CAT 2022 Slot 1 Analysis

The first slot of CAT 2022 took place today between 8.30 am and 10:30 am.

The structure of CAT 2022 remained largely the same as in 2021. However, the DILR and Verbal sections saw some changes in segmentation and the number of MCQs and TITA. Verbal Section had 2 paragraph completion questions instead of the anticipated Odd Sentence questions. Overall, Slot 1 of CAT this year was slightly more difficult than Slot 1 of last year.

The marking scheme was +3 for every correct and -1 for incorrect. There was no negative marking for TITA Qs.

Based on the feedback received from several candidates who have appeared in the first slot, our initial estimate of the percentiles and scores*** is as follows. These estimates will be suitably revised soon after the CAT releases the response sheets.

*** Students are advised not to take any B-School application decision based on these initial estimates. They serve only as the first indicator of likely performance.

Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension

The VA-RC section consisted of 16 Reading Comprehension questions and 8 Verbal Ability questions. As in the past several years, there were no direct Grammar or Vocabulary questions. The passages were of Medium difficulty level except for the one on Political Philosophy. Overall, Comprehension was more difficult than the VA questions. However, 10 to 12 questions could be attempted with high accuracy. The 2 Para-completion questions, which were new, consisted of a key sentence followed by a paragraph with four numbered blanks. One had to identify the blank in which the key sentence would fit in correctly – grammatically and logically. There were 3 paragraph jumbles in TITA format, and 3 summary questions as MCQs. In VA, 5 attempts with high accuracy were possible. Overall the difficulty level was comparable to the first slot of CAT 2021.

An attempt of 15 to 17 questions with high accuracy (85-90%) will be a good performance in VARC.

Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning

In CAT 2021 there were a total of 4 sets out of which two sets had 6 questions while the remaining two had 4 questions each. This pattern has not been followed in CAT 2022, this year the DI-LR section had a total of 4 sets of 5 questions each.

Two sets were of Easy to Medium difficulty level and the remaining two sets were Medium to Difficult. Overall the Level of difficulty was Medium to Difficult and at par with the last year’s slot – 1 DILR.

Overall, an attempt of 10 to 12 questions with high accuracy (85-90%) will be a good performance.

Quantitative Ability

This section was Medium in terms of Level of difficulty and was dominated by Arithmetic (8 questions), followed by Algebra (5 questions). There were 3 questions on Modern Math and 3 questions on Geometry. In Arithmetic, the questions were dominated by Averages and Mixtures & Alligations and Profit & Loss,.

There were 8 TITA questions this year. Selecting the right questions to attempt was the key. Students should have been able to attempt about 14/15 questions in the given time with 85-90% accuracy.

This section was very much similar as last year’s slot 1. Number of TITA (8 questions) and MCQ (14 questions) were the same as last year’s slot 1. Also area/topic wise distribution of questions was more or less similar to last year’s slot 1.

THE PROCESS

No shoes and no metallic objects including metal jewelry were allowed. Only the admit card and the ID proof were allowed. As in the previous years, the authorities took possession of the admit cards. The candidates were given a small pad with IIM CAT Logo on the cover (32 pages) for rough work and a pen – which were also taken away at the end of the exam.

TEST INTERFACE

The test interface was quite user-friendly and exactly the one provided in the official CAT Mock Test. There were no subdivisions within each section. A simple calculator was provided, and not a scientific one. There was an arrow provided near the question palette which when clicked expanded the question window to full-screen view by hiding the question palette & vice versa

At the end of the test, a summary of the number of questions attempted, visited, and not visited was displayed for each section.

There was a button marked ‘Question Paper’ that opened up a screen containing all the questions of the section. This was used by students for planning their approach for the section.

*** The scores and percentiles mentioned in this analysis are indicators based on the feedback from students and IMS experts. They are in no way related to the results which IIMs are expected to declare in January 2023. You are advised to wait for the results.