Common Admission Test (CAT) 2015 will be the gateway not only to prestigious PGDM/MBA programmes in 21 IIMs in 2016 but also in nearly 150 top B schools across the country including FMS Delhi, SPJIMR Mumbai, MDI Gurgaon, JBIMS Mumbai, IMI New Delhi, IMT Ghaziabad, NITIE, TAPMI, Department of Management in IITs among others. Approximately 30000 candidates would get admission in the best B schools of India on the basis of CAT 2015 scores although the admission process may be slightly different in IIMs and other B schools.
21 IIMs: Waiting for CAT 2015 takers
CAT 2015 is going to be the most sought after management entrance exam as it would cater to 21 IIMs; 20 in 2015 and one to be added in 2016. The intake of students to various Management programmes in 2016 in all IIMs would be around 4500. CAT 2015 is the mandatory and only exam for admission to the 21 IIMs namely IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta, IIM Lucknow, IIM Kozhikode, IIM Indore, IIM Shillong, IIM Tiruchirappalli, IIM Ranchi, IIM Rohtak, IIM Kashipur, IIM Raipur, IIM Udaipur, IIM Nagpur, IIM Visakhapatnam, IIM Bihar, IIM Odisha, IIM Himachal Pradesh, IIM Punjab and IIM Jammu & Kashmir.
While the decision regarding the establishment of IIM Nagpur and Visakhapatnam has been taken finally, it may take a month or so to finalize the location of other IIMs which are still known by their states and not by their cities. The practice however, is that the IIMs are known by their cities and not by their states.
While the first 13 IIMs are functioning well, the 6 new IIMs have to commence functioning from academic session 2015-16. IIM Jammu & Kashmir proposed to be set up at Jammu is expected to commence operations in academic session 2016-17 with the admissions on the basis of CAT 2015 scores.
IIM Ahemadabad to convene CAT 2015
CAT 2015 will be convened by IIM Ahmedabad in partnership with the testing agency TCS. The exam in all probability will be held in the month of October- November 2015 in a one or two days test window in 2 sessions on each day. In the changed scenario and with consideration of causing minimum inconvenience to the test takers, CAT 2015 exam is expected to be held on weekends.
CAT 2015: Sectional Division of exam
CAT 2015 test paper is expected to present a different look. The exam is proposed to consist of 100 questions required to be solved in 170 minutes. The test paper would contain 2 sections comprising 50 questions in each section.
First section will be further divided in 2 parts on Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation with 34-36 questions on Quant and 14-16 questions on Data Interpretation.
Next is the second section which comprises Verbal Ability & Logical Reasoning. The second section in CAT 2015 will contain 34-36 questions on Verbal Ability, Reading Comprehension and 14-16 questions on Logical reasoning which is an important part of Verbal Ability section and is considered as percentile booster.
Verbal Ability in CAT 2015: Changed pattern
In view of Prof S K Agarwal, Expert on Verbal Ability and mentor on CAT 2015 preparation there could be more surprises in CAT 2015. The expected number and type of questions on different topics in Verbal Ability section in CAT 2015 would be 50 but the older type of questions on various topics may be missing.
In the changed pattern of CAT 2015 the test paper size is increased by 66%. Division of test paper with different type of questions with a view to enhancing the value of CAT in each of the sections is proposed to be the main purpose of CAT 2015 convening IIM Ahmedabad and testing agency TCS. With IIMA at the helm of affairs, surprises and tricky presentation of questions in CAT 2015 new pattern cannot be ruled out.
While questions on number of topics in CAT 2015 may not exist, many new type of questions are supposed to be added to CAT 2015. It may signify that aspirants might not find questions on few topics in CAT 2015 exam and on the other hand more new topics are supposed to be studied by CAT 2015 aspirants
34-36 questions on Verbal Ability
There is no predefined Syllabus for CAT over the years nor the same has been laid out for CAT 2015 new exam pattern except for the fact that the number of questions on different topics are proposed to be increased/decreased while questions on some topics may not be present at all as happened in CAT 2014 with the changed face of CAT.
Difficulty level in CAT 2015 is expected to be on the same level as was there in CAT 2014. Further expected division of questions in Verbal Ability could be as follows
Questions on Error Correction to increase
Questions on Grammatical Errors are expected to play a major role in CAT 2015. Expected number of questions on Error correction is 7-8 as against 1 or 2 in earlier CAT exams. If you are well versed with the concepts and usage of various parts of speech, tenses, subject verb agreement, punctuation, you can find out the correct answer option more quickly than your peers.
More questions on Jumbled paragraphs
Questions on jumbled sentences as expected in CAT 2015 can be divided in 2 types. One is random jumbled sentences which are to be placed in coherent order and other is picking the ‘Out of context sentence’ from a jumbled paragraph.
You can expect 3-4 questions on random jumbled sentences and 2-3 questions on ‘Out of context’ sentence to be picked out of jumbled sentences.
4-5 questions on FIJ
There are expected to be 4-5 questions 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.
3-4 Questions on Para summary
There are expected 3-4 new types of questions in Verbal Ability section in CAT 2015. The questions are based on a small text. CAT 2015 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. If a candidate develops good reading habit, answering the question may not be difficult.
16 Questions on RC Passages
16 questions on RC passages
It is expected that there would be 4 Reading Comprehension passages followed by 4 questions on each passage. Total questions based on RC would be 16 in CAT 2015. The type of questions would also have a changed pattern and the regular questions like main idea of the passage; tone of the author may not be present in CAT 2015. Instead, you may find questions on statements made in the passage; true false; assumptions and other critical reasoning type based on Reading Comprehension passages.
Passages are not expected to be very long. One passage is expected to contain around 700-800 words.
What you may not expect in CAT 2015
You may not expect questions on ‘Completion of paragraph’; ‘Last sentence of paragraph’ vocabulary words, synonyms/antonyms; one word different usage; phrasal verbs and the like. In fact the new question type is expected to substitute the old type of questions.
Logical Reasoning
Logical Reasoning since 2010 has been the integral part of Verbal Ability section. With the increase in number of questions in CAT 2015 from 60 to 100 and particularly from 30 to 50 in Verbal Ability section, you may expect to find 14-16 questions in Logical Reasoning part of Verbal Ability section in CAT 2015.
Earlier the number of questions on Logical Reasoning used to be 8 to 10. Most of the questions are based on problem sets and a few stray ones may be individual questions also. Prominent topics on which LR questions are based are statement conclusion; Team formation; blood relation; arrangement. Versatile practice on LR questions is needed to carry the candidate through this section.
Related Article
CAT 2015 Convener IIM Ahmedabad to promote `Make in India`; introduces compulsory courses
CAT 2015: 10 memory sharpening tips for MBA aspirants to crack the exam
CAT 2015: Beginning your journey to IIMs; how & wherefrom to walk on success path
CAT 2015 Journey to join Club 99: From 80 in 2014 to 99 percentile in 2015; know how to achieve
CAT 2015: Get ready to begin; Collect good study material & mentor; regular in studies
CAT 2015: Dont take the risk of quitting your job; Prepare well while working
CAT 2015: Know all Insights of Last year exam with Experts view to plan you preparation
