Is Cracking CAT This Easy?

CAT-2009: What Was The Big Deal?

2009-12-07T02:00:00.000-08:00

The Big CAT has finally been belled by the Mouse!
In this last one week, CAT has made many funny headlines. It has because a cause of uproar from Indian Parliament to the Confines of Drawingrooms across the country. various coaching institutes have written Open letters to IIMs, championing the cause of students! Blogs are flooded with a call for re-test, discussions rampant with critiques of IIMs!!
While I agree with almost everything said by everyone, let us take it fair and straight - What is done, is done. IIMs are not going to scrap the test or retake for anyone whose test was not hampered by any technical glitches. While accepting the fact that teething troubles in a venture of such measure should only be expected; the scale of mismanagement has left a lot to be desired on part of IIMs and Prometric.
At the same time, when less than 1% applicants are admitted by IIMs, technical glitches for anything more than 0.1% of students should be unacceptable. But with all the prejudices held by authority that be at IIMs, and 'the disdain for everyone in society till one is in IIMs' that administration at IIMs carry; do we expect IIMs to rethink the process?!?! Do we expect that IIMs would do what XLRI boldly did a few years ago - scrap the online test and hold paper-based instead!
Now if we let that be the case, and move on from here on; what do we expect from CAT that was not to be. We do not know how IIMs are going to equate scores from two different slots. Perhaps, they are yet do devise a formula that can be defended (Note: Not a formula that is just!). Reason enough for not declaring what score test-takers have obtained in an online test! Reason enough to schedule results exactly 45 days after the last of the students takes an online test! Reason enough not to declare in advance weightage to be given to academics, work-experience, test, and GD-PI. Well, the trial-and-error run continues after selection of 47 batches for IIMs.
Yet, students have taken CAT. Students are wondering what attempts would be good. Students are worried what score would fetch them an IIM call. Here is my take: Assuming +6, -2 for a correct and wrong attempt respectively, a score of 228 would place a student safely above vagaries of IIM Directors. Score of 228 should almost mean 99.5+ percentile. [50 attempts with 80% accuracy]
Score of 198 to 228 [45 attempts with 80% accuracy] can fetch a call depending upon how IIMs decide to equate scores of different slots.
Score of 162 [40 attempts with 75% accuracy] should come close to 95%-ile and a score of 120 [35 attempts with 75% accuracy] should earn a student almost 90%-ile.
While a careful analysis has gone into coming to this estimate, depending upon my students' reviews; I , of course, do not have a solid explanation - I presumably do not have questions and answers from the test!

Great Results from FuturiSM!!!.... Once Again We Delivered Future to Present...

2008-01-09T19:30:00.000-08:00

Folks....

It's a celebration times at FuturiSM!!!

CAT-07 results are out... and FuturiSM has once again proved itself to be the best Education Solution Provider in the city of Surat.

3 of 9 IIM Call Getters from the City are FuturiSM Students - Futurists.... Congratulations Anup Maheshwari, Arpit Solanki, & Neeraj Meena!!!!!

All India MAT Topper with 800/800 is a Futurist - Congratulations Kishor Sharma!!!

Friends, FuturiSM this year had 31 students appearing in CAT-2007. The results of 24 are known so far...

And of 24 students:-

6 have scored more than 96%-ile
10 have scored more than 90%-ile
Congratilations Parth Agrawal for Scoring 96%-ile, highest ever for CKPCET students

99.84%-ile, 99.40%-ile, 98.20%-ile, 97.28%-ile, 96.76%-ile, 96.00%-ile...

FuturiSM Welcomes you all to the "Achievers Zone: FuturiSM"!

Verbal Keys for CAT-2007 (Set 222)

