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The first session of CAT 2015 was conducted from 9AM to 12 noon across the country at 650 testing sites in 136 test cities. The IIMs and TCS successfully completed the conduct of CAT 2015 though some students did report a few glitches in the test-taking experience on account of the test window freezing unexpectedly. The majority of students who had this issue reported that there was no loss of time but a few aspirants reported losing time after the test restarted. CAT 2015 which is being conducted in just two slots in one day reflects a huge change compared to the 40 slot-25 day tests we have come to know CAT as, since 2009 when CAT went online for the first time.

Students have reported that the Candidate verification process was done in a very efficient manner this year with the mandatory photograph and fingerprints being recorded in less than a minute. At a couple of centres it was reported that no frisking was done before allowing test takers to enter the examination centre. At a couple of centres, it was reported that there was no record kept of the rough sheets given to the students (which students are supposed to account for while returning the same after the completion of the exam). It will help ensuring that the security procedures are standardised and implemented without any laxity at all centres.

As disclosed by the IIMs, the CAT paper consisted of three sections – Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC), Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR) and Quantitative Ability (QA) with 34, 32 and 34 questions respectively. Each section had a sectional time limit of 60 minutes. The surprise this year was the 'high' number of Non Multiple Choice Questions (Non MCQs) across the three sections. It has been seen that as much as one third of the questions were non MCQ (33 Qs out of 100 Qs) which would contribute to increasing the 'difficulty level' of the paper and would have put the brakes on all those who take chances and mark answers based on random guesses. A brief summary of the test is given below.

Let us have a closer look at the sections -

Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension:
The VARC section can be classified to be of the 'Moderate-Difficult' level of difficulty. The reason for this classification is that the section lacked sitters in the form of Vocab and Grammar based questions and thus the attempts wouldn't be touching 30+. The RC section had three passages of 6 Qs and two passages of 3 Qs which was different from what the instructions page suggested. While students found the RC passages easy to read and comprehend, the Qs did pose problems on account of some very close answer options. The Verbal questions covered Para-Jumbles, Summary based Qs and Odd One Out. The VA part can be classified as 'Difficult' on account of all 10 Qs being the 'Non MCQ type' which would reduce both, the number of attempts as well as the accuracy.

Data Interpretation Logical Reasoning:
The LRDI section can be classified to be of 'Very Difficult' level of difficulty. The section had 4 sets of DI and 4 sets of LR with 8 Qs of the non MCQ form. The complexity of these sets meant that the students could attempt only around 2-3 complete sets, and could perhaps dabble in the other sets, managing to crack one odd question in them. There were one LR and one DI set which were considered straightforward. The rest of the sets were difficult on account of the complex data given which required aspirants to commit more time to each set than what they would have initially planned. A good understanding of Quantitative concepts would have come in handy in this section. Most students have reported a lower number of attempts in this section and the cut-offs would be well on the lower side.

Quantitative Ability:
The Quantitative section can be classified to be of 'Moderate' level of difficulty. A few innocuous questions ended up being trickier on account of the way the questions were framed. Further, for many aspirants the section would have seemed to be more difficult on account of the fatigue factor of a lengthy exam. Many questions involved application of basic concepts and a well prepared student would have found quite a few to be outright easy. However, the number of attempts might not reflect this on account of the large number of non MCQ questions which would have prevented students from going for half guesses. Students who have covered the basics extensively have reported a higher number of attempts which reinforces the importance of concept building.

Many students were particularly at praise for the kind of help provided by T.I.M.E. through the AIMCATs, the concept videos and the special workshop sessions conducted. The videos in particular were of major help in cementing the conceptual understanding, they said.

For those of you looking at this analysis to get some idea about CAT 2016, please be advised that CAT is known to surprise us every year. Whether the current pattern be retained for CAT 2016 is a question that as of now nobody (except may be only the CAT/TCS authorities) has an answer for. Therefore, the prudent approach to take for CAT 2016 would be to keep your scope of preparation wide enough to include all possible variations in content/difficulty level/pattern etc.
With the CAT over, the focus now shifts to SNAP and XAT. We advise the students to put the CAT exam behind them and prepare for the upcoming exams and the subsequent GWPIs in all seriousness. A very large component in the 2nd phase depends on the kind of prep one puts in these 2-3 months.

Do check out the "Call Predictor" to get an estimate of how many IIM calls you could land, based on the number of your attempted questions and expected accuracy.

In the light of the IIMs explicitly disallowing the sharing of any exam-related information, no student / coaching institute / online portal can share questions or other information about the exam with anybody. No such information can also be posted on any forum on the internet. So, T.I.M.E. has put a policy in place where

1. No T.I.M.E. person will share information about the test
2. T.I.M.E. will not encourage/ask students to disclose details about the content of the test that they took
3. T.I.M.E. will not allow anybody to post such information on its website www.time4education.com