First Day, First slot

CAT 2014 first slot review and analysis unfolds!

A quick look,
- Quant easy
- DI calculative
- RC moderate
- Verbal Ability moderate
- AR time consuming, but difficulty level easy to moderate

Section 1 Analysis
Quantitative Aptitude & Data Interpretation

As predicted, the numbers are 34+16 i.e. 34 questions of Quantitative Aptitude and 16 questions of
Data Interpretation. If we dig into subsections, this is how the sectional analysis of the paper looks
like:

Quantitative Aptitude
QA was easier in comparison to last couple of years CAT papers. This can be equated to the paper
which was conducted 5 years back in 2009 when the first online version of CAT was conducted. 34
questions can be distributed into 15 easy, 15 moderate and 4 difficult questions. When we say 15
easy, we mean the ones which are direct applications of concepts from classical chapters like
number systems, geometry, time and distance, time and work etc. There was a good representation
of all the chapters of quantitative ability and hence quite a balanced paper. There was a question of
trigonometry which, for the fact that it was just 1 wouldnt have an impact per se. Identify the speed
breakers and leave them that will be the key as far as Quantitative Aptitude is concerned.

Data Interpretation
DI was calculative. None of the sets were sitters. There were 4 sets of 4 questions each. One set
which was an application of set theory which can be called easy. One was a game based set a little
time consuming but manageable and it can be called moderate. The other 2 sets were the typical
sets which were calculative and were based around the typical percentage increase, percentage
decrease formats. This subsection was calculative and hence time consuming.

Section 2 Analysis
Verbal Ability & Logical Reasoning

As predicted, the numbers are 34+16 i.e. 34 questions of Verbal Ability + Reading Comprehension
and 16 questions of Analytical Reasoning. If we dig into subsections, this is how the paper looks like:
Verbal Ability can be broken down into Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension.

Verbal Ability
VA had the following break-up 7 questions of Critical Reasoning, 4 questions of Parajumbles, 4
question of odd one out, 3 questions of Grammar. Parajumbles and Critical Reasoning can be called
typical and hence a well prepared CAT student would find it easy to navigate through this. Critical
Reasoning made a comeback after a good 6-7 years. CR was more or less present due to the RC
based CR questions format. However, this year, it was a pleasant surprise and a deserved comeback.
The 4 questions of odd one out was more on the lines of logical discontinuity wherein we were
supposed to find the sentence which is the odd one out of the four given sentences wherein the
remaining 3 form a coherent paragraph. All in all, a very standard Verbal Ability section.
Reading Comprehension
RC had 16 questions which were across 4 RCs. The RCs were moderately dense and hence did
demand energy and concentration while solving the same, but the questions were relatively easy
and it was helped by the fact that the options were easy. The 16 questions can be divided into 5
direct questions and 11 inference based questions. The topics covered by the RCs were across
technology & history and this is the first time after a good 3-4 years that none of the topics like
philosophy or psychology or some abstract concepts had a prominent presence. The catch or rather
a thing to observe the instructions clearly say that an RC will have 4 questions. But there were 2
RCs which had 3 questions back to back and a one question that came single and that was randomly
placed in the paper. This surely cant be a thought-after decision; it can be called a software bug or
an overlook error for sure.

Analytical Reasoning
AR was time consuming and hence can be called moderate to difficult. There were 4 sets of 4
questions each. 2 sets were easy, 1 is moderate and 1 can be called difficult. The general time
consumption will be around 6-8 minutes per set.

What to take care?

Ensure you have the print out of the admit card, affix the photo and carry your identity proof
which matches with the details on the admit card.

Two hours prior to the paper is the reporting time, 30 minutes prior to the test, you are
sitting in the testing cabin & then 2 hours and 50 minutes is the test. The overall stamina
required is around 3 and half hours, so regulating stamina plays a very important role as it
slowly but steadily starts affecting the concentration levels.
User Interface has changed in comparison to last year question palette has been
introduced. Previous button has been removed. Question paper button has been
introduced. Anyone who has spent an hour with the CAT demo which has been uploaded on
iimcat.ac.in will find it easy to navigate.
We suggest a thorough study of the interface because there is a change and it is necessary
you exhibit good control over the same. There is an absence of a previous button & hence
necessary you get familiarised with navigation through the question palette. There is a
question palette on the right which shows 50 questions at a time and the state of the
question answered, unanswered, unattempted, marked for review, answered and marked
for review. Navigating through that is fine, but there could be careless mistakes owing to the
fact that every answer gets saved only when the save and next button is pressed.

