MBAUniverse.com presents a first-person account of a candidate who took the CAT 2015 exam in forenoon session on November 29, 2015 to help the CAT aspirants know about the important points on test day. Candidate’s account of his CAT 2015 experience follows:
Hi CAT aspirants,
“My date with CAT was in the morning session on Sunday, November 29, 2015 the first session of CAT 2015. The test in its fully revamped structure was expected to bring more surprises with different type of questions. As I walked closer to the test centre at Mangalmay Institute in Greater Noida, my test centre, the first thing I saw was the displayed board outside the centre gate ‘CAT 2015 – Test Centre’ to enable the candidates to locate their designated examination centre.
In cool morning, I reached the centre early at 7.30 AM
Number of candidates had arrived before I reached the test centre at 7.30 AM. It was due to the fear of traffic jams and to ensure the timely arrival at the examination centre, the gates of which were supposed to be opened before one and a half hour of the beginning of the test, scheduled at 9AM. The gates were closed at the time I reached the test centre. Many candidates were smiling while a few were seen worried and appeared shaky in their confidence.
There were 3 institutes in a row and all of them were the test venues for CAT 2015 exam and as such many candidates entered wrong institutes than the ones designated for their test. These candidates were politely directed to their respective test venue by the document verifying team at the institute.
The exam centre gates were opened at 7.40AM and Candidates began entering the exam centre gradually without any hurry. There were no long queues and the security check was smooth at the centre. The process didn’t mark any hindrance although the turnout was good in numbers. The volunteers and faculty at the first point of document verification were more than pleased to guide you to the process. Most of the candidates who came to take the test, were the first timers after a hard level of preparation and appeared quite scared of the process. But the cooperative and reassuring behaviour of the volunteers at the exam centres made them relax.
No Helmets inside the centre
Vehicles, except those of test organising team and invigilators at the centre, had to be parked outside the examination venue. The friends and relatives who accompanied their wards to the centre either had to wait outside or went away as they were not allowed the entry inside the premises. Another problem came up to those who had helmets and couldn’t find a place to keep them. Helmets were not allowed to be carried inside the examination centres.
No entry after 8.45AM
Security check didn’t consume too much time as it used to take in earlier CAT exams. There were three test centre personnel to cross examine the Admit cards and identification documents of the candidates. No long queue was formed, the process went on smoothly.
Some of the candidates carried more than the required documents and found it difficult to manage them. It was also made abundantly clear on the CAT website as well as in the published articles on MBAUniverse.com site not to carry any other small or big articles as apart from your Admit cards and identification documents, nothing will be allowed inside the testing room, although arrangements to keep small articles in the guard room were made by the exam centre personnel.
Defying the instructions
Despite all the guidelines, a few candidates chose to carry with them some articles as large as laptop bags. They had to face tough time at security check. These candidates had to deposit the bags in the guard room at entry gates, requesting them to take care of their bags or so. Guards were also not in a position to oblige them as officially they couldn’t do it. Some of them went out to find a place to keep their belongings while those who had comparatively smaller bags, could manage through security check.
Testing Labs increased
There were 9 to 10 testing labs at each block at the exam centre. Around 1000 candidates could appear in CAT 2015 in a single session at this test venue. The process was surprisingly smooth and those who have earlier appeared in CAT may find it pleasant that candidates in the queue were not more than 5-10 at a testing lab. It didn’t take more than 3-4 minutes to clear one candidate.
The check in process
A list of candidates assigned for each test lab was available outside the gate of the exam centre. Every testing room also displayed the list of candidates notified for the said testing lab with his/her registration number, name and assigned seat/computer number outside the room.
The registration check in was 2 step process. The candidates had to sit before a computer to get their image and finger prints captured. The procedure was carried out to verify the identity of the candidates. Then the candidate had to sign the attendance sheet and had to make entries manually in the attendance sheet.
Most of the candidates preferred to go to the rest room before proceeding for Check-in. The reason was that no one was supposed to go to the rest room, once the doors of the testing room were closed and exam started. The arrangement for water and wash room was available just outside the testing lab at the centre.
