Importance of Team Selection in various exams
Grouping and selection reasoning or logical grouping forms a part of Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning questions of the CAT questions paper. Apart from cat logical reasoning, in the previous years, this topic is also covered in the form of logical reasoning based questions in other MBA/PGDM entrance exams like XAT, SNAP, IIFT etc. The CAT questions on this concept are asked repeatedly, and from the trends of previous years CAT papers, it is evident that one or two Team Selection questions are asked every year.
Below are the details about the concept for different logical reasoning topics covered in different competitive MBA exam:
Team Selection (Logical grouping) | ||||
Year | No of Questions | Good attempt | Difficulty | |
Slot 1 | 1 | 0 to 1 | Moderate to difficult | |
Slot 2 | 1 | 0 to 1 | Moderate to difficult | |
Slot 1 | 1 | 1 | Moderate | |
Slot 2 | 1 | 1 | Easy | |
2017 | Slot 1 | 1 | 1 | Moderate |
Slot 2 | 1 | 1 | Moderate |
Team Selection (Logical grouping) | |||
Year | Number of Questions | Good attempt | Difficulty |
2019 | 1 | 1 | Moderate |
2018 | 1 | 1 | Moderate |
2017 | 2 | 1 to 2 | Difficult |
Team Selection (Logical grouping) | |||
Year | Number of Questions | Good attempt | Difficulty |
2019 | 2 | 1 to 2 | Moderate to difficult |
2018 | 1 | 1 | Easy |
2017 | 1 | 1 | Easy to Moderate |
The CAT questions on Team selection or logical grouping usually ask for a selection of a team of say ‘p’ members from ‘q’ (q>p) available for selection or it can be the selection of a committee of a certain number of members.
Certain given constraints or restrictions drive the grouping of the team. To solve these CAT questions, the following approach can be kept in mind:
Some important questions on team selection and logical grouping from previous year papers are given below which can help in the preparation of CAT and similar exams.
Q1. A supermarket has to place 12 items (coded A to L) in shelves numbered 1 to 16. Five of these items are types of biscuits, three are types of candies and the rest are types of savouries. Only one item can be kept in a shelf. Items are to be placed such that all items of the same type are clustered together with no empty shelf between items of the same type and at least one empty shelf between two different types of items. At most two empty shelves can have consecutive numbers. (CAT 2019-Slot 1)
The following additional facts are known.
1. A and B are to be placed in consecutively numbered shelves in increasing order
2. I and J are to be placed in consecutively numbered shelves both higher numbered than the shelves in which A and B are kept.
3. D, E and F are savouries and are to be placed in consecutively numbered shelves in increasing order after all the biscuits and candies.
4. K is to be placed in shelf number 16.
5. L and J are items of the same type, while H is an item of a different type.
6. C is candy and is to be placed in a shelf preceded by two empty shelves.
7. L is to be placed in a shelf preceded by exactly one empty shelf.
Answer the questions that follow:
In how many different ways can the items be arranged on the shelves?
1. 4
2. 2
3. 8
4. 1
Which of the following items is not a type of biscuit?
1. A
2. L
3. B
4. G
Which of the following can represent the numbers of the empty shelves in a possible arrangement?
1. 1,7,11,12
2. 1,5,6,12
3. 1,2,6,12
4. 1,2,8,12
Which of the following statements is necessarily true?
1. There are two empty shelves between the biscuits and the candies
2. All candies are kept before biscuits
3. All biscuits are kept before candies.
4. There are at least four shelves between items B and C.
Total number of Biscuits = 5
Total number of Candies = 3
So Total number of Savouries = 12 – 5 – 3 = 4
From point iii) and iv) it is clear that D, E, F and K are 4 savouries and are kept in shelves numbered 13,14, 15 and 16 as there is no empty shelf between items of the same type. From point II), V and VII) I, J and L are of the same type L being in the least numbered shelf among 3. As from point VI,) C is candy so I, J and L must be Biscuits as there are only 3 candies.
From point V) H is not Biscuits so it must be a candy thus A and B must be Biscuits.
Now Item can be placed as given below.
Case 1) when all biscuits are placed after candies. Case 2) When all candies are placed after biscuits.
Q2. In the table below the checkmarks indicate all languages are spoken by five people: Paula, Quentin, Robert, Sally and Terence. For example, Paula speaks only Chinese and English.
These five people form three teams, Team 1, Team 2 and Team 3. Each team has either 2 or 3 members. A team is said to speak a particular language if at least one of its members speak that language. (CAT 2019-Slot 2)
The following facts are known.
1. Each team speaks exactly four languages and has the same number of members.
2. English and Chinese are spoken by all three teams, Basque and French by exactly two teams and the other languages by exactly one team.
3. None of the teams include both Quentin and Robert.
4. Paula and Sally are together in exactly two teams.
5. Robert is in Team 1 and Quentin is in Team 3.
Answer the questions that follow:
Who among the following four is not a member of Team 2?
1. Paula
2. Sally
3. Quentin
4. Terence
Who among the following four people is a part of exactly two teams?
1. Sally
2. Paula
3. Robert
4. Quentin
Who among the five people is a member of all teams?
1. Paula
2. Terence
3. Sally
4. No one
Apart from Chinese and English, which languages are spoken by Team 1?
1. Arabic and Basque
2. Basque and French
3. Arabic and French
4. Basque and Dutch
First , let represent all the five people and language spoken by then by first letter of alphabet of their name. For example English will be represented as E.
From the point (1) and (2) it is clear that there will be three members in each team and each team will speak exactly 4 languages.
As E and C are spoken by all the teams so either P or T (only these two can speak C) must be part of each team.
From point 5) R is part of T1 and Q is part of T3. P and S are together in exactly two teams. If P and S are there in Team 1, then the three members of T1 will be P, S and R and together they can speak 5 languages (all except D) so they can’t form a team .
Same is the case of R, S and T. Thus P and S are together in Team 2 and Team 3. And R, P and T are part of Team 1.
Level 1:
For level 1 preparation candidates need to gain a basic understanding of the logical grouping topic. Data interpretation and logical reasoning topics are all about practice because no formulas need to be remembered. MBAP CAT E Book (Concept Theory) study material and MBAP Live Lecture Recording (Basic) on basic concept can be referred for the best approach. To approach the topic, take a question and try to extract all the information given. Pay heed to the constraints and try different permutations and combinations to see what works. Take the help of the basic framework explained above and MBAP CAT E Book (Practise Questions) and MBAP lecture Assignment
.
Level 2:
When the candidate reaches this level, the expectation is that he has solved the basic CAT questions and is clear with the concept and approach. Now, the focus should be on the shortcuts and structured thinking which helps the student reduce the number of cases possible through the process of elimination using MBAP Topic wise Previous Year CAT Question.
Level 3:
This level focusses on time management and solving the previous year CAT questions by timing oneself with MBAP Previous year CAT paper. Here, the candidate should be ready for approaching CAT questions that have a high level of difficulty with MBAP CAT Advance E books. Optimization and strengthening of the ability to visualize the question is advised.
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