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MBAUniverse.com Exclusive 10 key learning from 7 days of CAT

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Today, 4th November, is the 7th test day of CAT 2010. This year's CAT has been a peaceful affair till now with no reports of glitches from any part of the country. More than 47,000 MBA aspirants across the country have taken the test till now in 6 test days. More than 1 lakh 50 thousand aspirants are yet to take the test, in the remaining 13 test days of  CAT 2010 [1]. With the festival of Diwali coming up there is going to be a two day off in CAT 2010 on Friday, November 5, 2010 and Saturday, November 6, 2010. The test will resume from Sunday, November 7, 2010, in a brand new phase. The test till now has been rated ‘not that difficult' by majority of the test takers. According to those who have taken the test, the QA has been a challenging section. The DI-LR section has been rated as time consuming and VA has been rated as puzzling. In the 7 days of the test that are already over there are some very important learnings, which should be taken note of by the yet-to-take aspirants. Based on the test experience of aspirants and analysis of top CAT experts, MBAUniverse.com presents to you 10 key learning which you must keep in mind before you take CAT 2010 [2]. 1. Difficulty level: The experts mention that the difficulty level of the paper was of easy to moderate difficulty level. Gautam Puri, Vice Chairman, Career Launcher said, "It was by and large an easy paper. Average attempt of each section should be 15 questions." But according to Arun Sharma, renowned CAT expert and author of best selling CAT preparation books, the questions were not exactly easy but on the moderate side. 2. Sections: The three sections, Quantitative Ability, Verbal Ability and Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning sections had equal number of questions, but with different and varying difficulty levels. For the first three days, the CAT 2010 takers and experts felt that the Quantitative Ability section was on the toughest side, but from the fourth day onwards, the Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning section became lengthy, calculation intensive and tricky. Arun Sharma, renowned CAT expert and author of best selling CAT preparation books mentioned, "I felt that Quantitative Ability section was moderate, Verbal Ability was tough, and Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning was lengthy with a mix of tough questions and easy ones." 3. Topics of importance: There was predominance of some topics in every section. In Quantitative Ability, the important topics are Number Theory, Algebra, Geometry, Mensuration etc. In the Verbal Ability section, apart from three Reading Comprehension questions, the other questions were from the topics of Para jumble, fill in the blanks, last sentence, word usage, grammar. According to Arun Sharma, the questions were general, the language was not ambiguous and it did not throw any surprise. 4. No. of attempts: Initially the number of question attempts was around 40. But later on there was a drop in the number of the attempts. Manish Saraf, COO, PT Education said, "Previously, the average attempt was 42 to 45. But as the Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning section got lengthier and tougher, the candidates reported a drop in the average attempt, which is now 38." 5. Accuracy: Accuracy is an important factor. No matter how many questions you attempt, if you are not accurate enough then you will lose marks in the negative marking scheme. Sharma mentions that there should be 90 per cent accuracy in an attempt of a total 35 to 40 questions. Another strategy to increase accuracy is to choose questions correctly. "Attempt the questions only which you are sure of in order to avoid negative marking," Puri suggested. 6. Time management: You should manage time well in order to complete the paper in an accurate manner within the 2 hours and 15 minutes. The allotment of time will be based on your convenience. Sharma suggested a strategy. He said, "It can be a mix of 30 minutes and 45 minutes like 45, 30, 45, 15 or even 45, 30,30,20,10 etc. But key is-- time should be more or less evenly distributed. If you have a strong section it should be strong enough to give you the maximum score possible in 45 minutes. The maximum that you can realign could be 50, 45, and 40. Another strategy could be 40, 40, 40 clear the cut offs and then 15 to maximize scores." 7. Cut off: The experts have predicted that the sectional and the overall cut offs can be attained by attempting 12 to 15 and 42 to 25 questions respectively in an accurate manner. "I would think that around 10 to 12 questions, maybe maximum 14 at an accuracy of 90 per cent should be good for a sectional cutoff," said Arun Sharma. Gautam Puri, Vice Chairman, Career Launcher mentioned a detailed structure to get the cut offs, "An attempt of around 12 - 15 in QA, 14 - 17 in DI and 14 - 17 in VA each leading to a total attempt of around 42 - 45 with 85 per cent accuracy can be considered good as per the first slot of DAY 1." 8. Choose questions carefully: In order to maintain accuracy as well as get the required percentile, you need to choose your questions carefully. The first step is to skim through the questions. Arun Sharma shares a trick, by applying which you can know which questions you should attempt. "If within 30 seconds of looking at the question you do not find logic or a way to solve the question, simply move on further. If within that time you cannot solve it, then you will not be able to solve it by trying farther." Saraf mentioned that in the Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning section, you should first read the question carefully. If you find the question is too much of calculation intensive and has only one question after the caselet, it is better not to attempt it. "If you have time after completing the rest of the questions, then only come back to these questions," said Saraf. 9. Be prepared for change & surprises: Till now you have noticed that the emphasis has shifted from Quantitative Ability to the Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning. Hence you should always be ready for a change in pattern or a surprise. Though the difficulty level of the paper is expected to remain the same, but you never know when CAT will throw a surprise for you. So to be on the safe side, practice hard and be prepared for anything. 10. Minor glitches don't matter: Though there has not been any major drawback in this year's CAT 2010. But many of the CAT takers have faced some minor glitches such as taking time in skipping the questions, or starting the test. But you need to maintain patience. Vinayak Kudva, Product Head, IMS Learning stated, "To all students taking CAT 2010, I would recommend you to be mentally prepared for technical glitches and understand that their chances are not hampered by the glitches, but by them getting tensed because of the glitches." Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more on CAT 2010 MBAUniverse.com [3] is one of India's most comprehensive MBA portals.MBAUniverse.com [4] was set up in 2006 to address the information asymmetry in the management education and practice domain. [1] http://www.mbauniverse.com/ [2] http://www.mbauniverse.com/article/id/3835/ [3] http://www.mbauniverse.com/ [4] http://www.mbauniverse.com/article/id/3835/