Oh, yes I am sure this is not the first time you hear about HER! Lemme put it straighaway, this article is not for those who are searching the ways and means to meek the INDIAN FELINE but for the enthusiasts who think SHE is so fabulous but intangible.
Though I necessarily cant give a candid insider view (asif someone already meeked her to his kitty), being in constant touch with lotsa alumnies of IIMs and other prestigious institutes (obviosly most of them my managers, I know what it takes to be one of them and what the end results are...i am trying to analyse cat in the wake of last years exam ... So here I go without much ado..
I am not boring you with the prima-factos of CAT - Exam. Sure, though let us try and understand what the exam is all about in the wake of CAT 2002 paper.
The Data Interpretation and reasoning section was well balanced but for the slightly tricky data sufficiency problems. Students who could identify that the bar-graph diagrams required almost no calculation found that but just a ranking of the states atleast 5-6 questions were immediately solvable. The tables were easy to solve.The ‘refineries’ caselet and the ‘salary’ caselet were virtual sitters.
At first glance the Quantitative section seemed familiar and comfortable. However on analysis we find that attemptability has slightly dipped since last year. All said and done, the QA section was more or less a replica of the last year’s paper, except that it was a little trickier. Most of the questions were three or four liners.
This year Arithmetic ruled the roost and Algebra took a backseat. There were possible sitters scattered throughout the section, although they were difficult to locate. Although they were long, they were solvable. Most of the questions of Arithmetic and Algebra could be cracked easily by using answer options. In Algebra, permutation & combination questions were tricky but involved minimal calculations. The Geometry questions were easy as compared to last year’s. The problems on Numbers were the ‘easy picks’. An individual who went strong in this section stands a good chance of seeing his dreams come true…
The verbal section posed a challenge with questions on Reading Comprehension, vocabulary and usage based fill in the blanks as we saw last year. But in keeping with the true gospel of consistency with last year there were absolutely no questions on reasoning in English. The RC passages were a page long, with the exception of one passage and placed an emphasis on inference based questions. The answer options were very close with tough questions which required students to read several answer options making it time consuming. A lot of traps were set with the ‘not’ type of questions. A notable fact about the jumbled sentences this year was that the answer options of several questions began with the same combination of two sentences making the options close and time consuming.
Months and hours of nail-biting anxiety came to the final consummation with a paper that was no windstorm for those who walked in equipped. For those who were it seemed a fairly uncomplicated paper which only required some presence of mind and an abundance of time management.
An unclouded mind and the right attitude were sufficient to ensure that IIM hopefuls, who did not get blown away by the storm themselves, whipped up last year’s CAT in a tornado. The aphorism 99% perspiration, 1- % inspiration has never held so well. All said and done, CAT is not just an aim, its a journey, those who are dedicated, patient and industrious to travail and cross the hurdles... its meant for them... Best wishes friends ....
CIAO, Me.