CAT 2020 Analysis by CATKing (Slot 1, 2 and 3): VARC and DILR lengthy, QA easy

Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning section was really difficult and time consuming, Reading Comprehension passages had five questions and DILR sets had six questions. Read CAT 2020 Analysis by CATKing.

By Rahul Singh

CAT 2020 exam was conducted on November 29 amid COVID-19 safety precautions at various exam centres across India. According to the analysis of CAT 2020 question paper by CATKing expert, VARC and DILR sections were time consuming and lengthy. On the other hand, QA section was easy. Read CAT 2020 analysis by CATKing in detail here. The CAT exam analysis includes evaluation of section-wise difficulty level, topic-wise break-up of the question paper, number of good attempts and sectional score.

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CAT 2020 Analysis: Highlights

• CAT 2020 exam was conducted in three slots - morning, afternoon and evening
• The exam duration is 120 minutes and the sectional time limit was 40 minutes
• The total number of questions have been reduced from 100 to 76
• VARC section had 26 questions. The section was dominated by RC questions
• DILR section had 24 questions with two DILR sets of six and four questions each
• QA section had 26 questions from Algebra, Arithmetic, Numbers and Geometry

CAT 2020 is being conducted under the COVID Pandemic in 430 centers across 156 cities with 2.27 lakh aspirants. Social distancing and COVID guidelines being strictly followed across centers. CAT 2020 has been the year of surprises with the biggest one being the reduction in time from three hours to two ours, this has impacted the CAT question paper pattern too in the following manner:

CAT 2020 Analysis: Section-wise number of questions

Section	No. of Questions
VARC	26 Questions
DILR	24 Questions
QA	26 Questions

Overall the exam was tough as compared to 2019 with DILR and VARC both being time consuming and lengthy. CAT 2020 tested students on speed, logic and analytical skills. A sincere student with well rounded preparation across three sections would make their way to the IIMs. CAT 2020 tested students on their actual knowledge instead of mere guesswork.

It was an exam with the twist, Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning section was really difficult and time consuming, we saw the changes in Reading Comprehension passages with five questions and DILR sets with six questions. But, this would not affect the overall criteria for a student selection in IIMs.

Negative marking existed for the multiple choice questions; 1/3^rd ie 0.33 negative marks. Type in The answer Questions didn’t have any negative marking similar to the CAT 2019. The exam was not very difficult, it was manageable provided your concepts were clear. CAT has always been an ardent lover of concepts and logic than calculations, speed and time when compared to other competitive exams.

Feedback from some of the students after the CAT 2020

“The paper was overall easy, pretty much similar to CAT2019. Thankfully the verbal section went off well to kickstart the exam on a good note. What was surprising was to see no conventional data interpretation questions like the tables, graphs and pie charts. The exam has been as per the expectations so hoping to get good results and making all proud. Awaiting for IIM-A” – Harshit

“The paper was very structured but lengthy and time crunching. VARC was time consuming with concerns with the inference based questions in all Reading comprehensions not many factual questions. LR/DI was the trick section set selection was the key so now let’s hope for the best.” – Sabuj

“A not very tough paper, overall moderate with verbal coming only from 3 areas of RC, parajumbles and inference based questions. DI was time consuming but manageable. Overall moderate difficulty level so hoping for some good result” – Sarthak

CAT 2020 Slot 1: Sectional Analysis

VARC (26 questions)

Reading Comprehension was dominated in the verbal section. There were two passages with five questions remaining all had four questions in each passage. More inference based questions and not factual. There were a Lot of author based questions.

Parajumbles were tough. There were three questions on Parajumbles, three questions on Parasummary and 2 questions on Odd one Out.

Summary of VARC section

Topic	Number of questions
Reading Comprehension	18 Questions
Verbal Ability	8 Questions

Overall Difficulty: Moderate to Difficult

Ideal Attempts: 18 questions

DILR (24 Questions)

LR/DI being tough, lengthy and time consuming with having a variation with two sets coming with six questions each and three sets with four questions each. Here the success mantra was the set selection as the six questions sets were the toughest and time consuming, so the students should first wrap up the easy ones and grab a good base and then move to the trickier ones.

