Cat 2003 Paper Analysis 661k31

CAT- 2003 (Retest) Analysis Overview: The person most hated at this moment would surely be Ranjit Don. The vendetta of his thankless action was taken out on the students. First the students had to wait for almost 3 months for the test to re-happen. And after the long wait, they were taken by surprise by the above turn the CAT took. The pattern remained more or less similar to the exam held on 23rd November 2003 and also to CAT 2002 & 2001 except the level of difficulty. The paper was one of the toughest CATs so far for the simple reason that none of the 3 sections offered any respite. Usually one section of the three is pretty easy (for last 3 years it was the DI section), but this time students did not have any such luck. The DI section was unexpectedly different than that of previous CAT papers and was mix of questions based more on calculation rather than on counting. The only positive surprise was the relatively easy RC ages. With the pattern remaining that of 3 sections, one would not have any difficulty in dividing the 2 hours among the three sections. Ideally one could have spent 40 minutes on each section and the following table captures the possible number of attempts: Section #

Topics

# of Qs

Suggested time

Possible atte mpts

Possible Scores

Cutoffs

1

QA

50

40 min

18 - 20

16 - 18

14

2

EU+RC+IR 21+25+04

35 - 40 min

28 - 32

22 - 24

22

3

DI+DS+AR 26+04+20

40 - 45 min

22 - 24

18 - 20

16

120 min

70 - 75

60 - 62

58

TOTAL

150

Sectional Analysis: Section I: Quantitative Aptitude The break-up of this section with comparison to previous 3 years CAT is as follows : Topic

CAT 2003

CAT 2002

CAT 2001

Arithmetic

15

26

16

Number System

11

19

10

TSD/Time and Work

1

5

2

Percentages, SI,CI and PLD

2

0

4

Ratio & Proportion, Pipes

1

2

0

Algebra

13

9

15

Equations and inequalities

7

6

8

Progressions

2

1

2

Functions

3

2

2

Maxima /Minima

1

0

3

Geometry

14

9

13

Plane geometry

4

5

8

Mensuration

9

4

3

Coordinate + graphs + trigonometry

1

1

2

Base System

0

0

1

Calendar

0

0

1

5

1

3

Permutations & Combinations

3

5

1

TOTAL

50

50

50

Miscellaneous

As seen the number of questions from the Geometry & Mensuration increased substantially and questions on calendar & base system were totally absent. The presence of questions on algebra would have taken quite a lot of students by surprise. One could have gone about in this section using the round strategy and in the first round one could have solved around 10 -12 questions in 25 minutes by prudential selection of questions from Arithmetic and Algebra. In the remaining 15 min one could look at some of the questions from Geometry. Section II: EU & RC English

# of Qs

Possible Attempt

# of Qs in 2002

EU

25

19

25

Vocab - fill in the blanks

8

6

6

Vocab - contextual meaning

5

4

5

Para jumbles 5 sentences

8

6

5

Summarization

4

3

0

Vocab - dictionary meaning

5

Sentence Correction

4

Reading Comprehension25

25

15

Greek Art (No. of words 800)

5

History of aviation technology(No. of words 800)

5

Political science(No. of words 900)

5

12th century learning (No. of words 800)

5

5

Cultural capital( No of words 800)

5

5

5

25

TOTAL

50

30+

50

The following could have been easily identified about the RC ages : Greek art: 1.25 page, 5 questions. As we all know anything that has got anything to do with art or philosophy or mysticism (read Greek) generally makes us uneasy and slightly scared. Most people would have read these and left the age immediately. To add to this the questions were basically inferential. This age should have been left. History of aviation technology: 1 page, 5 questions. The age was quite easy and for most people would be interesting. All the questions were direct. If you look at the questions you'll see that a couple of questions actually told you where to look for the answers. That is to say that you could have afforded to not read the age and still get all the answers right. Political science: 1.25 page, 5 questions, language complex, 4 Qs can be answered by just reading the first paragraph and the remaining Qs by reading the last paragraph. 12th century learning: 1 page, 5 questions, language is not very tough, and also most questions were direct. Cultural capital: 1 page, 5 questions, language is pretty easy, questions were inferential and not direct. Based on this, one could have identified at least 3 ages that were comparatively easy and most of the questions could have been attempted from these. However, it was advisable to leave out the age on Political science that dealt with Panchayati raj as the answer choices were too close. Of course the Greek art one also. In EU, obviously the questions on vocabulary (fill in the blanks & identify incorrect usage) would have been the first choice to attempt. Of these 13 questions, 9 -10 attempts could have been made in 10 min. In Para jumbles one could have attempted 6 out of the 8 questions and got 5 correct. We came across a new question type that dealt with summarization. These questions could have been left in case one was running short of time. However except for the novel type of questioning, these were very easy and could have fetched 4 marks without much effort. Overall the section was relatively easy and attempts of 30-35 were possible and the cut -off would probably be around 22. Section III: Data Interpretation Sr. No.

Topic

# Of Qs

Possible Attempt

# of Qs in 2002

1.

Data Interpretation

26

14

32

Line Graph (1)

3

0

Table (4 sets)

14

24 (5 sets)

Mixed graph (Bar Chart) (3 sets)

9

6 (1 set)

Pie

2

2.

Analytical Reasoning (5 sets)

20

8

6 (Individual Qs) + 4(1 set)

3.

Data Sufficiency

4

2

8

TOTAL

50

22-24

50

Needless to say one should have adopted a strategy of "some of all" i.e. you need to pick up easy and short problem of most of the set and leave the rest of the questions of the set. In the questions on Data Interpretation, one could have seen the tables with extensive data as first choice as these sets though they have hazaar data, are usually counting based and have been easy in the previous years. But then one should also have been perceptive enough to identify that the set on sorting the countries by birth rate and death rate was pretty tricky and should have left this set or at most attempted just 1 or 2 easy questions. Similarly for the sets on Decathlon and Sex ratio in various states, choosing which question to attempt was the key. Having understood that the tables are pretty difficult, one should have immediately moved to the Line and Bar graphs, which were comparatively easier. 3 of the 4 DS question were simple and the one too be left out was obvious because of its length. Someone who is good at AR could have capitalized on the AR questions and made up for the difficult DI sets. Overall Analysis and cut-offs A net score of 58+ will ensure calls from IIMs and score of 55 from NITIE/MDI/SPJain. 50 would fetch a call from TAPMI/MICA and 40 would be good enough for IMI/FORE/Nirma/KJ Somaiya… In brief… Section

Questions

Suggested Attempts

Possible Scores

Cut offs fordefinite calls

EU + RC

50

28 - 32

22 - 24

22

Quant

50

18 - 20

16 - 18

14

DI + DS + AR

50

22 - 24

18 - 20

16

Total

150

70 - 75

60 - 62

58

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