Data Comparison & Caselets

🟢 Lite — Quick Review (1h–1d)

Rapid summary for last-minute revision before your exam.

Data Comparison & Caselets test your ability to extract numerical information from prose paragraphs and answer linked questions without visual aids. A caselet presents data as a continuous paragraph rather than a chart or table—you must scan through sentences to locate figures, percentages, ratios, and relationships, then perform calculations. MAT typically presents 4–6 questions per caselet passage, and questions within the same set frequently depend on each other (e.g., Q3 requires the answer from Q1).

Essential Formulas:

• Percentage change: $\frac{\text{New} - \text{Old}}{\text{Old}} \times 100$
• Percentage share: $\frac{\text{Part}}{\text{Whole}} \times 100$
• Ratio A:B = $\frac{\text{Value of A}}{\text{Value of B}}$
• Profit margin: $\frac{\text{Revenue} - \text{Cost}}{\text{Revenue}} \times 100$

Key Facts:

• Caselets reward active reading: identify entities, time periods, and numerical values as you scan
• Mixed units are a common trap (lakhs vs crores, thousands vs millions)
• Questions often build sequentially—one wrong answer can cascade through the set
• MAT has –0.25 negative marking for incorrect multiple-choice answers; rough work is acceptable if you can’t confirm an answer

⚡ Exam Tips for MAT: Read the 4–6 questions BEFORE touching the paragraph. This takes 30 seconds and tells you exactly which numbers to extract. For a caselet about three companies’ revenues, if no question asks about costs, skip the cost figures entirely. Target 4–5 minutes per caselet set (roughly 1 minute per question). If a question requires >90 seconds, flag it and return after completing the easier ones.

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🟡 Standard — Regular Study (2d–2mo)

Standard content for students with a few days to months.

Understanding Caselet Structure

A caselet is a data interpretation passage where numerical information is embedded in sentences. Unlike a bar chart where magnitudes are immediately visible, a caselet requires you to construct a mental (or scratch) table of relevant figures. MAT uses caselets because they mirror real business reports—quarterly narratives, survey summaries, market analyses—where data sits inside prose rather than in cells.

The typical MAT caselet follows a three-part structure:

1. Setup sentence(s): Introduce the entities (companies, cities, products) and the context (time period, industry, geography)
2. Data sentences: Each sentence contains one or more numerical values with their associated categories
3. Conditional clauses: “If X increased by 10%, find Y” or “Assuming the trend from 2021–2023 continues…”

The Question-First Reading Strategy

Always read questions before reading the caselet body. Mark what each question asks for—total revenue, difference between two entities, percentage share, or a derived value. Then, as you read the paragraph, extract only those figures. For a question asking “What was the combined revenue of cities P and Q?”, you need P’s and Q’s revenue figures; data about costs, profits, or other cities is irrelevant to that specific question.

Data Comparison Across Multiple Entities

Many caselets involve 2–4 comparable entities (three companies, four cities, five products). When comparing:

• Identify the highest and lowest values for each metric
• Calculate differences as absolutes (A − B) and as percentages (|A − B|/B × 100)
• Look for ratios stated explicitly (“A’s revenue was double B’s”) or implicitly (“A contributed half as much as B”)

Unit Conversion Table:

From	To	Multiply by
Lakhs	Rupees	1,00,000
Crores	Lakhs	100
Thousands	Lakhs	0.01
Millions	Lakhs	10

Common Calculation Types in MAT Caselets:

• Sum of parts: “Total revenue of X and Y” → add the two figures
• Percentage of total: “X’s revenue as a percentage of all three companies” → X/(A+B+C) × 100
• Difference: “How much more was A than B?” → A − B
• Ratio: “Find the ratio of X:Y” → X divided by Y in simplest form
• Conditional recalculation: “If Z’s revenue increased by 15%, what would be the new total?” → Z × 1.15 + other values
• Reverse percentage: “X is 20% of total, and total is ₹50 lakhs—find X” → 0.20 × 50 = ₹10 lakhs

Inter-linked Questions: Handle with Care

When questions share data, an error in Q1 propagates to Q3 and Q5. On the first pass, solve the independent questions (usually Q1, Q2). On the second pass, use confirmed answers to solve dependent questions. If you estimated Q1 roughly, note this before answering dependent questions—if the caselet rounds figures, your estimate may be slightly off but still acceptable if the multiple-choice options are far apart.

Where Students Lose Marks:

• Confusing “percentage points” with “per cent”: A rising from 10% to 15% is a 5 percentage point increase, not 50% increase
• Ignoring negative values: costs, losses, and returns can be negative; subtracting a negative changes the result
• Misreading “more than” as “times”: “20% more than X” means X × 1.20, not X × 20
• Forgetting that percentages must reference the correct base: “30% of revenue” and “30% of profit” use different denominators

Time Allocation:

• Questions: 30 seconds
• Parsing the caselet: 60–90 seconds
• Building scratch table: 30–60 seconds
• Solving 4 questions: 4 minutes total
• Buffer: 30 seconds per set

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🔴 Extended — Deep Study (3mo+)

Comprehensive coverage for students on a longer study timeline.

