Hi All, Wishing everyone best of luck! People who are taking the CAT exam today, please post in this format. _* CAT Centre, Date and Slot: 1) How many attempts you have made? 2) Your last mock score? If you are there at Mock Sā¦
Hey ppl,
Looks like I am the first one to post here :shocked:
CAT Centre, Date and Slot:
Chaitanya Bharti Institute of Technology, Hyderabad Morning Slot
1) How many attempts you have made? :- 16 VA, 18 QA, 19 DI
2) Your last mock score? If you are there at Mock Scores Repository thread (Mock Scores Repository 2010) , please provide the link here. NA
3) How was your experience of the test? Paper was as expected. VA was ambiguous. QA and DI was a bit on the easier side
4) What was the surprise element for you? nothing
5) Any tips to handle the computer based exam better? This was much better handled than the last time. Go ppl crack it
6) Your overall analysis of the exam. Toughness, sections etc. Paper is of the same standard as the last time. Just avoid guess work.
7) Any other query or something you would like to share with us.
Solved 58 questions. I have marked only 30 to ensure I don't score below 80 percentile..
Ok, here it goes.
Reached the centre at 8am. Desolated!! Double checked if I was at the right place.
The process started with a simple registration desk on the ground floor. The test is scheduled in a restricted area of the 4th floor. I was pleasently surprised with the way the whole exam was managed and governed. Marked improvement over the last year. Since, you are not allowed to carry and eatables/drinkables, I would recommend to go prepared, esp, for the morning slots.
Well, the biometric and other processes are similar to last year and we were about 40 guys in one room.
CHANGE: Computers are not desk mounted. There is a glass top table and the screen is below. So you actually have to look down and attempt the paper.
The tutorial is a bit different this time around and I recommend everyone to go through it nicely. there is little to gain out of it, btw. You also get a 2 page Prometric IIM instruction sheet that forbids you to publish,distribute,distribute etc any part of the test in any manner so I will refrain from posting any direct questions here. This article should be jsut referred to as my experience on the overall paper.
After the administrators log you on, you would be given a verification code sharp at 10 am which you will use to start the test.
Test Pattern: 60 questions, as already decided and announced by the IIMs.
My Test Paper: 1st section DI, 2nd VA and 3rd QA.
Paper level: 2009 level. Easily manageable
Sectional Take :
DI: Easy to medium caselets. Mainly based on calculations and very fundamental reasoning. Loads of pie charts and histograms. DS( 1 question) and Arithmetic based DI (2-3) made their presence felt too. Overall, for all calls, I believe you could attempt 20 questions in about 35 minutes. There are caselets with multiple questions so, obviously, be careful that you 'mark' all the answers and the tab turns pink.
VA: again, no big surprises here. The outdated questions article on PG's main page can be ignored now:) Passages are of average length with text highlighting functionality. You can highlight multiple lines. RCs had more of direct questions with 4/9 questions being inferential in nature. The all time CAT favourite Parajumbles were present, 5 liners and Last Sentence questions were also asked. Grammar was almost negligible with 1 question, however there were 2 vocab based questions in addition. overall: 45 minutes and 18-20 attempts
QA: Kya bolun yaar !! Awesome, Super Duper easy. I believe one who does not rely too much on theoritical formula and standard stuff, would find it easily manageable. With questions based more on common sense and attemptable easily within the time frame, i fell the QA cut off can be little high. Overall 12-14 manageable questions in 35 mins. Another 15 mins and you can crack 3-4 more that require a second level of drill down.
Overall paper looks relatively simple to me. It may be a move to standardise the kind of questions for the adaptive pattern that CAT is trying to follow in years to come.
Please do not bury yourself in needless stuff now. Ensure that atleast all questions of the last 10-15 years have been attempted by you. Should give you a good feel of the types of questions you can expect.
PS: I could finish the paper in about 100 minutes and spent the rest of the time trying to find errata. There are some questions which left loads of ambiguity, but the easy part was there were no answer options with CBD or NOTA, hence assumptions were supposed to be taken :)
These are my personal opinions. Paper patterns may change over the next slot/day/week. However, one thing is clear.
There are no golden rules to crack CAT 2010, there surely are some to break it !! Those would be:
a. Unnecessary attempts, losing accuracy
b. Preparing very tough caselets, ala AIMCATs
c. Ignoring the basic funda and key numbers (Pythagoras stuff, Special numbers, key percentage ratios0
Suggestions: try to master calculations, should save you tonnes of time.
