CAT 2017: 5 challenges you must be prepared for; keep your preparation plan ready to change

With the CAT 2017 registration and error correction process already closed, now the only focus of CAT aspirants is on the CAT 2017 preparation for which only 50 days are left. There may be number of situations coming with different type of challenges before the CAT aspirants till the CAT 2017 exam is not over. CAT aspirants need to anticipate them, keep themselves ready to hold the bull by the horn and get ready for the CAT exam day. Despite announcing number of features in CAT 2017 exam, IIM Lucknow has stopped short of announcing the exact CAT 2017 exam pattern, CAT syllabus, sectional composition of the questions among other things.

Important links:

• CAT 2017: IIM & FMS toppers’ 5 point preparation strategy; focus on Mocks & right study material
• CAT 2017: Improve Speed & Accuracy to crack CAT with high score; tips from toppers & experts
• ‘Focus on improving Accuracy in CAT 2017’ Success mantra from IIM Ahmedabad student Chanchal Gupta

Confidentaility holds back required information
There are many firsts introduced by IIM Lucknow in convening CAT 2017 and many  information items regarding the CAT 2017 exam pattern and content on which nothing has been divulged by the CAT 2017 convener in the name of confidentiality are there.

Situations may require change in preparation plan
All this could call for different topics, changes in the share of MCQs and Non-MCQs, increase and decrease in number of total or sectional questions among others, creating situations that may require sudden shift in your preparation strategy, going back to learn and prepare some forgotten type of questions.

It happened in last year CAT when the exact format of the exam could be known just a month before through the official CAT Mock test and almost all the CAT aspirants had to switch their preparation schedule and had to plan it differently. On the same lines CAT 2017 is keeping most of the things behind the curtain that could affect your preparation in the last 1 month and could impact on your percentile score.

Take official CAT Mock now

You should anticipate and remain ready to adapt yourself in any challenging situation that could mould your flow of preparation. The possible situations posing challenges till CAT 2017 exam day on November 26, 2017 would be –

Number of Questions in CAT 2017?
There is no information about the expected number of total questions in CAT 2017. Any increase or decrease in total number of questions or their sectional composition can impact your sectional attempts as the time limit to attempt each of the 3 sections in CAT 2017 is the same. And in case their sectional composition or total number is increased from 100, or if 1 section has more questions than the other, it may affect the  attempts and candidates may not be able to score the minimum required qualifying percentile in one or other section in CAT 2017.

Since there are barely 50 days left for the CAT exam, non-sharing and keeping away the information on CAT 2017 about the total number of questions and sectional composition of the same by IIM Lucknow has raised suspicion among the CAT 2017 aspirants whether some big changes are proposed in the sectional composition of CAT 2017 exam.

Exam content remains unknown  
CAT 2017 notification published in news papers and the website enabled on July 31, has shared all the other details about the exam format – like names and number of sections; order of sections; time limit of 3 hours to complete the test; sectional time constraint of 1 hour for each of 3 sections; types of questions like MCQs and non-MCQs; marks per question; penalty of negative marking on wrong answer on MCQs and  no penalty on Non-MCQs, but there is no mention how many MCQs and Non-MCQs will be there in each section.

It is very much possible, that this year you may face more MCQs than Non-MCQs. MBAUniverse.com Research & Analysis team has taken the view of expert & mentor on CAT 2017 preparation, Prof S K Agarwal who shares that more MCQs are expected in CAT 2017 and the sectional composition of questions may also change.

With a clearly announced admission policy to award low weight to CAT 2017 scores in the admission process, IIMs have made it clear that anything can happen. You may get fewer questions on Quant or Data Interpretation. It is also possible that you get more non-MCQs in one section and very few in other section for example last year CAT exam had only 7 Non-MCQs in Quant section and 10 in VARC section while 8 were in DILR section.  

Be ready to face forgotten type of quesctions
It is very much possible that you may face question on correction of errors or vocabulary usage in CAT 2017. Such questions totally disappeared in 2015 and 2016 and it is the history of CAT exam that it does not repeat the content of last exams. MBAUniverse.com research team expects that few of such type of questions may re-appear in CAT 2017.

Single day exam offers no time to review 1^st session
The candidates appearing in the afternoon 2^nd session of CAT 2017 exam will not have any time to review what appeared in the 1^st session as immediately after completion of 1^st session the entry to the test venue for the 2^nd session would begin.

In CAT 2014 the exam was held in 4 sessions with a gap of one week. Prior to that, it used to be a 20 days exam till CAT 2013. This opportunity to review the pattern of CAT does not exist any longer. Whatever you are preparing will now absolutely depend upon your skill and upon the mentor who is guiding you on CAT 2017 preparation.

Since TCS, the testing partner for CAT, was able to manage well the one day CAT in 2015 and 2016 without any technical glitches, it is moving on the same path, although aspirants requested for at least 2 days CAT testing window.

CAT official Mock: Still 15 days away

IIM Lucknow has announced that the sample test for CAT 2017 will be enabled on website on October 18, 2017 and not before. This can be delayed also as during last 3 years official release of sample test for CAT exam has been delayed.

As MBAUniverse.com research team has found that it is only the official sample test of CAT which can guide you the exact nature and ratio of the total, sectional, type and topic of the questions that may appear in CAT exam, you may need to change, intensify your preparation plan for next 1 month and may have to include or leave some of the topics which may need  sudden shift in your preparation journey.

CAT 2017, mandatory exam for admission to 20 IIMs, FMS Delhi, MDI Gurgaon, IMI New Delhi, SPJIMR Mumbai, IMT Ghaziabad, IITs, is proposed to be held in the largest ever number of test cities and more testing labs on November 26, 2017. There will be 144 test cities and more than 650 testing sites to accommodate 2.31 lakhs test takers in a single day exam. The Admit card for CAT 2017 can be downloaded from October 18 and the result is expected to be declared in the second week of January 2018.

Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more updates on CAT 2017

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