In Verbal Ability and Logical Reasoning, it was a standard paper again with no major changes/surprises.
Logical reasoning had much easier questions compared to most mocks. However, quick data analysis and data arrangement would be the key here. There were three caselets with three questions each. Most of the questions were on Sudoku style and basic matrix-based arrangement. One caselet was based on conditional data arrangement and would require more than normal time to crack. But, again, CAT wants you to ensure that you get the LR questions spot on.
With English, we never know. (Do we?) The biggest surprise was from the Verbal section. There wasn’t a single question on grammar. The section was averagely difficult. The section had all the conventional questions from Verbal Reasoning and Reading Comprehension. There were 11 questions from Verbal Reasoning: two on Word Usage, three on Para jumbles, two on Fill in the blanks, two on Sentence Exclusion, and two on paragraph completions.
The Word Usage questions were pretty straightforward and a candidate with decent English grasp could have easily spotted the errors in the usage in both the questions. The “Fill in the blanks” questions were easy; the vocabulary used was not very uncommon and the reasoning element involved was not all complicated. Both the para completion questions were of higher difficulty. More than one option seemed to appropriately complete the paragraph and leaving the questions unattempted would have been the wisest thing to do. The Para-jumbles were of moderate difficulty level. The sentences in the paragraph were long, but the ideas were expressed in a clear and a lucid language. Eliminating the options would have taken time, but would have definitely paid off. Out of the two Sentence Exclusion questions, one was easy and one was a little difficult.
There were three Reading Comprehension (RCs) passages: one each from Sociology, the Arts and Natural Science. Unlike last year, there weren’t many tone questions. One tone question in the Sociology passage was tough. The passage from Natural Science (coincidently, today was the World Ozone Day today) was the easiest and had straightforward factual questions spottable in one reading. The Sociology passage was difficult to understand and as a result, time-consuming. Skipping this passage to focus on an easy LR set would have been prudent.
Strategy Lessons: Selecting questions is supremely important. One must scan the paper in the first five minutes and quickly solve the sitters. This will not only motivate, but also give a general idea of the overall difficulty.
PS: I hope none of the non-disclosure norms have been violated. If any, please bring to my notice and would edit immediately. Also, please do not ask me or anyone in the forums to divulge questions, I’ll just ignore such requests.
Manish Harodia is an MBA from IIM Kozhikode and has been a CAT and GMAT trainer since 2004. He is also the founding director at Genesis Mentors, Pune.