Phew !! A long one.. WIll try posting more as I get on more info. In the meanwhile guys, start planning on GK for your other exams. It is in the best interest of your career. No one can over prepare for CAT :grin:
Cheers.
I hope, I have not violated any norms as defined by Prometric guys and IIMs. If you notice anything, please bring to my notice and I will remove it immediately.
( Ignore grammatical/typos etc. Typing in a ziffy
Guys, we are getting too many Spam Posts in this thread.
Kindly do not post any Queries or Doubts here. This thread is meant for CAT Experiences only.
Moreover, kindly conform to the guidelines specified by Rohit in the first post of this thread, before you post. Any post not doing so will be deleted.
Note: If you have any doubts related to CAT 2010, or you want to ask any question/have any discussion, then please refer to this thread:
http://www.pagalguy.com/discussions/cat-2010-official-notification-application-discussions-25044724
Thank you all, and ATB for CAT. š
People who have your exams scheduled in the days to come..
My suggestion would be to avoid checking the threads related to CAT experiences..Reason, last year I used to see the same & had a feel that QA for sure would be easy, but what happened on December 6 was a different one..So by reading these threads, there is a high chance of setting up your expectations..
Keep a neutral mindset..I know it tough, but thats the way out..All the Best..
Also, please dont posts things which should not be posted (See Extranged's Post)...
For people who have finished your exam, stay relaxed for a week or so & start for your GD/PI preps...Its always better to start ahead of others..
Here is the link to..1st day CAT experience of Arun Sharma..in Question-Answer format..Hope it will help some guys..
https://docs.google.com/document/edit?id=14pNjoK2JsIQHXU4AC6koifE01PoEyT6fNHa6nsZmbuo#
Please download word file..if u are unable to see in google docs..sorry for that technical glitches..ha ha .. now its a part of our life from last year..
18389
First Day, Second Show
Alright guys. I bow down to the incessent calls, PMs, mails and phone calls. I have decided to use my network to get to you the real story and experience behind the exams by serious tudents and genuine aspirants :D
Please ignore anyone else who copies from my blog( It has happened thrice on the first blog š )
Date: 27th Oct 2010
Centre: D Y Patil College
Time: 3:30 pm slot
Student : RV ( to protect his account and privacy :P)
Similar paper patter : 60 questions obviously
1st section : QA
Section was of moderate to tough level. There were adequate sitters in the section though. Proper identification was the key. Unlike the morning session, there were more questions that would require time crunching and may test you on fundamentals to a deeper level. It was a hybrid section with questions from number system interspersed with P&C; ( Yes, you read it right). Basically questions on the 'counting principle' were adequately used. Geometry was given decent weightage with conceptual clarity required on triangles and area and polygon based questions. Algebra and functions based questions also made their presence felt. Arithmetic, similar ot the first slot, was also included.
2nd Section : VA
English is RV's Achilees' heel. However, he is of the opinion that solving around 12 questions with a high accuracy was possible and within reach. RCs were from varied topics, of a typical CAT level. Para Completions and Vocab based questions were also included. Similar to the 1st slot, Parajumbles were asked too. Few vocab questions were alien lexicon š Overall moderate
3rd Section : DI
DI was the most manageabel section. Most students are expected to score well in this section. It did not involve many tough questions/calculations. However, unlike the first slot, reasoning was asked a lot in this slot with relatively long paragraphs with lesser number of questions to follow, all to make it a high time consuming per question area. Set theory based questions are making their presence felt in big numbers.
Thats all from here.
