CAT 2016 exam may no longer see the No-penalty, No-negative marking non-MCQ type of questions with 28% score weightage which were included for the first time in CAT exam last year. Since perceptible changes are expected in the structure and content of CAT 2016 exam, it is expected that there might be no Non-MCQs in CAT 2016.
If it happens, the fear of negative marking for MCQs will again grip the candidates attempting CAT 2016. However, the high percentile which the candidates last year scored by solving more Non-MCQs without any fear may again be based on low actual scores in CAT 2016 since attempting more MCQs is fraught with the risk of negative marking if their answers go wrong.
Although not necessary, but the thought process at CAT 2016 test centre on these lines might skip the presence of Non-MCQs in CAT 2016. It is very much possible that CAT 2016 is stripped of non-MCQs.
What is a Non-MCQ?
Non-MCQ types of questions are not followed by answer options. You have to solve them to arrive at the correct answer. These questions have no answer options available after the questions. Non-MCQs test your answering approach while arriving at the final answer of the question.
The biggest benefit to attempt a Non-MCQ in last year CAT exam was that the wrong answer did not impose any penalty of negative marking while MCQ type of questions followed by answers options impose penalty of 1/3 mark for each wrong answer. It carries your actual score down.
No click, type in the answers for Non-MCQs
The shape and nature of Non-MCQ type of questions is such that the candidates need to type in the answer to questions where answer options are not given.
28% weightage may go missing in CAT 2016
There were 28 Non-MCQs out of 100 total questions in CAT last year divided in each of the 3 sections. VARC with 34 questions had 10 Non-MCQs; DILR with 32 questions had 8 Non-MCQs and Quant with 34 Non-MCQs had 10 Non-MCQs. It amounted to 28% weightage in CAT.
Candidates attempted all of them without fear. Those who cracked them correct scored full 3 marks for each question and those who got them wrong had nothing to lose as there was no penalty for wrong answer.
Absence of non-MCQs: How it impacta the percentile?
Percentile score is relative. It means you have to score higher than your peer to score a higher percentile. This exactly happened in last year CAT exam.
Candidates who attempted more MCQs were fraught with the risk of more chances of negative marking leading to low scores and low percentile. The candidates who attempted more Non-MCQs had no such fear. If you attempted all 28 Non-MCQs out of which only 15 were correct, your raw score would increase by 45 leading to a great gain in percentile score. Besides, they did not face any penalty of negative marking even after typing wrong answers for 13 Non-MCQs.
Accordingly those attempted more non-MCQs in CAT scored high marks leading to higher percentile score but those who confined to MCQs lost and could score lower percentile as their raw scores were low due to negative marking.
For some, Non-MCQs remain percentile booster and for others they are percentile damagers. If these questions are not present in CAT 2016, all the candidates would be at par and instead of attempting questions without fear, they will think and choose the questions from their strong areas instead of opting for all the Non-MCQs indiscriminately.
CAT 2016: No cake walk-expert advice
Common Admission Test (CAT) 2016 gateway to IIMs is not going to be a cake-walk for the aspirants. It will not be on the pattern of earlier CAT exams and may bring more surprises with more or reduced number of sections, revised pattern as per the requirement of IIMs.
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Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more updates on CAT 2016
