Common Admission Test (CAT) is one entrance examination that is full of surprises and cut-throat competition. Prestigious Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) have prepared the exam to assess candidates based on their verbal ability, quantitative knowledge, and logical reasoning and data interpretation skills.
IIM Indore is all set to conduct CAT 2020 on November 29, 2020. The registration for the exam has ended and now admit card for CAT 2020 will release on October 28, 2020. It is expected that more than 2 lakh candidates will appear for the exam year, in hopes to get admission in 20 IIMs and more than 500+ B-Schools.
CAT is never an easy nut to crack but this time it is especially daunting for the students. IIM-I took candidates by surprise when it announced few major changes in CAT 2020. The biggest one is the decrease in the duration of the exam. Until last year, the candidate had 180 minutes (3 hours) to solve the exam. However, this year, they will only get 120 minutes (2 hours). Apart from this, for each section candidates will only get 40 minutes, and shuffling from one section to another is not allowed.
IIM Indore has basically deducted exam time by 33%. At a glance, this makes the exam tougher. However, it is not as bad as it seems. IIM never discloses the number of questions and marks in the exam in prior. Hence, one possibility is that this time there might be fewer questions in each section.
However, even if it remains as last year, candidates can still turn the table with mock test and a bit of time management. In 2019, there were 100 questions in CAT, with 34 in VARC, 32 in DILR, and 34 in QA. If the same replicated this year, candidates will still be getting more than 1 minute to solve a question. Hence, candidates need to work on speed and accuracy. To do so, candidates should practice 1 full CAT mock test daily, along with section wise mock test.
Also, the ratio of MCQ to non-MCQ type questions was 3:1 i.e. 75 MCQ questions and 25 non-MCQ questions. More number of MCQs make things a bit easy. MCQs help in saving time and prioritising sections that are difficult or tricky. Despite the pattern being changed, the difficulty level of questions shall remain the same. Hence, candidates are not required to change their exam preparation. Authorities have also released tutorials according to the new paper-pattern to help candidates get a clear idea of the examination.
For time management, candidates should target to finish the section wise mock test in 40 minutes only. While doing so, candidates should maintain a chart of how many questions they did or missed. With practice and dedication, the graph should increase steadily.