2007-11-18T23:52:00.000-08:00

RC Passage: The difficulties historians......
51. Why do islands with.......................................... (4)
52. According to the author, why prediction........ (5)
53. According to the author, which....................... (3)
Para Jumbles:
54. In America, ........................................................ (4)
55. Personal Experience ......................................... (1)
56. Indonesia............................................................ (5)
57. I had six thousand............................................. (2)
RC Passage: To discover the relation..........
58. What is the author............................................ (1)
59. The term 'loci..................................................... (3)
60. The author of this............................................. (5)
Grammar Questions:
61. When I returned............................................... (1)
62. So once an.......................................................... (5)
63. It is sometimes................................................. (3)
RC passage: Every civilized........
64. In the passage, the........................................... (2)
65. The sea and ...................................................... (1)
66. According to the .............................................. (3)
Para Completion:
67. Characters......................................................... (5)
68. Nevertheless.................................................... (1)
69. Mma Ramotswe............................................... (3)
RC Passage: Human Biology.......
70. What is the thematic....................................... (5)
71. Which of the following...................................... (2)
72. It has been claimed......................................... (1)
Grammar/Word Usage Questions:
73. The cricket council........................................... (1)
74. The further/farther ....................................... (5)
75. Regrettably/regretfully.................................. (3)

Keys to DI Section in CAT-2007 (Set 222)

2007-11-18T22:43:00.000-08:00

Set of table of costs:
26. What is the approximate cost....(2)
27. What is the minimum................. (3)
28. Given that the company............ (1)
29. If the company reduces............. (5)
Table of lass averages
30. What is the percentage of vegetarian.... (1)
31. In class 12, .................................. (5)
32. What is the percentage of male. (2)
33. -----------------
Data on surgeries....
34. A US citizen.................................. (3)
35. Approximately, .......................... (4)
36. Taking the cost............................ (1)
37. The rupee value.......................... (2)
Table of airline.....
38. What is the lowest price............ (4)
39. The company plans.................... (2)
40. If the airports............................. (3)
41. If the prices include.........10%.. (2)
42. If the prices include........ 15%.. (4)
Table on Diet...
43. Which among............................... (4)
44. In what proportion..................... (5)
45. The company is planning.......... (5)
46. For a recuperating..................... (1)
DS Questions.....
47. Five students............................... (4)
48. Thirty percent............................ (3)
49. In a football................................. (5)
50. In a particular school................ (1)

Quants Answer Keys to Set-222 of CAT-2007

2007-11-18T22:18:00.001-08:00

Folks,

Every institute has put up the answer keys. I, at first thought, why should I add to confusion. But then of course - there has to be someone to clear the air of confusion surrounding answer keys to CAT paper.

Here are my Keys according to set-222. The questions are identified with first few words so as to enable students with other sets to work out their performance.

1. Consider four digit............... (4)
Cities A and B....
2. What is the time................... (3)
3. hat is the plane's .................. (1)
4. In a tournament .................. (5)
Let S be the set......
5. For general n, how many.... (3)
6. For general n, consider ....... (3)
7. Consider the set S = {2,....... (1)
8. Ten Years ago, ..................... (4)
9. A function f(x) satisfies........ (5)
DS Questions.....
10. Consider integers x, y ....... (1)
11. Rahim plans......................... (1)
12. The average weight............ (1)
13. ABC Corporation ................ (2)
Let a1 = p and b1 = q......
14. Which of the following......... (5)
15. If p = ..................................... (3)
16. Two circles ........................... (2)
17. The price of darjeeling ........ (2)
18. A quadratic function............ (1)
Shabnam is considering ...........
19. The maximum guaranteed.. (2)
20. What strategy will........ (1)
Mr. David manufactures...
21. How many units.................. (1)
22. What is the maximum........ (3)
23. Suppose you have a ............. (2)
24. A confused bank teller ........ (3)
25. How many pairs.................... (4)

CAT-2007: What to Expect in CAT-07?

2007-10-28T09:01:00.000-07:00

Folks,

Once again I am back with my gut feelings about CAT... the upcoming CAT-07 on 18th November 2007.

As is well known fact that CAT-07 is once again going to be for 150 minutes, and most expectedly with 75 to 90 questions. (Don't you see the CAT likening to GMAT - Increased time frame, fewer questions, easy quants and difficult verbal......)

Once again IIM-A has already given out minimum cut-off scores in each section, as in 2006. IIM-C has joined the club by announcing minimum cut-offs for various sections, though differential, unlike IIM-A.

As my observation for years suggest, when there were no pre-decided cut-offs and CAT was becoming tougher every year i.e. up till CAT-2005 - cut-off in quants section was going down with each passing year. In CAT-2005 it being as low as 7 for IIMs. This translated in just about 14 percent of the sectional marks. In earlier years too the quants cut-off had been just about 9-12. Since last CAT, IIM-A has made 25% score in each section a must and 33.33 % overall. In CAT-2004, overall cut-off was just about 48, and in CAT-2005 it was about 44. Once again 32% and less than 30% respectively.

