About the Examination CAT

[thiruvasagamani]

CAT 2006 was a watershed in the history of the exam's Verbal Section. As everyone knows, to get through to an Indian Institute of Management, you have to clear cutoffs for each of the exam's individual sections, as well as clear the overall cutoff marks for the paper (which is more than the sum of the cutoffs for the sections).

The Verbal Section has always been the saviour of many students to get this overall cutoff. Many students falter when it comes to the Quant Section cutoff, but score heavily in the Verbal Section. But not this time! For the first time in the history of CAT, the cutoff for the Verbal Section is lower than that of the other two sections. Barring the cutoffs of IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Calcutta, the cutoff for the verbal section was as low as 16 marks (out of 100!).

A serious need to work on this section, therefore, is beyond doubt.

The Verbal Section in the CAT paper comprises both Reading Comprehension as well as Verbal Ability. As can be seen in the changes of the paper, the strategy to attempt CAT has been undergoing a huge change over the last few years. There was a time when there were 100 questions, 50 each of VA and RC.

The emphasis was on speed, as within an hour or less a student had to attempt these 100 questions. Since the year 1999, the number of questions in these two areas has considerably come down. CAT 2005 and CAT 2006 had just 30 questions and 25 questions for VA respectively. Out of which there were only 12 and 15 questions of RC respectively.

The above changes in the paper, therefore, force a rethink on the strategy of attempting the paper, as well as how to prepare for both VA and RC.