The candidates were escorted to the designated work station in the testing lab. There were 3 Test Centre volunteers and invigilators who were helping signing in every candidate. The captured image of the test taker appeared on the computer screen.
There was more than 40 minutes waiting time for the examination to begin after I occupied my seat. Other candidates were gradually coming inside the testing lab. Those who wanted to visit the rest room during this period, were allowed and when they were escorted back to the work station, their admit cards and identification documents were checked again, although a little quickly. The doors of the testing lab were closed before 15 minutes to the beginning of the Test; however a few candidates were still allowed to come in.
Work station blocked on 3 sides
The work station was blocked on three sides and no was allowed to look around. There were instructions being issued on various do’s and don’ts during the examination. All the candidates were provided with a pen and scratch paper. They were to be returned on completion of the examination.
Neither the tutorial nor the practice test was available before the actual exam in CAT 2015 testing room. The facility stands withdrawn in CAT 2015. Test takers could not have hands on practice. However testing instructions were enabled on computer screen 15 minutes prior to the beginning of the test as well as Invigilators also read out the instructions and important do’s and don’ts for the examination.
No technical snags
Before beginning the test a disclosure agreement appeared on the screen, which had to be clicked on ‘I agree’. The first section appeared with VARC with 34 questions in this section. The section was divided in 2 parts – Reading Comprehension as the first part and Verbal Ability as second part.
Instructions and actual test different
The instructions part in CAT 2015 said that there would be RC passages followed by a block of 4 questions each. Similarly for Data Interpretation part the instructions sheet said that there would be question blocks of 2 or 4 questions for each situation set.
However the actual test had 3 and 6 questions based on RC passages and a block of 4 questions following each problem/situation of Data Interpretation.
RC with 24 questions; VA with 10 questions
There were 24 questions on Reading Comprehension based on 5 RC passages and rest 10 questions were based on different topics of Verbal Ability in second part.
The VARC section that began with RC passages contained all the 24 MCQs. There were 5 RC passages out of which 2 passages were relatively short and 3 were a bit longer. The short passages were followed by 3 questions each and the longer passages were followed by 6 questions each. In total there were 24 questions on RC passages constituting 70% of the Verbal Ability section.
Rest 10 questions on Verbal Ability were in the form of Non-MCQs without any negative marking and were based on the topics – Jumbled paragraphs -4 questions; Paragraph summary-3 questions; picking odd sentences from jumbled paragraphs 3 questions.
RC easier but lengthy
The first RC passage was on studying liberal arts and humanities which emphasized on its scope of higher employability as compared to only technical skills. The passage was followed by 3 questions and I enjoyed reading the passage. I remember having read an article written by Richard Sigurdson of The University College of the Cariboo, Canada on the topic ‘Why Study the Liberal Arts?’
The questions were not very difficult and were formed like what according to the first line of the passage was correct out of the given 4 answer options and out of 4 given statements all except which one is incorrect according to the passage. More or less, the questions appeared as of critical reasoning. This trend followed through almost for all the other 4 RC passages.
Other passages that followed were based on ‘Using internet and copy pasting the information out of it without making due research on different sites and resulting in memory power. So how it should be used best and what the teachers should do to improve the resource among the students’
Another passage was on ‘positive effects of immigration which creates its own demand, increases income and contributes to economic growth’. A passage on ‘economic inequalities’ based on research of French Economist Piketty.
The passage on ‘World bank supporting solar energy which calls for more investment and less utility’ was also good enough.
While 2 passages were followed by 3 MCQs, 3 were followed by 6 MCQs each carrying one third negative marking to each question. Despite being good for reading, the RC passages consumed most of my time in VARC section and I was left with not much time for Verbal Ability.
10 Non MCQs in VA part
The unique thing in VARC section was that 24 questions on only RC were visible if you were attempting only RC questions and the 10 questions on Verbal Ability were visible when you were attempting this part-2 of VARC section.
Verbal Ability part consisted of 4 Non MCQs on Jumbled paragraph, 3 questions each on para summary and picking the odd sentence out of a jumbled paragraph.
