CAT 2017 Slot 2 did not throw up any major surprise as comparison to Slot 1. However, at the first glance, the questions were slightly tougher. While VARC continued to be easy, the options were really close. Students could have been trapped by the similar kind of options. DILR was deceptively tricky i.e. one could have assumed the questions to be easy; however, they were not. Like Slot 1, Quantitative Aptitude continued to be on the easier side. On first impressions, an overall raw score of 155-160 should fetch a student a 99%ile, this year. The overall structure of the CAT paper was as follows:
Section | No. of Questions | No. of non-MCQ questions | Difficulty Level | Good Attempts |
Verbal Ability and Reading comprehension | 34 | 7 | Easy-moderate | 25-27 |
Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning | 32 | 8 | Difficult | 12-14 |
Quantitative Ability | 34 | 8 | Easy-Moderate | 25-26 |
Total | 100 | 23 | 64-68 |
Contrary to expectation (which was based on the sample paper), there were a few surprises in this section. The summary questions became MCQ based and carried negative marking. The passages were easy to read but the options were deceptively close. They were so tricky that the section became time consuming.
Out of the five passages, only one was a tedious read. The passages came from expected areas like Economics, Biology, Current Technical Trend etc. One passage was on creativity which was very interesting. One passage on typewriters was really short in length (around 250 words). Around 16 out of 24 questions were based on main idea and inference. The other questions were factual in nature. Tone questions remained absent. In almost 12-13 questions, two options were almost identical. Hence, it became extremely time consuming to answer these.
The four subjective para jumble questions were, as per expectation, time consuming and futile. A student should have just guessed these and concentrated on RCs. The three odd sentence para jumble questions were really easy.
The three summary questions carried negative marks. And the topics were very tedious to read. In one summary question, all the options were identical as they started with the same stem. Hence, a student should have read the questions carefully.
The overall difficulty level of the section is moderate. A good attempt will be 25-27 with around 90% accuracy.
Surprises: The section was not an exact replica of last year. Idea based questions dominated. Summary questions carried negative marks.
Area | Topic | No. of Questions | Description |
Reading Comprehension (24 Questions) |
Reading Comprehension | 24 | There were total 5 passages - three passages (500-550 words each approximately) and two passages (350 words, 250 words). The three passages had 6 questions each and the other two had 3 questions each. One passage could have looked tedious. All the other passages were really interesting to read. Majority of the questions were idea based. One should have attempted 4 passages and aimed for a 80% accuracy. The options were very close. So, it became time consuming. |
Verbal Ability (10 Questions) |
Para-jumble | 4 | 5 Sentence type. Two were very easy. One was tricky and one was extremely confusing. As these had no negative marking, one should have attempted all without wasting a lot of time. The trick was to identify the opening sentence and go ahead with the mandatory pair. There were quite a few clue words. Prior practice and awareness of deductive paragraphs were the key. |
Summary | 3 | Small paragraph of about 150 words followed by four options. Elimination of options made the task easy. However, one question had almost all identical options. It was MCQ based. So, one should not have guessed these questions. | |
Para-jumble (Odd sentence out) | 3 | 5 sentence paragraphs and one was the odd sentence. Simple paragraphs with short sentences. One paragraph was on Sports. Correct answer was easy due to the thematic difference. One needed to have practice of identifying mandatory pairs. |
In this section 2 sets were easy (Pizza, Chess) and three based on Dorms, Asset Management and Teas had about 2-3 questions each that were solvable. The airplane set was doable but lengthy. 14-16 questions, in this section, should be attempted with 85% accuracy to get a 99%ile
Section |
Topic |
No. of Questions |
Doable |
Data Interpretation |
Chess – Easy to Moderate |
4 |
3-4 |
Pizza - Easy |
4 |
4 |
|
Dorms - Medium |
4 |
2-3 |
|
Asset Management - Medium |
4 |
2-3 |
|
Airplane - Medium |
4 |
1-2 |
|
Biometric - Difficult |
4 |
1 |
|
Tea – Easy to Moderate |
4 |
2 |
|
Elective - Difficult |
4 |
Best left alone |
Identifying the 2 sitters was the key. All other sets had about 2 solvable questions
Section | Topic |
No. of Questions |
Doable |
Quantitative Ability |
Number System |
4 |
2-3 |
Algebra |
12 |
9-10 |
|
Arithmetic |
12 |
9-10 |
|
Modern Math |
2 |
1 |
|
Geometry and Mensuration |
4 |
2-3 |
Questions in Algebra were focused on Inequalities and Quadratic equations. Arithmetic questions were focused on Commercial Math, TSD and ratios. There were a good number of questions from Geometry. 22-25 attempts with 90% accuracy should suffice for 99%ile.
Please Note: All information on analysis and scores are based on the accuracy of attempts provided by you as well as independent analysis and evaluation made by Career Launcher Academic Team. We do not take responsibility for any decision that might be taken, based on this information.
CL extends its best wishes to all CAT aspirants
All the very best!!