CAT 2016 Analysis : Slot 1 & 2

CAT 2016 was the same as last year.  3 hour exam with 100 questions with sectional breakup of 1 hr each.
34 questions for VA + RC
32 questions for DI+LR
34 questions for Quant.

Slot 1 Details:

Section
No. of Questions
No. of Non MCQ Questions
Difficulty level
Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension
34
10
Moderate
Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning
32
8
Time Consuming
Quantitative Ability
34
7
Easy to Moderate
Total
100
25
Moderate


Sectional analysis:
VA+RC: Biggest hurdle was Accuracy in Non MCQ Questions

This section had 24 questions from RC. Some RC s had 3 questions and some had 6 questions. Passages were interesting read and questions were as usual. Like central idea or primary purpose, meaning to certain difficult sentences, some critical thinking based questions. Here, students understanding about author's opinion, tone etc will help in answering questions.
RC was in general manageable, though someone who has not read questions well and has not applied enough thinking to answer may get into trouble.

Roughly 20 questions of RC may take more than 40 min.

VA was challenging as three varieties were asked and most of them were of non MCQ format. These three varieties were odd-one out for para formation, para jumble and summary of the passage.
Para jumble may have taken some more time then usual as they were without any options.

Overall, the section was of medium difficulty level and an attempt of 26+ questions would be considered a decent attempt.

Area
Topic
No. of Qs
Good Attempts
Reading Comprehension
5 passages
24
17-18
Verbal Ability
Para-jumble
4
1-2
Para-jumble Odd Man Out
3
3
Summary
3
3


DI+LR Section

This section was lengthy as usual. Though the sets were not very tough but time consuming. 2 sets were particularly very difficult. Rest of them were of medium difficulty level.
Many case based analysis questions were there, and questions were involving application of 5-6 constraints and some basic mathematics.

As it was time consuming, an attempt of 16 questions is considered to be a good attempt for 99%tile candidate.
Area
Topic
No. of Questions
Good Attempts
Data Interpretation
Veg/Non Veg
4
3-4
Exam pass Percentage
4
4
Movies
4
2
Train
4
4
Logical Reasoning
T-Shirts
4
1-2
Venn Diagram
4
3-4
Marks
4
2
Folders
4
1-2


QA Section

There were in all six questions were wrong in the test paper. They were so obviously wrong and it is really not expected out of CAT.

This section was reasonably easy section out of all. In thi section, questions were from all the areas of Quant syllabus. Like number system, questions were of remainder, prime numbers , addition of series etc.

Arithmetic questions were very easy especially of compound interest. Work and time, speed+distance questions were also easy. Mixture allegations were time consuming. Some geometry questions were easy some were though. But some Questions were definitely time consuming and tricky. Questions on permutations were also manageable. Overall an attempt of 26+ questions could be good.
If there were no so many wrong questions, the attempt could be more.


Area
Topic
Description
No. of Questions
Good Attempts
Quantitative Ability
Geometry & Mensuration
 Incentre, Triangle based questions, Rectangle area, 
7
3-4
Progressions
 finding nth number, finding common ratio
4
3
Numbers
 Prime number multiplication, remainders
3
3
Arithmetic
AMA, TW, CI, TD, P&L, Ratio, Equations
10
8-9
Algebra
Inequalities, Quadratic Equations, 
9
6
P&C

1
1



Slot 2 Details:
Sectional analysis:
VA+RC: Biggest hurdle was Accuracy in Non MCQ Questions


Area
Topic
No. of Qs
Good Attempts
Reading Comprehension
5 passages
24
17-18
Verbal Ability
Para-jumble
4
1-2
Para-jumble Odd Man Out
3
3
Summary
3
3


DI+LR Section: Number of Non-MCQs reduced compared to SLOT 1. In Slot 1, there were 8 Questions of Non MCQ. And in this slot, there were only 4 Non-MCQ Questions. 

This section was lengthy as usual. Though the sets were not very tough but time consuming. 2 sets were particularly very difficult. Rest of them were of medium difficulty level.
Many case based analysis questions were there, and questions were involving application of 5-6 constraints and some basic mathematics.

As it was time consuming, an attempt of 16 questions is considered to be a good attempt for 99%tile candidate.
Area
Topic
No. of Questions
Good Attempts
Data Interpretation
Bank Model
4
3-4
Venn Diagram
4
4
Experts, Product Features
4
2
Tech/Non-Tech
4
1-2
Logical Reasoning
Coding
4
4
Conference Room
4
3-4
Restaurant Rating
4
2
Water Supply
4
1-2


QA Section:

Area
Topic
Description
No. of Questions
Good Attempts
Quantitative Ability
Geometry & Mensuration
 Area-Volume, Median, Triangle similarity, Coordinate geometry
6
4-5
Progressions
 Finding nth number, how many numbers common
2
2
Numbers
 Prime number, last digit based questions, 
6
4-5
Arithmetic
AMA, TW, CI, TD, P&L, Ratio, Equations
13
10
Algebra
QE,Inequalities, Progressions, 
4
2
P&C

3
1

Verdict:

It is unclear that what will be the approach by CAT officials for 6 wrong questions in the Slot 1 and  1 wrong question in Slot 2. However, if we remove this ambiguity, we get to understand following cut-off.


Sectional Cutoff Score

Percentile
VARC
DILR
QA
85
45
30
45
95
55
36
55
99
65
42
65


Overall Cutoff Score

Percentile
Total Marks
97.5
150
99
170



All the best for other exams.

Comments