MICAT-I 2023 Analysis: Section-wise Detailed Analysis
MICAT (MICA Admission Test) is the ONLINE entrance exam for PGDM-C/PGDM from MICA, Ahmedabad. Generally MICAT is held twice for admission to the batch in the ensuing year. MICAT-I is held in December and MICAT-II in January for the batch commencing a few months later in June/July.
MICAT I 2023 for 2024-2026 batch was held on December 02, 2023, from 9 AM to 11:15 AM.
Test Structure and the IMS estimate of good attempts:
| Section | Name | No. Of Questions | Time allocated | Good Attempts |
| A | Psychometric Test | 150 | 30 minutes | ALL |
| B | Descriptive Test | 4 | 25 minutes | ALL |
| C | i. Divergent and Convergent Thinking | 20 | 80 minutes | 12-13 |
| ii. Verbal Ability | 20 | 11-12 | ||
| iii. Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation | 20 | 9-10 | ||
| iv. General Awareness | 10 | 5- 6 |
- Navigation between sections not allowed
- Section C carried 1 mark per question. 0.25 for each incorrect response.
- No Negative Marks for the Psychometric Test and the Descriptive Test
- Psychometric Test is compulsory and the performance in the psychometric test is used as a qualifying criterion for the next stage. Candidates must attempt all the questions in the Psychometric Test to ensure that their paper is evaluated. However, the marks or the assessment criteria of the test are not revealed to the candidates.
VERDICT
Students who have ‘cleared’ the Psychometric Test and secured an overall score of 25 in Sections C (i) to C (iv) can expect a call for the GE-PI round (subject to their fulfilling the other criteria specified here.
ANALYSIS BY SECTION
Section – A
PSYCHOMETRIC TEST
There were 150 questions in this section.
Apparently, there are no correct or incorrect responses in a psychometric test. Around 37 questions presented a situation/course of action and the test-taker had to mark either True or False. Around 113 questions were about a particular personality trait or a course of action. which required the candidates to respond with one of the following 8 options.
- Totally Disagree
- Strongly Disagree
- Disagree
- Somewhat Disagree
- Somewhat Agree
- Agree
- Strongly Agree
- Totally Agree
Given that 150 questions were to be attempted in 30 minutes, it was necessary to work fast and mark the answer quickly.
Section – B
DESCRIPTIVE TEST
This section tested the analytical and descriptive writing ability and creative skills of test-takers. The first three questions were related to each other. The topic for the first three questions was “If social media gets really social”. For the first two questions, students had to write three points each, ‘for’ and ‘against’ the topic. These two questions carried 10 marks each.
In the third question, students had to write a 300 word answer to ‘how a young manager can employ the social ability of social media to create an egalitarian work culture in their organization’ The instructions stated that the points for the third question should not include the points stated in the first two questions. 20 marks were allocated to this question.
The fourth question in this section consisted of four pictures. Students had to write down a story using these images in any order (A-B-C-D or D-C-B-A or any such combination). The order was to be mentioned before the story. The pictures were related to: ‘A red square, A roadside barber, A monument, A chariot without a horse’. This question carried 30 marks.
This section was to be attempted in 25 minutes and carried no negative marking.
Section C
APTITUDE TEST
The aptitude test had 4 sub-sections with a total of 70 questions. These 70 questions had to be solved within 80 minutes. The test this year had a mix of questions with 8, 6, 5 and 4 options. This was a change from the previous year Out of 70 questions, about 30 had 8 options.
(i) Sub-section: DIVERGENT AND CONVERGENT THINKING
The Reasoning section comprised 20 questions including word-association, analogies, statement-assumption, data sufficiency, puzzle, numerical series-odd one out, Circular arrangement and visual reasoning questions.
| Topic | No. of Qs. | Overall Difficulty Level |
| Verbal reasoning | ||
| Word Association | 2 | Medium |
| Syllogism | 1 | Medium |
| Collective Noun | 1 | Medium |
| Non-verbal reasoning | ||
| Visual Reasoning – 3 (Analogy, sequence completion, paper folding) | 16 (8 questions with 4 options + 8 questions with 8 options) | Medium |
| Data Sufficiency – 1 | ||
| Puzzles – 12 Arrangement (Linear – 2, Circular – 1), Symbol based Family Tree – 2, Directions – 2 (based on pythagorean triplet), Coding – 2, Number analogy – 1, Alphanumeric Sequence – 1, Odd One Out – Series – 1 | ||
In this section, 12-13 questions (in about 25 minutes with 90 % accuracy) would be considered a good attempt.
(ii) Sub-section: VERBAL ABILITY
This section consisted of jumbled paragraphs, word pairs, paragraph completion(cloze), fill in the blanks, and two Reading Comprehension passages.
| Topic | No. of Qs. | Overall Level of difficulty. |
| Reading Comprehension – Passage 1(Technology and lack of boundaries – 200 words) | 2 | Medium |
| Reading Comprehension – Passage 2(Commercial traffic in the Indian Ocean – 250 words) | 4 | Medium |
| Fill in the blanks [3 Cloze, 1 4*4 grid] | 4 | Easy |
| Critical Reasoning – Inference | 1 | Medium |
| Jumbled Paragraphs | 2 | Medium |
| Summary | 1 | Medium |
| Jumbled sentence | 1 | Easy |
| One word substitute – passage | 2 | Medium |
| Odd sentence | 1 | Medium |
| Para-completion | 1 | Medium |
| Synonym | 1 | Easy |
In this section, 11-12 questions (in about 15-20 minutes with 90% accuracy) would be considered a good attempt.
(iii) Sub-section: QUANTITATIVE ABILITY AND DATA INTERPRETATION
There were 20 questions in the section, out of which 16 questions were on quantitative ability and 4 questions were on Data Interpretation. The Quantitative Ability section was dominated by 6 Geometry questions and then followed by 5 questions of Arithmetic. Overall, the section was Medium in terms of level of difficulty and it was one notch more difficult than the corresponding section last year. The majority of the questions had as many as 8 options.
There was one calculation intensive set on Data Interpretation involving a bar graph with a table involving 4 questions. The set was a straight-forward one with average figure calculation.
Following was the break-up of the questions in the Quantitative Ability section:
| Area | No. of Qs | LOD |
| Arithmetic | ||
| Average,Mixtures & Alligations, Linear Race, Ratio-Proportion, Percentages, Partnership. | 5 | Medium – Difficult |
| Algebra | ||
| Quadratic | 1 | Difficult |
| Geometry | ||
| Rectangle, Pentagon, Cylinder, Trigonometry – 3 | 6 | Medium – Difficult |
| Modern Math | ||
| Set Theory (Venn Diagram), Probability | 2 | Difficult |
| Numbers | ||
| Sequence – odd one out, Factors | 2 | Medium |
| Data Interpretation | ||
| Bar Graph & Table | 4 | Difficult |
In this section, an attempt of about 9-10 questions in about 30 minutes with around 90% accuracy would be considered good.
(iv) Sub-section: GENERAL AWARENESS: The General Awareness section consisted of 10 questions. Out of the 10 questions, 6 questions were of ‘match the column’ type while 4 were based on marketing and branding. Also, Static GK contributed 2 questions while the remaining 8 questions were based on current affairs.In this section, an attempt of 7 – 8 questions in about 5-7 minutes with 70 percent accuracy would be considered good.