Preparation for NTS Test – Guidelines

NTS Test has been divided in various categories depending department/groups in which student wants to take admission.

NAT-I is divided in NAT-IA (for Art/Humanities students), NAT-IE (for Pre-engineering students) and NAT-IM (for Pre-medical students).
NAT-II is divided in NAT-IIA (Art/Social Sciences Group), NAT-IIB (Biological Group), NAT-IIM (Management Group), NAT-IIO (Oriental and Islamic Studies Group) and NAT-IIP (Physical Science Group).

Each of these tests consists of FOUR parts.

Verbal Ability (20 MCQs)
Analytical Reasoning (20 MCQs)
Quantitative Reasoning (20 MCQs)
Subject Knowledge (30 MCS in NAT-I and 40 MCQs in NAT-II paper)

First three parts of are same for all NAT tests but the fourth part differs for different category of NAT.

NAT- I & II (All Categories/Group) Format Time Allowed: 120 Minutes
SAME FOR ALL GROUPS OF NAT			DIFFERENT EACH
A: Verbal	B: Analytical	C: Quantitative	D: Subject
1.Sentence Completion (5) 2. Analogy (3) 3. Antonym (4) 4. Comprehension (5) 5. Synonym (3) Total MCQs : 20	1. Scenario Based (12) 2. Statement Based (08) Total MCQs : 20	1. Arithmetic (13) 2. Algebra (04) 3. Geometry (03) Total MCQs : 20	Note: This Section of test differs for each group of NAT test i.e NAT-IA, NAT-IE, NAT-IIB, or NAT-IIB

We will discuss here about the preparation for first three parts of NTS Test which are same for all categories. Here are the Guidelines which will help you in maximizing your score in test and qualifying test very easily.

PART-1 (A)
Verbal Ability

“Verbal” means ‘relating to words’ and “ability” means ‘skill or intelligence to do something’. The MCQs in Verbal Ability Part are designed in forms of words (English Language) to test student’s mental ability and knowledge about the language. The aim of Verbal Test is to analyze students’ intelligence, understanding towards toward English Language and English Comprehension. Verbal Test consists of Sentence Completion, Analogy and Comprehension questions.

Sentence Completion Questions:
In such type of questions, one or two blanks are given in a sentence, which has/have to be filled with correct option from given options A, B, C, D & C. Four or Five words or pairs of words are given as options below each question.

Candidate has to choose the option which completes the overall sense/meaning of sentence adequately. Two or three of given options may complete the sentence and make the sentence grammatically correct but candidate should go for the option which makes the sentence grammatically correct as well as complete the sense of sentence as a whole. Read the sentence carefully and select your option which best fits in sentence according to the background meaning and grammar of sentence. If there are two blanks, then focus on mutual relation and effect both words of pair according to the sense and grammar of sentence. The blanks should be filled in with following criteria

Correct Grammatical Structure of Sentence (Noun, Verb, Preposition etc or grammar rules)
Selection of Correct Vocabulary
Selection of Correct Filler according to the over all content or sense of sentence

For example:
MCQ:    My father keeps all his ___________ papers under lock and key.
Options:  (A). Useful   (B). Confidential   (C). Important (D). Necessary

Solution: The correct answer is “B. Confidential”. See that all other options also fill the blank with grammatical correction and also makes the sense of sentence up to some extent. BUT the option which along with grammatical correction makes the overall sense of sentence perfect is B, Confidential because “keeping something under lock” means that the thing is confidential and other may not see or read it at any cost which is only possible if kept under lock. While useful/important/necessary papers are kept safe but may or may not be necessarily under lock.

Analogy Questions:
The word “analogy” means conformity or correspondence or relationship between words in various aspects. In such question pair of words is given which shows certain type relation relationship, in the light of which you are asked to select a word from options having same relationship to the new given word. These are simple question but needs critical thinking to choose appropriate word according to the nature of given relationship. Don’t just pick the word which shows relationship in some extent but pick that word which having relationship according to the nature of relationship in given example

For Example:
MCQ: Book is to Page as Poem is to ___________
Options: (A). Poet          (B). Poetry          (C) Verse             (D). Couplet
Solution: The correct option is “C. Verse”. Though other options Poet, Poetry, and Couplet have also a relationship to “Poem” but it is not to the nature of relationship of book to page. Page is a unit of book. A lot of pages combines to form a book. Similarly many verses combines to form a poem, So the correct option is C. Verse.

