C-DAC C-CAT key terms

A word that has the same or nearly the same meaning as another word. Synonym questions ask you to pick the option closest in meaning to the given word, ignoring words with opposite or unrelated senses.

A word whose meaning is opposite to another word, such as hot and cold. Antonym questions test whether you can identify the option that contrasts most directly with the given word.

A relationship-based question format that presents a pair of words linked by a rule, such as part to whole, and asks you to find another pair sharing the same rule.

Information in the surrounding sentence that hints at a word's meaning. Candidates use contrast words, examples, and definitions nearby to infer the meaning of an unfamiliar word in reading passages.

A question type where four or five items are given and one does not share the common property of the rest. You must identify the item that breaks the pattern.

A fixed expression whose meaning cannot be worked out from its individual words, such as 'to let the cat out of the bag' meaning to reveal a secret.

A sentence structure where the subject performs the action, as in 'The programmer wrote the code'. It is usually more direct than the passive form and is often tested in error-spotting questions.

A sentence structure where the subject receives the action, formed with a form of 'be' plus the past participle, as in 'The code was written by the programmer'.

The rule that a verb must match its subject in number and person. Singular subjects take singular verbs, and intervening phrases do not change the number of the subject.

A word such as in, on, at, by, or with that links a noun or pronoun to another part of the sentence, usually showing place, time, or direction.

A deductive argument made of two premises and a conclusion, such as 'All A are B; all B are C; therefore all A are C'. Questions ask which conclusion follows necessarily from the given statements.

A method of checking whether a conclusion follows from statements by drawing overlapping circles for each category. If the conclusion must hold in every possible diagram, it is valid.

Reasoning from general statements to a certain conclusion, where the conclusion must be true if the premises are true. Most reasoning sections test whether a conclusion is definitely true, possibly true, or false.

Reasoning from specific observations to a general rule that is probable rather than certain. Number-series and pattern questions often rely on spotting a rule from a few given examples.

A sequence of numbers following a hidden rule, such as adding a constant, multiplying, or combining squares. You must find the rule and supply the missing or next term.

A question type where words or letters are converted into a code by a rule such as shifting letters or reversing order. You must apply the same rule to decode or encode another word.

A puzzle describing family relationships in words, such as 'the son of my mother's brother'. You must work out how two people are related, often by drawing a family tree.

A question type about a person moving in turns such as north, then east, then south. You must track the final position or facing direction, often using a simple sketch.

A puzzle where people sit in a row or around a circle and clues describe who sits next to, opposite, or left of whom. You arrange them to satisfy all conditions at once.

Grouping items by a shared property and identifying the item that does not belong. It is closely related to the odd-one-out format but may involve numbers, letters, or words.

A comparison of two quantities by division, written as a:b. Ratios let you split a total into proportional parts, such as dividing an amount among people in a given ratio.

An equation stating that two ratios are equal, such as a:b = c:d. In a direct proportion both quantities grow together; in an inverse proportion one falls as the other rises.

A fraction expressed out of one hundred. Percentage problems involve finding a part of a whole, finding the whole from a part, or computing percentage increase and decrease.

The sum of a set of values divided by how many values there are. If you know the average and the count, you can find the total by multiplying them.

Interest calculated only on the original principal, using the formula principal times rate times time divided by one hundred. It does not earn interest on previously earned interest.

Interest calculated on the principal plus interest already added, so the amount grows faster than with simple interest. It is usually computed year by year or by the formula principal times one plus rate over one hundred, raised to the number of periods.

A technique of first finding the value of one unit and then multiplying to get the value of the required number of units, useful for work, speed, and proportion problems.

Problems where several people or machines complete a task at different rates. You usually convert each rate to work done per day, add the rates, and find the combined time.

Problems based on the relation that distance equals speed multiplied by time. Variants include relative speed when two objects move towards or away from each other, and average speed over a journey.

An arrangement of items in which order matters, such as the number of ways to seat people in a row. It is calculated using factorials and is larger than the corresponding combination.

A selection of items in which order does not matter, such as choosing a committee from a group. The count is smaller than the permutation of the same items because rearrangements are not counted separately.

A number between zero and one expressing how likely an event is, found by dividing favourable outcomes by total equally likely outcomes. It is often tested with dice, coins, and cards.

A base-2 number system using only the digits 0 and 1, where each position represents a power of two. Computers store and process data in binary form.

The smallest unit of digital information, holding a single binary value of 0 or 1. Eight bits make one byte, and bits are grouped to represent characters, numbers, and instructions.

A group of eight bits treated as one unit. It commonly stores one character in ASCII and is the basic unit for measuring memory and storage capacity.

A character encoding standard that assigns numeric codes to letters, digits, and symbols, using seven bits for the basic set. It allows text to be stored and exchanged between systems.

A program that translates an entire source program written in a high-level language into machine code before execution. Errors are reported after the whole program is scanned.

A program that translates and executes a source program line by line rather than producing a complete machine-code file in advance. It stops at the first error it meets.

Program text written by a developer in a high-level language such as C or Python. It must be translated by a compiler or interpreter before the computer can run it.

A finite, step-by-step procedure for solving a problem or completing a computation. A good algorithm is unambiguous, has a defined end, and produces correct output for valid input.

A diagram that shows the steps of an algorithm using standard symbols such as ovals for start and end, rectangles for processes, and diamonds for decisions.

A programming construct that repeats a block of statements while a condition holds or for a fixed number of times, such as for and while loops.