How to Prepare for CAT 2015?

Important Points to remember for CAT 2015

·         It is a computer based exam which is going to take place on 29^th of November, 2015. This time the CAT will take place on only 1 day as compared to previous year which took place in 2 days.
·         The last day to fill the form was extended till 25^th September, the previous date being 20^th September.
·         Around 1.96lakh aspirants had registered for CAT-2014 out of which 1.7lakh had appeared in CAT 2014, and in the end 16 got a 100 percentile score.
·         In CAT-2014 there were a total of 100 questions spread across 2 sections. Section I was Quantitative Aptitude (34 questions) and Data Interpretation (16 questions).
Section II was Verbal Ability (34 questions) and Logical Reasoning (16 questions). A total of 170 minutes were allotted to the candidate to solve the paper with the liberty of switching from section I to section II at will.
·         The total number of seats in IIMs last year was 3351 with a total reservation of 51%.
·         If all of this amazes you, then welcome to CAT-2015 which has more in store for you!!!
·         This year a total of 3 sections will be there. Section I -Quantitative aptitude (34 questions), Section II- Verbal and Reading Comprehension (34 questions) and Section III will be DI-LR (32 questions).
·          A total of 180 minutes will be allotted to students and to “help” the aspirants an on-screen calculator will be provided.
·         On top of all this some Non-MCQ’s will also be asked wherein aspirants will have to type the answer. This time the candidate will not have the liberty to switch between sections and each section will be allotted 1 hour.

Let's understand CAT 2014

CAT 2014 ANALYSIS.

·         A total of 4 papers were set in CAT-14 which were more or less on the same lines.

·         34 questions were asked in quantitative aptitude which could be categorized as Easy and Easy to Moderate.

·         Some of the questions were so easy that many of the aspirants read the question twice before moving on to the next question.

·         The 16 questions of DI could be categorized as Moderate and Moderate to Hard.

·         Two of the sets were manageable while the other two required thinking as well as a lot of calculations.

·         The same pattern was observed in the 2^nd Section as well.

·         There were 4 comprehensions asked which were manageable and other questions were based on Grammar and Word Usage.

·         Again, the 16 questions of Logical Reasoning were tough in all the 4 papers and a lot of logic had to be applied. 2 of the sets were manageable while the others took some time.

·         In general 12-15 minutes were taken by aspirants to solve one set of DI while the quantitative portion took lesser time.

·         A total attempt of 70 questions with an accuracy of more than 85% was considered a good attempt and with the right academics and/or a work experience, one would have expected a call from many of the IIMs.

CAT 2014 versus CAT-2015

	2014	2015
No of Questions	100	100
No of Sections	2	3
Time Limit	170 minutes	180 minutes
Switching between Sections	Possible	Not Possible
Calculator	No	Yes. (On-screen calculator)
NON MCQ	No	Yes
No of Applicants	1,97,000	2,18,000

The cut off was different for each of the colleges. In general 90 percentile in section I and 90 percentile in section II and a percentile greater than 95% was the bare minimum in most of the colleges.

Break up of Questions in CAT-2014

Section I

Mathematical Aptitude and Data Interpretation

(Total Questions 50)

Mathematical Aptitude-34 questions

Section II

Verbal Ability and Logical Reasoning

(Total Questions 50)

As per some students’ reports, the QA section had even representation of all areas.

 All the areas were represented with 7-9 questions each on Arithmetic, Geometry and Algebra.

The remaining questions were on Algebra and Modern Mathematics.

Some students reported that in Geometry, a majority of the questions were from triangles with one question each on circles, co-ordinate geometry and quadrilaterals.

 There was one question on mensuration. In Modern Mathematics, there was one question on Logarithms, 2 on Permutation & Combination and 2 questions on Progressions.

There was no question on Data Sufficiency.

Most of the questions were straightforward.

How to prepare for CAT-2015?

With just about 60 days in hand, how should a candidate approach the examination is a question that is being asked by many. Let us try to break-up the examination into different sections.

Quantitative Aptitude: -

• ·         60 minutes will be given to solve the 34 questions in the quant section. In the initial stages, a candidate must focus on his strengths.
• ·         He needs to be thorough with the concepts that are his area of expertise. Along with this, he must start with those topics as well in which he faces a difficulty.
• ·         Daily practice on those chapters is expected.
• ·         In the last fortnight, the candidate is not expected to start with anything new as this will just add to the pressure.
• ·         Remember. We are not supposed to solve all the 34 questions. So if there are a few topics with which we are not comfortable, it is fine.
• ·         Try to give as many tests as possible, in order to get an idea about the time that we are taking and the efficiency we are having.
• ·         24-25 correct answers will be a great attempt if we keep the last year’s paper as a reference.

Verbal Ability –

• ·         Read, read and read. This is the only option that will get you through in the verbal section. There will be 4 sets of comprehension asked.
• ·         For practice, take a stopwatch and see how much time you take to solve one RC. Try it!! It helps.
• ·         After solving check on to the accuracy that you have. In the initial stages, try to read 2 RC’s in a day.
• ·         Your speed will definitely see an up-trend.
• ·         Then try to solve more RC’s in a day. Improve your vocabulary by reading Norman-Lewis.
• ·         Try to solve as many questions as possible. For the other type of questions, solve the material that is provided to you.

Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning-

• ·         It will be a section that will check your logic as well as calculation speed.
• ·         Solving 6 sets out of 8 will be an excellent scenario.
• ·         In DI use a stop watch to check the time that you take in solving one set. Try to improve on that.
• ·         An average of 8-10 minutes will be a good time.
• ·         Same is the case for Logical Reasoning as well.