CAT 2014 first day first slot analysis

CAT 2014 first day second slot analysis!

CAT 2014 first day first slot is finally over. The session began smoothly at various centres across the country from 9:30 am. The session ended at 12:20 pm.

Know CAT 2014 Second Day Live Updates here!

Majority of CAT 2014 aspirants declared that the CAT exam 2014 has easy to moderate difficulty level.

CAT 2014 First Day reactions: Students find exam lengthy; report few glitches

According to Parasharan Chari, MBA expert at Endeavour Careers, “CAT Quant section is easier than the easiest Mock tests. CAT 2014 Verbal sections had the difficultly levels of a normal mock test. Overall - easier than majority of the mocks.”

Data Interpretation

DI was calculative. None of the sets were sitters. There were 4 sets of 4 questions each. One set which was an application of set theory which can be called easy. One was a game based set – a little time consuming but manageable and it can be called moderate. The other 2 sets were the typical sets which were calculative and were based around the typical percentage increase, percentage decrease formats. This subsection was calculative and hence time consuming.

Nervous? Here are tips to handle test day jitters  

Section 2 Analysis

Verbal Ability & Logical Reasoning

As predicted, the numbers are 34+16 i.e. 34 questions of Verbal Ability + Reading Comprehension and 16 questions of Analytical Reasoning. If we dig into subsections of CAT analysis, this is how the paper looks like:

Verbal Ability – can be broken down into Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension.

Verbal Ability

VA had the following break-up – 7 questions of Critical Reasoning, 4 questions of Parajumbles, 4 question of odd one out, 3 questions of Grammar. Parajumbles and Critical Reasoning can be called typical and hence a well prepared CAT student would find it easy to navigate through this. Critical Reasoning made a comeback after a good 6-7 years. CR was more or less present due to the RC based CR questions format. However, this year, it was a pleasant surprise and a deserved comeback. The 4 questions of odd one out was more on the lines of logical discontinuity wherein we were supposed to find the sentence which is the odd one out of the four given sentences wherein the remaining 3 form a coherent paragraph. All in all, a very standard Verbal Ability section.

Reading Comprehension

RC had 16 questions which were across 4 RCs. The RCs were moderately dense and hence did demand energy and concentration while solving the same, but the questions were relatively easy and it was helped by the fact that the options were easy. The 16 questions can be divided into 5 direct questions and 11 inference based questions. The topics covered by the RCs were across technology & history and this is the first time after a good 3-4 years that none of the topics like philosophy or psychology or some abstract concepts had a prominent presence. The catch or rather a thing to observe – the instructions clearly say that an RC will have 4 questions. But there were 2 RCs which had 3 questions back to back and a one question that came single and that was randomly placed in the paper. This surely can’t be a thought-after decision; it can be called a software bug or an overlook error for sure.

Analytical Reasoning

AR  was time consuming and hence can be called moderate to difficult. There were 4 sets of 4 questions each. 2 sets were easy, 1 is moderate and 1 can be called difficult. The general time consumption will be around 6-8 mins per set.

What to take care?

• Ensure you have the print out of the admit card, affix the photo and carry your identity proof which matches with the details on the admit card. View CAT 2014 exam day checklist.
• Two hours prior to the paper is the reporting time, 30 mins prior to the test, you are sitting in the testing cabin and then for 2 hours and 50 mins you give the test. The overall stamina required is around 3 and half hours, so regulating stamina plays a very important role as it slowly but steadily starts affecting the concentration levels.
• User Interface has changed in comparison to last year – question palette has been introduced. Previous button has been removed. “Question paper” button has been introduced. Anyone who has spent an hour with the CAT demo which has been uploaded on iimcat.ac.in will find it easy to navigate.
• We suggest a thorough study of the interface because there is a change and it is necessary you exhibit good control over the same. There is an absence of a previous button & hence necessary you get familiarised with navigation through the question palette. There is a question palette on the right which shows 50 questions at a time and the state of the question – answered, unanswered, unattempted, marked for review, answered and marked for review. Navigating through that is fine, but there could be careless mistakes owing to the fact that every answer gets saved only when the “save and next” button is pressed.

Final word

This is only the first slot analysis of CAT 2014. It would be stupid to predict or assume that the other slots will be the same. However, if this is how CAT continues to stay, it will be a good one for the well prepared. Stick to the basics, be aggressive, and get your selection right with independent questions. As far as the group questions are concerned (AR, RC, DI), just ensure you are mentally prepared to spend a good 6-8 mins on each set. The sets are methodical, time consuming, calculative & simple. Temperament and composure is the key. Too much of excitement and too much of nervousness both are equally harmful. You give it time, it will give you the answer, period.

All in all, a good one and it won’t be wrong if we say, we are back to CAT’99 or CAT’02. What used to work 15 years back, will work today!

Best wishes to the CAT takers.

Check out the CAT 2014 first day LIVE updates here.

About the Author

Parasharan Chari is an alumnus of SP Jain and is currently serving as the Chief Operating Officer at Endeavor Careers and is also associated with the design and development of its online testing portal www.CatGurus.com