I believe you understand why all these discussion became necessary here. This amply explains why the quants and DI sections were easier last year. Can they be any different this year? I doubt....!

Why then verbal section was tough last year? Well... I would ask you a question to answer this question... Was it tough? Or was it ambiguous? I believe it was ambiguous more than it was tough. I am still not convinced of a few answers given by IIMs in their published keys. Probably nobody is....

Well, as for sections....

Verbal: Fact, Inference and Judgements can surely be expected. But remember to read definitions well. They may just play a trick by altering the definition of these terms. RC and paragraph completion must also be there. Para-jumbles may just make a comeback, or it may be grammar that makes re-entry in CAT.

Quants: I believe the emphasis on arithmetic is only to continue, with Geometry getting little more or at least equivalent weightage as Algebra.

DI & Logic: For long, in fact, IIMs have done away with Data nterpretation. The emphasis in recent years have been more on analytical reasoning and data construction. The trend is here to stay.

Friends, I believe CAT is being divergent from other examinations. While focussing on CAT, which you must, do not loose sight of other examinations. Do not overlook old rules of the game, for still many a games are played by old rule book. I am refering to CATability test series of FuturiSM.

Wishing you all the Best of You....

Keys to Verbal Section in CAT-06

2006-11-24T06:47:00.000-08:00

Various institutes have given different keys to verbal section, and many of them being wrong have sent students into confusion. Here I am giving the correct keys to verbal section for CAT-06. The kyes are according to SET-111, but since questions are identified, students with other sets will also be able to understand...
Q. No. First few words of question Answer Option
26 Relations between... 3
27 We can usefully... 1
28 In the evolving... 2
29 I am sometimes..... 3
30 Age has a ...... 4
Passage starting with, "Our propensity...
31 In the context of science... 3
32 According to the passage, in this passage,... 1
33 Dogmatic Behaviour..... 3
34 Which of the following st.... 4
35 According to the passage, which of the ... 3
Passage starting with, "Fifteen years after...
36 Among all the apprehens..... 2
37 What, according to the author..2
38 The author cites examples... 4
39 Why, according to the author...3
40 Which of the following cannot...3
Passage starting with, "My aim is to...
41 A just society, as... 3
42 The original agreement.... 1
43 Which of the following best.... 2
44 Why, according to the passage...4
45 Which of the following situ... 4
Fact, Inference, Judgement Questions
46 According to all statistical.... 3
47 We should not be hopelessly... 5
48 So much of our day-to-day... 4
49 Inequitable distribution.... 2
50 Given the poor quality.... 3

I hope this sets aside all the anxiety that students have been facing since Sunday afternoon...

CAT-06: My - bid for 100 percentile, Experience, Expected Cut-offs

2006-11-20T01:38:00.000-08:00

Friends,CAT this year was a mild surprise, not a jolt... few changes made to the pattern for the sake of changes... like 5 options per question, which logically brought down negative marks to 1/4 of the marks allotted to the question. 4 marks per question, was more for a bigger spread between consecutive students than anything else.

DI section was easier than last year, but yet was very much analytical. Students who focussed more on comprehension of data before solving a question definitely benefitted. In 50 minutes, one could safely have gone for 15-17 attempts with 80% accuracy, fetching 45-48 marks in the section.

Verbal section was really what can be called a tough nut to crack... Options were close, many questions required two readings, mainly difficult to comprehend, and options difficult to differentiate. On the other hand time was definitely not a constraint, as has been in past. One had sufficient time to read, re-read, comprehend and answer... 17-18 attempts with about 66% accuracy was very much possible. This would have brought 40+ marks.

Quantitative, unlike last year, was very easy. Questions were straight forward, and do-able. In 50 minues, one could have attempted 20 questions with 85% accuracy, fetching 65 marks very comfortably.This would mean that total of 140 in the test was very much achievable, though the cut-offs are going to be much less. Though various institutes are putting cut-off for IIM call between 92-110, my bet would be not less than 120.

