Candidates preparing both for CAT 2015 and IIFT 2015 will have the opportunity to appear in both the exams on the 2 consecutive Sundays within a gap of one week. While IIFT 2015 will be on Sunday November 22, CAT 2015 will be on Sunday November 29, 2015. Despite being the exams on different pattern, CAT 2015 and IIFT 2015 have number of similarities and the preparation for both of them can be done simultaneously with minimum wastage of time and energy in the process.
Admission entrance test to MBA(IB) 2016-18 batch at Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) is on November 22, 2015 in paper-pen mode and the next Sunday, November 29, 2015 will be the day for Computer based CAT 2015 exam, the gateway to 19 IIMs and other top rated B-schools.
CAT 2015 much closer to IIFT 2015
As against earlier exam years, CAT 2015 has gone much closer to IIFT 2015 entrance exam as CAT 2015 will be a single day test, will have more sections and question pattern will also not be much different except for the fact that CAT 2015 will have 3 sections and IIFT 2015 will have 4 sections as General Knowledge (GK) section is added to it.
Around 2 lakh candidates will be appearing in CAT 2015 on Nov 29 and around 60 to 70 thousand in IIFT 2015 on Nov 22, 2015. Both the exams are equally important for the aspirants who have applied and plan to take the tests. Prof S K Agarwal Verbal Ability expert and mentor on CAT 2015 and IIFT 2015 preparation shares the strategy to synchronize your preparation for IIFT 2015 entrance test with CAT 2015.
While IIFT admission entrance test is based on conventional pattern of paper-pen mode, CAT is completely a computer based test (CBT) where no use of paper pen is allowed to answer the questions. IIFT 2015 entrance test is a single session 2 hours exam and the CAT 2015 will be conducted in 2 separate sessions on Nov 29, 2015 in a duration of 3 hours.
IIFT and CAT: More similarities
The composition of IIFT 2015 and CAT 2015 despite being different can have a similar preparation strategy and can be synchronised as they have number of similarities on anticipated topics in the exams.
The written admission test to MBA Programme in IIFT consists of multiple choice objective type questions (in English). IIFT entrance comprises the questions covering English Comprehension, General Knowledge & Awareness, Logical Reasoning and Quantitative Analysis. The candidate may attempt any question from any section during the time allotted to attempt the test in the examination.
CAT 2015 will have 3 sections comprising Quant as first section; Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR) as second section and Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VRC) as 3rd section.
CAT & IIFT: Same wine in Different bottles
Type of questions in IIFT admission entrance test are based on similar topics as in CAT. Candidates have to prepare fundamentals of English language like parts of speech, common errors in grammar usage, subject verb agreement, modifiers, jumbled paragraphs, Reading comprehension and so on for both the exams. No doubt the format of questions would be different but this only tests how much is your understanding of the topic.
Similarly the source topics on which questions are framed for Quant in IIFT and CAT are more or less the same. For example Probability, Integers, Arithmetic topics like Time, distance, speed & Work, percentage, Algebra topics, Log theory, Permutation Combination, topics on Number system are same for IIFT as well as for CAT exam.
You have been preparing the same topics with the only difference that the questions would be asked differently in both the exams. This difference in no way implies that you need to understand some other basics of the topic. The formulae are same although approach may be different. So while you prepare Quant for CAT, make sure you also focus your approach to solve the questions on the IIFT pattern.
DI-LR in IIFT 2015 & CAT 2015
In CAT 2015 the DI and LR parts from Quant and Verbal have been detached and a separate section has been formed covering 32 questions on DILR. Earlier Data interpretation used to be clubbed to Quant and Logical Reasoning to Verbal Ability section. But now in CAT 2015 it has become closer to IIFT 2015 as IIFT already has this complete section known as Logical Reasoning which consists of LR as well as DI. The topics are also almost same although difficulty level in IIFT is slightly less than CAT.
Candidates preparing for CAT 2015 have to study and prepare well in next 3 months, the questions on DI based on tables, bar diagrams, graphs. Similar information rich questions are also asked in IIFT entrance exam. 4-5 questions follow the detailed information part. When you prepare for one exam you can simultaneously practice the other types of questions going by the past papers of the related exam. The DI questions are a bit time consuming, so it’s worth trying with patience. A little more practice can be of great help in this section.
Topics on Logical Reasoning in IIFT are more interesting than CAT and the difficulty level is little less. CAT prefers questions on blood relations, seating arrangements, team formation apart from other topics like series, analogy, sets, Statements, arguments, conclusions which are also favourites of IIFT entrance test.
