CAT 2019 exam analysis by experts and feedback of students

The common entrance test (CAT) one of the most sought after examinations to get into IIMs and other top MBA colleges was conducted on Sunday, November 24, 2019. The test was conducted in two different time slots in morning and afternoon. The CAT exam tests students on Mathematics, English and reasoning ability.
The experts said exam was on expected lines and level of difficulty was similar to last year."Anything around a score of 145-150 is likely to secure 99%ile which may be good enough to fetch a call from top IIMs," said Hirdesh Madan, founder of a Chandigarh based coaching institute.
MBA aspirants who appeared for the Common Admission Test (CAT 2019) on Sunday found the paper to be moderately difficult. While aspirants were happy with the Quantitative Aptitude (QA) section, they said Reading Comprehension (RC) was the toughest. Level of Data Interpretation (DI), Logical Reasoning (LR) were also deemed to be tough.
This year, the CAT question paper, which was prepared by IIM-Kozhikode, had 100 questions, of which 75 were multiple choice (MCQ). Experts said that VA, RC sections were slightly more difficult than that of previous three years. QA came down a notch in difficulty level. LRDI was easier as compared to last year.
"In the forenoon session, the VA, RC section tightened the screws a little bit. While the broader pattern remained the same, the difficulty level of the RC questions was a major digression from previous years' difficulty levels. One can say it was not a breeze even for those well-versed with the language," said Ramnath Kankadandi, National CAT Course Director, TIME adding that this year's paper is easy when compared with CAT 2018.
Experts said that based on CAT 2019, the one preparing for the next year CAT should aim at a score of 150. "Students who are planning to appear for the exam next year should focus on achieving a raw score of 150 for 99 percentile. One must aim to attempt 60 questions with more than 90% accuracy to crack the exam," said Vijay Jha, Academic Head, CAT and Aptitude Exams at Gradeup.
Some of the experts said the CAT 2019 paper was easier than CAT 2018. They also pointed out that while two sections were easier, one was slightly difficult. According to an evaluation by the Career Launcher Academic Team, in terms of the level of difficulty, Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC) was slightly trickier this year as two passages were difficult to crack. "According to experts, the cut-off in the section might decrease by about 6-8 marks. But Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR) and Quant were slightly easier compared to last year," they pointed out.
According to experts, an overall raw score of around 157-160 should fetch a 99 percentile in CAT 2019.
Some of the students found the reading comprehension questions on English to be tough in the CAT 2019. "Reading comprehension questions were a bit tougher while quantitative ability and data interpretation and logical reasoning were easier compared to the previous year," said Rahul Gupta, an aspirant from Chennai.
Aladdin and British folk music figured among the comprehension passages.
V Varun said he attempted 81 out of the 100 questions. "The exam was tougher this year. The VARC (verbal ability and reading comprehension) section particularly was a bit challenging," he said.
The result is likely to be announced in the second week of January. As many as 2,09,926 candidates appeared for CAT 2019, which was conducted at 376 centres across 156 cities in India.