How to Prepare for Placement Aptitude Tests

Sr No	Topic (Concept summary & videos linked on respective page)	Importance in Placement tests	Difficulty for beginners	Time to Brush Up	Initial Practice (Practice 10 Qs after you study)	Total Time
1	Percentages	High	Easy	45 min	Practice 10 Qs -> 45 mins	90 mins
2	Ratio & Proportion	High	Easy	30 mins	Practice 10 Qs -> 45 mins	75 mins
3	Profit, Loss and Partnership	High	Easy	45 mins	Practice 10 Qs -> 45 mins	90 mins
4	Averages, Mixture and Alligations	High	Easy	45 mins	Practice 10 Qs -> 45 mins	90 mins
5	Time and Work	High	Easy	45 mins	Practice 10 Qs -> 45 mins	90 mins
6	Time, Speed and Distance	High	Easy	60 mins	Practice 10 Qs -> 45 mins	115 mins
7	Simple and Compound Interest	High	Easy	30 mins	Practice 10 Qs -> 45 mins	75 mins
8	Numbers	High	Difficult	90 mins	Practice 10 Qs -> 45 mins	135 mins
9	Permutation combination	Med	Moderate	60 mins
10	Probability	Med	Moderate	30 mins
11	Mensuration and Geometry	Med	Difficult	120 mins
12	Algebra	Med	Difficult	90 mins
13	Data Interpretation: tables, Pie charts, bar Graphs	Med	Moderate	45 mins
14	Statistics	Low	Easy	30 mins
15	Height and Distance and Trigonometry	Low	Moderate	60 mins
1-8	8 Important Topics			6h 30 mins	6 hrs	12 h 30 mins

Logical Reasoning

• Logical reasoning is about familiarizing yourself with various question patterns.
• Practice at least 10 questions for each topic on LearnTheta to build familiarity and speed
• Once syllabus is covered for all topics, expand your practice to include more Qs across all topics

Sr. No.	Topic	Initial Practice
1	AlphaNumeric Series	Practice 10 Qs -> 30 mins
2	Calendar and Clocks	Practice 10 Qs -> 30 mins
3	Coding and Decoding	Practice 10 Qs -> 30 mins
4	Blood relation	Practice 10 Qs -> 30 mins
5	Directions and Mirror Images	Practice 10 Qs -> 30 mins
6	Reasoning Analogies	Practice 10 Qs -> 30 mins
7	Statement- assumptions	Practice 10 Qs -> 30 mins
8	Puzzles	Practice 10 Qs -> 30 mins
9	Visual challenges	Practice 10 Qs -> 30 mins
10	Arrangements	Practice 10 Qs -> 30 mins
	All Topics	5 hours

Verbal Ability

• If you’re not much of a reader, start by building a daily reading habit—15-30 minutes a day can make a huge difference.
• Once you’re consistently reading, verbal ability questions for placement tests will become much easier to handle.
• Regular reading will naturally improve your vocabulary, comprehension, and overall verbal skills, making this section a breeze with practice

Sr. No.	Topic	Initial Practice
1	Synonym Antonym	Practice 10 Qs -> 20 mins
2	Fill in the blanks (grammar based)	Practice 10 Qs -> 20 mins
3	Find error (grammar based)	Practice 10 Qs -> 20 mins
4	Prajumbles	Practice 10 Qs -> 45 mins
5	Sentence correction	Practice 10 Qs -> 30 mins
6	Verbal analogies	Practice 10 Qs -> 30 mins
7	Idiom Phrases	Practice 10 Qs -> 15 mins
8	Reading Comprehension	Practice 10 Qs -> 60 mins
9	Paragraph Summary	Practice 10 Qs -> 60 mins
	All Topics	15 hours (5 hour practice + 10 hours reading)

Let us address some common misconceptions, confusions and questions

1. Anyone willing to put sincere effort can Crack Placement Aptitude

Sounds cliché? Let us explain. In exams like CAT, UPSC, or GATE, you need to score in the 90+ percentile, meaning you have to outperform 90% of the students. Placement aptitude, however, is a qualifying exam. Typically, campus screenings filter out around 50% of candidates. So you don’t need to be extraordinary—you just need to do better than the average student to qualify.

That said, preparation is key. In our experience, anyone who has put in genuine effort towards aptitude prep has successfully cleared it. And here’s the good news: the syllabus is mostly 10th-grade! So, with focused preparation, cracking it is absolutely within reach. Also since aptitude is conceptual in nature, preparing for one topic helps you improve in other topics as well automatically

2. You can’t improve in just a week’s time

Sure, you can practice and get into the exam-solving mode, but real improvement takes time and consistent effort. Just like you can’t train for a marathon in a few days, and you can’t become a good communicator after a handful of conversations, you certainly can’t master aptitude with just a few study sessions. To truly improve, you need to start early and stay consistent. But the good news is, if you put in the effort over time, you will absolutely see progress. It’s a gradual process, but one that’s guaranteed to pay off if you stick with it.

3. Conceptual clarity over Shortcuts

Always strive to be conceptually clear when attempting any question. No matter how much you’ve studied, an aptitude problem can always be modified to test your deeper understanding. If you rely only on shortcuts, a small tweak in the problem might throw you off. Shortcuts only apply to specific, restricted scenarios, while strong conceptual understanding allows you to tackle any problem, regardless of its form. It’s tough to remember countless shortcuts for different problems. A clear grasp of the fundamentals, however, applies universally and sticks with you longer.

Every topper without exception masters the concepts first. You’ll never find someone who achieves top ranks just by memorizing shortcuts. Even if they use shortcuts, it’s only because they fully understand the concept behind them. This deeper understanding is what often goes unnoticed by beginners, but it’s the key to success in aptitude exams.

4. Aptitude preparation: helpful for job and higher studies

Preparing for aptitude tests is not just about securing an on-campus job—it’s a skill that will benefit you in off-campus opportunities and higher education as well. Even if you already have a job, many companies use aptitude tests as part of their screening process when you’re looking to switch or explore better roles during initial years.

If you’re considering higher studies, aptitude plays a significant role in exams like CAT, GRE, TOEFL, GMAT, UPSC, GATE, Govt exams, or PSU tests. Most of these exams have a strong focus on aptitude (except for GATE, which allocates about 10% weightage to it). Building a solid aptitude foundation now will make it easier to tackle these exams in the future, opening doors to various career and academic opportunities.

5. Practice makes all the difference!