CAT 2020: Analysis Slot wise; 2.28 Lakhs vie for 6000+ Seats in IIMs on Nov 29-; key tips to improve your CAT percentile

CAT 2020 exam slot-1 is scheduled on Sunday November 29, 2020 from 8.30AM to 10.30AM. To follow social distancing norms and Government of India guidelines for Covid-19 at test centres, CAT 2020 exam is conducted in three slots of two hours each with only 33% of total registered candidates assigned each slot. There are fewer questions in each section of CAT exam 2020 as the time duration is reduced to two hours. However the difficulty level of the exam has remained similar as last year. As has been the trend in CAT exam, DILR in CAT slot -1 is rated as more difficult.

Number of CAT 2020 applicants has gone down to 2.28 lakhs from 2.44 lakhs last year but the competition to get a seat in top IIMs – IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta or even FMS Delhi remains as tough as was last year.

As has been the past trends in the exam, the DILR section in Slot-1 of CAT has been rated as bit more difficult. The CAT 2020 analysis slot-1 of the exam is given below:

Major Changes introduced in CAT 2020 Exam 
CAT 2020 Centre has introduced following key changes in CAT 2020 exam pattern

• CAT 2020 Exam duration is changed to 2 hours from earlier 3 hours
• CAT exam 2020 is conducted in three separate sessions on same day instead of two sessions
• Exam is Divided into three sections: VARC; DILR; Quant
• 40 Minutes are  allotted to attempt each section instead of earlier 60 minutes
• You cannot move to other section till the time limit for the present section you are attempting is over.  
• CAT 2020 Exam has reduced number of Questions divided into MCQs and Non-MCQ type questions
• MCQs have negative marking for wrong answer and Non-MCQs do not carry penalty of negative marking
• Questions with negative marking (MCQs) are 70 to 75%
• 4 answer options for MCQ type questions, click on correct answer option
• Questions without negative marking (Non-MCQs) are 25 to 30%
• Answer must be typed in the given space on computer screen for Non-MCQ.
• Score awarded for each correct answer: 3 marks
• Negative marking (Applicable for  wrong answers in MCQs): -1 mark
• Fixed order of sections to move beginning with VARC

CAT 2020 Analysis Slot-1: Key Takeaway

• CAT exam 2020 analysis will cover following key points:
• Important changes in CAT exam pattern
• Surprise elements in CAT 2020
• Overall and sectional Changes in Difficulty level over last year
• Sectional composition of questions in CAT 2020 question paper
• Overall and Section-wise good attempts
• CAT score required leading to high percentile cut offs for IIMs & Other top B-schools 

Previous Year CAT Analysis Slot-1
DILR Section was difficult than last year. Total number of Non-MCQ type of questions have increased to 31 in CAT 2019 as compared to 27 last year. Other sections were moderate. VARC had 10 Non MCQS and 24 MCQs. Quant section had 11 Non MCQS and 23 MCQs. It has been reported by IIMs that 1.15 lakh candidates appeared in the morning session of CAT 2019 exam which has got over a few minutes earlier at 12.00 Noon. CAT 2019 Exam Analysis for Slot-1 reflects number of changes as compared to last year CAT, although the CAT 2019 overall exam pattern has remained the same as was last year with some changes in sectional difficulty level

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Slot 1 CAT 2019: Analysis in Detail

The CAT exam timings 2019 for morning slot was from 9 AM to 12 noon while the CAT exam 2019 reporting time for the morning slot was 7.30 AM. No candidate was permitted to enter the CAT test centre after 8.45 AM. Read here the complete CAT exam 2019 slot-1 Analysis with exam pattern, difficulty level, expected cut off score for IIMs

CAT 2019 Analysis: Exam Highlights Slot-1

• Total Questions: 100 (Divided into MCQs and Non MCQs)
• Total Sections: 3 (VARC, DILR, QA)
• Time to attempt CAT 2019 exam: 3 Hours (9 AM to 12 Noon)
• Sectional Time Limit: 1 Hour for each section
• Maximum Score: 300 Marks
• Marks for Each Correct Answer: +3
• Negative Marks: -1 for each wrong answer (Only for MCQs)
• No Negative Marking for wrong answers for Non-MCQs
• Overall CAT Difficulty Level: Moderate to Difficult
• DILR was difficult section

CAT 2019 Exam Analysis: Slot 1 Pattern

	Total Questions	Non MCQs	MCQs	Difficulty Level
VARC	34	10	24	Moderate to Difficult
DILR	32	10	22	Difficult
Quant	34	11	23	Somewhat Difficult

CAT 2019 Exam Analysis: Key changes in exam pattern
Total number of Non-MCQ type of questions have increased to 31 in CAT 2019 as compared to 27 last year with different number of questions in each section.

