CAT 2007 : Analysis and expected cut-offs

By: Career Launcher
Source: www.rediff.com
 

On the whole, the CAT 2007 paper was tough, with no section providing much of a respite to the aspirants. Comparatively speaking, the students would have 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! The emphasis in the DI section was definitely on speed of calculation.

But Quantitative Ability (QA) proved to be mind bogglingly difficult for the average student. However, on a closer look 7-8 questions could have been solved using options without using deeper mathematical knowledge.

In Verbal Ability (VA), the number of Reading Comprehension (RC) passages was more than last year, though they were not lengthy. The number of questions per passage was low, just three each. Though, for a change, there were no abstract questions in RC, however, each passage required meticulous reading. As a section, it is safe to infer that the VA section checked almost all the aspects, including verbal logic, vocabulary and grammar.

The Sentence Correction questions in VA were different in nature to last year's, while the Para jumbles provided a bit of a breather in terms of difficulty level.

Overall, even though the paper did not pose any surprise, pattern wise, with the number of questions remaining 75 as last year, the level of difficulty was increased by at least two to three notches.

In conclusion, even with the best of preparations it would be really tough to score 100 in this paper.

Overview

Here is an overview of how you should have attempted this paper.
 

Section	Topics	Number of questions	Total Marks	Suggested time	Possible Attempts	Expected
						Cut-offs
I	Quantitative Ability	25	100	55	12	26-28
II	Logical Reasoning Data Interpretation	25	100	45	14	34-36
III	Verbal Ability	25	100	50	15	26-28
Total		75	300	150	41	102-107

Disclaimer: These cut-offs are decided by our expert faculty who have attempted the CAT 2007 paper and may not tally with the actual IIM cut-offs. These are calculations based on our experience and expertise.

Expected Cut Offs for different institutes:

Institute	Likely Cut Offs in
	2007
Any 1 IIM call	105+
MDI (BM)	100+
S P Jain, NITIE, IMT, IMI, MDI-HR	96+
MICA, TAPMI	92+
KJ Somaiya, BIM, Fore, UBS, NIRMA, IMI-HR	80+
ITM(Mum), LBS, Welingkar, FMS (BHU)	76+
IFMR, IIFM, BIMTech, Kirloskar, IISWBM, Jaipuria	64+
IILM (Lodhi Rd), IMDR, SDM-IMD, JIMS	60+
SCM Cochin, IMM, Globsyn, Cosmic, Alliance, ISBM	52+
NDIM, EMPI, Asia Pacific, Amrita, Suryadatta, Skyline	45+

Disclaimer: All information on cut-offs, analysis, answer key, solutions and scores are based on independent analysis and evaluation made by Career Launcher. We do not take responsibility for any decision that might be taken, based on this information.

Comparison with CAT 2006 and CAT 2005

Parameter	CAT 2007	CAT 2006	CAT 2005
Number of sections	3	3	3 x 2
Number of questions	75	75	90
Difficulty level (Overall)	Difficult	Moderate	Difficult
Difficulty level (Quant)	Difficult	Easy	Average
Difficulty level (EU + RC)	Difficult	Difficult	Average
Difficulty level (DI + DS + AR)	Moderate	Moderate	Difficult
Expected cut-off (Overall)	102  - 107	110-115	47-49
Expected cut-off (Quant)	26 - 28	36-40	13-Dec
Expected cut-off (EU + RC)	26 - 28	21-25	17-18
Expected cut-off (DI + DS + AR)	34 - 36	34-38	11-Oct

Section-wise Analysis
Quantitative Aptitude

Topic	CAT 2007	CAT 2006	CAT 2005
Overall	25	25	30
Arithmetic	8	10	9
Number system	1	7	5
Percentage, SI-CI, PLD, Avgs	4 + 1(DS)	1	0
Ratio proportion		1	0
Speed Time Distance, Work	2	1	4
Algebra	9	9	8
Equations & Inequalities	5	4	2
Functions & graphs	1	1	2
Maxima minima	1	2	2
Series, sequences & progressions & logs	2	2	2
Geometry	3	4	10
Plane geometry	1+1(DS)	4	6
Mensuration	1 (DS)		3
Co-ordinate geometry + trigonometry			1
Modern math		2	3
Miscellaneous math	5		0

English Usage & Reading Comprehension

Topic	CAT 2007	CAT 2006	CAT 2005
Overall	25	25	30
English usage	13	10	18
Usage Dictionary		0	3
Vocabulary: contextual meaning	3	0	0
Para jumbles	4	0	3
Sentence completion		0	4
Sentence correction	3	0	4
Replacement of words		0	4
Critical Reasoning		5	0
Paragraph Completion	3	5	4
Reading Comprehension	12	15	12
Politics & Social	6	1	4Qs (2 marker)
History & Mythology	6	0	0
Science & Technology		0	0
Business & Economics		0	0
Fiction, Philosophy & Law		2	4Qs (2 marker)
Psychology & Management		0	4Qs (2 marker)

Data interpretation, Data sufficiency, Analytical reasoning

Topic	CAT 2007	CAT 2006	CAT 2005
Overall	25	25	30
Data Interpretation	21	20	10
Logical Based Table	2 sets ( 4 Qs each )	1 set (5 Qs)	6
Bar graph		0	4
Calculations based Table	2 Sets ( 4 Qs ) + 1 Set ( 5 Qs)	0	0
Caselet		3 sets (15 Qs)	0
Data sufficiency	4	0	0
Analytical reasoning	0	1 set (5 Qs)	20

 

Source: www.rediff.com
Compiled by: http://www.careerlauncher.com/

published on IndianMBA.com on November 22, 2007

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