The overall structure of CAT 2017 was exactly similar to that of CAT 2016. The test started with the Verbal Section, which had 34 questions – 24 RC and 10 VA. The second section was the DI-LR with 32 questions distributed equally between the two areas. The third section was the Quantitative Ability section which also had 34 questions. Each section was timed for 60 minutes. One could not go back and forth between sections. The marking scheme was also similar to last year with +3 for every correct & -1 for incorrect answers. There was no negative marking for TITA questions.
| A | B | C | D | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Section No. | Section Name | Total Number of Questions | Number of Multiple Choice Questions | Number of TITA Questions |
| I | Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension | 34 | 27 | 7 |
| II | Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning | 32 | 24 | 8 |
| III | Quantitative Ability | 34 | 23 | 11 |
| | TOTAL | 100 | 75 | 26 |
Slot 1 Analysis
VA-RC Section: The VA-RC section was a replica of the CAT 2016 section in terms of question types. Grammar and Vocabulary questions were again conspicuous by their absence. RC had 3 passages with 6 questions & 2 passages with 3 questions – most of these questions were direct and could have been solved within the given time-limits. Generally IMS students have reported that as many as 21 questions were easy!
- Of the 10 VA questions, 7 were TITA and 3 MCQs.
- 3 Out-of-context sentence – TITA (Easy to Medium)
- 4 Paragraph Jumbles – TITA (Medium to Difficult)
- *3 Paragraph summary/Author’s opinion questions – MCQs. (Easy to Medium) (With negative Marks)*
- *The only difference from the 2016 CAT, and the several IMS SimCATs!
- It was possible to attempt 26 to 28 questions which should give you a competitive score.
The VARC has received an overall thumbs up from many IMS students!
DI-LR Section: The DI-LR section had a total of 8 sets with 4 questions in each set. There were 3 sets Data Interpretation and 4 sets of Logical Reasoning. The remaining set was logic based DI and hence cannot be simply classified as either DI or LR. Selection of the right sets to solve was key to a good performance in this section. Like last year, no Set was completely TITA – TITA questions were dispersed across individual sets. 4 sets were completely MCQ whereas the remaining 4 sets was a combination of TITA and MCQs. There were a total of 8 TITA questions. Overall the section was marginally tougher as compared to last year. If you would have solved around 4 sets in this section with 80% accuracy, then you would be in the safe zone.
QA Section: This section was easy and dominated by Arithmetic with 13 questions followed by Geometry, Algebra, and Modern Math with 6 to 7 questions each. There were a couple of questions on Numbers. There were 11 TITA questions this year – compared to last year when there were only 7! If one went through the entire section, there were at least 12 to 15 sitters for the taking. Unlike last year, there was no typographical error reported this year. An attempt of 24 to 26 questions in this section should be a good bet.
Verdict
- The first slot of CAT 2017 has been reported to be more or less similar to last year with no surprises. No new question types were seen in any of the sections. An overall attempt of 65+ questions with an accuracy of 80 to 85 percent should be classified as a good performance in this test.
Slot 2 Analysis:
VA-RC Section: The VA-RC section was a replica of the CAT 2016 section in terms of question types. Grammar and Vocabulary questions were again conspicuous by their absence. RC had 3 passages with 6 questions & 2 passages with 3 questions – most of these questions were direct and could have been solved within the given time-limits.
- Generally IMS students have reported that as many as 22 questions were easy!
- Of the 10 VA questions, 7 were TITA and 3 MCQs.
- 3 Out-of-context sentence – TITA (Easy to Medium)
- 4 Paragraph Jumbles – TITA (Medium to Difficult)
- 3 Paragraph summary – MCQs. (Easy to Medium – With negative Marks)*
The pattern of Slot 2 VARC replicated the pattern and difficulty level of the first slot and more importantly that of 2016 CAT, and that of SimCAT 14, barring the negative marks assigned to Summary questions.
As in the first slot, it was possible to attempt 28 to 30 questions which should give you a very competitive score.
DI-LR Section: In the second slot, the DI-LR section had a total of 8 sets with 4 questions in each set. There were 4 sets Data Interpretation and 4 sets of Logical Reasoning. Selection of the right sets to solve was key to a good performance in this section for this slot as well. Like in the 1st slot, no set was completely TITA. TITA questions were dispersed across individual sets. 4 sets were completely MCQ whereas the remaining 4 sets was a combination of TITA and MCQs ( 2 TITA and 2 MCQ each). Like in the first slot, there were a total of 8 TITA questions in the DI –LR section for this slot as well. Overall, the DI-LR section in the second slot was marginally easier compared to the DI-LR Section in the first slot. If you would have solved around 4 to 5 sets (in the range of 16-18 questions) in this section with 80-85% accuracy, then you would be in the safe zone.
QA Section: Just like in the first slot,this section was easy and dominated by Arithmetic with 13 questions followed by Geometry, Algebra, Numbers and Modern Math with around 4 to 7 questions each. Also like in the first slot,there were 11 TITA questions in this slot . If one went through the entire section, there were at least 12 to 15 sitters for the taking. Unlike last year, there was no typographical error reported this year. An attempt of 25 to 27 questions in this section should be a good bet.
VERDICT
The second slot of CAT 2017 has been reported to be more or less similar to last year with no surprises and to the first slot. No new question types were seen in any of the sections. An overall attempt of 69+ questions with an accuracy of 80 to 85 percent should be classified as a good performance in this test, owing to a relatively easier DILR section in the second slot.
This review of CAT 2017 Slot 1 and 2 is by IMS.