MICAT 2008 - 17th feb 2008

[PSL]

MICAT 2008 proved to be nothing different from your usual CAT/SNAP/NMAT

5 Sections 90 Minutes - ALL QUESTIONS ARE COMPULSORY Suggested time for each section is mentioned

A : Word Assocaiations - 30 Questions, 15 Minutes
B : Psychometry - 30 Questions, 10 Minutes
C : English (VA/RC) - 25 Questions, 25 Minutes
D : Quant - 25 Questions, 15 Minutes
E : Essay/Précis Writing - 4 Essays, 1 Long Passage for précis writing, 30 Minutes



Detailed Analysis

Section A : Word Association

30 Questions, not as easy as they sound.
Ended up wasting a lot of time on the first few. Had to leave them for end.
Almost impossible to do them all sensibly in 10 mins
People giving in Mumbai better be quick and dont waste too much time on them. If you dont get them in 20-25 seconds.. fluke


Section B : Psychometry

30 Questions, general stuff. Nothing much you could have prepared for.
Again one had to be quick. Dont use this section as an opportunity to discover yourself.


Section C : VA/RC

25 Questions, 25 Minutes. Easy section.
Secntence Completion, Choosing the gramatically and semantically correct option, .. general stuff.

Section D : Quants

25 Questions, 15 Minutes

By the time you reach this section you are already running short on time. To add to that most questions are in from of caselets.
Lots of simple questions at the end of the section.
Ended up randomly marking options as i wanted to have atleast 20 Minutes for the last section.

Section E : Essay/Précis Writing

Essay 1 : Tata Nano, will it add to the problem of pollution and congestion. Take a stand

Essay 2 : State a Fact: Poverty . Capture its essence.

Essay 3 : Think of a problem, come up with a machine to solve the problem. Describe features you would add in the machine.

Essay 4 : Should developing societies worry about climate change? Shouldn't it be the responsibility of industrialized countries?

Précis: A long passage (around 1000 - 1500 word) Didnt even come around to reading it.


Now comes the important question..

WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THIS PAPER?

It tested the skills already tested by the CAT. Why use CAT for shortlisting students??

What was it that required creative and divergent thinking??

Where are the Indian Ethos??

Why make all the questions compulsory?? in 90 mins??
Its really makes me wonder, does MICA exist in some parallel universe where there exists an abject shortage of time??

4 essays in 20 minutes?? how are you going to judge a peice of writing that has been written in 5 minutes?? Why even a half decent PG post requires 10 -15 minutes to write.

It sure was a let down..

Best of luck to guys giving it in Mumbai, ateast you guys are warned.
Treat it like a SNAP or a CET paper and nothing more.
Dont expect too much creative stuff and just be fast.
Try to do the essay section somewhere in the middle, dont leave it for the end.
Dont waste much time on the Psychometry sections.
A major part of your time sould be spent on darkening the ovals and not actually reading the question.(Remember all questions are compulsory)

And you will come out questioning the hype surrounding the MICAT...

Edit: Im sorry if i sound harsh.. i suppose i expected it to be a lot different.. i guess ill be more prepared next time..hopefully...

[yettobepaid]

Hi,
Couple of things -

1. Was there any negative markings?
As in if you answer wrong / for non attempts (given that all questions are compulsory)

2. Can you give a few examples of word associations.

Danke,
C

[Mackenna]

Originally Posted by yettobepaid

......... Was there any negative markings?
As in if you answer wrong / for non attempts (given that all questions are compulsory).........

Me too want to know the same

[PSL]

its just said .. "all questions are compulsory"..

maybe that means negative marking for unattempted questions.. cant be sure..

[anvesh23]

which are the most important sections that MICA looks at ? And do the essays carry marks at this stage or are they relevant during the GE/PI stage ( something like the XAT where XLRI considers the essays at a later stage )

[yettobepaid]

Originally Posted by anvesh23

which are the most important sections that MICA looks at ? And do the essays carry marks at this stage or are they relevant during the GE/PI stage ( something like the XAT where XLRI considers the essays at a later stage )

My educated guess:
MICA says MICAT = shortlisting.
So once MICAT is over then they will call people for GD/PI.

Now, basically once we're through to the next round all of us should be on equal footing. But, MICA does not give out their formula.

Therefore, it would make sense to think that they'd consider -
CAT Score
MICAT Score
GE
PI

Give some sort of a weightage and release a merit list.

Or so I think.

C.

[ddgr8]

hi.. here is my experience.. the test was scheduled at 9.30 and we were allowed in at 9.
There were exactly 395 called people in my centre at Delhi.Attendance was pretty high(bound to be). They distributed the question booklet at 9.20 n we filled in the simple booklet with name and micat frm no.

The instructions said all questions were compulsory.. nothing about negative marking.The first section was the toughest and i completed it 20min.. though the 'desirable' limit was given to be 10min(not humanly possible). 2nd section was psychometric.. 5-6 minutes.. 3rd section english usage.. pretty easy but there was a time consuming RC question.. had no time to read it,so skipped it and 'tukkaed' the section.. questions seemed pretty easy
i planned 25 minutes for the essay part so skimmed through the maths+logic which was easy but i had no time..i attempted only the less time consuming ones.
Lastly i came to the essays.. believe me.. there is no time to think and then write there.. i just wrote as fast and furious i could! It was a disaster.. too less time and i had 2 minutes left for the last essay which was to find the gist of a 1500word essay.. i just took out random lines and copy pasted them... wrote on 3/4th of the page (space alloted was 2 pages for this particular question).SO all the best to me and all others.. shoot the queries.

[futurehistory]

the invigilators were pretty sure tht thr was no negative marking...haven't heard them sayin yes at any of the centres yet....i myself cudn't do the last two essays....

[ddgr8]

right.. there was nothing of indian ethos.. but my advice is that the mumbai people be ready for anything.. they are not gonna put the same paper again,so they may even put in the ethos for the surprise paper but yeah.. overall it was a nonsense paper.. you cannot expect anyone to be properly able to even THINK for answers to those 5 essays.I consider myself to be creative enough(hope not too brash.. ) but i wrote continously for those 25 min without a break and am not satisfied with my answers to them.
except the first section which i loved all others were MAT level.cant understand what they were checking.. another thing about this exam.. they asked us to bring pencil paper rubber sharpener and a FOOT RULER.. i didnt even have to break the seal.. useless instruction!

[yettobepaid]

Hi,
A few facts cleared -

Basis of MICAT calls - 100% CAT Score / GMAT Score

Breakup of MICAT Call -
70% GE/PI
30% MICAT

*This seems last years stats as this year they will be shortlisting on MICAT first and then calling people. One thing comes out, once you've got a call your CAT score does not matter (or so it seems).

Source: MICA Website

Cheers,
C.

PS: Do note that this is as per what MICA is 'officially' saying. There might be a few tweaking around in practice. If that is indeed the case we will never know.