CAT 2009 Day 2 Analysis (29th November, 2009)

QA: The Quant. section has been mostly consistent over the last two days. There were questions from previous CATs as stated in the Ajab CAT ki Gajab Kahani video which featured on day one. There were some questions which were easy enough for just about anyone to solve and some others which could be simply solved by eliminating options as well. Algebra, Arithematic and Geometry comprised a major portion of the section.

DI: The DI section witnessed a change. Starting day two, DI has also consisted of questions from previous CATs. The rest was similar to the earlier tests.

VA: This section was mostly similar to day one. It again comprised of RC, para-jumble, para-completion, sentence correction and fill in the blanks. To know more, refer to our day one analysis. As for the cut offs and attempts, things remained the same as day one.

Keep logging in for more updates, news and expert views.

Ajab CAT ki Gajab Kahani

Demystifying CAT-09 by focusing on the following points:

1. OPAQUENESS
2. TEST CONDITION
3. CONTENT
4. HOW TO HANDLE
5. WHAT NOT TO DO

CAT 2009 Day 1 Slot 2 (28th November)

This post is for discussing the feel of the exam conditions/difficulty level/topic wise break up / approx. num. of questions from individual topics and so on.

Based on student feedback, we will be posting about all the above as soon as the second slot of the first day of CAT is over. Your personal inputs are welcome as well.

Based on the feedback received from the students who took the first CBT CAT, the initial impressions about CAT 2009 Second Slot (3.30 PM, 28^th Nov) are as follows:

• As announced earlier by Prometric, the number of questions was 60
• Questions were on 3 areas – Verbal, LR/DI and quant.
• Number of questions in all three sections was 20.
• In our opinion, essence of the test was similar to the previous slot.
• Attempts: 14-15 questions in English, and about 12 questions each in quant and 11 in DI was quite feasible.
• Paper pattern was almost similar to previous CATs although the paper was a notch easier than CAT 2008
• Many centres across India faced technical  problems and hence test start time was delayed.
• While English was similar in difficulty level as last year, the RC passages were shorter. Quant was easier than the previous years’. DI section was a little time consuming.
• Details about Marking scheme/Negative marking was  not specified

CAT 2009 Day 1 Slot 1 (28th November)

Based on the feedback received from the students who took the first CBT CAT, the initial impressions about CAT 2009 are as follows:

• As announced earlier by Prometric, the number of questions was 60
• There were 3 sections as in previous CAT papers namely– Verbal, LR/DI and QA
• Number of questions in all three sections was 20.
• Most of the high performers in CL Mocks have reported attempting around 40 questions. Section wise attempting 13-15 qs in English, and about 12 ques each in quant and DI.
• Paper pattern was almost similar to previous CATs although the paper was a notch easier than CAT 2008
• Many centres across India faced technical problems due to which some centres had to delay the exam and postpone it to a later date.
• While English was similar in difficulty level as last year, the RC passages were shorter. Quant was easier than the previous years’. DI section was a little time consuming.
• Details about negative marking not specified

Servers crash at several cities

Scores of morning-batch test takers turned up at their centers only to be turned away due to technical glitches. They were informed that their test will be rescheduled, but as of now have not received any written confirmation of the same.  NDTV has reported server crashes at 4 cities so far.

Source: Economic Times

FAQs on last minutes to CAT?

 

What should be the Optimum Strategy for CAT?

There should be no fiddling with your Test-taking strategy at this late stage. As long as you know that the strategy you are using is giving you rewards, don’t change it… For example, you would know if your best bet is to scan a passage and then move onto to the questions, while another person could be more at ease scanning questions before going onto the passage. So just stick to whatever works best for you. 

 

Will the analysis of the MOCK Tests help now? 

Test taking is the most important aspect of your preparation now. Take two or at the most three MOCK tests in the last week. Test taking should be followed by an in-depth analysis of the complete Test. Analyse what mistakes you have committed and how you will rectify them. Also check the questions that you have missed, and whether you have missed any ‘easy’ question! That will help in your choice of questions later. Remember, CAT is not about last minute cramming and revising. It’s about being alive and mentally alert, here and now. 

 

What be done to give finishing touches to the preparation? 

Do away with your urge to cover the complete syllabus instead of revising or analyzing the test. Besides spending time on why some answers went wrong, also concentrate on why some answers were correct or whether there is any better way of doing the question. Furthermore, in any well-planned CAT Test, you will not be able to complete the whole section or Test. So go through the questions that you did not attempt and see if you made a mistake by leaving out those and attempting the ones you did. Also remember than in every Test, there will be both difficult and easy questions. This is where the concept of revision comes in. With regular revision, you gets better and better at questions and are able to do them in a short span of time.