Also at 120, the percentile score should be about 98.7, at 100 about 96, at 90 about 92, at 75 about 85.I may be thinking of higher cut-off because of relatively better performance of FuturiSTs...!!!Well friends... wishing you all the very best of YOU for the upcoming examinations...

As for my tryst with CAT, I have attempted 72 questions and would be getting something like 220-230 marks out of possible 300. This definitely puts me very close to achieving 100 percentile in CAT. rest we shall come to know on 2nd january, 2007.

As I saw the paper, 75 questions... 150 minutes... each question carrying 4 marks with negative of 1 mark per wrong attempts... it did got me thinking... expecting something difficult. Well, on the signal to start, I thought would go through the pages once, so as to judge the paper well and decide on which section to emphasis more. The first section - DI looked comfortable, in Verbal Ability read instruction regarding completion of paragraph and felt good about it, so LR questions Fact/Inference/udgement and was little surprised but undeterred, and finally saw Quants... read a couple of questions and felt comfortable. This took about two minutes.

Decided that none of the section was undoable, and hence will give equal importance to each section and equal time too. Then I started with my DI section. For a flip second, I thought whether I should take verbal section first. Then I thought either way, if I should to score 100 percentile, I ought to be comfortable with everything.

I started with DI section. I could not solve the first set about team formation well, spent 10 minutes, switched to second set about class X students' marks. Solved second set in 10 minutes sharp. Could solve third set of Erdos too in 10 minutes with exception of 1 question. The fourth set of shares was easy and could solve completely in another 8-9 minutes. Final set in DI about fuel and toll cost was time consuming. Yet did something and left it after 10 minutes. Spent about 53 minutes on DI (including 2 minutes for assessment of the test.). Felt the section to be easy barring one set - the final one. Attempts: 21.

Then switched to Verbal. Completed the section in exactly 50 minutes, leaving me 47 minutes for Quants section. Verbal was tough, the options were close, questions were incomprehendible at first reading. But since time was not a constraint, could read many questions twice, a passage twice and ensured good accuracy. When I reached questions on LR - Facts, Inference, Judgement - was surprised with the difficulty level of questions. But, had sufficient time to read every sentence twice and attempt the answer. Attempts: 24

When I reached my Quants section, I had 47 minutes to complete the section. Went through the section very smoothly, without any hitches... could solve a couple of questions with two different approaches too... moved on carefully yet continuously... did 23 questions in 34 minutes, leaving me 13 minutes to review my paper.

Went back to DI, studied first set again and got it right this time, was overlooking one fact that L and N cannot be together. Went to toll and fuel cost problem, and corrected 2 questions there. taking my attempts in DI to 24. Went to Quants and went for wild guess for 1 question taking my tootal attempts to 72.

My scores in three sections, as I evaluate now should be: 81, 86 & 60 respectively... totalling 227... it seems, my dream of scoring 100 percentile is close to realisation...

My learning from CAT:

Must invest 2 minutes to assess the test before starting, so that you can plan out your approach well.
Must not be deterred by anything, maintain cool and move through the test continuously.
Must not get bogged down by any question... if time that we can allote to a question or a set is over - move on.
Be prepared for the variety... be prepared for tough as well easy exams...
One may move slowly, but move surely.

My Expectations of Cut-offs:

IIMs: 120+
SP Jain, MDI, NITIE: 100+
IMT: 95+
TAPMI, Nirma, IMI: 88+
LBS, UBS, KJSomaiya, Wellingkars: 80

I am definitely citing higher cut-offs than all others. If we go logically...

Test being easier than 2005, would definitely add 5 marks to cut-offs of 45 last year.
Additional half an hour should add 5 more marks to cut-off.
Reduction in negative from 1/3 to 1/4 should add about 2 more marks to cut-off.
These would take cut-off to 57 out of 150 as in last year, and 114 out of 300 this year.
Add to this, increased population of CAT aspirants, and estimate of 120 being cut-off is definitely not on higher side.

Well, it surely was a great experience...

CAT-2006 (CAT-06) Pattern… What it May be Like?

2006-10-20T02:58:00.000-07:00

Dear Folks!