It began with a question on Jumbled paragraph followed by picking the odd sentence out of jumbled paragraph. Suddenly confusion prevailed among the test takers whether to key in the sequence number of the sentences after putting in order the jumbled sentences along with the number of the odd sentence in the paragraph. But the confusion was cleared after visiting the instructions again and only the number of the odd sentence had to be typed in the given space on the computer screen.
After devoting more time on RC passages, I was left with not much of the time to attempt all the Non-MCQs on Verbal Ability. Nonetheless since there was no fear of negative marking for writing wrong answers also of Non-MCQs, I attempted them all within 4 minutes. Even before clicking on ‘Submit’ button to this section, it got auto submitted and the test switched to next DILR section
The questions in VARC section were not difficult but I found them a bit lengthy and despite being able to crack them correct, it was found difficult to reach the tail of the section. I could attempt 24 questions in all with 95% accuracy in the first section, I presume.
DILR
Second section that followed after 60 minutes was on Data Interpretation and Logical reasoning (DILR) with 32 questions divided between 16 questions on DI and 16 on LR.
16 question on data Interpretation were divided in sets of 4 questions each following one problem. The problems were based on Table, Line Graph on flow of foreign tourists from 2009 to 2013 while questions in twisted form were asked for the percentage and inflow information prior to 2009 and post 2013.
Other problem sets were related to table on Time and work and on comprehension. There was one set on Time & Work where 3 jobs A, B and C had to be done by 4 people and another set was on distribution of newspapers in a hotel of 60 rooms for 4 days.
Data Interpretation was a nightmare for many including me as it was found lengthier than expected. After attempting VARC section, the DI stirred not only my mind but of almost all the candidates taking CAT 2015.
DI part had 4 non-MCQs also and their answers had to be typed in the given answer box. So I had to solve the entire question first and then could write the answer to the question. It was a time consuming exercise and I could not go beyond 7 questions in this section.
The Logical reasoning (LR) part was not less tricky. It also consisted of 4 situation sets followed by a block of 4 questions each. LR also had 4 Non-MCQs.
Problem/situation sets had more questions on problem sets on Distribution. There was also a problem set on Cubes. One of the problem sets was on a family working together on five projects. There was a Sudoku set and a problem set where 5 students take ten tests in the series required calculation of distribution of marks. LR sets were lengthier even than the DI sets.
I could attempt only 6 out of 16 questions in LR part of DILR section.
Quant: last section
CAT 2015 knowingly placed Quant as the last section. It used to be the first section in earlier CAT exams. After getting tired in DILR section, it was found difficult to go for another calculation intensive section. The on screen calculator was of limited use. Not only me, most of the candidates filled up 4 to 5 rough scratch sheets to maximise their attempts.
The last and 3rd section on Quantitative Ability (Quant) had 34 questions divided among various topics on Arithmetic, Algebra, Trigonometry, Geometry among others. Quant was felt moderate but again after draining the energy on DILR, it appeared lengthy enough although was doable and moderate.
More questions were on Arithmetic and Geometry. Scanning the section I found 18 out 34 questions only on these areas. A few easy questions were placed towards the end of the section and many candidates due their tiredness could not even reach to solve them.
Other contributing topics in the section were Numbers, Algebra, mensuration, Pure Match, venn diagram. The section had 10 Non MCQs which had no answer option. To write the answer in the given space, one had to solve the question first and then could type the answer. It also added to make the CAT 2015 test paper more lengthy.
I started the Quant section in the reverse order and began to attempt the questions right from the tail end. This was I could attempt more easy questions and left the tough and time consuming ones.
I could attempt 22 out of 34 questions and expect it to have 95% accuracy level.
No technical snags confronted
There were no technical snags during the session and exam continued with no obstacles. The test ended at 12 Noon sharp without any major or minor technical snag. There were some candidates who forgot to click on ‘save and next’ after marking the answer option and had to go through the process of marking the answer again.
The best way to mark the answer option as I understood, is to click on ‘Mark for review’ as this will help you to review your answers, if time permits. If you are unable to review the same, your answers will still be evaluated by CAT Centre 2015.
Overall experience of CAT 2015 was good. The percentile calculator provided by
MBAUniverse.com on its site could sure help me to assess my performance level.
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