CAT was tough to crack, say B-school aspirants

Candidates had to attempt three sections in the test—Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC), Data interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR) as well as Quantitative Ability (QA), with 60 minutes allotted for each section. While a majority agreed that the VARC section was easy to understand and attempt, many found the DILR section difficult.

Close to two lakh B-school aspirants from across the country took the Common Admission Test (CAT) on Sunday. While many found the test’s overall difficulty level similar to that of last year, some said that certain sections of the test were tougher than those of CAT 2015.

CAT aspirants look for their names on a list displayed outside an exam centre at Dadar on December 4. (Bhushan Koyande)

Candidates had to attempt three sections in the test—Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC), Data interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR) as well as Quantitative Ability (QA), with 60 minutes allotted for each section. While a majority agreed that the VARC section was easy to understand and attempt, many found the DILR section difficult.

Gautam Puri, co-founder of Career Launcher, a coaching centre, said, “Last year, one could easily move to the next question if it was difficult to attempt, but this year, the questions that seemed easy turned out to be complicated. Students ended up wasting precious time on them.”

Among the two batches of tests that were conducted on Sunday, the paper for the afternoon batch was comparably difficult, Puri said.

The QA section had some students thinking, but was not difficult to attempt.

Ravi Handa, a mentor to CAT aspirants, said, “Overall, the paper was similar to last year’s, except for the DILR section that students found difficult. The pattern of questions asked and level of difficulty were similar to what students faced in 2015.”

Except for a handful of complaints from some centres about internet connectivity delaying the start of their test, no major complaints were received this year, said officials.

The Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore (IIM-B) was the convener for CAT 2016. The results are likely to be out in the second week of January 2017.

ASPIRANTS PUT TO THE TEST

CAT 2016

2.32 lakh: Registered

These include:

1.55 lakh: Men

76,700: Women

938: People with disability

1.95lakh: Candidates took the test

CAT 2015

2.18 lakh: Registered

1.80 lakh: Candidates took the test

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