More questions, more marks in ‘tough’ CAT

The Common Admission Test (CAT) held on Sunday for admission into the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) surprised the candidates with more questions and more marks compared to the last two years and tested the analytical and reasoning skills.

It can't be a Common Admission Test if there are no surprises and CAT 2008 was no different. For over 250,000 candidates from across the country seeking admission to the elite Indian Institutes of Management on Sunday, the surprise came in the form of more questions and more marks.

The toughest test for entry into any academic institution in the country had 90 questions this year compared to 75 last time. The number of questions in quantitative aptitude, and logic and data interpretation remained 25 each, but the verbal ability section had 40 questions instead of 25.

The marks went up to 360 as against 300 in CAT 2007. Each question carried four marks and one negative mark for every incorrect answer. The total marks have seen significant changes in the last five years: 123 questions and 150 marks in 2004, 90 questions and 150 marks in 2005 and 75 questions and 300 marks last year.

But CAT is not just a number game. Sandeep Manudhane, founder chairman of PT, a coaching institute, said in Delhi: "It was tougher than last year's. CAT is more of a mind game now. The questions were tricky and indirect and meant to confuse students who have weak analytical skills.''

Ulhas Vairagkar, director of TIME, another coaching institute in Delhi, said the highest number of questions were in the verbal ability section. "This was last seen in 1998. The logic and data interpretation section this year was much similar to that of 2007. Quantitative aptitude was the toughest section this year. There were fewer questions on arithmetic, but more on ‘higher maths' like functions and indices,'' said Vairagkar, who was a candidate himself.

Over 2.5 lakh students, including 50,000 from Delhi, appeared in the test for 1,800 seats in the seven IIMs in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Indore, Kozhikode, Lucknow and Shillong. There were 230 exam centres in 23 cities across the country, 60 of the in the National Capital Region.

"A total of 2.5 lakh candidates were eligible for the test this year. Last year, 2.12 lakh candidates had appeared in the test,'' said IIM-Ahmedabad spokesperson Ishita Solanki.

This year’s paper had question styles and formats that had appeared previously. However, QA was the toughest section this year. There were fewer questions on Arithmetic and more questions on tough chapters like functions. The verbal section was less ambiguous.