What you prepare for CAT will simultaneously get prepared for IIFT and no extra strenuous efforts are needed at least for English comprehension, Quant, DI and LR. The approach to answer the questions may however be different.
GK in IIFT: the extra section to help CAT takers
Out of the 4 sections in IIFT entrance test, General Awareness (GK) is an additional part which needs your hard preparation apart from what you are preparing for CAT. IIFT toppers are of the view that year books like Manorama and news papers like Hindu, Economic Times, Times of India will be of great help in this section. If you devote half an hour a day for this section and regularly read the news papers, you can get through this section with high scores.
GK section would prove to be a percentile booster in IIFT 2015, if you could focus on it properly. General Awareness covers questions on conventional as well as current national and international affairs and relevant economic, business topics apart from major policy decisions. Questions can also be based to test the aspirants’ awareness about ‘Who’s who’, work of famous personalities; Constitution of India.
Although CAT 2015 does not propose to ask GK questions in written exam, a good preparation of current affairs, current updates on business and economics will help you a lot in your PI round at IIMs.
Mocks for CAT 2015 & IIFT 2015
It is imperative that you must be attempting mocks now both for CAT 2015 and for IIFT 2015 exams. It will be better to take one mock test for CAT 2015 followed by one mock for IIFT 2015 next day. It will keep you away from getting monotonous and will provide you the opportunity to attempt different type of questions.
While analysing the mocks, try to get the feel of questions that you found on similar topics both for CAT and IIFT. It will also help you to crack CAT 2015 immediately after IIFT 2015.
Score 50% to get high percentile
IIFT 2015 proposes to have a maximum raw score of 100 marks for 125-130 questions and CAT 2015 will award 3 marks per correct answer with total number of questions being 100. It means IIFT has varying section wise marking pattern while the equal marking pattern in CAT 2015 means that the raw score in CAT 2015 will be 300 marks. Both the exams award percentile scores also.
The expected cut-off for the raw marks needed in IIFT 2015 exam is expected to be around 49 out of 100, it may be 150 out of 300 in CAT 2015 for IIMs. Calculation of percentile will be based on their respective normalization of score process.
IIFT to award more weightage on Quant & DI
Questions in different sections and sub sections in IIFT entrance exam carry different marking pattern whereas in CAT all the questions carry equal marks. Although overall maximum marks in IIFT entrance exam are 100, the maximum marks allotted to different questions vary from 0.5 to 1.
Maximum weightage in IIFT entrance test is awarded to Quantitative ability and Data interpretation. Expected number of questions in Quant in IIFT 2015 are 25 and Data Interpretation will have around 20 questions both carrying the weightage of highest 1 mark each in these sections. Quant is a separate section whereas Data Interpretation is clubbed to Logical Reasoning.
Logical reasoning section may have 18-20 questions only on LR carrying 0.75 mark per right answer implying that the candidates can score 15 marks at the maximum if all the questions are accurately attempted on logical reasoning. Rest of the questions could be on DI in this section.
35-38 questions are expected in English Comprehension section carrying a weightage of 0.75 mark per correct answer. Total sectional weightage could be 26-27 marks.
27-30 questions you may find to test the General Awareness in IIFT 2015 entrance exam. Each question is expected to carry 0.5 mark, hence the total weightage would come to 14-15 marks.
Those who are more skilled to solve the Quant and DI questions may get an edge in IIFT exam.
Penalty for wrong answers: Same ratio
Penalty of one third marks will be awarded for every wrong answer in CAT 2015 as well as in IIFT 2015. The candidates therefore have to be careful to avoid this negative marking by choosing the answer options with well calculated thought process.
The practice session strategy both for IIFT 2015 and CAT 2015 may remain the same beginning with strong hold topic questions to difficult ones while maximising the attempts and not compromising with accuracy level.
High sectional performance required
Sectional cut offs in both IIFT 2015 and CAT 2015 will be applicable. This will play an important role in shortlisting criteria and a candidate has to clear each of the sections individually. The DI with LR will form one section in IIFT 2015 exam and in CAT 2015 also. Since the questions in this section are mote time consuming, it is advisable to practice simultaneously for both the exams on DILR questions.
Candidates will have to score much higher than the cut off in each section to get shortlisted for final admission round.
Both IIFT 2015 and CAT 2015 cover wide variety of topics and questions. The best approach to prepare for both the exams is to begin with the topics on which you are stronger. It will require less time and you will be able to prepare well in shorter period. Next should be for weaker topics in which you can practice well after due preparation. The topics which consume more of your time without getting expertise in return may be left aside and the ones where you get good return on preparation should be focused. Please remember your preparation should be balanced for all the sections as you need to clear the sectional cut off along with scoring high marks.
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