CAT 2014 is out of the bag, and once again, surprised the students tackling the exam on D-Day. The test was longer both in terms of duration and questions, according to test-takers.

Though aspirants found the Quantitative Ability (QA) and Verbal Ability (VA) sections easier than the previous year's Data Interpretation (DI) and Logical Reasoning (LR), most aspirants were taken by surprise. Questions in the latter two ranged from difficult to very difficult.

“According to students, the test was longer in terms of questions,” says Sai Kumar Swamy, Director of TIME, Delhi.

“The Quantitative Ability (QA) section was much easier than the previous year's but Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning turned out to be very difficult. Reading Comprehension and Verbal Ability, though tricky, had moderate to difficult questions.”

A CAT 2014 aspirant, Sushant (name changed), said, “The quant and verbal sections were easy, LR was moderate and DI difficult.”

Sushant, who was preparing for CAT through mock tests, had attempted about 60 questions and hopes to clear the cut-offs in both the sections. He works in a business consulting firm, and took the test in the morning slot on November 16.

“I reached the test centre at 7.30 a.m. to avoid the last minute rush and panic,” says Sushant. “Book the taxi to your respective test centre well in advance (a week in advance), last minute panic can ruin your mood on D-day,” is his advice.

Level playing field

The QA section included 34 questions, DI and LR sections had 16 questions each, and RC and Verbal sections had 18 and 16 questions respectively.

“The 32 questions from DI and LR sections shall determine the chances of one's making it to the IIMs,” says TIME's Swamy.

“It seems, IIMs are trying to reduce the advantage to engineers because of QA and VA sections and create a level-playing field for aspirants from all kinds of backgrounds,” he added.

Swamy advises students not to change their strategy at the last minute based on this week's CAT. “Students should decide on the strategy after sitting for the test only, and not go into the examination centre with any preconceived notions as CAT is notorious for surprises,” he says.

Sushant adds that one should not take the mock tests the last week before CAT. “One can go ahead solve questions and revise formulae, in my case last week preps yielded results as few concepts that I had freshly revised came for the actual CAT,” he says.

CAT consisted of two sections this year – QA & DI; and VA & LR with each section having 50 questions, and an overall duration of 170 minutes. This is a significantly extended version over the 30 question-per section and 140 minute duration seen over the last few years.

Despite a considerable rise in the number of test centres this year, the day reported almost no-glitches on the very first day of CAT 2014, which is being held by TCS this year.

The infrastructure at some of the centre, however, has been reported below-par for an exam like CAT. For instance, some centres lacked an air-conditioned environment, and the computer systems used for the test administration were old, making students uncomfortable.

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