One of the very important characteristics of a student is to question. Let the students ask questions. - APJ Abdul Kalam

CAT

CAT 2017 Slot 2 Test Analysis

The Second slot of CAT 2017 took place today between 2:30 and 5:30 pm. .

THE PROCESS

The administrative process of the test in the first slot was smooth. However, taking into account the scale of the examination, minor discomforts and technical glitches occurred at a few centers in Mumbai which were immediately taken care of by the authorities and the exam was conducted smoothly.

As in the past the policy of no-shoes no metallic objects including metal jewelry prevailed. Only the admit card and the ID proof were allowed. Nothing else!

As in the previous year, the authorities took possession of the admit cards. The candidates were given a small pad with IIM CAT Logo on the cover(16 pages or so) for rough work and a pen – which were also taken away at the end of the exam.

TEST INTERFACE

The test interface was exactly what IMS students are used to in the SimCATs.

It was a very user friendly interface and exactly the one provided in the official CAT Mock Test. There were no sub-divisions within each section. The VA-RC questions were NOT interspersed within the section. Several IMS SimCATs had had the same format with Questions from 1 to 24 in Reading Comprehension and 25 to 34 in Verbal Ability.

A simple calculator was provided, and not a scientific one. There was an arrow provided near the question palette which when clicked expanded the question window to full screen view by hiding the question palette & vice versa.

At the end of the test, a summary of number of questions attempted, visited and not visited was displayed for each section.

OVERVIEW OF THE TEST

CAT 2017 in the second slot, just like the first slot, was an extremely student friendly test! And, Slot 2 offered a comparatively easier DI LR section unlike in slot 1.

The overall structure of CAT 2017 was exactly that of CAT 2016. The test started with the Verbal Section, which had 34 questions - 24 RC and 10 VA. The second section was the DI-LR with 32 questions distributed equally between the two areas. The third section was the Quantitative Ability section which also had 34 questions. Each section was timed for 60 minutes. One could not go back and forth between sections. The marking scheme was also similar to last year with +3 for every correct & -1 for incorrect answers. There was no negative marking for TITA questions. However since the ratio remains the same we do not see this as a major cause of concern.

Here is the break–up of questions section-wise:

Section No.	Section Name	Total Number of Questions	Number of Multiple Choice Questions	Number of TITA Questions
I	Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension	34	27	07
II	Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning	32	24	08
III	Quantitative Ability	34	23	11
	TOTAL	100	74	26

Section I – Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension

The overall difficulty level of VA RC Section of CAT 2017 was Easy.
IMS students must have recalled SimCAT 14 when they saw the actual CAT. Not only in the format which is given below, CAT 2017 actually matched the difficulty level of SimCAT 14.
The format was familiar.
The VA-RC section was a replica of the CAT 2016 section in terms of question types. Grammar and Vocabulary questions were again conspicuous by their absence.
RC had 3 passages with 6 questions each & 2 passages with 3 questions each- most of these questions were direct and easily solvable.
IMS students have reported that as many as 22 questions were easy!
The jumbled paragraph questions were, however, moderate to difficult.

Of the 10 VA questions, 7 were TITA and 3 were MCQs.
3 Out-of-context sentence – TITA
4 Paragraph Jumbles – TITA
*3 Paragraph summary – MCQs. (With negative Marks)*.
*The only difference from the 2016 CAT and the several IMS SimCATs, especially SimCAT 14.

SLOT 2 (CAT 2017 VA RC)

Area / Questions	No of Qs.	Type	LOD
Reading Comprehension	24	MCQ
RC-1: Misconceptions about Vikings being only plunderers – Approx. 300 words	3	MCQ	Easy
RC- 2: Creativity is a social concept –Approx. 550 words	6	MCQ	Easy
RC-3: Utility of typewriters in the digital age - Approx. 350 words	3	MCQ	Easy
RC-4: Ramifications of the end of the internal combustion engine – Approx. 350 words	6	MCQ	Easy
RC-5: – Subnivium and how it is impacted by climate change. - Approx. 550 words.	6	MCQ	Easy
Verbal Ability	10	MCQ & TITA
Parajumbles	4	TITA	Medium to difficult
Out of Context sentence	3	TITA	Easy to Medium
Summary	3	MCQ	Easy to Medium

The pattern of Slot 2 VARC replicated the pattern and difficulty level of the first slot and more importantly that of 2016 CAT and that of SimCAT 14, barring the negative marks assigned to Summary questions.

It was possible to attempt 28 to 30 questions in the second slot which should give you a very competitive score.

Section II – Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning

The DI-LR section had a total of 8 sets with 4 questions in each set. There were 4 sets Data Interpretation and 4 sets of Logical Reasoning. The sets on DI involved calculations as well as logic.
Selection of the right sets to solve was key to a good performance in this section. One set on Data Interpretation involved easy calculations and two sets on Logical Reasoning involved easy arrangements. These sets must not have been missed.
No Set was completely TITA - TITA questions were dispersed across individual sets. 4 sets were completely MCQ whereas the remaining 4 sets was a combination of TITA and MCQs ( 2 MCQ and 2 TITA). There were a total of 8 TITA questions

A detailed description of the sets in this section is given below for your reference:

