Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension:

The VARC section of Slot 3 was relatively easier than the morning and afternoon slots. The pattern remained the same across three slots – 16 from Reading Comprehension and 8 from Verbal Ability. Both the RC and the VA parts of this slot were the easiest among the three slots.

Overall, the four Reading Comprehension passages were fairly readable, and not difficult to comprehend. However, many of the questions were inference-based and required a thorough understanding of the author’s perspective. There were quite a few questions that were tricky in their phrasing, such as questions which had ‘triple negatives.’

The passage on ‘Impact of AI on Culture’ was a moderate read since most students would be familiar with the topic. However, the passage had a couple of difficult questions. Students could have attempted this passage towards the end of the section.

The passage on ‘Extinction of Languages’ was the easiest passage in the section. It was easy-moderate both in terms of readability and the difficulty of the questions. This passage was one that students could have confidently attempted.

The passage on ’Contamination of Mars’ was the toughest of the lot, with some unfamiliar references. The ideas discussed may have been difficult to comprehend for some students. The passage did have a couple of easy questions, though. Adept readers would have managed to answer 2 – 3 questions correctly from this passage. For students struggling with speed, this was the passage they could have skipped.

The passage on ‘Chinese Liquor’ was another doable passage. This was moderate at the reading level as well as at the questions level. This was another passage most students could have attempted with a high degree of accuracy.

The VA part was relatively easier compared to the other two slots. The Sentence Placement questions were mostly moderate, with one easy question. The Para Summary questions in this slot were easier compared to the other slots. The Odd One Out questions in this slot were more difficult than those in the morning slot but easier than those in the afternoon slot.

Overall, the section was of moderate difficulty and the easiest VARC section across the three slots.

A net score of 22 – 24 marks would be a decent score for a test-taker to be able to clear the cutoff.

Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning:

The DILR section of the evening slot was slightly easier than the morning and afternoon slots, in terms of the difficulty. There were no changes in the section pattern across the slots. All three slots had five sets – two 5-question sets and three 4-question sets. While students had the advantage of having more choices, the way some of the sets were presented made it slightly difficult to select the right sets.

One notable difference between this slot and the other two slots is that the morning and afternoon slots had at least one difficult chart (the morning slot had a candlestick chart, and the afternoon slot had bubble charts). This slot had a bar graph and a line graph, which would have been a relief for students.

There were two sets that were doable and one set which could have been doable for some of the students, though not all. Those who selected sets after properly understanding the information given in the sets would have been well placed to get their selection right.

The set wise details are as below:

The set on “ATM Network” was a 5-question Quant Based Reasoning set. There were three rows and three columns, with six slots, and ATM machines had to be placed in these slots. Students said that there was not a lot of information given in the conditions and each condition had multiple possibilities, which made figuring out the first step itself difficult. But once this step was figured out, the rest of the set was doable. Students could have attempted this one provided they cracked the first step. Otherwise, skipping the set would have been a better choice.

The set on “Content in Food Grains” was a 4-question Quant Based Reasoning set. But the set was pretty lengthy and involved a lot of reasoning, which made it quite time-consuming and difficult to solve the set. Students could have skipped this one.

The set on “AC Temperature” was a 5-question Line Graph set. One had to figure out how the temperature changed at different times based on the given graph. While the conditions did give a fair amount of information, the set was slightly difficult with parts of the set being reasoning intense, which could have posed some trouble. This was a set that students need not have attempted.

The set on “OTT users” was a 4-question Bar Graph Set. There was also a table provided in the set, which was not hard to interpret. There was not a lot of reasoning involved in the set, which made it a good set to select. This was the easiest set in the section and students should have attempted this.

The set on “Countries GDP” was a 4-question Table-based DI set. The information given pertained to GDP and population of countries. The information given was in terms of percentage values in comparison to 2 other countries. Students who have done adequate practice with DI would have been able to solve this set. Because the set was of moderate difficulty level, students should have attempted this set, but after attempting the other easier set in the section.

Overall, the section could be deemed difficult, albeit slightly easier than Slots 1 and 2. Those who have taken a good number of AIMCATs would have come across a similar distribution of sets across DI and LR and were relatively well placed to select the right sets.

A net score of 18 – 20 marks should suffice for the candidate to clear the sectional cut-off of 85 percentile.

Quantitative Ability:

The QA section of Slot 3 was relatively easier compared to Slot 1 and Slot 2. Overall, this year’s QA is decidedly easier than last year’s QA. Students who heard the feedback about the other two slots and expected a not-so-tough QA section, thankfully, were not in for any rude surprises. This slot also had a good number of questions that tested students on the application of concepts and those who’ve been thorough with their revision of the concepts would have done well.

The section had 2 easy, 14 moderately difficult and 6 difficult questions. Those who were able to identify the easy and moderately difficult questions are likely to end up with a high percentile. Compared to the other two slots, there were not many questions which had a lot of text that were time consuming. Just like the other two slots, there were a few questions that seemed easy but were a tad time consuming. 17 of the 22 questions in the section were from Arithmetic (13) and Algebra (4), with only five questions from Geometry (3) and Modern Maths (2). Compared to Slot 2, this section had fewer questions from Algebra, while the distribution of questions across topics was more or less the same.

The distribution of questions in this section across topics is as follows:

A net score of 16 – 18 marks would be a decent score for a test-taker to be able to clear the cutoff.

Overall, a net score of 60 – 63 marks should be sufficient to score 90 percentile.