CAT Exam Analysis 2018

IIM Calcutta will conduct the CAT 2018 on 25th November in online mode. The CAT 2018 will take place in 2 slots, and CollegeDekho will publish the analysis immediately after the exam. The exam analysis for both the slots will be published separately. As part of the analysis, we will provide information on the overall structure of the exam, section-wise topics, changes (if any) and ideal attempts for all the sections, which include Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension, Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning, and Quantitative Ability. 

CAT 2017 Exam Analysis

CAT 2017 conducted in two sessions did not throw up any surprises compared to the paper format. The level of difficulty of the paper too was almost the same as that of CAT-2016. The scoring pattern was as follows:

• 3 marks for each correct answer
• -1 mark for each wrong answer (For MCQs)
• No negative marking for wrong answer in Non-MCQs

The paper had 74 questions with negative marking and 26 questions without negative marking. All the 74 MCQs had 1/3 negative marking while there was no negative marking for wrong answers for the 26 Non-MCQs.

Slot 1: Here our experts could deduce that DILR was a tough nut to crack. VARC was moderately difficult while QA was easy focussing more on arithmetic questions which would benefit Non-Engineers. Cut off levels, compared to last year may go up

The overall structure of the CAT paper was as follows:

Section Name	No. of Questions	No. of MCQ	No. of Non-MCQ	Difficulty Level	Good Attempts
Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension	34	27	7	Moderate	26-28
Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning	34	24	8	High	14-16
Quantitative Ability	34	23	11	Easy	24-26
Total	100	74	26

Section wise the number of questions allotted to a particular area and its difficulty level as assessed by our team of experienced faculties is as below.

Section-1: Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC)

Area	No. of Questions	Difficulty Level
RC-Topic 1	3	Easy to Moderate
RC-Topic 2	3	Easy to Moderate
RC-Topic 3	6	Easy to Moderate
RC-Topic 4	6	Easy to Moderate
RC-Topic 5	6	Easy to Moderate
Odd Sentence Out	3	Easy to Moderate
Paragraph Jumbles	4	Moderate to Difficult
Paragraph Summary	3	Easy
Total	34

Here our experts opined that many students would have attempted close to 28+ in VARC section and quite a few would have attempted all the 34 questions in the section. 

Section-2: Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR)

Area	No. of Questions	Difficulty Level
LR- Projects	4	Difficult
LR-Burgers / Fries	4	Easy
LR-Children Survey	4	Easy
LR-PCM	4	Difficult
DI-Happiness Index	4	Difficult
DI-Matrix	4	Moderate
DI-Routes	4	Moderate
DI-Flight Operation	4	Moderate
Total	32

The DILR section was the toughest section, with difficulty level moderate to difficult. The number of attempts in this section would more likely be in the 12 to 14 range.  

According to our experts, a good student could have attempted around 16-18 questions in this set. Very few students would have touched the attempt of 25 in this section. The cut-off in this section would be low and can be between 30-31 marks for an 85 percentile.

Section-3: Quantitative Ability (QA); included 2 wrong questions

Area	No.of Questions	Doable
Number System	4	4
Algebra	10	8-10
Arithmetic	11	8-9
Modern Maths	2	2
Geometry & Mensuration	7	5-6
Total	34

Quant section was the easiest. Arithmetic dominated the section. Most of the questions were from arithmetic, geometry, and algebra.

Overall Analysis & Expected Cut off Predictions

Percentile	VARC	DILR	QA	Overall
99	68	38	65	158
95	52	32	48	141
90	48	28	35	110
85	45	20	30	100
80	40	21	25	90
75	36	18	23	85
70	30	15	18	68
65	26	10	15	50
60	20	8	10	40

Imp: Scores for CAT 2017 are calculated as +1 for a correct answer and -1/3 for an incorrect answer.

To all the candidates who have taken the exam, join us to get a comprehensive analysis and insights into CAT 2017. Apart from CAT 2017 expert paper analysis, you can check the CAT 2017 Result. Stay tuned to know More on CAT 2017!