Final word
This is only the first slot analysis of CAT 2014. It would be stupid to predict or assume that the other
slots will be the same. However, if this is how CAT continues to stay, it will be a good one for the well
prepared. Stick to the basics, be aggressive, and get your selection right with independent questions.
As far as the group questions are concerned (AR, RC, DI), just ensure you are mentally prepared to
spend a good 6-8 mins on each set. The sets are methodical, time consuming, calculative & simple.
Temperament and composure is the key. Too much of excitement and too much of nervousness
both are equally harmful. You give it time, it will give you the answer, period. All in all, a good one
and it wont be wrong if we say, we are back to CAT99 or CAT02. What used to work 15 years back,
will work today!
Best wishes to the CAT takers.

Regards,
Parasharan Chari
The author Parasharan Chari is an alumnus of SP Jain and is currently serving as the Chief Operating
Officer at Endeavor Careers and is also associated with the design and development of its online
testing portal www.CatGurus.com

Second Day, First slot Report

So CAT also produced Humshakals on 16th November and 22nd November 2014 but this was a
master piece unlike umm ok stop. Well there wasnt any difference at all in the first slot of both
these days. Not an iota of change.
Let us have a birds eye view at each section:
Section 1: Same composition of 34 and 16 questions for Quant and DI respectively with an overall
level of difficulty being Easy to Moderate. The variety of topics covered in Quant was quite
exhaustive and covered almost all standard concepts. What worked as bonus were the sitter
questions in topic like Time & Work, Alligation, Percentage, Profit & Loss, Time, Speed & Distance
and even Area. Close to 16 questions were very easy and answerable within one minute per
question. Concepts on Progression, Log, Inequalities and Function can be classified as moderate and
answerable within 2 minutes per question. Around 5 questions can be classified as tough which
could have consumed a little over 3 minutes per questions. A well prepared student could have
comfortably attempted around 25-26 questions out of 37 within 50-55 Minutes. Data Interpretation
(DI) sets were more traditional focusing Tabular form of Data. Divided into 4 sets of 4 questions
each, questions were mostly based on comparison, additional conditions and evaluative. Two sets
were easy while one was moderate. One set was slightly tricky and time consuming. That was the
only set involving some pure calculations. So, DI can also be classified as easy to moderate. Around
11-12 questions can be attempted in 25-30 minutes. Good attempt overall in first section can be
36+.
Section 2: Break up of 18 + 16 + 16 questions viz Verbal Ability (VA) & Grammar, Reading
Comprehension (RC) and Analytical Reasoning (AR) with Easy to Moderate level of difficulty overall,
thats section 2 for you. Subsection of VA too followed the same pattern (please refer to First Day
report). Questions on Parajumbles were moderate except one question which took more time to
pick first lead as all options started with different statements. Critical reasoning questions were
mostly direct except 2 which took more little over 3 minutes to crack. One question in Grammar was
slightly deceptive because of the close option combination. Rest of the questions were easily
solvable within 3-4 minutes in total. Two questions out of four questions in finding the sentence out
of context were easy, while rest of the two can be considered moderate. RC was divided in 4
passages each having 4 questions. Unlike day 1, this time all 4 questions per passage were part of
same group. So the error reported in first day report was addressed. Two RC passages were bit
lengthy and could have taken 10-11 minutes each while other two were easy to moderate. If
question selection is done carefully, 23-25 questions could have been attempted from VA and RC
within 45-50 minutes. One AR set based on simple arrangement of 5 names was really simple. Two
sets were moderate which could take around 6-7 minutes per set. One set was slightly time
consuming and could have taken close to 10 minutes. Or in other language this set could have been
avoided if one is operating on time crunch. Approximately 12-14 questions can be considered a wise
attempt in AR if attempted in within 25-27 minutes. Good attempt overall in second section can be
37+.With consistent pattern, similar level of difficulty and standard question sets, we expect
deserving candidates will get the due on the day or result. Wise question selection and high accuracy
rate will surely help candidates across all 4 slots. Let us hope normalisation process reduces the
element of luck and rewards candidates who deserved so. Wishing all the best for results (y) !

