TANCET Quant Practice Questions

I am providing links to webpages where you can get free practice questions for TANCET Math section.

These links are organized on a chronological order.

August 2003 : You will find a lot of Number Theory, Number Properties and Averages questions in this collection.

Ratio Proportion on Ages

A favorite question that appears more often than not from the Ratio Proportion topic is that of comparing the ages of two people.

Here is an example of such a question.

Question

The ratio of the present ages of Shreyas and Swetha is 3 : 5. Six years back Swetha was twice as old as Shreyas was. How old is Shreyas now?

1. 24
2. 12
3. 30
4. 18
5. 36

Correct Answer is choice (4). 18 years

Explanatory Answer

Let the present age of Shreyas be x years and that of Swetha be y years.
Therefore, x : y :: 3 : 5

Or x/y = 3/5
or x = (3/5)y. --- eqn (1)

6 years back Shreyas was (x - 6) years old.
6 years back Swetha was (y - 6) years old.

We know that Swetha was twice as old as Shreyas was 6 years back.
So, (y - 6) = 2(x - 6) --- eqn (2).

Substituting x = (3/5)y from eqn (1) in eqn (2) we get
(y - 6) = 2((3/5)y - 6)
or 5(y - 6) = 2(3y - 30)
or 5y - 30 = 6y - 60
or y = 30.

x = (3/5)y = (3/5)*30 = 18 years.

You can access more question on TANCET Math Ratio Proportion by clicking here

Quadratic Equation : Roots of equation

You could expect to get a question from quadratic equation in the TANCET test.

A quadratic equation is an equation of the form ax² + bx + c = 0.

Each quadratic equation has 2 roots. The roots of the quadratic equation can be found out either by factorizing the equation or by using a formula.

If r₁ and r₂ are the roots of the quadratic equation, then
r₁ = (-b + root(b² - 4ac))/2a
r₂ = (-b - root(b² - 4ac))/2a

Here is a typical question in quadratic equation
Question
If 8 and 6 are the roots of a quadratic equation, then the equation is
(1) x² + 14x + 48 = 0
(2) x² - 14x + 48 = 0
(3) x² + 14x - 48 = 0
(4) x² - 14x - 48 = 0
(5) x² + 48x + 14 = 0

If we are given the roots of a quadratic equation, i.e., r₁ and r₂, then the quadratic equation is (x - r₁)(x - r₂) = 0.
We know that the roots of equation are 8 and 6.
Hence, the equation is (x - 8)(x - 6) = 0
or x² - 14x + 48 = 0

Mensuration question

Question
What is the total surface area of a right circular cylinder in sqcm if its base diameter is 14cm and height is 12cms?
1. 528
2. 308
3. 836
4. 1144
5. 4576

Correct choice (3). Correct answer is 836 sqcm

Explanatory Answer
Total surface area of a right circular cylinder is 2*pi*r*h + 2pi * r^2
Base diameter of the cylinder is 14cm.
Hence, its base radius is 7cm.
Therefore, total surface area is 2*(22/7) * 7 * 12 + 2*(22/7)*7^2
= 528 + 308 = 836

Mensuration is a relatively easy topic to master. Learn all the common formulae for volume, surface area, total surface area of solids such as right circular cylinder, right circular cone, sphere, hemisphere. Solve 10 to 12 questions, at least, for each of the formulae and you should be able to ace questions from this topic.

TANCET 2009 Announcements

TANCET 2009 will be conducted on May 30th for TANCET MBA and TANCET MCA and on May 31st for TANCET ME/M.Tech

You have just over 2 months from today (March 11, 2009) for the TANCET examination. Actually, if you focus on your preparation earnestly from this moment, you have enough and more time to ace the exam.

An open category student with over 50 marks in the TANCET test in 2008 would have got admission into leading MBA programs that come under Anna University such as Guindy Engineering College, PSG Tech, SSN, TSM Madurai and so on.

