With the CAT 2014 practice test available on CAT site now, aspirants should be on their guard to note the changes proposed in CAT 2014. Aspirants should carefully go through the instructions, exam pattern, type of questions and their source topics to ace the test. The practice test has many questions from past CAT exams and questions on number of topics appeared in earlier CAT exams are missing.
While questions on number of topics in CAT 2014 practice test do not exist, many new type of questions have been added to CAT 2014. It may signify that aspirants might not find questions on few topics in actual CAT 2014 test and on the other hand more new topics are supposed to be studied by CAT aspirants. However, the notice from CAT Centre 2014 states “The objective of this sample/ Mock CAT paper is to make the candidates aware of the test environment. The actual content along with the difficulty level will differ from the content shown in the sample /mock CAT paper.” Hence any change in the type and style of questions on any topic in the actual CAT 2014 exam cannot be ruled out.
Key changes
CAT 2014 has brought number of changes and amendments in the conduct and content of examination. Out of these changes, some of them are very important to know and understand to avoid any testing room problem and technical glitches. Prof S K Agarwal, mentor and Verbal Ability expert on CAT preparation suggests the aspirants to carefully read and understand the following key changes
Changes in answer marking and Navigating instructions
CAT 2014 has provided the facility to the aspirants to know the status of the question. The Question Palette displayed on the right side of screen will show the status of each question.
There will be 4 colour symbols to indicate the status of the question on the right hand side of question-answer screen
Green - Answered question
Red - Unanswered question
White - Question not viewed
Violet – Question marked for review
The serial numbers A to E will indicate the following-
| Sl No |
Meaning |
Colour |
|
A |
You have not visited the question yet |
White |
|
B |
You have visited the question but not answered the same |
Red |
|
C |
You have answered the question |
Green |
|
D |
You have NOT answered the question, but have marked the question for review |
Violet |
|
E |
You have answered the question, but marked it for review |
Violet |
A very important feature added in CAT 2014 is that you can view all the questions and the options by clicking on the Question Paper button. This feature enables you to see the entire question paper at a glance
Practice test is full length
CAT Centre 2014 has made live an aspirant friendly Practice test which contains full 100 questions and the timer set to 170 minutes. The test has 2 sections with 50 questions in each that indicate the type of questions you may have to attempt on CAT 2014 test day. The test is lying on home page and can be practiced as many times as you like to familiarize yourself with the actual CAT 2014 exam pattern, number and type of questions.
Quant & DI: Number of questions
The first section of CAT 2014 practice test displays 50 questions on Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation. Quant plays a major role and has 34 questions on various topics of Algebra, integers, Geometry, Modern Math, Mensuration, Arithmatic. It can be inferred well that the test paper of CAT 2014 may also have 34-35 questions on Quantitative Ability although with a little higher difficulty level.
Data interpretation has a share of 16 questions in CAT 2014 practice test. The questions are divided in 4 sets of 4 questions each. The information sets are based on bar diagrams, tables, charts, graphical representation, statistical representation of data. It is expected that questions on Data Interpretation may not have very high difficulty level in actual CAT 2014 exam also.
Verbal Ability and Logical Reasoning
The second section in CAT 2014 is going to bring many surprises for the aspirants. Although questions on Verbal Ability will play a prominent role in the entire section, number of questions on different topics may go missing in actual CAT 2014 exam. There are expected to be 34 questions as per the ratio of Verbal Ability questions in CAT 2014 practice test.
As revealed in the CAT 2014 practice exam there would be 4 Reading Comprehension passages followed by 4 questions on each passage. Total questions based on RC would be 16 in CAT 2014.
Practice test has 4 questions on random jumbled sentences which are to be placed in coherent order. Candidates may expect 4 questions on jumbled paragraph in CAT 2014 also.
No question on ‘Out of context sentence’; ‘Completion of paragraph’; ‘Last sentence of paragraph’ appears in CAT 2014 practice test in the 100 selected questions. To some extent it indicates that new type of questions have substituted these questions.
Questions on Grammatical Errors have also found a major role to play in CAT 2014 practice test. In earlier CAT exams there used to be 1 or 2 such questions in a session. Now there are 7 questions to find out the correct use of grammar in practice test. It is expected that the same trend might be repeated in CAT 2014 exam.
Logical Reasoning has 16 questions in CAT 2014 practice test. 4 problems are followed by a set of 4 questions each. Same ratio is expected to follow in the exam. Prominent topics are statement conclusion; Team formation; blood relation; arrangement. However versatile practice on LR questions may carry the candidate through this section.
New type of questions in Verbal Ability
It appears that Vocabulary based questions wouldn’t find prominence in CAT 2014 as no question in practice test is shared with the contextual use of rich vocabulary. However there are expected to be 5 questions based on critical reasoning type. Question is based on 4 sequentially ordered statements. Each statement can be classified as Fact, Inference or Judgment. The question is followed by 4 options and the most appropriate option that describes the sequence of these statements is to be picked out. Such questions were not being asked in many earlier CAT exams.
There are 3 new types of questions present in Verbal Ability section of the practice test. The question is based on a small text. CAT 2014 aspirant is supposed to go through the text, form the summary of the text and pick out the most appropriate option that best describes the summary of the text. There were no such questions in past many years in CAT. However, if a candidate develops good reading habit, answering the question may not be difficult.
Related Links
CAT 2014 New Exam Pattern: Live on Oct 28, 2014; familiarize with new pattern and questions
CAT 2014: Know the section wise expected number & type of questions while practice test awaited
CAT 2014 Test Day Guide out; reveals important dos and donts for the exam day
CAT 2014: Aspirants waiting for practice test to best utilize the Diwali Holidays
CAT 2014: 5 big changes revealed on Test day Video; listen and read carefully
CAT 2014 Test day video launched; Examinees to report 2 hours before the test at Exam centre
CAT 2014 Admit Card: All the details available; Check carefully to confirm your candidature
CAT 2014 Admit Card is out: Download now and take the print
Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more updates on CAT 2014 Exam pattern
