CAT : THE NEW PATTERN

                                                  

                                           SOME OBSERVATIONS

With the new format of CAT launched by IIM’s this past month, students have been forced to alter the way they attempt a paper. In this article I will try highlighting the major changes that the aspirants will have to undergo.

SECTION-1 QA/DI             :                

1)      With 30 questions in 70 minutes, this calculation heavy section will apart from posing problems to those who are weak in Quant; will also trouble people who used to allot greater time to this section from the time left after solving VA in the previous format.

2)      It is not easy to attempt all the questions in QA/DI as it has been found talking to aspirants that they are facing a paucity of time in this section while giving the mocks.

3)      Also, the most important question that arises as how to divide the time among QA and DI.

There is no clarity that QA will feature 20 questions or will QA always be followed by DI?

So, seeing a question and solving it as it comes may not be the best strategy , for you may never know that a easy DI set awaits you after a difficult QA section.

4)       The best way to solve this quagmire is to resort to all sorts of permutations during the mock season. Try different strategies and see which one is working(in terms of time and accuracy)

SECTION-2 VA/LR

1)      Contrary to the earlier section, it is seen that time is being left after solving this section by most people.

2)      Aspirants are submitting the tests before the actual time due to the vast resources available to them (Read:Time).

3)      The most important factor that needs to be then seen is the accuracy .Accuracy could be the deciding factor between a good and a great percentile.

4)      One also should be privy to different types of questions that can be asked in this section:

Critical Reasoning may make an appearance , so also could questions where parajumbles, sentence correction and Fill in the blanks are juxtaposed into 3-4 question sets.

This is the initial view/opinion of most people and it remains to be seen what the actual CAT would look like.

Does CAT identify the right candidate?

The answer is an outright NO.

It is indeed ludicrous to see the way the exam is conducted these days .Apart from worrying about the rc passages  and the di questions one now has to grapple with finding  the correct  day , date, time of the exam. One  should actually try to consult an astrologer to  identify the right 'mahurat' !

All CAT identifies are few select lucky people who burst into the limelight bewildered.They themselves are non plussed as to how did they manage such awesome scores.

I personally know many people who were shocked rather than elated after seeing their scores for the first time.

In fact some slots had hordes of people having outstanding percentiles where the paper was deemed easy.

On a more serious note, most of candidates that are shortlisted now would never get shortlisted had the process been fair and just to all.

My personal experience has shown a candidate with below average vocabulary managing a 99.98 in VA .Upon inquiring as to how did this happen ,he answered it was possible because of the very easy vocab that came in his paper.

How does normalisation work, how are difficult questions bench-marked , how are common questions selected for slots are all a mystery to me.

Moreover the mistakes/errors  in certain questions further ruins the candidate's test taking experience .It was found that numerous slots had mistakes in a number of questions.So, the scales are further turned against you.Good Luck. 

Any candidate with average english and decent logical skills is deemed fit to be a manager.Is that all what a manager should possess.

There are many other tangibles and intangibles involved here which are left untouched by CAT.

The only saving grace for the candidates are the other paper tests where each one is bench-marked against others on a same 'standard' of paper .

Whats the solution to this CAT harakiri :

It is time to have computer adaptive tests such as the ones  followed in GMAT where the correct picture of a candidate would be for all to see.

Also aspects like  candidates critical reasoning , his emotional intelligence need to be tested in some form to judge his suitability.

 No doubt hard work is important but it may not be rewarded immediately seeing the present state of affairs.