Working with Arun Sharma's Quantitative Aptitude Material
You will find plenty of people searching for the Arun Sharma Quantitative Aptitude Pdf Quora thread links on various forums. Most of them point to the same scattered files that have been circulating for years. I have been going through these materials for competitive exam preparation coaching, and I can tell you exactly what works and what does not. The book itself is solid. Arun Sharma's approach to quantitative aptitude is methodical — he breaks each topic into levels of difficulty, which is genuinely useful if you are building from scratch. The How to Prepare for Quantitative Aptitude for the CAT is the main title most people are after. It covers arithmetic, algebra, geometry, number theory, and modern math in a way that is more structured than most other Indian aptitude books on the market.
How to Actually Find the Arun Sharma Quantitative Aptitude Pdf Quora
Search results for that query typically lead to Quora threads where people share Google Drive links, Telegram channels, or direct PDF hosting sites. The problem is most of these links are broken within months. Here is what I did: I found the PDF from a stable source through a Telegram channel that had archived the full set, and I also keep a local copy on my hard drive just in case. Search for "Arun Sharma quant pdf drive" on Google and look for results from .in domains that have been around longer than a few weeks. Avoid any site that asks you to complete a survey or install software before downloading. I once spent two hours trying to read a corrupted PDF where the number theory chapter had garbled characters instead of actual numbers. The workaround was simple — I downloaded the second edition specifically because the first edition had a different pagination and someone on a Quora thread had posted a working link for the second. Check the edition number before you bother with any link.
What the Book Actually Teaches You
Sharma organizes content by topic and then by difficulty level — basic, intermediate, advanced. This structure is useful but it creates a trap. People go through the basic level of each chapter, feel confident, and never reach the advanced problems that actually show up in exams like the CAT or XAT. The advanced section is where the real work is. Do not skip it just because it looks intimidating. The arithmetic section, particularly percentages, ratios, and time-speed-distance, is well done. Sharma introduces concepts through short theoretical notes followed by solved examples. The number of problems per topic ranges from about 40 to 120 depending on the chapter. For time and work, he covers LCM-based methods alongside the traditional approach, which is something many other authors miss. That LCM method saves roughly two minutes per problem in an exam setting once you get used to it. The geometry section is where the book shows its age. The problems are good but some diagrams are not to scale in the PDF versions you will find online. I once solved a triangle problem trusting the diagram, got the wrong answer, and then realized the PDF had compressed the image enough that angle markers were misleading. Always draw your own figure based on the given values rather than relying on the printed diagram.
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Common Mistakes People Make
The biggest issue I see is that readers treat this as a reference book rather than a practice book. You cannot learn quantitative aptitude by reading solutions. Sharma himself mentions in his preface that you should attempt every problem before looking at the answer. The solutions are provided at the back of each chapter, but the benefit comes from struggling with the problem first. Another mistake is starting with the advanced level directly. If you have not practiced basic calculations — multiplication tables up to 25, square roots up to 30, cuberoots up to 20 — the advanced problems will feel impossible and you will quit. Take three days to drill these fundamentals before opening the book to chapter one. The modern math section, which includes sets, permutations and combinations, and probability, is the shortest part of the book. Some coaching institutes cover this in far more depth. If you are preparing for a exam that heavily weights these topics, you will need supplementary material. Sharma gives you a foundation but not exhaustive coverage.
Limitations You Should Know About
Not everything in this book is up to date with current exam patterns. The CAT has shifted toward more data interpretation and less pure calculation in recent years. The DI sets in the PDF I used were from an older edition and did not reflect the current mixed-graph format. You will need to practice additional DI sets from past CAT papers to compensate for this gap. The PDF quality varies depending on who scanned it. Some editions have blurry text, missing pages, or incorrect answers in the solution section. I noticed at least five errors in the answers for the number systems chapter in one copy I downloaded. Cross-check any answer you are unsure about by re-solving the problem yourself rather than assuming the back-of-book answer is correct. For exam preparation specifically aimed at the CAT, I would recommend pairing this book with previous years' question papers. The book teaches you the methods. The papers teach you how those methods are actually tested. Without the papers, you will know the formulas but still struggle with time management on the real exam.
Who Should Use This and Who Should Skip It
If you are preparing for CAT, XAT, or similar management entrance exams and your math background is weak, this book is one of the better starting points available in English. It is not the only resource you will need, but it covers the core syllabus systematically. If you are targeting exams like the GRE or GMAT, the focus is slightly different — those exams emphasize data analysis more and the problem types in Sharma's book do not always map directly to what you will see there. The arithmetic chapters alone can take you about six to eight weeks if you are studying ten to fifteen hours a week. The full book requires roughly four to five months of consistent work to cover properly including revision. Rushing through it in a month will not give you the results you are looking for.
