CAT 2015: Domination of Quant section still prominent; commands 34% weightage; don't stay relaxed

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MBAUniverse.com News Desk |
August 8, 2015
CAT 2015 Still Quant dominating, the increase in sections has made it more crucial for aspirants to score high in Quantitative Aptitude section in CAT 2015 without any support of questions from DI part
To achieve the high scoring goal in Quant, the only formula now is to focus on 3 important things during the preparation journey to CAT 2015

To improve academic diversity in IIM class rooms, CAT 2015 has increased number of sections from 2 to 3 reducing the weightage of Quant section from 50 to 34 as regards number of questions although all the questions in CAT 2015 will carry equal marks whether of MCQ or Non MCQ type. Prof S K Agarwal, mentor on CAT 2015 preparation shares the specific points which require even greater focus to prepare on Quant in CAT 2015 and suggests a well devised preparation plan to score high.

On a different note, says Prof Agarwal, the increase in sections has made it more crucial for aspirants to score high in Quantitative Aptitude section in CAT 2015 without any support of questions from DI part which could be attempted by not so proficient candidates in mathematics.

No support in case of tough Quant
Since all the 20 Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) will need high percentile in each section of CAT 2015 exam, the candidate who scores low in Quant may not expect to be shortlisted by IIMs. Going by the trend, these IIMs will need 90 to 97 percentile in Quant section of CAT 2015 to shortlist you for next phase of admission round.

Scoring high in 2 sections with the support of other parts clubbed to Quant and Verbal was a bit easier as against scoring high percentile in each of the 3 sections comprising pure Quant, pure Verbal and specific DI & LR.

You can sure score higher percentile in each section by attempting fewer number of questions but still, in case you are confronted with tough Quant questions, there is no savior except your strong preparation and practice level that can equip you well to come out of this dilemma.

No time to relax: It’s pure Quant now
On preparation part, you may not relax now. Not only you have to prepare for Quant section more as there is no support whatsoever from DI questions, but also the DI questions will have to be separately practiced to get high score in the newly created 3rd section in CAT 2015.

34 questions in Quant section based on Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry among other topics will have to be solved in 60 minutes and will fetch a maximum raw score of 102 marks. On the top of it, most of the Quant questions are the single answer questions as against the DI questions which commonly appear in set of 4-5 questions and you could crack at least 1 or 2 correct out of them.

It implies, if you accurately cracked 2 out of 4 DI questions which used to form part of Quant section  in earlier CAT exams, they would bring the same good scoring effect which  2 separately answered singular quant questions could make. But with effect from CAT 2015, the pattern has changed, you have to choose the right Quant question that you can answer to improve your scores. No sets can be expected in Quant section of CAT 2015 exam.

Besides, there will be Non-MCQ type of questions in Quant section of CAT 2015 with no answer options. You will be required to type their answers on computer screen instead of just picking out the correct answer option that you could do a bit more easily after going through the options.

How to crack 22 out of 34 in Quant
Please remember CAT 2015 is convened by top rated IIM Ahmedabad. The level of difficulty in Quant section that IIM Ahmedabad placed earlier is not unknown is one fact and you also need a very high percentile in Quant in CAT 2015 is another fact. Apart from this 100 percentilers in CAT are also on the rise. If you attempt fewer questions and out of them some may go wrong, your percentile may reduce substantially.

Now the need is to aim for scoring high in CAT 2015. While a particular class of candidates may have an edge in Quant others may have the same edge in other sections. You are supposed to score a high balanced percentile in all the 3 sections. To achieve the high scoring goal in Quant, the only formula now is to focus on 3 important things during the preparation journey to CAT 2015

Please note CAT 2015 has no syllabus. Everything on Quant under the Sun forms part of CAT 2015 syllabus. The standard of Quant questions as shared by IIMs is supposed to be of class X or XI. However, when you face the questions, they sometimes confuse you well. The first thing is to remove the confusion and get clarity of concept. The suggestion is to go through the topics of Quant on which questions appeared in earlier CAT exams. Find out which are your strong areas. Work upon them and further strengthen the strong areas.

  1. Look for such topics in Quant where you are weak and need immediate improvement. Diarize them in order of time line required for preparation of each of them. Begin immediately without wasting time. Late CAT 2015 is a boon to prepare the weak topics. Spend a month or so to excel in them. Try to solve earlier CAT questions on such topics.Quant topics not conversant to you sometimes make you stick at places. In order to avoid wastage of time and getting the concept clear, search for a good mentor who can guide you well. Please remember number of candidates in CAT exam score very high in Quant although they do not have strong Mathematics background.
  2. Taking variety of topic wise and full Mocks on Quant separately will be a great help to boost your confidence level. After attempting each mock test analyse it well, check for your errors, understand where you went wrong and remember not to recur them.

The domination of Quant section in CAT 2015 is reduced to the extent that instead of commanding half of the weightage in CAT scores, it will have one-third weightage but again it needs to be cracked with a very high percentile score, if you wish to find yourself in the class room of one of the IIMs.

A candidate scoring high percentile of 99+ in Verbal Ability section and scoring 75+ in Quant section, despite scoring a very high overall percentile of 95-96 cannot expect to be shortlisted by IIM A,B,C,L or even by the newer IIMs as the sectional percentile is below the prescribed cut off level. To overcome this problem rigorous preparation on Quant topics will be required.

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