Maths puzzles CAT aspirants

Other sections make up for high difficulty level of Quantitative Analysis

With the commencement of the CAT (Common Admission Test), 2013, on Wednesday, it was finally a moment of truth for aspirants in the State and throughout the country vying for that coveted seat in one of the 13 IIMs (Indian Institutes of Management). 

For a majority of aspirants who wrote the test during one of the two shifts on the day, it was the section on quantitative analysis (QA) that posed the main hurdle. ‘Mindboggling’ was the word that was used by Abhilash Baruah, who gave his exam at the Malleswaram centre, to describe some of the questions in this particular section. “I had no idea as where some of the questions in this section came from. It was really difficult,” said Abhilash.   

For Nikitha E Nair and Abhilash H, questions based on cost and trigonometry were the hardest to solve. For Sonali Tanwar too, who gave her test at the Koramangala centre, it was this particular section that caused the most trouble. 

“The portion on Maths was very difficult for me to tackle. Besides this, there were a few others that were equally confusing. In fact, I do not even remember how many in this particular section I attempted as I was very tense,” said Tanwar.  

Overall, however, there was agreement among aspirants that the paper was moderately easy. “Except for four of five really difficult questions in QA, the test was easy. The portion on data interpretation was based on raw calculations and was not difficult.
 Logical reasoning and verbal ability were also doable. I hope to get a percentile between 90 and 95,” said Sauravh.  

The test has been divided into two sections - Data Interpretation and Quantitative Analysis; Verbal Ability and Logical Reasoning, with 30 marks given to each. A time of 70 minutes is alloted to each section. The computer-based test will go on till November 11.
  Sai Kumar, director, TIME, Bangalore, was of the opinion that the test did not throw up any surprises so far as the pattern was concerned. “With regard to the composition of the paper itself, many students felt that the paper was doable. We are yet to come across people who said it was way too challenging,” said Kumar. 

According to a release by Prometric, that conducted the exam, 4,066 candidates appeared for the test all over the country with both sessions going on ‘smoothly’.