Here are few prognosis of what CAT-2006 may look like –

1. No Change: It may actually entail no change from CAT-05, except for the time frame. As we all know that cut-off for IIM Calls was about 44-45 last year, with a huge number of IIM Call-getters between 44 & 50. This actually made CAT less relevant in second stage of selection process, as the performance in written test was not much differentiable. With increase in time frame, we can safely assume that this range of 44 to 50 would be widened to say about 50 to 65, affording more weightage to CAT performance even at second stage; as only cumulative performance is taken into consideration.

2. Change in Number of Questions: IIMs may increase the number of questions while maintaining difficulty level much the same as last year. Though, this seems less likely, if it happens, it will offer more choices to students and actually make test a bit easier. Also increased time limit would ease pressure to some extent.

3. Increase in Difficulty Level of Questions: IIMs may maintain the number of questions same as last year and increase the difficulty level of questions. More likely to happen, this would further tilt balance in favour of more logical and analytical minds. This would also bring out some new structure of questions – particularly in verbal section – requiring better comprehension, and greater reasoning ability.

4. Increase in difficulty level may extend the differential marking system to include even 3 marks questions or to making some questions compulsory. Making questions compulsory in a sense that not attempting such questions would earn greater negative marking than even getting them wrong would.

5. If we analyze the changing pattern of CAT over the years, few things become very apparent –
· Ability to deal with pressure is a key ability which is being tested more and more with every passing CAT.
· Time management and strategy have become singularly most important aspects of successful attempt at CAT.
· DI-Reasoning section has not only increased in difficulty, it now seeks organizational and decision making skills more than row calculations. Ability to deal with huge amount of obscure data, and ability to make sense out of it - is what is key to performance in this section. Remember tables with some missing values, or finding the range of value and answering maximum or minimum values…
· Verbal section too has over the years moved away from bare memorizing word-lists to more analytical and logical question types. Questions on contextual usage, on para-jumbling, on paragraph summary, on paragraph completion… don’t all these require very good understanding of language and a good deal of logical reasoning ability?
· Quants section has also scaled few notches on difficulty ladder. In good old days, knowledge of concepts and formulas was sufficient answer many questions correctly, whereas today what is required is the ability to apply this knowledge to various situations and conditions. This again requires very good analytical skills to be able to solve good number of questions in CAT.

Whatever the CAT may be like, one who would be able to bell this CAT would be the one who does not approach CAT with any preconceived notion of how it is going to be.

My Experiences with CAT-2005 (CAT-05)

2006-10-16T21:49:00.000-07:00

Reported at 10:30, the test was to start at 11:00. This half an hour passed as an eternity since was never habituated to sit idle for so long. Nevertheless, found something that could be done - see through the cover page and identify how many questions, sections are there in the test. Could very well make out that the test had three sections of 50 marks each with 30 questions each - 10 of which should be 1 mark questions, and 20 of two marks questions. This also sent a shiver down the body as only 90 questions definitely meant a tougher test - but then the thought came - would it not make it easier for me to score 100 percentile? And the fears were cast aside. I decided that I would not give more than 12 minutes to 1 mark questions in each section, and that I must get all of them done and done right – if I were to score 100 percentile.

Still I had 15 minutes to kill, and then set out to carry out another of my pass-time activity - face reading of people around me. The girl next to me seemed average or may be good with little short on confidence. Some seemed unnecessarily very hyper active, some seemed tense. But one lady in far corner caught my attention as she seemed very certain of herself and determined. Well, the safest part of face reading in such circumstances is that you never get to verify your inferences, and so you can always feel you were right.

I set my watch to 11:00, and pulled out the key so that when the invigilater signals, I can push the key back in position and start my watch.

And the supervisor signaled the test to start. And I immediately started with Quants section as that being my forte, I could solve 9 questions in about 12 minutes, and was through with 1 mark questions in this section. But Alas! I forgot to start my watch at the signal to start the test. And I didn’t know exact time that I took for the section. This mistake was sure to cause me lot of anxiety through the test.

Then I continued with the test in sequential order till I came to the passage on “Derrida”, and yes it was this passage that cost me my dream of 100 percentile. I started reading the passage, and made the mistake of not taking pause after reading a couple of sentences. A must pause that I suggest all my students was ignored by me out of my overconfidence in comprehension. I read about one-third of the passage without understanding much and thought of leaving that passage. And I made another mistake – took it as a challenge. Another mistake that I often warn my students against. I forgot that IIMs can surprise anybody and everybody. I took that passage as a test of my comprehension, and continued reading that and answering questions. It took me about full 10 minutes to do that passage, and got 1 right and 3 wrongs in the passage. 10 minutes and ZERO marks, and up went my dream of scoring 100 percentile.