• RC Passages in VARC section were 5. Four passages were followed by 5 questions each and one passage was followed by 4 questions in MCQ format with negative marking
• The Verbal Ability questions were 10 in number. All were in Non-MCQ format without negative marking      
• Quant section had highest number of 11 Non-MCQs as compared to 12 Non-MCQs in last year CAT exam.
• More Arithmetic intensive questions appeared in CAT 2019 Slot 1.
• No change in Scoring pattern: Scoring pattern in CAT 2019 has remained to +3 for correct answer and -1 for wrong answer for MCQs and +3 for correct answer and 0 negative marking for wrong answer in Non-MCQs
• Many non MCQS had answer options also. The correct answers had to be typed in the given space.

Most of the new and baby IIMs have increased their intake for 2020-22 batch, taking the total intake in IIMs to 6000+ in admission 2020 from earlier 5000+. As such there is possibility that if you are able to score above 90 percentile in CAT exam this year, and also cross the threshold sectional CAT percentile or 70/80 as required by each IIM, you may be shortlisted for final selection round. 

Devise your D-Day Strategy
With one day to go for CAT 2019 exam day, your CAT preparation must be over now and you are sure interested to know the tips and tricks to improve substantially your CAT score which should also reflect in the freely offered and nearest percentile disclosing  CAT 2019 percentile predictors. Unlike earlier CAT exams which used to spread for a period of one month, now the CAT is shrunk to one day & two sessions exam. It is immaterial, whether you are appearing for Slot-1 or Slot-2 of  CAT 2019 exam on November 24, 2019, since the exam reporting time even for slot 2, doesn’t give you time enough to discuss about the feed back for slot one. So better strategy is to focus on your own skills and strengthen what you know. There is no need to begin anything fresh on your preparation. 

Most Important Things to Do: A Day Before CAT
However, since only one day is left to face the CAT 2019 exam date, make sure that you take following few steps to gear up for the D-Day

Download Your CAT 2019 Admit Card & Take Print
Hard copy of the CAT 2019 Admit Card is the most important document to be carried on the Exam Day. If not done till now, download your CAT Admit Card from CAT Website, take laser print on A4 size paper, fix your identical photograph in the given space on it.

Recheck following details mentioned in the Admit Card: your Name, CAT Registration Number, CAT Exam Date, CAT Exam Time & Session, PwD status, Test city, Test Center address, Reference Number (To be used only for identifying the Exam Lab/Console in the Test Center on the CAT Exam Day).

Keep Ready Your Original Photo ID
You need to carry your original photo ID proof to CAT exam centre. So keep it ready with you. The valid ID proofs as advised in your CAT Admit Card instructions include - Aadhar card, College ID, Employer ID, Driving License, Passport, PAN Card, Voter ID, Identification Affidavit along with the Admit Card

Adhere to CAT Exam Timing 2019
CAT 2019 exam timings are spread over two slots. The exam will be held in Morning & Afternoon slots on November 24, 2019. The CAT exam time and reporting time at the CAT centre is given below. You must adhere to the CAT exam timings to avoid ‘No Entry in the CAT exam Centre’. Reach the CAT test centre in time otherwise you may not be allowed to enter the CAT 2019 test centre:

CAT Exam Slots on Nov 24, 2019	Reporting Time	Gate Closure Time (No entry allowed inside the test Centre)
CAT Slot-1 from 9 AM to 12 Noon	7.30 AM	8.45 AM
CAT Slot-2 from 2.30 PM to 5.30 PM	1.00 PM	2.15 PM

You are advised to positively report at the CAT exam centre at least 30 minutes before the start of the exam for completion of security check and biometrics. Read More on Do’s & Don’ts for CAT Exam Day

Your CAT Day Strategy & Target CAT Score: 10 Tips from Toppers
CAT toppers and experts suggest following ten last day tips and strategies before CAT exam and for the exam day to substantially improve your CAT percentile in the exam. Please note that the last day before CAT needs a well devised strategy to crack the exam with high score. This is more important after putting in many months of preparation as all depends on the 3 hours of your testing duration.

Following tips and suggestions will be a good aid to improve your CAT 2019 percentile:

1. Keep your Score target clear
Are you aware that Zero marks in CAT is equivalent to 30 percentile. That means almost 30% of total aspirants score zero marks or negative marks. If you score high in CAT 2019, it is all about a slight push on what you are studying. You will be surprised to know that candidates cracking 8 correct out of 32 questions scored a sectional percentile as high as 85 in CAT.

2. Clarity of Concepts: A Must
Clarity of concepts is a must to crack CAT 2019 with high percentile. If your concepts are clear, you can practice the questions based on the concepts. For example a simple question -   if 2 and 3 are the roots of a quadratic equation ax² + bx + c = 0, what is the value of (a+b+c) ?

