CAT prep 2017: Tips, tricks and shortcuts for calendar-based questions

Calendar is something we all refer to daily. We mark dates on it; referring to it to figure out a particular date. We map our past, present and future on it.

Imagine, what will happen if you have to look for a day or a date without a calendar?

Yes, you can count it on your fingers or on a notebook. But what if you have to refer to a date in the 18^th Century?

Candidates appearing for CAT 2017 or other entrance tests will face various calendar-based problems. To attempt those questions they must know the tricks to find the answers.

To help you understand the concept of calendar, Shiksha.com presents the following formulae, tricks and questions to crack CAT 2017:

1.  Zeller’s Rule

Founded by Zeller, this rule is apt for finding dates in history or for future. With this one can calculate the day of the week for any date easily. For example: if you need to find what day it was on 6th of August, 1990 you can easily find it with the Zeller’s formula. Try it now.

The formula is:

F = K + [(13xM - 1)/5] + D + [D/4] + [C/4] – 2C

2.  If we look at the type of questions which come in CAT or other MBA exams, we can find two types of questions. The first is where we are given a reference day and second is where we are not given any reference day. Here’s an example with reference day:

Questions:  What day of week was it on November 5, 1989, if April 4, 1988 was a Monday?

Answers: a) Monday  b) Tuesday  c) Saturday  d) Sunday

Example for questions with no reference day:

Questions:  What was the day on 15th august 1947?

Answers: a) Sunday  b) Monday  c) Tuesday  d) Friday

3. Calendar-based problems are all about finding odds to an answer. These odds are not mathematical odds which always leaves a remainder at end. But these are the remainders left out when divided by seven. You can find the details of this concept on the internet along with examples.

4. The concept of leap year is not that easy as it seems. Most students face problems while solving questions based on leap year. The trick to solve them with different tricks. You need to know in detail the concept of leap year.

Try to solve the calendar-based questions on the websites without referring to the answers so that you can figure out your weak points and work on them.

Also read:

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Data compiled by Barkha Sethi