CAT 2008 in India: What You Need to Know?
Common Admission Test (CAT) will take place on 16 November 2008 across 23 cities in India. About 2.5 lakh CAT aspirants (over 2.76 lakh, according to some sources) will sit for this nation-wide exam, hoping to grab one of the alluring 1800 (some say 2000) seats available at the Institutes of Management (IIMs)’s top-B schools. There are over 118 top-B schools across the country and each of the schools has a particular number of seats available for the new batch of students.
Number of Applicants Increased, So does in No. of Seats for CAT 2008
CAT 2008 seems to be more competitive compared the last year as more students are going to appear in the test this year. This year, 3 lakh CAT forms were sold in different states in the country, compared to 2 lakh forms sold for last year’s test.
Timesofindia reported:
However, before the trends, here is what CAT-2008 looks like in numbers in comparison to 2007. In comparison to 2.3 lakh applicants in 2007, 2.85 lakh applicants have been accepted this year. According to Satish Deodhar, member CAT committee, “Close to 3 lakh forms were sold for 2008. While 2 lakh wrote the test last year, it would be 76,000 more this year.”
Seeing larger number of aspiring students for CAT 2008, CAT authority has increased the number of available seats for this year. With number of applicants increased by 25%, CAT authority has increased the number of seats up to 1800 for this year’s exam.
Information about CAT 2008 Exam
I have already mentioned that CAT 2008 exam will be held on 16th November 2008 in different centers across 23 cities in the country. The exam will kick off at 10.30 am. About 2.5 lakh students will compete for about 1800 seats in the exam. That means more than 138 students will vie for each of the seats available in the top-B schools.
So, it would not be an easy task for the students. Last year, questions were very difficult and there is no hope of any alteration this year. There are three sections in the two and half hour long exam. For the last couple of years, there were 75 questions in total and no change of this has been hinted yet for CAT 2008 exam. English section is considered to be the toughest section in the whole test.
As there is only a limited number of seats available, the questions are always very hard in CAT. Experts think, no prediction would work out well for the students as the number of questions has been decreased. Earlier, the test was based on the speed based in which students’ basic knowledge was judged, but now-a-days, the exams are more focused on testing the students’ managerial skills. So, students have to be prepared from every aspects of the subject; rather than only sticking to information and knowledge about the subject matter. Analytical skill will be required to get a seat in the top-B schools.
Number of questions has been steadily decreased since 2002. The 2003 and 2004 exams saw 123 questions, compared to 150 in 2002. In 2005, it was further decreased to 90, and for the last two years (2006 and 2007), the number of questions remained at 75. So, some feel, the number of questions could be further declined this year, even though there is no hint of it as of now.
Business Standard also reported:
CAT 2007 had 75 quest-ions where an analysis by coaching institute Career Launcher showed that stude-nts had found Data Interpretation (DI), with a mix of calculations and logic to be on the easier side.
Data Sufficiency in its old format reappeared in CAT after a span of three years, more so in two different sections. Students say they would not want a repeat of last year where quantitative ability (QA) proved to be difficult. In verbal ability (VA), the number of reading comprehension (RC) passages were more than CAT 2005, though they were not as lengthy.
Students have fear about the negative marking system in which marks will be deducted for each wrong answer. So, no guess-work will work well for the students. Some claim that a student who attempts for 40-45 questions in which 7-10 get wrong could earn a call from a top B school for two-year MBA program.
How to Get the Result of CAT 2008 on 16th November!
Normally, CAT aspirants are to wait up to 4 to 6 weeks to get to know the result of test. The result of CAT 2008 will be officially published on 9 January 2009. However, this year the participating student will be able to know their individual score at 5:30 pm on the same day the test takes place. To know the score, students need to visit TestFunda.com website who offer “The Simulated CAT Percentiler” through which the students will be able to know his or her percentile score. Moreover, the students will also get the answer keys of all the three sections of the test. Experts will also explain each of the sections so that the students will have clear concept about each of the sections.
Testfunda reported:
CAT 2008 Answer Key. Get a dynamically updated answer key for CAT 2008. Live updates every 5 minutes as our experts finalize the answers to questions in the CAT 2008 test paper.
CAT 2008 Interactive Score Card. Punch in your answers and get score updates. Check back in a few minutes to see your updated score according to the latest CAT 2008 Answer Key.
CAT 2008 Percentile Calculator. Get your overall and sectionwise percentile.
CAT 2008 Analysis Report. Get our experts’ analysis on the CAT 2008 test pattern. How did it compare with the previous year’s tests? What kind of cutoff scores will we see?
There is no doubt, you have to have an in-depth knowledge about the subject and a good analytical skill in order to get one of those most-sought-after seats. This is, in fact, one of the toughest public exams in India. So, I think, students should not get nervous, considering the fact that they are competing with some of the best students of the country.