The answer should come from you in less than a minute. Do you know the answer?

The answer is - cannot be determined uniquely.

3. 50% Score can award 95 percentile
If out of 34 questions in VARC or Quant section in CAT 2019, you are able to crack around 17  right in each section, you will be able to score 94–95 percentile which is good enough to get call from top IIMs and other B-schools.

160 Raw Score = 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 74 in VARC, 57 marks in DILR  and 73 marks in Quant, it could fetch 99.9 percentile in CAT 2019. 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. 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.

Therefore, the CAT 2019 aspirants should not worry as their low scores could fetch them high percentile. This you can also check on CAT Percentile Predictor 2019  when the CAT exam is over.  The need is to keep watch on your sectional strategy to attempt CAT 2019 exam. To a large extent it can be estimated that your total marks of 193 to 195 could award you a percentile of 99 and above in CAT 2019. Besides a gap of 10 marks is expected to exist between the award of 99 and 100 percentile in CAT 2019, going by the past trends.

However, now you need to achieve the target of 99 and above percentile with high and balanced sectional percentile on the CAT 2019 exam day. So you should devise the strategy that could hit the target.

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 2019 exam, yet the chances to increase your percentile have improved with 28% Non-MCQs, if this number appears in CAT 2019 exam as shared in official CAT 2019 Mock test released by IIMs. 

4. Your Exam Day Strategy
If we assume that CAT 2019 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 2019 to achieve the same high percentile of 99 and above. In view of the experts Students should consider CAT 2019 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 last year CAT, the initial estimate by the experts for the score required for a 99 percentile in CAT 2019 is:

CAT 2019 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”

5. Strategy to Attempt each section in Exam
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 2019. 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.

6. Non-MCQs: Add 28% Score With No Negative Marking
CAT 2019 with an overhauled exam pattern is no doubt a great challenge for the IIM aspirants. But the no penalty Non-MCQ type of questions are also a great relief to CAT aspirants that will add to push your CAT percentile predictions 2019 upwards. Past CAT toppers suggest to practice more on such questions as there is no fear of negative marking for Non-MCQs. CAT toppers also suggest to first solve in the exam these Non-MCQs – more popularly known as TITA (Type In The Answers) questions and then proceed to MCQs with negative marking

7. LoD is Subjective Only
The question asked in CAT 2019 may have different difficulty level for different candidates. If you know the topic, have practiced on it and can crack it, it has low LoD but if you do not have conceptual clarity and can’t solve the question, it has high LoD. So don’t think that the particular question has high or low LoD as the LoD concept in CAT is relative and is dependant upon your skill set.

In fact, level of difficulty in questions asked in CAT 2019 depends whether you have practiced similar questions or are seeing it for the first time. If you find yourself average in an area, it means you have not solved similar questions.

8. Be Confident Through Out
If you begin believing right from the beginning that you cannot get into IIM A, B, C, you can never get one. You must attempt the exam with a clear focus. Instead of more time spent, more concentrated and limited time to attempt or skip the question can give you higher percentile.

9. Make Right Use of On-screen Calculator
CAT 2019 Mock test published by IIM Kozhikode also has the facility of on-screen calculator as you will find in the actual CAT 2019 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 2019 Mock Here

10. Make Best Use of Sectional Time Limit
Sectional Time limit of one hour each to attempt the questions in the individual section is a bonanza for serious CAT takers in 2019. 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.

CAT 2019 is convened by IIM Kozhikode in partnership with testing agency TCS. The testing window for CAT 2019 has been kept to 1 day 2 sessions as was there last year. During the last many years, CAT exam has not seen technical glitches.

It was anticipated that the first session could be substantially delayed due to various problems at the exam centre. But CAT Centre 2016 has well managed the stage and started the test with no delays.

It is anticipated that CAT 2019 will be a big success and will be a good experience both for the organizers as well as the test takers since the exam is claimed by CAT convener to be more aspirant friendly providing level playing field for the candidates coming from all academic streams.

CAT 2019 Analysis: Immediately after the exam
CAT 2019 exam slot-1 and slot-2 analysis will be published by MBAUniverse.com experts and Research & Analysis team immediately after the exam is over on November 24, 2019 with likely cut offs. The analysis will guide the test takers about the level of difficulty, scoring pattern, how much score can be expected with your good attempts and what could be cut offs in IIMs and other top B-schools.

On the basis of difficulty level, the low scores in CAT 2019 can also award you with high percentile in the relevant section. Accordingly the detailed analysis will also reflect the expected percentile on your sectional performance alongwith the past trends.

Watch this space for more updates 

Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more live coverage of CAT 2019