Set No.	Area	Set Description	Number of Questions	Level of Difficulty	Question Type
1	Data Interpretation	Logical set on 7 Elective subjects in a college	4	Moderate -Difficult	MCQ+TITA
2	Data Interpretation	Calculation based set on the distribution of assets to three children by an old lady	4	Easy- Moderate	MCQ + TITA
3	Data Interpretation	Calculation based set on different types of pizza crusts	4	Easy	MCQ
4	Data Interpretation	Logical cum calculation based Logical DI Set based on the expenses on repairs of 10 dorms	4	Moderate	MCQ
5	Logical Reasoning	Arrangement based set on the ratings given to different types of tea	4	Easy	MCQ
6	Logical Reasoning	Puzzle based on position of a queen on the chess board	4	Easy	MCQ
7	Logical Reasoning	Arrangement + Puzzle set on 8 friends travelling in a plane	4	Moderate-Difficult	MCQ + TITA
8	Logical Reasoning	Puzzle set based on the entry passcode involving thumb impressions	4	Difficult	MCQ+TITA

A good student should have been able to attempt around 4 to 5 of these sets (16 -18 questions) in the given time with an accuracy of around 85-90%. The sets that must not have been missed were Set 3, 5 and Set 6.
Students also reported that a number of sets had additional information pertaining to the last two questions (out of the 4 in the set), that made the set difficult to tackle.

Section III – Quantitative Ability

This section was easy and dominated by Arithmetic with 13 questions followed by Geometry, Algebra, and Modern Math with 5 to 8 questions each.
There were 11 TITA questions this year - compared to last year when there were only 7
If one went through the entire section, there were at least 12 to 14 sitters for the taking

Many of the questions in this section tested elementary concepts. The detailed topic-wise listing of the questions (based on student inputs) is given below:

Area	Topic	No. of Questions	Total No. of Questions	Level of Difficulty
Numbers	Surds & Indices	1	4	Moderate
	Question involving rearrangement of terms involving series of numbers	1		Easy
	Questions involving divisibility and properties of numbers	2		Easy-Moderate
Algebra	Quadratic Equations	1	5	Easy-Moderate
	Maxima – Minima	1		Moderate
	Functions	3		Easy-Moderate
Arithmetic	Ratios & Percentage	3	13	Easy-Moderate
	Averages	1		Easy-Moderate
	Time-Speed-Distance	3		Easy-Moderate
	Profit & Loss	1		Easy-Moderate
	Work, Pipe & Cisterns	1		Easy
	Time & Work	2		Easy
	Mixtures & Alligations	2		Easy
Geometry	Triangles	1	6	Easy-Moderate
	Coordinate Geometry	1		Moderate
	Mensuration & 3D	1		Easy-Moderate
	Quadrilaterals	1		Moderate
	Polygons	1		Easy
	Circles	1
Modern Maths	Permutation & Combination	2	6	Moderate
	Sequence & Series (AP)	2		Moderate
	Logarithm	2		Moderate
	TOTAL	34	34

It is worth noting that several questions in the section combined concepts from across the areas. For example, some questions combined Numbers and AP-GP. One can consider these questions as a part of either numbers or Modern Maths (AP-GP). We have considered such questions in the areas that predominantly involved that concept.

A good student should have been able to solve 24 to 26 questions in the given time with 85-90% accuracy.

VERDICT

The second slot of CAT 2017 has been reported to be more or less similar to last year. However the DI-LR section in Slot 2 was slightly easier as compared to the one in Slot 1. VA-RC and QA sections were on similar lines (easy) in Slot 2 as in CAT-2016 as well as in Slot-1 of CAT-2017.

No new question types were seen in any of the sections.

An overall attempt of about 68 to 70 questions with an accuracy of 80 to 85 percent should be classified as a good performance in this test

IMS students have found a great deal of similarity between the SimCATs and the CAT. Several students gave the feedback that the CAT appeared an extension of the SimCATs and the e-Maxmiser Workshops.

CAT 2017, 2016, 2015 and 2014 Results

According to CAT 2017 results, a score between 245.11-230.17 was equivalent to 100 percentile, a score of 218.79 was equivalent to 99.98 percentile, a score of 218.46 was equivalent to 99.97 percentile, a score 206.23 was equivalent to 99.9 percentile, a score of 170.08 was equivalent to 98.82 percentile. (Please note there were 3 sections in CAT 2017).

For your reference and a better understanding of the test, we have also mentioned CAT 2016, 2015 and 2014 results.

According to CAT 2016 results, a score between 220.09- 287.83 was equivalent to 100 percentile, a score of 218.43 was equivalent to 99.99 percentile, a score of 204.73 was equivalent to 99.97 percentile, a score 191.2 was equivalent to 99.9 percentile, a score of 157 was equivalent to 98.82 percentile.(Please note there were 3 sections in CAT 2016).

According to CAT 2015 results, a score between 254.61 – 249.9 was equivalent to 100 percentile, a score of 242.33 was equivalent to 99.99 percentile, a score of 235.33 was equivalent to 99.98 percentile, a score between 215.54-215.43 was equivalent to 99.89 percentile, a score of 180.02 was equivalent to 99 percentile.(Please note there were 3 sections in CAT 2015).

According to CAT 2014 results, a score between 268.700-261.740 was equivalent to 100 percentile, a score of 245.92 was equivalent to 99.97 percentile, a score of 227.65 was equivalent to 99.87 percentile, and a score of 178.02 was equivalent to 98.07 percentile. (Please note there were 2 sections in CAT 2014).