CAT 2016: Scaled Score of 195 can lead to 99 plus percentile; know the D-day strategy decoded by experts

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MBAUniverse.com News Desk |
December 2, 2016
CAT 2016 aspirants need not worry as their low scores could fetch them high percentile when the result is declared
If we assume that CAT 2016 exam has same difficulty level as that of last year, experts are of the view that you need to attempt around 65 questions in CAT 2016 to achieve the same high percentile of 99 and above

CAT 2016 aspirants need not worry as their low scores could fetch them high percentile when the result is declared. The need is to keep watch on your sectional strategy to attempt CAT 2016 exam. To a large extent according to Prof S K Agarwal, CAT 2016 preparation expert on Verbal Ability & mentor, it is determinable that your total marks of 195 could award you a percentile of 99 and above in CAT 2016 and a gap of 10 marks is expected to exist between the award of 99 and 100 percentile in CAT 2016.

Now the crux of this problem is how to achieve the target of 99 and above percentile with high and balanced sectional percentile on the CAT 2016 exam day what strategy should be adopted that can hit the target.

According to Prof S K Agarwal, with 3 marks awarded for each correct answer and -1 mark for every wrong answer to an MCQ and no deduction for wrong answer to Non-MCQ has made it difficult for the candidates how to assess whether they would get the desired high sectional and overall percentile in accordance with their performance in CAT 2016 exam.

Normalization depends on LoD in both sessions
The Scaling & Normalization process of CAT 2016 scores may also bring about certain changes as both the components will take into account the level of difficulty in both the sessions in which CAT 2016 exam will be conducted on December 4, 2016. While the Normalization process to be implemented for CAT 2016 scores shall adjust for location and scale differences of score distributions across different forms, the scaled scores obtained by this process shall be converted into percentiles for purposes of shortlisting.

Raw Score 165 = Scaled score 195
Going by past trend and allowing for all the odds, it is anticipated if you can score more than 200 marks with sectional score of 73 in VARC,  56 marks in DILR  and 71 marks in Quant, it could fetch 99.9 percentile in CAT 2016. Please note this is not your raw score out of 300, it is the scaled score which is reflected in your score card after IIMs complete the scaling process as detailed above. Your required raw score to get scaled score of 195 and achieve 99 percentile could be much less say, around 160 or 165 marks out of 300.

Exam Strategy
If we assume that CAT 2016 exam has same difficulty level as that of last year, experts are of the view that you need to attempt around 65 questions in CAT 2016 to achieve the same high percentile of 99 and above. In view of the experts Students should consider CAT 2016 as a string of 3 sectional tests of 1 hour each. Now a candidate should only be looking forward to maximize the number of attempts.

Going by the past trend as happened in CAT 2015, the initial estimate by the experts for the score required for a 99 percentile in CAT 2016 is:

CAT 2015 Section

Target score
(Net marks out of
maximum marks 300

Number of questions attempted

Total number of questions

VARC

50-55

22-24 

34

DILR

45-50

18-20

32

Quant

65-70

24-28

34

Overall

160 (Net score)

-

-

According to the experts “The correct strategy would be to not ignore any area and attempt all questions types. LR and DI which are usually ignored have now become very much important”

How to begin each section in testing room
Since there will be no negative marking for Non-MCQ type questions, a student should begin each section by attempting all the non-MCQ questions in CAT 2016. The non-MCQ questions should not be seen as a problem. Many Non-MCQs have the choices to select from, as your right answer. The difference lies that you have to type in the answer in the given space on the computer screen instead of clicking on the correct answer choice. It is also expected that Non-MCQs will have a low difficulty level as against the MCQs which also have negative marking clubbed to them.

Practice with On-screen Calculator
CAT 2016 Mock test published by IIM Bangalore also has the facility of on-screen calculator as you will find in the actual CAT 2016 exam. You should practice well on this calculating device that may save your time in calculation. Over the years CAT has transformed itself to be a logic based paper and the calculations in the QA section are never very difficult or lengthy. Even in DI, the problem area for students is ‘what to calculate’ instead of ‘how to calculate’. Online calculator reflects the fact that IIMs require students who can interpret the data well and need not be great at calculations.

Although the calculations in CAT are never expected to be extremely difficult, a student should not refrain from using the calculator in times of need. Calculator might prove to be useful in DI and QA questions with extremely close options. Attempt CAT 2016 IIMB Mock Here

Sectional Time limit: Positive for test takers
The sectional time limit which was re-introduced in CAT exam last year will also continue in CAT 2016. In view of the experts it will have positive effects on the test taking of the students. Due to the restriction of switching between the sections you need not worry about the time management.

Let your Mock analysis be over now
CAT 2016 exam is only 2 days away. In view of the experts you should analyze each and every mock and sectional test that you have taken. This will help you ascertain what worked or did not work for you. The analysis basically is about finding the questions that were easy but were not attempted and about realizing why did a particular question wasn’t answered correctly. All the difficult and important questions should be marked. These important questions should be revised also.

CAT 2016 is going to be on similar lines of CAT 2015. The changes announced are superficial only. In reality most of the changes in CAT 2016 could be with slightly modified question form which will not affect a well prepared student at all. Accordingly, CAT 2016 aspirants should remember that the kind of questions that will be asked has not changed.

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