Revise specific fundae, where you feel that there is a lacunae and your score can improve if you have better clarification on that part. For example you can go through the chapter of subject-verb agreement if you feel that you are making too many mistakes in Sentence Correction type Question because of that chapter.

Acclimatize your body clock: You must acclimatize your body clock to the test timing i.e. you must for the next few days practice test at the time during which you have booked you slot (1000 hours or 1530 hours)

Sleep timings: You must condition your sleep time according to your test timing, for example if you have booked the morning slot then you must start sleeping early and getting up early 2-3 days before your test day. If you sleep late then it is highly likely that you might not be able to get up early having fresh energy on the test day and which might affect your performance.

 

‘Which is the easiest way out and which are the easiest questions?

One of the biggest pitfalls is that as students we always search for short cuts, asking  ‘ A critical issue here is the tremendous urge to skip questions. We tend to lose concentration at different stages during the exam and tend to skip questions because of the pressures of time. But things get better if you follow a couple of golden rules. If you want to identify the questions to attend, it is imperative that you read all the questions. Decide in two readings whether you are going to attempt the question or not. This is perfectly normal and don’t let it bother you. It will take not more than 15 seconds, at a very leisurely pace, to read a question. But if you read the question faster, you would have saved a few seconds. These can then be spent on understanding the question.

While reading the question, your attitude should be, ‘let me give everything I have.’ Concentrating for those two hours and 15 minutes is not easy, but imperative.

 

What has been the cut-offs in the past CAT?

 If we take QA section historically the cut off marks (93-95 percentile) of this section is hovering around 25-30  % of the marks allotted to the section in the last 5-6 years with CAT-2006 being the only exception when the QA sectional Cut-off marks was approximately 38-40% of the allotted marks, at the same time LRDI sectional cut off marks has varied from 20-30 % with CAT-2007 being the only exception when LRDI sectional cut off was approximately 35-36 % of the allotted marks. VA Cutoff marks has been approximately 20-32 percent of the allotted marks in the previous 5-6 CATs

 

Any Final Tips for the C-DAY?

 CAT is not the end of your life. Many a time, very high potential students have not made it to the IIMs because they could not handle the pressure. So unwind, go for movies, do things that help you relax, go for walks, listen to soothing music, meditate…. People who stick it out, hang in there and continue to peg away will make it.

Learn not to carry despair into other sections. Be robotic in those two hours and 15 minutes. Act mercilessly and ruthlessly. Do not yield to sentiments. So what if you have messed up in English, quant is another compartment, maximize your score there. It’s a difficult preposition, but you have to be sensitive to the fact that at the end of the day it’s a game of nerves.

Fluid Management: This would be very important on the test day. Those of you who are taking the test in the morning slot, should not consume any fluid after 6.30 a.m. and those of you taking the test in the afternoon slot must not consume any fluid after 1 p.m. as it has been specified in the instructions by Prometric (www. catiim.in) that you should entering the test arena at least 1.5 hours before the start of the test and you will not be even allowed to go to washrooms. Bad fluid management can affect your test performance.   

CAT Instructions: You must visit www.Catiim.in and read all the instructions carefully and follow them strictly.

 

The 10 Commandments to Crack CAT’09

Those 10 days that will determine the realization of a long-cherished IIM dream are now upon us. Months of preparation, burning the midnight oil, wrestling with Procs and Mocks are about to bear fruit.  As you get ready to give those deft final touches to your CAT’09 groundwork, our experts at Career Launcher have come up with 10 Commandments, which, if followed, will ensure sure shot success.

Here is a section wise guideline from those who have cracked CAT with regularity.

 

QA:

First Commandment: With a computer screen in front you, and not a piece of paper, this time round you will be prone to making more errors if you attempt more QA questions. This is simply because when reading from the screen, we tend to miss out on keywords. So, be more attentive. Read each QA question word-by-word.

Second Commandment: Go to the examination hall with your strength pre-defined. For example, it could be that in Geometry you shall only attempt Mensuration and angle-based questions. For those who are adept at Permutation-Combination and Probability, leave aside any question that is more than two lines long. Reason? Simple: longer the question, greater the chance of missing out on important information.

A reliable indicator of these areas of strength is your performance in Career Launcher’s Mocks. Especially take into consideration Mocks 11-16. This is because it was during this time that your proficiency reached its top gear. Similarly, give greater preference to Proc 7 & 8, as compared to the earlier ones.

 

DI:  

Third Commandment: There is every reason to believe that the DI section of CAT’09 will by and large follow the pattern of CAT’07. In other words, there will be only one catch. You can expect not more than 3-4 questions per set. Overall, the difficulty level of the paper will definitely be lesser than that in the CL Mocks. Cracking this section will not be difficult at all, just be a little patient.

