CAT 2008 Examination Analysis

The CAT examination has a tendency of surprising students all these years. CAT 2008 was no exception. This year, total number of questions increased by 20 percent. What caught students’ off-guard was added emphasis on verbal section. That also means, weightage of verbal section was almost 45 percent resulting mainly from 40 percent increases in verbal questions. Students with adequate vocab knowledge and grammatical efficiency must have relished the surprise. RC (Reading comprehension) also had five questions per passage. Last year, it was three questions per passage. That way, verbal section became lengthier but it was also quite manageable. Coming to Quant and DI sections, there were not many surprises except few question patterns based on the previous CAT exams.

Students needed to apply unconventional methods including substitution method and numerous options to answer questions of DI and Quant sections. There were also several question formats and styles quite similar to previous CAT exams and it was also anticipated to some extent. So that must have helped students while handling these questions. DI was definitely tough whereas Quant was manageable for well prepared students.

According to experts, CAT paper was of reasonable complexity level. Because of more choices in English section, paper was also considered balanced. Total number of questions was 90 compared to 75 questions last year. DI and Quant had 25 questions each whereas Verbal section contributed 40 questions. Expected cut-off is 125-128 from IIMs.

Section wise expected cut-off marks are;
Verbal- 45-49
DI- 27-30 and
Quant- 30-33