Learning and pointers :
a. Please ensure that you start aggressively on your vocabulary
b. There were few questions ( about 4) identifed as common questions across the slots. These may be the 'anchor' questions as disclosed by the IIMs. The whole test has been glitch free till now and we hope it goes on like this for the next month too :)
Best Regards and keep watching this space for regular updates. Hopefully we should be able to find the right inputs š
Alright guys. I bow down to the incessent calls, PMs, mails and phone calls. I have decided to use my network to get to you the real story and experience behind the exams by serious tudents and genuine aspirants :D
Please ignore anyone else who copies from my blog( It has happened thrice on the first blog š )
Date: 27th Oct 2010
Centre: D Y Patil College
Time: 3:30 pm slot
Student : RV ( to protect his account and privacy :P)
Similar paper patter : 60 questions obviously
1st section : QA
Section was of moderate to tough level. There were adequate sitters in the section though. Proper identification was the key. Unlike the morning session, there were more questions that would require time crunching and may test you on fundamentals to a deeper level. It was a hybrid section with questions from number system interspersed with P&C; ( Yes, you read it right). Basically questions on the 'counting principle' were adequately used. Geometry was given decent weightage with conceptual clarity required on triangles and area and polygon based questions. Algebra and functions based questions also made their presence felt. Arithmetic, similar ot the first slot, was also included.
2nd Section : VA
English is RV's Achilees' heel. However, he is of the opinion that solving around 12 questions with a high accuracy was possible and within reach. RCs were from varied topics, of a typical CAT level. Para Completions and Vocab based questions were also included. Similar to the 1st slot, Parajumbles were asked too. Few vocab questions were alien lexicon š Overall moderate
3rd Section : DI
DI was the most manageabel section. Most students are expected to score well in this section. It did not involve many tough questions/calculations. However, unlike the first slot, reasoning was asked a lot in this slot with relatively long paragraphs with lesser number of questions to follow, all to make it a high time consuming per question area. Set theory based questions are making their presence felt in big numbers.
Thats all from here.
Learning and pointers :
a. Please ensure that you start aggressively on your vocabulary
b. There were few questions ( about 4) identifed as common questions across the slots. These may be the 'anchor' questions as disclosed by the IIMs. The whole test has been glitch free till now and we hope it goes on like this for the next month too :)
Best Regards and keep watching this space for regular updates. Hopefully we should be able to find the right inputs š
ok here goes..
AT Centre, Date and Slot:
morning slot , delhi, qutub institutional area.
1) How many attempts you have made?
LDI 19 , VA 18 , QA 14
2) Your last mock score? If you are there at Mock Scores Repository thread (Mock Scores Repository 2010) , please provide the link here.
http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/cat-and-related-discussion/50562-mock-scores-repository-2010-a-2.html#post2039516
3) How was your experience of the test?
smooth , nice
4) What was the surprise element for you?
nothing , was as expected
6) Your overall analysis of the exam. Toughness, sections etc.
LDI moderate
QA moderate
VA moderate
OA nice balanced paper
just relax and give ur best !!!
best of luck puys !!! š
Hi Puys,
I found this cool link on the web that lists out all the sources on the net that are discussing and detailing about the CAT 2010 exam starting today. You may find it useful.
CAT 2010 EXPERIENCES | MBA Glue
Do not click the first link or the article link as you would end up on Pagalguy itself. Cheers!!
Guys, this is slightly mindboggling. 
:shocked::shocked:
The kind of attention that the first day has got is truly blasphemous to the whole process.
Let me clarify and put some caveats.
ALl of you have put in your heart and soul over the past few months. Now is the time to realise the intrinsic valus of your preparation rather than seek some short cuts.
Based on the analysis of the 3 tests till now, I can only infer that the papers are of varying difficulty levels. We could identify few common questions across papers( which in all probablities would be the anchor questions). These questions would be used along with some statistical methods to arrive at the normalization process.
The fact that I want to highlight here is DO NOT TWEAK YOUR PREPARATIONS AT THE LAST MINUTE. CAT is changing every slot and few pointers that we could gather are:
a. DI- Calculation based questions and data centric.
b. DI- More of individual questios hogging the share
c. VA- RCs are of average length with about average questions
d. VA- Vocab based/application based questions.
e. QA- As variable as it gets.
If we are blindly trying to focus the trend and prepapre accordingly, it is injustice to our efforts over the pase few months. Along with your preparations, I would recommend going over last few CAT papers ( 1995-2003) preferably in an online format.
Also a good idea would be to get a grip over vocab and phrasal verb usage. This would also hold you ingood stead with FMS and IIFt round the corner.
PLEASE, stop bothering about areas from which questions would be asled as most of you are well prepared. Please do not let insecurity set in. The more you read about varying patters, the more conditioned your minds would be.
I can identify two approaches:
1. Those targeting IIMs- Try to attempt with dead certain accuracy in the range of 45-55.
2. Ppl targeting top 20 colleges- something like a 10-10-10 in all the three sections with 100 % hit rate should do the job for you.
