B-school aspirants welcomed the new format of the Common Admission Test (CAT) on Saturday, the first day of the test.
B-school aspirants welcomed the new format of the Common Admission Test (CAT) on Saturday, the first day of the test.
Most students came out of the exam centres with a smile, with the new format “not making much of a difference” to their performance. Technical problems were not reported on Saturday.
A total of 18,200 candidates will take the exam from Bangalore this year.
“We had practiced mock papers with the new format, hence it was not a problem. The logical reasoning section of the paper was good,” said Sneha Hegde, who attempted the exam at All India Institute of Local Self-Government, Gandhinagar.
There were some who found the quantitative section of the paper difficult. This year, quantitative ability and data interpretation sections were clubbed into one. The candidates were given 70 minutes to answer 30 questions in each section.
“It was the quantitative section that was particularly tough,” said Abhilasha Kumari. Some like Priyanka VM, an engineer, said that the logical reasoning was slightly tough, but otherwise, the paper was a breeze.
Some aspirants who took the test last year said the change in format this year would favour them.
“I can take time in the quantitative ability and data interpretation section and it will favour me,” said Varun Garg, a professional who hopes to make it to the IIMs this year.
Upon learning about the positive response from those who attempted the exam in the morning session, those scheduled for the afternoon session felt “encouraged”.
Few takers on day one A total of 5,690 candidates appeared for the CAT across the country on day one of the exam.
“On the first day, we allot only 50% of the capacity to ensure that if there are any problems, they can be taken care of,” said Janakiraman Moorthy, CAT convener, 2011.
During the morning session at All India Institute of Local Self-Government, 35 out of 37 registered candidates appeared for the exam. In the afternoon session, around 30 students attempted the exam. All the eight centres in the city had only a few candidates who had chosen to take the exam on day one.
“I just wanted to get done with it, so that it’s off before the holiday season,” said Garg.
“I decided to take the exam on Friday since I reasoned
that it wouldn’t be too crowded,” said a B-school
aspirant who has been preparing an hour a day for the past three-four months and is attempting the exam for the second time.
Computers at all the test centres were thoroughly screened before the exam.
All the machines were formatted and no problems were reported, said Moorthy.
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