Holding an MBA in India is no doubt an achievement worth emulating. And, if this MBA is from any one of the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), the student’s future is almost secured.
Approximately two lakh students take the Common Admission Test (CAT) every year, in the hope of getting shortlisted for the 2,000 seats in IIMs.
These figures put IIMs on a pedestal higher than Ivy League colleges. It is therefore of utmost importance that CAT is carefully designed to accurately measure and identify the best candidates.
For CAT 2011, Prometric has worked closely with IIMs to develop an exam that tests candidates on two sections - Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation, and Verbal Ability & Logical Reasoning. These sections are consistent with the knowledge domains historically assessed by IIMs and are also aligned with the content areas covered in equivalent global admission examinations that measure performance along similar scales.
Unlike CAT 2010, which comprised three sections - Quantitative Ability, Verbal Ability and Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning, there will only be two sections this year - Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation, and Verbal Ability & Logical Reasoning. This change has enabled us to club sections which require similar cognitive thinking.
Although each section will have 30 multiple-choice questions, the total number of questions remains 60.
The total time available for completing the test has been increased to 140 minutes (five minutes more than last year). Where candidates were able to allocate more time to a particular section before, they will be given 70 minutes per section this year.
Each section will be timed separately and the on-screen timer will count down from 1 hour 10 minutes (i.e. 70 minutes). Once the time ends for a section, candidates will no longer be allowed to go back to it. This will enable candidates to focus equally on both sections, and manage their time within any one section rather than across the whole test.
Ending the test
There will be no ‘Quit Test’ button within the first section and candidates will need to wait until the allocated time of 70 minutes is up before moving on to the second section. However, if they choose to end their test before the time is up during the second section, candidates may click on the ‘Quit Test’ button from the review screen at any time. A pop-up box will appear to ask candidates to re-confirm their decision before the test ends.
Check-in procedure
We have taken the feedback from candidates and reviewed our operational process in order to improve the experience for candidates. Contingent on the continued punctuality of candidates, the check-in procedure will start one-and-a-half hours prior to the scheduled test time instead of the previous two hours.
The change in the number of sections will require candidates to focus equally on both sections and reduce their dependency on their strengths in a particular area. This could help IIMs maintain the diversity of the students that are selected and admitted to IIMs as well as other B-schools.
On the other hand, the timed sections will help candidates with balanced time management by ensuring that they do not spend too much time focusing on a particular section at the expense of doing well in another. With a total time of 140 minutes, candidates essentially have between 2 and 2.5 minutes for each question, so instead of hastening through any section, they should invest proper thinking and rationale to each question. As in past years, there will continue to be negative marking for incorrect answers, so it might pay to leave a question unanswered rather than making a random guess.
There would be no significant change to the testing interface. Candidates will only be required to use a mouse to click on responses or navigation buttons. No computer skills are required.
With about two months to go before the start of this year’s testing window (October 22 to November 18), there is plenty of time to focus on preparing well, as well as to get comfortable with reading from a computer screen and navigating around with a mouse. None of the changes to the format require a paradigm shift in the way candidates have been preparing for CAT to date. Honest hard work would be the key to doing well, so all the best!
The writer is Managing Director, Prometric India
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