IIM Kozhikode conducted the first slot of Common Admission Test (CAT) 2019 today, on November 24, 2019, from 9 am to 12 noon. The exam’s difficulty level was as per expectations, and there were no surprises per se. In fact the quantitative section was easier than expected.
The 3 hours long computer based test had three sections namely Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC), Quantitative Ability (QA), Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR).
CAT 2019 Slot 1 VARC Analysis, Exam Pattern, Expected Cut Off
VARC had 34 questions, QA had 34 as well, and DILR had 32 questions. Each section had to be attempted in 1 hour, in this order only. For every correct answer, candidates will get +3 marks, and 1 mark will be deducted as negative marking only for MCQ questions; there is no negative marking in type in the answer (TITA) type questions.
In the first section (section I), VARC, there were 24 reading comprehension questions, and 10 verbal ability questions. There were 27 MCQs, 7 TITA questions.
There were 5 passages.
In 4 passages, there were 5 questions, and in 1 passage there were 4 questions. All RC based questions were MCQ type.
There were 4 parajumble questions, 3 odd one out questions, and 3 summary questions. Parajumble, odd one out were TITA type, summary based were MCQ type.
VARC in CAT 2019 slot 1 was an easy section, easier than CAT 2018. Good attempts in this section would be 17-19 questions answered correctly, to get 90 percentile.
As per Career Launcher, 74 marks in VARC will get 99 percentile, and 62 marks will get 95 percentile.
CAT 2019 Slot 1 DILR Analysis, Exam Pattern, Expected Cut Off
Then in section II, DILR, there were 8 sets with 4 questions in each. Out of 32, 24 questions were MCQ type and 8 were TITA type. There was no one set with all TITA questions, they were distributed between the sets.
DILR was difficult (as expected in CAT, not higher than that), however easier than last year. Around 11-13 questions answered correctly will fetch 90 percentile.
As per Career Launcher, 45 marks in DILR will get 99 percentile, and 35 marks will get 95 percentile.
CAT 2019 Slot 1 QA Analysis, Exam Pattern, Expected Cut Off
The third section, section III was QA. it had 22 MCQ questions and 12 TITA questions.
8-9 questions were from arithmetic.
6-7 questions were on geometry, algebra, modern maths.
3-4 questions were on number system.
As compared to previous years, CAT 2019 slot 1 QA was easier. However the higher number of TITA questions could have been a challenge for a few. Solving 14-16 questions correctly in this section would fetch 90 percentile.
As per Career Launcher, 64 marks in QA will get 99 percentile, and 56 marks will get 95 percentile.
The paper, say candidates who appeared in CAT 2019 slot 1, was as per their expectations and analysis is the same by coaching centers as well. An overall score of 155-162 could get 99 percentile in this slot.
Slot 2, is from 2:30 pm to 5:30 pm.
CAT 2019 result will be declared in the second week of January 2020. Around 12,000 seats in IIMs will be filled on the basis of CAT 2019 results. Last year 11 candidates got 100%ile, 21 students got 99.99%ile.
This year, a total of 2,44,169 candidates have applied for the Common Admission Test, which is up from last year.
