Common Admission Test (CAT) 2015 the mandatory exam for admission to flagship PGP programmes 2016-18 at 20 IIMs, FMS, NITIE, MDI, IMI and other top rated B schools will be a different test as notified on July 26, 2015. The notification for CAT 2015 was released on July 26, 2015 by the exam convening IIM Ahmedabad and left the aspirants confused and surprised due to the fact that absolutely different exam pattern was announced. The changes have called for the change in preparation strategy as well. The changes are more than they were there in CAT 2014.
It is advised to know well what has been kept in stock by IIM Ahmedabad for the CAT 2015 aspirants before they break into gallop to prepare hard. Please remember unless you know well about the exam you are going to appear, you may not be able to excel in it and may end up beating about the bush preparing with some wrong stuff.
The 2 stage understanding of CAT 2015 should be- what type of exam it is and what are its proposed constituents. When you first know about CAT, you are not even aware what are its constituents, how to prepare, what to study, can there be any well defined syllabus, where to begin and number of FAQs hover your mind.
Sometimes you do not even find anyone to answer your queries. When you begin your self-study, it appears that you have entered an unorganized thick and large forest where it is difficult to locate which way to go.
CAT 2015: CBT but not an online test
CAT 2015 is not an online exam. It is a digital or Computer Based Test (CBT) but not an Internet-Based Test (IBT). A candidate will not take the exam on an internet site. Instead of reading the questions in a paper booklet and darkening the ovals on the answer-sheet, a candidate will read the questions on a computer terminal and choose an answer by clicking on the correct option.
The format of the exam is more or less the same except that a candidate reads a question on a computer terminal and clicks on the correct answer, instead of reading on a paper booklet and using a pencil to darken the ovals on an answer sheet.
Please also remember there are designated test centres to take the exam. The test cannot be taken from any computer system or a cyber-café. A candidate will have to take the exam on a workstation assigned at the pre assigned venue in the preferred city that was chosen by the student, at the time of the registration. These details will be given on the Admit Card.
1 day test in 136 cities
CAT 2015 will be held on November 29, 2015 and will be only 1 day test divided in 2 sessions. The exam is going to be conducted in 136 cities across the country and would have 650 testing venues. This number is highest so far. Except for CAT 2014 when the exam was conducted in 99 cities, earlier CAT exams were conducted in 40 cities or even less. This is a good sign as number of candidates from small towns will not have to travel a long way to take CAT 2015 as their native city could be the test centre for CAT 2015.
On screen timer and calculator
The additional facility in CAT is that a timer and an on screen calculator has been provided on the computer screen that will help you taking note of the time spent and remaining and will also be helpful in basic calculations. Provision of an on screen calculator will not only save the time of the test takers but will also help them to quickly arrive at the answer and move faster in Quant sections as well as in DI questions in second section.
3 sections in place of 2
In a major deviation from earlier CAT exams, CAT 2015 has brought one of the biggest changes by increasing number of sections from 2 to 3. Now there will be 100 questions divided in 3 sections with varying number of questions in each section in CAT 2015.
180 minutes test instead of 170
An additional time of 10 minutes has been provided to solve the test paper increasing it to 180 minutes from 170 minutes in CAT 2014. Each section will have 60 minutes to solve.
Toggle between sections; facility withdrawn
Test takers will not be allowed to make to and fro movement between the sections till the assigned time of 60 minutes for the section is over. It means no candidate can move forward or backward without the completion of 1 hour for that section. Once the time of 60 minutes is over, test taker will move on to the next section automatically.
Besides, you cannot begin from any section you like. The sanctity of the order of sections is to be maintained. A candidate shall have to start with the first section, will move to the second section after 60 minutes are over and on completion of a total of 120 minutes will be able to move to the third section.
Test composition
1st Section
The first section will be of Quantitative Aptitude (Quant). Questions on Data Interpretation (DI) have been removed from this section and will form the part of another section. This section in CAT 2015 will contain 34 questions with a time limit of 60 minutes to solve.
2nd section
Second section will comprise 2 earlier sub-parts of the 2 sections. The section will have 32 questions on Data Interpretation (DI) and Logical Reasoning (LR). Earlier LR was a sub-section of Verbal Ability section. Now this section with DILR questions will also have to be solved in 60 minutes. Despite being shorter by 2 questions than Quant section, candidates will have the opportunity to have full 1 hour to score high in this section.
3rd section
The third section in CAT 2015 is renamed as VRC (Verbal and Reading Comprehension). This section will consist of 34 questions to be answered in 60 minutes. There could be 4 RC passages and 16-18 questions based on them. The Verbal Ability proposes to have questions on error corrections based on Grammar, tenses, punctuation usage; questions on jumbled paragraphs; paragraphs; vocabulary usage and so on.
By increasing the number of sections in CAT 2015, IIM Ahmedabad proposes to reduce weightage on Quant section to improve academic diversity in IIMs in 2016 and to achieve this goal has adopted various ways and means and changes in CAT 2015 exam content. Now DILR questions which used to be the part of Quant and Verbal sections have been clubbed and will form a separate section. Those who did not pay much heed to these questions will have to concentrate more on the Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning section to get a high sectional percentile.
The biggest surprise
For the first time in the history of CAT, the Non-MCQ type of questions will figure in CAT 2015. There will be no answer options following such questions and the test takers will have to type their answers in the given space on computer screen. Wrong answers to such questions will not attract any negative marking. It is expected that in each of the three sections, there would be 5-6 questions of this type.
In view of Prof S K Agarwal, expert on Verbal Ability and mentor on CAT 2015 preparation, candidates despite having good expertise on Quant, Verbal, DI or LR, but practicing only on objective type (MCQs) of questions may get set-back if correct preparation strategy is not adopted. In his view, if you do not focus on writing-an-answer type questions, you may lose a substantial percentile and may be deprived of getting shortlisted for the final admission round.
While gearing up your preparation for CAT 2015 in next 100 days, please also go through the past CAT replica tests, check for the topics that have not appeared in last 2-3 exams, study them and try to gain proficiency in them. You can expect those forgotten topics in CAT 2015.
A good study plan and lot of mocks will be very helpful to ace the exam. More practice on subjective type (Non-MCQ) questions will be needed by CAT 2015 aspirants. Although overall time to attempt CAT 2015 is more, the time constraint has been re-introduced. Hence you need more practice on variety of questions.
Candidates will also need to go for proper time management in the testing room and shall have to choose the right question to choose from the set of questions. Questions on new and forgotten topics may also surprise the CAT 2015 takers, so prepare them well.
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