Fourth Commandment: To build your confidence in this section, you just might want to start off with the Reasoning sets. These, with condition-based reasoning, will definitely be easy to handle. Be prepared to face the prospect of making combinations. However, the good news is that the number of identities is unlikely to run into double digits.

 

RC: 

Fifth Commandment: On screen, or on paper, the rules remain more or less the same when it comes to Reading Comprehension. In other words, you shall still need to read the whole passage. 

Sixth Commandment: To eliminate making a wrong choice, it is always advisable to go back to the text time and again. However, do keep in mind that reading speed does come down when you are reading online.

 

VA:

Seventh Commandment: Unlike QA, which is a purely objective section, the subjectivity factor in the VA section is undeniable. Hence, to be safe, it is always a good idea to attempt at least 75-80% questions in the VA section.

Eighth Commandment: The level of accuracy you have attained in the VA section in general, and inferential questions, in particular, is not going to change overnight. So, rather than trying to improve upon it, ensure that you stick to your current accuracy level. A good way of finding that out is to revert to the last few Mocks.

 

Overall:

Ninth Commandment: Set yourself a time limit beforehand. Be harsh on yourself and religiously earmark not more than 35 minutes per section. That should be enough to clear the cut-off in at least two sections. Only when you have completed all, do come back to individual sections with the aim of maximizing your score.

Tenth Commandment: One cursory glance at the last three years’ records would show you that anyone who has scored between 35% and 40% of the total has received at least one IIM call. And this year, with CAT becoming a computer-based test, it is inevitable that scoring will go down. So, if out of a 210-mark paper, you can score 80-85, then an IIM call is a definite surety.

While these words of wisdom are meant to be nothing but stepping stones to success, we cannot over emphasize the importance of self-belief.

 

Have faith in your abilities.

The day will surely be yours. 

Career Launcher Team

 

CAT’09 Corner – Backing you up all the way

With CAT’09 just around the corner, it’s time for all your hard work to pay back. We understand this paper is very important for you (and for us as well), and consequently a certain amount of tredipitation is but natural.

Keeping in line with its promise of ‘Student’s Delight’ Career Launcher is striving to address your anxiety, curiosity and requirement for guidance through the following initiatives:

-Slot-wise Test Analysis

After each examination, our faculty which shall have sat the test along with aspirants, shall do an assessment of the test and provide you with a clear feel for what will be coming your way. We cannot stress enough the importance for you to regularly tune into this section.

-Discussion Blog

CL’s CAT Blog will be a platform for students to discuss their papers, ask questions to those who have already given the CAT, and share opinions. If you have anything to say, are curious about something, want to interact with those who have already experienced the paper first hand, then this is the place to be.

-Personalized Interactions with Mentors

In case you can’t find certain questions getting answered anywhere else, need tips to tackle stress, are eager to hear expert predictions and opinions on the new CAT and how it is shaping up, all you need to do is interact with our CAT experts and faculty through live chat, to back you up with whatever you need.

For a detailed description and schedule please head over to CAT 2009 Corner.

We would like to wish all our students the very best of luck! We believe in you and are committed to backing you up all the way, in every way possible.

P.S. – Here is a link to help you get charged up for the CAT!

Online CAT poses new challenges

• This year, 2.42 lakh students registered for CAT, which registered a dip in applications of over 12% since last year’s 2.76 lakh applications.
• The fall in numbers could be attributed to the test becoming computer-based starting this year. Not everyone is sure of the outcome and many have decided to watch from the sidelines.
• Expert Views:

• The online test is also a first for the CAT management. Much is at stake and the situation may be tricky at first, but later on, probably everybody will get used to it.
• The test  will be conducted in 32 cities through 105 secure computer-based testing centres, specially prepared for the CAT.
• Just like in the earlier format of CAT, students should keep in mind to attempt questions that they know first and as well as they can.
• Experts also advised students to get used to reading comprehension online – one of the biggest changes that will be felt in the new format.

Source: Times of India

CAT 2009 will offer 560 extra IIM seats

• Sources from HRD ministry confirm CAT committe has been asked to add 560 more seats at IIMs for aspirants this year
• CAT Cabinet approved 4 new IIMs in August at Tiruchirappalli (Tamil Nadu), Ranchi (Jharkhand), Raipur (Chhattisgarh) and Rohtak (Haryana), but the institutes are yet to be established.
• New IIM shall admit 140 students each.
• Some IIM directors have objected, saying these many seats will be too much for a new institute to manage.
• “The older IIMs will help the new institutes decide the content of the academic courses, but only after the new directors are appointed,” said a government official.
• The ministry has called for applications, but is yet to form a panel to appoint the new directors.
• The ministry has also been unable to finalise temporary infrastructure for setting up the new institutes — except for IIM Rohtak, which will initially get a campus at the Maharishi Dayanand University.
• The CAT announcement had not mentioned the new IIMs.

Source:  Hindustan Times