Following the CAT 2020 Slot 1 and Slot 2 trend, VARC continued to be a slightly lengthy section, with close options and tricky questions asked. VARC of Slot 3 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) |
14-15 |
Verbal Ability - Parajumbles |
3 |
3 |
Verbal Ability - Summary |
3 |
3 |
Verbal Ability - Parajumbles (Odd-sentence out) |
2 |
2 |
In terms of LOD, DILR section of CAT Slot-3 was tougher than what was seen in Slot 1 and Slot 2. 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 duration of 40 minutes, an attempt of 9-11 with 90% accuracy, leading to a score of 26-28, can be considered ideal for a 99+ percentile in DILR.
CAT 2020 DILR Question-wise Breakup:
Subject |
Topic |
No. of Questions |
LOD |
Data Interpretation Logical Reasoning |
HI-LO |
6 |
Difficult |
People & Area |
6 |
Difficult |
|
Venn Diagram |
4 |
Easy-Moderate |
|
Vials & People |
4 |
Moderate |
|
Orders |
4 |
Moderate |
The QA section of Slot 3 of CAT 2020 was similar to that of Slot-2, 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 Slot 1 and 2, there were 3 questions from Co-ordinate Geometry. Many QA questions could be solved by elimination of options.
An attempt of 17-19 questions, with 80-85% accuracy, leading to a score of 40-42, would be ideal for a 99+ percentile in the QA section of CAT 2020 Slot 3.
CAT 2020 QA Question-wise Breakup:
Topic |
No. of Questions (MCQ/non-MCQ) |
Ideal Attempt |
Number System |
3 |
2 |
Algebra |
5 |
3 |
Arithmetic |
10 |
6-7 |
Geometry & Mensuration |
5 |
2-3 |
Co-ordinate Geometry |
3 |
2 |
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 3 paper of CAT 2020.