MCQ: Book is to Author as Poem is to ___________
Options: (A). Poet          (B). Poetry          (C) Verse             (D). Singer
Solution: The correct option is “A. Poet”.
You will be given relationship of resemblance, of being opposite, size, effect, etc. Understand the nature of relationship before choosing the option so that you can choose correct option accordingly.
You will also be asked some question on antonyms and synonyms. Frankly speaking there is no logic or concept for antonyms or synonym except learning them from a grammar book. So learn synonyms and antonyms as much as possible from a Standard English grammar book.

Comprehension Questions:
Comprehension means the act of grasping the meaning of something or understand or interpreting something. In such question candidate is given a paragraph and question on that paragraph. These questions on paragraph are designed to test the comprehension power of candidate. Read the paragraph carefully to get the actually meaning of what is said in each line of paragraph. Answer the questions the in light of meaning and understanding you have derived from reading the paragraph. The lines of paragraph may hold some hidden ideas which you have to explore in order to choose correct option to question.
Example: See the “NTS Sample Paper” on this website.

PART-II
Analytical Reasoning Questions

Analytical questions are designed to test candidate’s analytical skills. Analytical Skills means the ability to analyze a given situation, scenario or statement. Candidate is given a scenario, statement or a situation in a form of a paragraph, tables or set of facts and he is asked on various aspects of it. Candidate may be asked solution to a problem or conclusion of a process or a tactic on given situation. Such questions demand a great deal of thinking and logical approach. In some of these questions candidate may also need the basic knowledge mathematics. Read the situation carefully and attentively
Extract all the ideas of situation. If you confuse among them, you may write main points or parts on rough sheet. Be focused on all dimensions of situation and answer accordingly. The sharper minded you will be, the more quickly and correctly will you solve.

Example:
Four employees Aslam, Shahid, Nasir and Waqas, each have to perform duties at Airport on four different days, Thursday to Sunday. Their duty schedule is that: Nasir has his duty day before Aslam, and, Waqas has his duty day after Shahid.

Q. 1. Which of the following can be possible order of duty of the four employees?
(A). Nasir, Waqas, Aslam, Shahid
(B). Waqas, Nasir, Aslam, Shahid
(C). Shahid, Nasir, Waqas, Aslam
(D). Aslam, Nasir, Waqas, Shahid

Q.2. If Nasir has his duty day on Saturday, who much have his duty day on Thursday?
(A). Either Aslam or Waqas
(B). Waqas
(C). Aslam
(D). Waqas
Answers:
Answer 1. C
Answer 2. D

PART- 3

Quantitative Reasoning

Quantitative reasoning consists of questions which normally involve the basics of arithmetic (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, ratio and proportion, percentage), simple algebra and simple geometry. These questions are though very simple but they involve some tricks which make them seem difficult. Usually there is some missing data in question which you need to solve that question. You have to first extract that hidden/missing data from the given data of question. Similarly in question of geometry you have to use brain to make an extra sketch for the given diagram or question which may help you solve the question easily. Students find these questions difficult because they directly apply the arithmetic rules on given data and don’t try to analyze the given data if some extra helpful data may also be extracted. You should learn the simple concepts of arithmetic, algebra and geometry as well as the art of exploring the tricks of such questions. To solve such question you should have command on the simple concepts and formulas of mathematics, i.e addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, ratio and proportion, percentage, formulae for areas of circle, triangle, quadrilateral etc, simple formulae and rules for algebra.

Examples:
MCQ. A book is on sale Rs. 120 after a discount of 20%. Find the original price of book?
Options: (A). 100 (B). 140 (C). 150 (B). 180
Solution: The correct response is C. 150. It is an easy question involving simple and easy trick. That is that 20% means that if original price of book is Rs. 100, the discounted rate (after discount of 20%) of book will be Rs. 80. This data is hidden and is to be extracted in order to solve this question. Apply this extracted data on Rs. 120 (discounted rate for which original price is to be determined). i.e 100/80 x 120 = 150 Answer.

MCQ. There is 2 feet wide walk-tract around a garden. The length of this walk-tract is 20 feet and width of this walk-tract is 10 feet. Find the area of the garden.
Options: (A). 100 sq. ft (B). 96 sq. ft (C). 144 sq. ft (B). 200 sq. ft
Solution: The correction option is 96 square feet. Though the width and length of garden is not given but we have to extract this data from the given data. We know that walk-tract is 2 feet wide, it means that length of garden will be 4 feet (deducting 2 feet on both sides) from the length of walk-tract. Similarly the width of garden will be 4 feet (deducting 2 feet on both sides) from the width of walk-tract. So length of garden will be (20-4=16) 16 and width of garden will be (10-4=6) 6. So area of garden will be 6 x 16 = 96

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