Scoring 50 in TANCET is both easy and tough. It is easy if you solve over 1000 math questions, 200 plus Reading comprehension passages, 400 odd sentence correction questions and practice with 4 or 5 mock TANCET tests. It is tough because not more than 25 students have scored that kind of marks in the year 2008.

TANCET, thankfully, has been a predictable exam with clearly set 5 sections, with 20 questions to each section. Break down what you have to learn for each section and spend time wisely - about 3 to 4 hours a day from now to get into the college of your choice.

Lastly, all of us know that the whole world, including India, has been facing a lot of economic challenges. Campus placements are not great this year. Even if you manage to get placed - one is not sure if you will actually convert your offer letter into actually joining the company. So, at least temporarily, the good times (easy placements) are gone. In such trying times, the wise thing to do is to join a PG program and weather the economic downturn in a college / university. When you graduate in 2011, the economy is bound to bounce back and you will most likely be flooded with offers. So, get started with your TANCET Preparation.

A quick way to compute weighted average of large numbers

Hi

Weighted average is an easy concept that gets test quite often in the quantitative section of the TANCET test.

Let us take a look at a question that requires you to compute the weighted average and then evaluate an alternate shorcut approach to computing the same.
Question
If the average marks scored by 30 students of school A in Class XII board exam is 1072 and that by 20 students of school B is 1084, then what is the average marks scored by the students of the two schools taken together?
1. 1078.6
2. 1076.8
3. 1075.9
4. 1080.2
5. 1077.

Correct Answer
Choice (2). 1076.8

Explanation
The conventional way to solve this question is to find the weighted average of the two marks as show below.
(30*1072 + 20*1084)/(30 + 20)
= (32160 + 21680) / 50
= 53840 / 50
= 1076.8.

As you realize, conceptually there was nothing difficult with solving this question. The only pain point was the calculation. And it might not be possible for most of us to solve this calculation in under 1.2 minutes.

Now let us look at an alternate, shortcut approach to this question.
Step 1: Subtract 1072 from both 1072 and 1084.
Step 2: Compute the weighted average of the resulting numbers. i.e. ,0 and 12
The weighted average of 30 students scoring 0 and 20 students scoring 12
= (30*0 + 20*12) / (30 + 20) = 240 / 50 = 4.8
Step 3: Add 1072 to the weighted average obtained in step 2. i.e., 1072 + 4.8 = 1076.8

Therefore, whenever you have to compute the weighted average of two large numbers, subtract the smaller of the two numbers from both the numbers and then compute the weighted average and then add back the subtracted number to the result.

TANCET Prep Qn: Ratio Proportion

Ratio proportion is a fundamental topic from which you should expect anything from 2 to 3 questions out of the 20 questions in the Math section of TANCET MBA test.

The following question is a ratio question and tests your ability to express one term in terms of another, given the ratio between the two terms.

Question
Sum of the ages of three friends is 98 years. If the ratio of the ages of the oldest to the middle is 5 : 3 and that of the middle to the youngest is 5 : 3, how old is the oldest?
1. 49 years
2. 50 years
3. 30 years
4. 32 years
5. 42 years

The correct answer is 50 years. i.e., Choice (2).

Explanatory Answer
One of the easiest approach to solve this question is outlined below

Let A be the oldest, B the middle one and C the youngest amongst the three friends.
Ratio of the ages of A and B, A : B :: 5 : 3
i.e., A/B = 5/3
Therefore, A = (5/3) B

Ratio of the ages of B and C, B : C :: 5 : 3
i.e, B/C = 5/3.
Hence, C = (3/5)B

We also know that A + B + C = 98

Rewriting the equation in terms of B, we get (5/3)B + B + (3/5)B = 98.
Taking 15 as the common denominator and adding we get (25B + 15B + 9B)/15 = 98
Or (49/15)B = 98
Or B = (98*15)/49 = 30.

Hence, age of A = (5/3)B = (5/3)*30 = 50 years.

Various alternative formats of the same question exist. Some oft repeated questions are given at the Ratio Proportion Practice Question Set.