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CAT 2010: Analysis of Day 1, Session 1

Last updated on: October 27, 2010 17:11 IST

This year CAT has varied expectations. With a longer timeframe, and one year to get their act together, Prometric and IIMs have trained staff, got their processes in place, and are much more organised this time. Glitches seem to be fewer.

To put your minds at ease and answer all your queries about the CBT CAT 2010, here is a short write up which enumerates the various points that you need to keep in mind while attempting the exam.

Tutorial (optional): Duration - 15 minutes.
We suggest, you go through the tutorial once, even if you have seen it before.

Test Duration:
The actual duration of the test is 2 hours and 15 minutes.

Sections covered:
Verbal Ability, Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning; not necessarily in that order.

Test Format and pattern:
Reports suggest a total of 60 questions with 20 from each section. The pattern is similar to CAT 2009.

Negative Marking:
There is negative marking. However, the marks per question and the actual negative marking is not known hence it is futile to speculate about the cut-offs.

Highlighting Text:
You can highlight text in group questions like RCs. You can make multiple highlights in a particular screen, which gets deleted once you switch to the next screen.
 
Reviewing Questions:
You can mark a question to come back to it later. You can then Review either all the questions or review only the marked questions or review only the incomplete questions. The review shows a list of all the questions, but it will not directly give you a count of the questions attempted or to be attempted. You will need to manually count the number of questions for such data.

Items provided for rough work:
Pencils, eraser and a paper booklet of 8 A4 size papers will be provided. You will not be allowed to take your own stationery into the computer lab. In case of broken or blunt pencil points, your pencil will be replaced immediately.

Timer:
The timer is present on the screen at all time and shows the time remaining till the end of the test. Wrist watches are not allowed into the computer lab. At the end of the test, when your time runs out, you will be automatically logged out of the test and a screen with "You have run out of time" text will be visible.

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Did you crack the CAT? What was the experience like? How did you begin your preparation and how did you plan your CAT strategy? Which are the most important study topics? What are the common problem areas that test-takers face and how did you approach them?

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What we don't know

Last updated on: October 27, 2010 17:11 IST

What we do know

Strategies

Last updated on: October 27, 2010 17:11 IST

As the marking system is unknown, the only strategy in hand is to attempt as many questions as possible without compromising on accuracy.

Students claim that the level of difficulty of CAT was similar to CAT 2009. Hence attempting more questions correctly will give you an edge.

It is recommended that a break up of 40 minutes for Verbal, 45 minutes for Quant and 50 minutes for DI-LR is optimum.