PS: Personal take. You may 'agree' to 'disagree'. Please do not flood with PMs unless actually 'private message' :D
Chak de!! How to kill a Mockinganimal( CAT)
:P
Hi All,
Please see this article on first day CAT 2010 experience..
On Day 1 of CAT, candidates find reaching test centres a tough task - The Times of India
Takeaways:
1.Reach centre early
2.Keep your calm even if you have problems logging in or any delays you face out of it.
@manish_harodia
i am taking cat on nov 8th, so plz suggest me, in mean time, what shall i practice MOCK CATS from the TIME site or previous years cat papers in online format under time restraints....?
If you recommend to take previous years cat papers then what about the format, those are having questions varying like 185, 175, 75 in number of questions......
plz give me a wise suggestion basis on which i can take a wise decision......hoping in swift reply
thank you............
Previous years CAT papers with 150-175 questiopns. Forget about the time frame. No one is going to penalize you if you finish CAT 2010 in 45 minutes for 60 questions.
Point to be noted: the questions are of similar difficulty level. Ensure accuracy is at its peak..
Baki, bhagwaan pe chod do :)
And please do not react to trends, read my earlier post on this page !!
Hi guys,
I dont remember the exact attempts.But its between 42-45.
DI-14-Moderate(Calculation based but do-able)
QA-15-Moderate(3-4 difficult Qs)
VA-15-16(ambiguous)
Let's see how things goes. This time there were no glitches.I had to wake up at 5 AM in the morning,still reached center at 8:40 AM.It was very far.Had to travel 45 KMs.
People, please stick to posting experiences only on this thread. No queries or questions. If you have something to ask to those who have taken the test, you can PM them. If that is not possible, you can post on the CAT 2010 queries thread here:
http://www.pagalguy.com/discussions/cat-2010-official-notification-application-discussions-25044724
Also, we will be opening a thread on every test day till the end, so that, you can have day-wise experiences at the end.
No more spamming please.
Test Date: 29th Oct
Venue : Saraswati College of Engineering, Navi Mumbai..
Test taker: OB, a Puy......I am posting based on his experience and my interaction with him.
Paper pattern was same as the first day.
60 questions and the sections were in the following order: VA, QA and DI.
He has attempted 16,16 and 17 respectively.
Sectional Takes: VA: No surprises. Very similar to the papers earlier and on the lines of CAT 2009. There were standard questions from RC, Para COmpletion, Word Usage, Grammar, FITBParajumbles( 5 line ones).
The passage lengths were almost identical with 4,3 and 2 questions in them. A pointer to a probable tricky language or tougher questions.
QA: QA was the easier section. He, being an engineer, may have something to do with this. He claims the questions were simpler than his AIM CATs. AIM CATs anyways makes wierd questions š There were some basic terms with which an aspirant is supposed to be familiar with .
His take is there was one incorrect question in the QA section, hence he could not attempt it. The topics covered were relatively common and application based.
Set theory again hogged the limelight. It seems to be a favourite with Prometric guys this time around. DS was tricky but manageable
DI: DI, as per OB, was the heavy weight in today's paper. There were about 5 caselets with 2 questions each. The questions were again data centric and calculation intensive with little or almost negligible reasoning involved. OB says, the single questions were tougher and deserved more questions based on the quantum of data provided- inference, lengthy paper and time consuiming for individual questions. He also mentioned there were questions on set theory and P&C; based approaches. Questions on intersection and finding range seems to be the flavour.
OB attempted a total of 49 questions and believes that net 40 correct should fetch him calls.
His final verdict- Paper was slightly lengthy and of a higher level than his attempt in CAT 2009, where he could attempt 51 questions.
Would refine the stuff as and when info pours in :)
Ignore grammar and typo...Rush compensates for it !!
Please highlight immediately if there is a violation of any NDA wrt CAT.
Where is the link for the 2nd day feedback ?? I will upload it here in case I dont find it..SOmepne guide please :)
I would upload the pattern for todays exam in the next 30 mins here and on the blog otherwise.....
Watch out in the next 30-45 mins
Day 3-> http://www.pagalguy.com/discussions/official-cat-2010-29-oct-second-day-discussions-25059347
Thread Opened as the first slot should be over by now.