creation happens in small enterprises,
which suffer the brunt of the license and inspector raj, and
much more!

Read further:

http://www.business-standard.com/article/economypolicy/modi-cabinet-clears-labour-reform-bills114073100236_1.html
http://indianexpress.com/article/india/indiaothers/changes-in-labour-law-will-affect-half-of-allfactories/
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/indialabor-law-reform-sabharwal/
http://www.rediff.com/business/report/whymanufacturing-sector-needs-morereforms/20141017.htm