Following the CAT 2020 Slot 1 trend, VARC continued to be a slightly lengthy section, with close options and tricky questions asked. VARC of Slot 2 was of moderate LOD. There were a total of 26 questions to be attempted in 40 minutes.
5 questions were non-MCQs (all in Verbal). The RC passages were around 450-500 words each. They were easy to read. Questions were moderately difficult, with tricky options. It was more like a test of critical reasoning.
Since there were 4 passages, 3 would have been an ideal attempt. 4 would have been a risk.
VA was fine, as usual. Para Summary questions were in non-MCQ format; and had short answers. Summary questions had very close options. Para Jumbles were of a higher level of difficulty, and were of non-MCQ format.
Overall, an attempt of 18-20 with 75% accuracy, leading to a score of 40-42, can be considered good for a 99%ile. All the TITA (Non-MCQ questions) should have been attempted.
CAT 2020 VARC Question-wise Breakup:
Topic |
No. of Questions |
Ideal Attempt |
Reading Comprehension |
18 (5+5+4+4) |
13-15 |
Verbal Ability - Parajumbles |
3 |
3 |
Verbal Ability - Summary |
3 |
3 |
Verbal Ability - Parajumbles (Odd-sentence out) |
2 |
2 |
Slot 2's DILR section was tougher than what was seen in Slot 1, in terms of LOD. There were 24 questions distributed across 5 sets (6+6+4+4+4). DILR went back to CAT 2016-18 levels after providing an escape, in terms of LOD, in CAT 2019. Number of non-MCQs was 6.
In the given time duration of 40 minutes, an attempt of 10-12 with 90% accuracy, leading to a score of 28-30, can be considered ideal for a 99+ percentile in DILR.
CAT 2020 DILR Question-wise Breakup:
Subject |
Topic |
No. of Questions |
Ideal Attempt |
Data Interpretation |
Voters |
6 |
4 |
Revenue & Cost |
4 |
2 |
|
Parking Caselet |
4 |
2-3 |
|
Logical Reasoning |
Grid-Based Filling |
4 |
Best left alone |
Arrangement |
6 |
4 |
The QA section of CAT 2020 was similar to that of CAT 2019, in terms of LOD. It had 26 short questions to be attempted in 40 minutes. The section had 6 non-MCQs. As expected, Arithmetic and Algebra ruled the roost. In contrast to CAT Slot 1 QA, which had no questions from Modern Maths, Slot 2 had 2 such questions. Most QA questions could be solved by elimination of options.
An attempt of 16-18 questions, with 80-85% accuracy, would be ideal for a 99+ percentile in the QA section of CAT 2020 Slot 2.
CAT 2020 QA Question-wise Breakup:
Topic |
No. of Questions (MCQ/non-MCQ) |
Ideal Attempt |
Number System |
3 |
2 |
Algebra |
7 |
4 |
Arithmetic |
10 |
6-7 |
Modern Math |
2 |
1 |
Geometry & Mensuration |
4 |
2-3 |
Candidates would have done well to maintain their calm and follow the guidelines shared by Career Launcher, in all its sessions. The overall cutoff for a 99 percentile is expected to range around 100-102, for the Slot 2 paper of CAT 2020.