Summary of DILR section

Topic	Number of questions
DILR Sets with 6 Questions	2 Sets = 12 Questions
DILR Sets with 4 Questions	3 Sets=12 Questions

Overall Difficulty: Difficult

Ideal Attempts: 13 questions

Quantitative Aptitude (26)

Quants was the easiest out of the three sections with direct formula application and concept based questions dominated by arithmetic and little Geometry and Algebra. There was no need for having a lot of shortcuts and tricks, your solving speed and your temperament to understand what the question is asking was the main focus.

The Questions based on the Venn diagram were tough. Arithmetic dominated the paper then Algebra and Numbers, Geometry saw a lesser visibility with just three to four questions and Modern Maths was negligent in the paper.

Summary of QA section

Topic	Number of questions
Arithmetic	10 questions
Algebra	8 questions
Numbers	5 questions
Geometry	3 questions

Overall Difficulty: Easy to moderate

Ideal Attempts: 14 questions

Keeping the new pattern in focus, an ideal attempt of 50+ questions with 90 per cent accuracy would fetch 99 percentile.

CAT 2020 Slot 2 Analysis

CAT 2020 slot 2 saw no changes in the test pattern from slot 1. Overall, the question paper of slot 2 was tough as compared to 2019 and as compared to slot 1, the Quants section was tougher because it was lengthy and time consuming, VARC was Moderate and DILR was the toughest.The CAT 2020 slot 2 question paper focused on testing candidates’ conceptual clarity. Selecting the right questions and managing time was the key. 

VARC (26 questions)

Reading Comprehension dominated this section with 18 questions out of 26. There were two passages with five questions remaining all had four questions in each passage. There were more inference-based questions as seen in the slot 1 as well, and not direct or easy factual questions.

VARC: Summary of Questions

Reading Comprehension
Passages Passage 1: Psychology: Aggressive Behaviour Passage 2: Renewable Energy Passage 3: History Passage 4: Chinese Currency	18 questions
Verbal Ability
Parajumbles	3 questions
Para Summary	2 Questions
Out of Context	3 questions
Total	26 Questions

• Overall Difficulty: Moderate to Difficult
• Ideal Attempts: 16-20 questions

DILR (24 Questions)

DILR section of CAT 2020 slot 2 paper was tough, lengthy and time consuming with two sets having six questions each and three sets having four questions each.

The set with eight-people arrangement having six questions was the most complex and time consuming. Most students messed up this section as they were stuck in this particular set.

DILR: Summary of Questions

Topic	Number of questions
DILR Sets with 6 Questions	2 Sets = 12 Questions
DILR Sets with 4 Questions	3 Sets=12 Questions

• Overall Difficulty: Difficult
• Ideal Attempts: 13 Questions

Quantitative Aptitude (26 questions)

Quantitative Aptitude section of CAT 2020 slot 2 question paper was a little tricky. Though the questions were solvable they were highly time consuming and posed a major threat to most non-engineers. Engineers have managed up to 18-20 attempts in this section. Some questions, which were tough, were based on analytical skills.  One could use the rule of elimination and narrow down to two options, fit them in the answers and use reverse solving techniques to save time and maximize the scores.

QA: Summary of Questions

• Arithmetic: 80 per cent questions
• Geometry: More questions than slot 1
• Algebra: few questions
• Modern Maths: No questions
• Ideal Attempts: 14 questions

About 40-42 Attempts overall with a 90+ per cent accuracy shall fetch 99 percentile.

CAT 2020 Slot 3 analysis will be posted here soon.

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About the Expert:

Rahul Singh is the Director of CATKing, a premier MBA Coaching institute of Maharashtra. Rahul Singh completed his MBA from SPJIMR and is a Master of Information Technology from Virginia Tech. He has also pursued SPNM from Harvard Business School. Among numerous awards, he's been honoured with Digital Indian of the Year 2016 and Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2015.