The Cognitive Demands of Caselet Interpretation

Caselets require simultaneous language comprehension and quantitative reasoning—a dual-process task. Research in psychometric testing shows that examinees who score highest on caselet-style DI are not necessarily the fastest calculators but those who can suppress irrelevant information and maintain a narrow focus on question-relevant data. This is a trainable metacognitive skill: before calculating anything, explicitly ask “What do I actually need from this passage?”

Advanced Percentage Reasoning

Master these specific calculation types that appear repeatedly in MAT caselets:

Successive percentage changes: If value A increases by 20%, then decreases by 10%, the net factor is 1.20 × 0.90 = 1.08, meaning an 8% overall increase. Order matters: if the decrease (10%) applied to the increased value (120), then the result is 108. Calculate in sequence, not by adding percentages algebraically.

Finding the original value: If ₹66,000 is 12% of last year’s revenue, the original revenue = 66,000 / 0.12 = ₹5,50,000.

Percentage share when totals are unknown: If A:B = 3:4 and combined total is unknown but C equals A, you cannot find absolute values. However, if the total is given as 70, then A = 3/7 × 70 = 30, B = 4/7 × 70 = 40.

Two-Entity Comparison Framework

When a caselet compares exactly two entities (Company X vs Company Y, City P vs City Q):

1. List each entity’s given values in a column
2. Compute derived metrics (difference, ratio, percentage of total) for each
3. Compare systematically:

Metric          | Entity A | Entity B | Winner
----------------|----------|----------|-------
Revenue (₹L)    | 85       | 62       | A
Cost (₹L)       | 40       | 28       | B
Profit (₹L)     | 45       | 34       | A
Profit margin % | 52.9%    | 54.8%    | B

This skeleton approach prevents overlooking comparisons when questions ask “which entity performed better on metric Z.”

Case Study: Full MAT-Style Caselet

A food delivery company operated in four cities during FY2023. In Delhi, the platform recorded 2,40,000 orders with an average order value of ₹380. Mumbai contributed 30% of total orders, and Bangalore recorded 20% fewer orders than Mumbai. The combined revenue from Delhi and Mumbai was ₹98.64 crore. Hyderabad’s average order value was ₹450, which was 50% higher than Delhi’s.

Operational costs were: Delhi ₹2.8 crore, Mumbai ₹3.2 crore, Bangalore ₹1.9 crore. Hyderabad’s cost data was not provided separately but the company reported an overall profit of ₹12 crore for all four cities combined.

Q1: What was the total number of orders across all four cities? Q2: What was Bangalore’s revenue? Q3: What was Hyderabad’s profit? Q4: Which city had the highest profit margin?

Step-by-Step Solutions:

Q1: Mumbai orders = 30% of total. Bangalore = 20% fewer than Mumbai = 80% of Mumbai’s orders. Delhi = 2,40,000. Let M = Mumbai orders. Total = Delhi + Mumbai + Bangalore + Hyderabad = 2,40,000 + M + 0.8M + H.

If Mumbai = 30% of total, then 0.30 × Total = M. Also, Total = 2,40,000 + M + 0.8M + H.

Without Hyderabad order count, we cannot solve numerically. However, if the question is multiple choice with specific numbers, test each option. MAT often gives enough data through the revenue figures to find the total.

Q2: From Delhi + Mumbai revenue = ₹98.64 crore. Delhi revenue = 2,40,000 × 380 = ₹9.12 crore. Therefore Mumbai revenue = 98.64 − 9.12 = ₹89.52 crore. No Bangalore revenue directly given—may need Hyderabad AOV and total revenue to solve.

Q3: Hyderabad profit requires Hyderabad revenue minus cost. Revenue = Hyderabad orders × ₹450. Cost = Total profit + other costs − other profits. Using overall profit of ₹12 crore: Total profit = 12 crore = (Delhi rev − 2.8) + (Mumbai rev − 3.2) + (Bangalore rev − 1.9) + (Hyderabad rev − Hyderabad cost). Multiple unknowns remain; this is a “data insufficient” scenario in MAT.

Q4: Calculate profit margin = profit/revenue × 100 for each city where both values are known.

Data Sufficiency Question Format

MAT sometimes presents two statements (A) and (B) followed by a question. You must determine whether:

• (A) alone is sufficient
• (B) alone is sufficient
• Both (A) and (B) together are sufficient
• Neither is sufficient

Approach: Plug each statement’s data into the question without solving algebraically. If you can conceptually reach the answer from one statement, it’s sufficient.

Speed-Building Exercises:

1. Diagonal reading drills: Set a timer for 60 seconds. Read a caselet paragraph and list all numbers and their associated entities without pausing. Compare against the original—did you miss any?
2. Mental percentage conversions: Practise converting common fractions (⅛ = 12.5%, ⅔ ≈ 66.7%, ⅛ = 12.5%) to percentages instantly.
3. Timed sets: Complete 4 caselet questions in under 6 minutes. Note which question type took longest—return to that type for targeted practise.

MAT Past Paper Patterns (Last 5 Years):

• Caselets with 3 entities (companies or cities) appear in approximately 60% of MAT DI sets
• Percentage-based questions dominate: ~65% of caselet questions require percentage calculations
• “Which is the smallest/largest” comparison questions appear in nearly every caselet set
• Conditional recalculations (“if X increases by…”) appear in the final 1–2 questions of each set, making them higher-difficulty markers

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