Announcement of CAT 2014 proposed to be conducted on November 16 & 22, 2014-one month late than CAT 2013 which began on October 16, 2013 has brought respite to some as it has given one more month to prepare but has also raised many eye brows as it will be very close to IIFT entrance test to be held on November 23, 2014. Number of CAT aspirants wanted to be free in the month of October 2014 after taking CAT and prepare for IIFT entrance with a focus on its different type of exam pattern which consists of General Awareness among other components and is conducted in paper pencil mode, but it wouldn’t happen now.
Surprises and changes that shook the CAT 2014 preparation strategy of the aspirants may bring a lot more from its store when the registration process opens and practice tests are made available on IIM site.
Should late CAT 2014 be a matter of concern!
In view of Prof S K Agarwal, expert on CAT preparation, late CAT 2014 is a blessing in disguise instead of being a matter of concern. Now the CAT 2014 aspirants have got one more month of preparation. This is also with reference to proposed more number of questions in CAT 2014 from 60 to 100. Now CAT aspirants may focus on concerted study in accordance with revised pattern during next three and half months. Since mock tests shall also be required according to the revised pattern, the weight age on different topics and sub sections will have to be understood to move on the path of preparation.
Short testing window can save you from many problems
The serious issues of normalization of scores during the long testing windows in earlier CAT exams have been at the core of the problem. Court cases due to this reason are pending and in case of any unfavourable verdict entire CAT exam might be declared void. So it’s good to have a short testing window for CAT 2014. Besides now the aspirants will have no stage of indecision when and why to schedule the test, search for the days, sessions and dates when the low level of difficulty could be expected and number of other issues they were supposed to address while arriving at the decision.
More than 100 days to prepare
Those who are half way on their preparation journey to CAT 2014 have the opportunity to prepare and practice more to substantially improve their percentile (Hopefully CAT 2014 remains percentile based) and those who have not yet started their CAT 2014 preparation with a serious thought, may begin it now as they have more than 100 days from now than earlier left 75 days.
Prof S K Agarwal suggests that first one month of August 2014 can be invested in building the concepts and fundamentals on forgotten or weak topics and next two and half months should be devoted to more exercises, practice questions and mocks to analyse and plug the weak points in preparation for CAT 2014.
More questions more options
CAT 2014 may be more benevolent than high on difficulty level since TCS knows well that average time per question has been reduced from 2.3 minutes to 1.7 minutes. Aspirants, afraid of many topics may find more number of questions on other topics and would have more options than earlier. For example there used to be 3-4 grammar based questions on Vocabulary, error correction in sentences and paragraphs, this number may be increased in CAT 2014 and those who are more equipped on fundamentals may have the opportunity to solve these questions and score high.
60-70 questions; good achievement
It’s well known a fact that none of the aspirants can solve all the CAT questions during the examination, hence a CAT 2014 aspirant, if solves 60-70 questions with high level of accuracy, he/she can score a very high percentile. The time then will no more be a constraint. In your first or second attempt you always choose those questions which you think you can solve with confidence. Even if you solve 60 questions accurately in 170 minutes, it’s a good achievement and can get you a very good percentile in CAT 2014.
Another expected change could be some shift in criteria of negative marking. So far it remains 1/3rd of the marks allotted per right answer, if it is made 1/4th of the marks, it will be a good CAT 2014
Related Links:
Know all the changes in CAT 2014 exam pattern and how to adapt your preparation
CAT 2014 Exam Date: CAT exam will be held on two Days, Random selection of CAT test Centre
CAT 2014 exam updates: 10 Big changes in this year CAT 2014 exam
CAT 2014 Exam notification ; Exam on Nov 16 & 22; Registration opens Aug 6 2014
Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more updates on CAT 2014
