Data interpretation section was challenging

Common Admission Test (CAT), which is a national level MBA entrance exam, was conducted successfully  by IIM Kozhikode at 354 centres in 156 cities across the country on November 24. The exam was held in an online mode in two slots; s 9am to 12pm and  2.30pm to 5.30pm. Approximately 2.44 lakh candidates appeared for this test this year. 

This exam has two types of questions: 

a) MCQ (Multiple Choice Questions 

b) Non-MCQs.

Negative marking is assigned only to MCQs. The marking scheme is as follows: three marks for every correct answer and negative of 1 mark for every incorrect answer.

The overall difficulty level of the exam this year was moderate to tough. Out of the three sections, Verbal Ability Reading Comprehension was the toughest while Quantitative Aptitude and DILR were both equally intimidating.

Overall review

According to the test takers, the DILR section though  easier than the last   year's paper was the most odaunting of all the sections this time. There were 8 sets of 4 questions each. There were 8 TITA (Type in The Answer) questions out of the 32 questions asked in this section. An important attribute of this section was the fact that the DI sets did not entail a lot of calculations.

In the Quant section this time, a majority of the questions were from arithmetic and geometry.

According to the official CAT 2019 notification, the result of this exam is expected to be out in the second week of January 2020.

Students who are planning to appear for the exam next year should focus on achieving a raw score of 150 for 99 percentile. One must aim to attempt 60 questions with more than 90 per cent accuracy to crack the exam.

This exam analysis is prepared on the basis of the feedback shared by the CAT aspirants.

Highlights of the exam

The level of Reading Comprehension was the toughest in the past five years.

Level of Data Interpretation Logical Reasoning section was tough.

Quantitative Aptitude section was the easiest.

Total MCQ Questions were 75 and Non MCQ were 25.