CAT 2013 - Section-wise Analysis (First Cut)

By Parasharan Chari

CAT successfully completes 5 years of online testing. This year’s CAT –at least the first day, first slot – can be called the Online CAT’s first serious attempt to return to basics, i.e. in terms of bringing back the importance of having the right attitude and control over application of topics and requisite persistence throughout the paper.

Nearly everything can be called similar to last year in terms of the sub-sectional break up of questions – with 21 questions of Quantitative Aptitude and 9 questions of Data Interpretation forming the 30 questions of the first section and with 21 questions of Verbal Ability and 9 questions of Analytical Reasoning forming the 30 questions of the second section.

QA + DI section analysis

This QA + DI section can be termed as Moderate to Difficult on difficulty level. The Quantitative Aptitude had around 6-7 questions of Geometry & Mensuration, around 6-7 questions spread across Algebra, 6-7 questions spread across Arithmetic. Out of these, around 9 to 10 can be termed as easy and 5 to 6 can be termed as moderate and the remaining time consuming. To do justice to this subsection, an allocation of 50 mins can be termed appropriate and an above average test taker will end up attempting 13-15 in the 50 mins with 90% accuracy. The whole game was of question selection and prompt navigation through the paper. A student with high ego or a high stickiness factor to a particular question or a particular genre of questions will find it difficult to reach the end of the paper. The one who plays on good accuracy will be the eventual winner. As far as the Data Interpretation is concerned, the paper was easy and those regulation questions of percentage increase, percentage decrease, overall growth etc. were asked which helped increase the familiarity of the paper. The overall section can be termed Moderate to Difficult and an aspirant with around 75% attempts with 90% accuracy should stand a fair chance at an IIM call.

VA + AR section Analysis

The VA + AR section can be termed as Moderate on difficulty level. The RCs were long and dense and the questions were tricky but the options were easy and the ones who could comprehend the RC will end up reaching the correct answer through the process of elimination. The RCs were 3 in number addressing a total of 10 questions. The ‘fast-food’ comprising parajumbles, logical continuation, error detection, vocabulary based fill in the blanks, word usages, out of context questions formed 11 questions in the paper. This part of the paper was easily negotiable and less time consuming. The sets of AR were easy and solvable and were spread across arrangements and puzzles which every prepared CAT student will enjoy. If at all, a break-up of 50mins for VA and 20 mins for AR can be termed apt. The catch here would be navigating through the RCs and here we can say that CAT has stuck to the task of finding topics like eco-feminism, socialism, environment conservation related topics which are not in the “comfort” zones of a majority of CAT takers. The “well-read” category of CAT takers with good persistence levels will enjoy the paper and will come out with flying colours. Overall attempting 80% of the paper with 90% accuracy should fetch an IIM call.

In a nutshell:

Overall paper can be called Moderate to difficult and this movement is a positive movement because the more prepared students with better test taking attitude and time management skills will be the eventual winners.

Tip to the CAT takers: Revise the basics of Quant. Work on calculation speed in DI. Get your selection and prioritisation right in VA and AR section and CAT is all yours. And remember, whatever time you save from DI and AR will help you get that additional attempt in QA or VA.

 All the best!

About 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 CatGurus.com.

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