With CAT 2013 round the corner, heart beats going up, aspirants are getting more involved in their study to crack this coveted entrance examination. While the CAT organisers have assured that “there wouldn’t be any surprise elements in CAT 2013”, they have shied away from the key point whether the ‘type of questions’ will remain the same. So be ready for the unpredictable twisting and tricky questions that could greet you in the examination lab.
Past record itself tells the story. Aspirants had a tough time when CAT gradually moved down from the set of 240 questions in 120 minutes in 90’s to 60 questions in 70 minutes in 2010-11. While the structure and sections will hopefully not surprise the CAT takers and the basics on which questions are supposed to be formed will also remain the same, the aspirants may definitely expect some surprises in the type of questions asked in the test. In fact, it’s the Verbal Ability section that has seen many twists and turns in recent past.
What zapped students in 2006
Let’s look at what are the changes in recent past in the verbal ability section.
A new type of question – Inferring/completing the last sentence of a paragraph -- appeared in CAT 2006 and came as a blow to the aspirants. Most of them got it incorrect. Nevertheless, those who knew the nature of CAT, devoted their time on versatile reading and practice, for them, it was another question on jumbled paragraph, where they had complete paragraph and concluding sentence was to be opted. The understanding of the question led them to pick the right answer.
Look at the CAT question that appeared in 2006.
Directions for question – Following question has a paragraph from which the last sentence has been deleted. From the given options, choose the one that completes the paragraph in the most appropriate way.
Relations between the factory and the dealer are distant and usually strained as the factory tries to force cars on the dealers to smooth out production. Relations between the dealer and the customer are equally strained because dealers continuously adjust prices – make deals – to adjust demand with supply while maximizing profits. This becomes a system marked by a lack of long term commitment on either side, which maximizes, feelings or mistrust. In order to maximize their bargaining positions, everyone holds back information – the dealer about the product and the consumer about his true desires.
A. As a result ‘ deal making’ becomes rampant, without concern for customer satisfaction.
B. As a result, inefficiencies creept into the supply chain.
C. As a result everyone treats the other as an adversary, rather than as an ally.
D. As a result, fundamental innovations are becoming scarce in the automobile industry.
E. As a result, everyone loses in the long run
1.A 2. B 3. C 4. D 5.E
If you are guessing the answer, it is 5.E. All others are problems because of reasons mentioned . So the Result signifies if it does not get solved – every one loses.
Reading Comprehension gets tougher
With the reduction in number of questions and size of Reading comprehension passages from 1400+ words to 800-900 words, is CAT getting benevolent by giving more time to complete the test. In fact, CAT played a smart game by increasing the difficulty level manifold. The questions have no longer remained direct, one has to dig out the answer out of the close given options.
Vocabulary Questions get ticker
Vocabulary questions are now based on contextual usage and confusing words/phrasal verbs/figurative language are predominantly used in Verbal Ability section. The message conveyed by CAT year after year is that no parrot learning is required. IIMs will welcome only those who understand what they are communicating either in writing or verbally.
Para Jumbles spring surprise in CAT 2012
The difficulty level in various types of questions based on jumbled paragraphs in CAT has already been high enough and on the top of it, a surprise element appeared in CAT 2012 that is – the question to pick ‘Out of Context sentence in jumbled paragraphs’. It was something new for the aspirants and as such they had tough time, finding it difficult to solve it. The concept was formation of coherent paragraph and simultaneously picks out the ‘out of context sentence’. Have a look on an example-
Direction- Out of the five sentences as given below and labelled A,B,C,D,E in the question, four, when arranged properly, will form a meaningful and coherent paragraph while one of the sentences is out of context. Choose the most appropriate order of sentences out of the given options with out of context sentence marked in brackets.
A) Legislating laws to prohibit marriage between races hurt the couples involved
B) and Often couples who had lived together for years had to separate
C) These laws prohibited intermarriage between people of different races
D) Which caused loneliness and bitterness because of ignorance and a desire to see themselves as better than people of other races
E) Up to the 1960s, miscegenation laws were still enforced in some parts of the United States
1. ABCD(E) 2.EDCA(B) 3. ADEB(C) 4.ECBA(D)
The answer is 4. ECBA(D)
Explanation is: E-Chronology upto 1960 what was in force-C-what were they-so follows; B- pair to C; A-concludes the para. D-is out of context as it discusses the impact of separation and not of legislative laws, although indirectly they may be associated to the same. It should become a part of following para. Obviously ‘D’ breaks the coherence of the paragraph and stands alone and become a fragment to the paragraph.
Grammar Usage key to error correction
In error correction module more emphasis is now placed on correct Grammar usage. Aspirants may be surprised to find the tricky questions on articles, singular and plural nouns, relative pronouns, misplaced and dangling modifiers, conditional sentences and reported speech, passive voice, tenses-agreement of verb, punctuation etc. We always tend to speak very casually and sometimes use the slang as it serves our purpose and communication is complete. When it comes to writing standard English-we refer to British English, it therefore, becomes difficult to write and understand complete words and sentences and that too correctly spelt and punctuated. The fundamental reason is -we have stopped writing on paper, try to remember when you last wrote a letter, an article or some report on paper in your handwriting-probably many months, if not years, back.
So how to tackle the surprises in CAT
If we wish to analyse such surprise elements, we must put ourselves in the shoes of those who frame the examination paper. What thoughts behind setting these questions? The questions could be on these lines:
1. Will the type of question change the basic pattern of examination?
2. Will the majority of test takers understand the question?
3. Will it adversely affect the credibility of the examination?
4. Will the question be easy for a particular type of test taker and tough for other type?
5. Isn’t the difficulty level same vice-versa other questions?
Unless the answer to all the above questions is NO, the so called surprising question may not appear in the examination. Hence rest assured, if you have worked hard, studied more and practiced much, you will be able to crack every type of surprise whether it is 2+2=4 or 6/2-1=2.
So what to prepare in last 20 days to CAT
1. All the above questions bear the direct relevance to English language, so one doesn’t have to worry.
2. An aspirant is supposed to be well versed with the fundamentals
3. Clarity in the usage of vocabulary words should be there e.g. A woman can not be handsome and a man cannot be pretty – so remember to use even the synonyms at the right place
4. Find out the connectors in jumbled paragraphs-even the opening and closing sentences can be understood with the help of them
5. Tone and purpose of the passage can be understood by studying the keys words related to various tones in writing. In fact it is the use of different adjectives that help to set the tone in writing.
Finally, some important Tips
We advise you to follow these key tips, for your own benefit.
1. Please regularly revise whatever you have learnt.
2. The usage of Grammar and vocabulary must be well understood in context; parrot fashion learning may not help.
3. Read more, Practice much-write complete words.
4. Go for more and more mocks and practice exercises-time is short; concept based study might take more time than practice based strategy.
5. Read the Newspapers/periodicals especially the editorials/articles-it will help you to build your coherence of thought which, in turn will equip you to crack the questions based on jumbled paragraphs, Completion of last sentence, Out of context type questions, vocabulary usage in different contexts, Reading comprehension passages.
The author of this article Mr S K Agarwal is a CAT Expert, a seasoned CAT trainer with over 25 years of experience, & author of many CAT books. He also guides Verbal Ability Section to CAT Aspirants through MBAUniverse.com online coaching classes.
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