DI and reasoning section was once again cool, owing to my comprehension of language, analytical skills and calculation speed.

My reading speed is no great, say 280-300 words per minute; but it’s my comprehension that always keeps me in good stead. It is this comprehending ability that ensures that I never have to read a maths question second time. Also analyzing DI and reasoning questions becomes much easy. Good comprehension saves a lot of time in CAT.

My phenomenal calculation speed is also an ability that helps me in such exams. Though CAT is continuously moving away from sheer calculation speed towards intelligent approaches; it is this ability that makes me comfortable with numbers, and helps me deal with multitude of information mentally – without the need for writing down everything. This helped me save much time in CAT.

While these were at the core of my ability to score 100 percentile, my undoing was to rely heavily on my competency, and mismanagement of my time.

Final results were 99.97 percentile in CAT-05, with 99.98 percentile in Quants, 98.74 percentile in DI-Logic, and 98.47 percentile in Verbal. Let alone for "Derrida", my 100 percentile dream would have come true...

This year, am again going for CAT, to realize my dream of getting 100 percentile.

Yes, I would like to mention one fact here that, though I am applying for CAT, am not marking any program in the application form so that I do not get a call at the expense of a genuine applicant.

My Strategy for CAT-2006 (CAT-06)

2006-10-17T21:57:00.000-07:00

Dear Folks!

It's exactly 32 days to CAT-2006, and I am thinking of my strategy for the upcoming CAT Exam.

I have, of course, prepared a strategy for this year…

The first thing, I am continuously thinking that I can make it… I am working on my attitude… telling myself… that it’s there in me. I need to believe in myself that it’s not impossible for me… and that I was too close last year itself… Everyday I am day-dreaming of what I would feel like seeing my score-card mentioning 100 percentile… everyday I am making plans to prepare my post to this blog once I receive 100 percentile…

The next big thing that I am doing for this year’s CAT is of course working on my comprehension of difficult texts… haven’t yet been able to forget “Derrida”… I know, a very good comprehension is my key to performing not only in verbal section, but even Quants and DI sections. This year, I have read about five novels and one classic, have made it a habit to read ‘Speaking Tree’ in The Times of India, am writing some précis, reading some of the difficult texts twice or may be even thrice… - This helps me understand how big or small is the gap in my comprehension…. By the way, haven’t I been prophesying all these to my students? Then shouldn’t I too must observe a strict discipline in my pursuit of realizing my dream? Also I understand, that my ability in quants section affords me certain logical and analytical thought process. So I must identify question types in verbal section which require logical thought process… Here, I have shortlisted questions on Para-Jumble, Paragraph Completion, Contextual usage of words, and Reading Comprehension… Up goes grammar questions… and may be even multiple usage of words too… Also I have decided to give about 55 minutes to verbal section, as I have decided not to be defensive in CAT… Not to give more time to my favourite section… but to one where I can get maximum trade-off… Though Quants is my favourite section, I must target a score of at least 30 in verbal section…

For Quants too, I d have thought of some kind of strategy – that I must not be required to read any question second time. Most students waste time in multiple readings of questions in CAT, instead I would focus on complete comprehension the first time I read a question – Though this has been my style for many years, nevertheless. Secondly I would ensure that I read all the questions in allotted 50 minutes to the section. Also I have decided to fix a time limit for 1 mark questions depending upon the number of 1 mark questions. When we do not fix time limit as such, we end up spending lot of time on 1 mark questions which do not offer a good trade-off. Quants doesn’t worry me much… but still, IIMs can surprise anybody and everybody…

When it comes to DI and Reasoning questions, once again similar time division online of quants section will have to be done. But I must be choosy about the sets that I choose among two marks questions… they can make or break my dream…

Finally, I am not going to take any question or question-set as a challenge to my competency, neither am I going to mismanage my time. Though I understand that I will have to be flexible in my time allocation to various sections… that part I leave to CAT – as in I would vary time depending on how am I moving through the exam…

CAT-06 is gonna be my day...