The first CAT 2015 group meeting to finalize the modilities to convene Common Admission Test (CAT) 2015 under the convenership of Prof Tathagata Bandyopadhyay, faculty IIM Ahmedabad and CAT 2015 convener is going to be held in the next week.
After the announcement by IIM Ahmedabad to appoint Prof T Bandyopadhyay, faculty and admission chair at IIM Ahmedabad as convener CAT 2015, this is going to be the first meeting of CAT 2015 group comprising all stake holders.
IIM Ahmedabad is conducting CAT 2015 and Prof Bandyopadhyay is the convener for CAT 2015 while testing partner agency is Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).
Common Admission Test (CAT) is the mandatory and most prestigious entrance test for admission to PGP/MBA/PGDM programmes in 20 IIMs, FMS, JBIMS, SPJIMR, MDI, IMI, IMT, BIMTECH, TAPMI and other top rated B schools in the country. CAT is a computer based test (CBT) with not even a part of the exam paper-pencil based.
High scores in CAT 2015 will enable about 40000 candidates to get admission in high ROI top tier MBA programmes of highly ranked B schools apart from IIMs in 2016. Besides, even low scorers in CAT 2015 may also get very good B schools according to their scores and academic profile.
Anticipate changes and surprises in CAT 2015
CAT 2015 as shared by Prof Bandyopadhyay is going to be more user friendly and is expected to be conducted in 2 days 4 sessions testing window in the month of October/November 2015 on weekends as was held in 2014.
The notification for CAT 2015 is expected to be out by the last week of July 2015 and the registration process for CAT 2015 would remain open for more than 45 days beginning from the first week of August 2015.
However following changes are anticipated in CAT 2015 in accordance with the legacy of CAT throwing a few surprises every year.
The prestigious MBA entrance exam CAT 2015 is expected to be further glorified with a little higher standard of testing in CAT 2015 clubbed with more innovations in the exam that may be incorporated by IIM Ahmedabad, the CAT 2015 conducting IIM.
The computer based CAT 2015 exam is not expected to offer any facility of Off- line application process and all the registration activity will have to completed on-line only.
Early CAT 2015
You could expect CAT 2015 to be conducted in the month of October, 2015. CAT 2014 was the first test for testing partner agency TCS and due to this fact CAT 2014 was conducted a month late.
In view of Prof S K Agarwal, Verbal Ability expert and mentor on CAT 2015 preparation, there is no point going on waiting for the IIM Ahmedabad to announce the registration and testing schedule for CAT 2015. One month early CAT means that the preparation period for the exam has been reduced by a month. Those who are trying to be lazy in preparation are advised to get refreshed and gear up making a proper preparation schedule for next 6 months. Any laxity may cost you a precious year of your life.
Higher LOD in CAT 2015
CAT 2015 aspirants might expect a bit higher Level of Difficulty in the exam with IIM Ahmedabad in command. Total number of questions in CAT 2015 are expected to be 100 with 50 each in one section and time allotted is expected to remain 170 minutes. The difficulty level of questions in CAT 2015 might go up. CAT 2015 aspirants would need good preparation strategy and planning for CAT 2015.
CAT 2015 may bring a bit tricky Quant and Verbal Ability questions. These parts in both the sections in CAT 2014 were not rated very difficult while DI and LR were more time consuming. The scenario may change in CAT 2015.
Question pattern may change
There were no vocabulary based questions; completion of paragraph type questions; selecting last sentence of paragraph type questions in CAT 2014 in the Verbal Ability section. These types of questions in a different format may find a place in CAT 2015. For example instead of completing the last sentence of the paragraph, there could be a question on inserting the first sentence of the paragraph.
Shorter Practice Mock
CAT 2015 site may not provide you with the facility of full length mock comprising 100 questions as was available for CAT 2014. The practice test could be shorter with 20-25 questions of different types.
CAT 2015 preparation: IIMA way
According to Prof S K Agarwal, Verbal Ability Expert and mentor on CAT 2015 preparation there is no fixed syllabus for CAT and when IIM Ahmedabad convenes it, the institute believes to throw more surprises before the CAT aspirants. When you prepare for CAT 2015 please do not think that the questions that remained absent in CAT 2014 would again remain absent. CAT has the history of placing surprises across the sessions. What didn’t appear in CAT 2014 or 2013 can be present in CAT 2015.
You have to make sure to include the material on what appeared from CAT 2009 to CAT 2014. The same may or may not be repeated. Next step is to include the material that appeared prior to CAT 2009 as the questions based on such concepts may become the surprise elements for you in CAT 2015. Preparation plan has to be formulated accordingly and should be meticulously followed.
The expectations to see yet more changes and innovations in CAT 2015 than they were there during CAT 2014 are riding high. More surprises and changes in its process of registration, selection of test centre, conduct of test, duration of test, pattern of test, and declaration of result are expected to be brought about by IIM Ahmedabad in CAT 2015.
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Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more updates on CAT 2015
