Surprises in CAT 2008

The Common Admission Test 2008 conducted by the Indian Institutes of Management for its management programme took place as scheduled on November 16th without  many surprise elements. CAT 2008 had 15 questions more than last year and the focus this time seemed to be the Verbal(English) section with more questions thrown in.

The paper had 90 questions in total with three sections and the break up was as follows: Quantitative Analysis and Logic(Quant)  and Data Interpretation (DI) had 25 questions each.The Verbal section had 40 questions. Candidates had 150 minutes to complete the 90 questions worth 360 marks. The marking scheme remained the same with +4 for every correct answer and -1 for every incorrect one.

According to many candidates who took the test, Verbal was thought to be relatively easy. DI seemed to be the challenge this time. Reactions to the Quant section were mixed; some felt it was  the toughest section  as it  had  more questions based on higher math, such as functions and  fewer on basic arithmetic.

The preliminary sectional cut-offs have been projected as Quant:32-35; DI:32-35; and Verbal:46-49.