Career Launcher tells you what to expect from CAT ‘07

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MBAUniverse.com News Desk |
July 27, 2016
The date for Common Aptitude Test (CAT), the entrance exam conducted by six IIMs and recognized by many other B-schools, is yet to be formally announced, but it is expected to be conducted on the third Sunday of November.

Students keen to crack this all-important management entrance test are rushing to leading test-prep institutes. In the run up to CAT ‘07 and other key entrance exams, MBAUniverse.com asked leading test-prep company Career Launcher about their expectations from CAT ‘07, and what aspirants can learn from the last CAT exam. Career Launcher, a Rs 60 crore company which was started in 1995 by IIM graduates, provides test-prep courses under its brand Pegasus.

Career Launcher started by pointing out they hope CAT ‘07 would avoid “ambiguities and errors” as were in the case in the last edition of CAT in November 2006. Says Mr Arjun Wadhwa, head of marketing and communications at Career Launcher, “This year, CAT should be devoid of any kind of ambiguity and error… In all probability CAT ‘07 will continue to test the aspirants’ abilities and expertise in the same areas as before.”

Students can expect to see a few changes this year. Shares Mr Wadhwa, “The Verbal Ability Section will be more aligned towards reasoning and inference-based questions, though Grammar and Para Jumbles may launch a comeback. The difficulty level in QA section may go up this year.” However, considering the fact that CAT has this habit of throwing a surprise every time, it is really not possible to comment on the exact pattern and format of the paper.

When MBAUniverse.com asked Career Launcher about their analysis of the previous CAT in November ‘06, Mr Wadhwa commented, “Last time, the emphasis was on reasoning and basic understanding of fundamental concepts, rather than on core knowledge.” Unlike the last couple of years, which saw significant changes introduced in the Logical Reasoning-Data Interpretation (LR-DI) section, last year LR-DI had more or less stabilized itself. The premium, however, was on application of reasoning, and not on crude calculation prowess.

Comparing the CAT ‘06 with the GMAT exam, he comments, “Introduction of 5 answer options per question, and a truly tough Verbal Ability (VA) section might lead one to think that CAT is treading the path of GMAT, but it is too early to comment.”

Regretting the “ambiguities and errors” in CAT ‘06, Mr Wadhwa says, “Ambiguity in certain questions on Fact-Inference-Judgment as well as Reading Comprehension (RC) has taken the sheen off the paper. Errors in a few Quantitative Ability (QA) questions left one disappointed, while raising doubts about the level of commitment that had gone behind preparing the paper.”

MBAUniverse.com will continue this series on management entrance exams ‘07 with updates, expert comments and analysis. Aspirants, stay tuned!