Day Two, Slot Two

After five first day first shows, CAT decided to give me a cold shoulder this year and relegated me to
the last of its suitors. No complaints, though!! I managed to read about what people did in the first
three slots, what should be my strategy, what questions/areas/formulae I need to mug up again so
that I can score that elusive to score etc. I did all of that and here I present my CAT 2014 analysis.
This was my 13th tete-a-tete if I count right. CAT has come a full circle in my opinion: from having
seen 180 questions in 120 minutes to 123 in 120 to 60 in 120 to, now, 100 in 170.
Much has been written over the past three slots this year. I will try to make this CAT analysis as
objective as possible without acting Nostradamus.
Reached the centre in Pune well in advance (for CAT 2014 day 2 second slot) only to find a Coke
Studio audition truck playing loud music outside.J Went in through the normal frisking and
identification protocol and we were then seated to our respective workstations.

Flip Side of the process:

1.

The centre had shortage of pens and candidates were left high and dry for a good 15 minutes before
the invigilators finally managed to restore sanity by providing the pens.

2. Rough sheets had no accountability, at least in my testing lab. Even after the exam, the invigilator just
asked us to leave the rough sheets with him without counting and move out of the hall- slightly risky
as it would be very easy for someone to use the rough paper to carry questions outside.
3. Questions in Reading Comprehensions (RCs) were mixed up for me. For example, I found couple of
questions of an RC in some other RC and was slightly surprised at the goof up. However, I guess, this
can be attributed to the coding failure rather than the content failure on the part of the IIMs.

Pros of the new test

1.

Wonderful testing experience. However, the Prometric summary sheet of the yesteryears was
summarily missed this time.

2. Unlimited rough sheet supply with Pens. Ensured that the hassle of sharpening pencils like previous
years was taken care of.
3. System prompts you to start the test and also collects feedback. A welcome move, only if the feedback
is taken seriously by TCS and/or IIMs.
4. Zero disturbance by the invigilator unlike previous years to come and randomly check your admit
cards.

CAT 2014 Paper analysis

Section 1 (QA & DI)

As has been the trend this year, most of the questions in QA were very do-able. I could identify at least
12 sitters that any reasonably prepared student would have surely attempted. With a little more
application of basic logic and use of answer options, the attempts could be taken to 22/34. No high
level concepts or lengthy questions made this a sail through section.
DI, on the contrary, was a little trickier. The good part was minimal calculation, but DI, in my opinion,
had a very strong bit of reasoning involved as well. Students might get stuck in couple of questions
here. Another fact that I noted was the data provided in DI was pretty huge and therefore replication
on rough sheets might have made job tougher.
Overall, an attempt of about 28 should be very good in section 1.

Section 2 (VA & LR)

Easily a broad change in strategy from the previous years papers with ambiguous Verbal. This time
questions were fairly straight-forward. However, some questions on find the odd one may raise
variable consensus.
A change from previous slots was the reversal to the five sentence parajumbles today. However, this
complexity was probably offset by the easy answer options provided. Again, not a single question on
vocabulary emphasizes the preference of contextual English usage compared to rote English. I also
identified a question that was verbatim reproduced from one of the previous years CAT actual
question.
Logical reasoning section had some tough caseletes and most of the questions provided had
conditional solutions. There were a number of questions starting with the conditionality if ,therefore
making the question solving a little time consuming. Another interesting part was that there was a
caselet which also involved mathematical reasoning, unlike simple reasoning, to crack in less time.
Overall, an attempt of about 25 should do the trick for this section.

To sum up, I do not think people should be too bothered when they read about people making 75-80
attempts. Even after taking my 13th CAT today, I realized that what I stated on the first day might
actually be very accurate. One needs only about 45-48 genuine attempts to get at least one IIM call.
What is also sad to note is the continued irrelevance of the so called national test series. I did not find
a single test series that was close to what actual CAT 2014 was. Probably the coaching institutions are
serving some purpose by unnecessarily creating a halo around a simple and manageable exam like
CAT. The only ingredients, that would have marred/made the chances, are aggression for 170
minutes, with a judicious discretion at leaving select questions/caselets.

About the author

Manish Harodia is the founder of Genesis Mentors, an institute that claims to send almost 75% of
their students to top 20 colleges in India and world every year.