CAT 2013 has now entered its second week and we, at CL, have just taken a breather to pause and analyze.

It has been a very exciting and hectic week for us too. We were overwhelmed with visitors on the Exam Corner page, only to our delight!!! Our teams worked extremely hard to ensure that all students get to experience the best of CAT analysis, advice and recommendations.

For the first time in the Test Prep industry, two unique features were introduced to students appearing for CAT – the TRUE CAT Percentile predictor and the B-school Adviser. The B-School Adviser works on the predicted CAT %ile values based on your performance in the Mocks, and works even if you are not a CLite. This also is a first in the industry. The TRUE CAT percentile predictor is designed to work with your estimated CAT attempts. It has been tested with CAT 2012 data and promises to be very accurate . This feature is also open to CL and non-CL students alike.

So,after a week of CAT – what MORE do we know about CAT 2013? Here are some observations we would like to share with you based on estimates shared by students.

1. Are there any easier days/slots of the CAT ?

The first two days saw significantly higher attempts by students. Was the paper easier on those days? We don’t really believe so. The reason is that our data indicates the segment of students who have taken CAT in the first week have a significantly better CL Mock average as compared to the ones who are slotted to appear in the subsequent weeks. The sample size is large enough for us to believe that this is true of overall CAT taking population.

2. Is there any new advisory for students based on the analysis of first weeks data?

We believe that CAT has pretty much established a uniform testing process by equating difficulty levels and serving well defined baskets of questions. This also makes CAT Percentiles truly predictable.

You should not be worried about getting a more difficult lot of questions. We continue to believe that 37 net correct attempts in CAT will get you percentile of 98+ – and at least one IIM Call as well. For more details please view the advisory videos in the CL Exam Corner. There are specialized videos for students belonging to each of the categories. Don’t miss it.

3. What all should we do before the CAT?

For those who have not yet taken CAT, you can do the following :
1. Attempt a Mock CAT on alternate days as we believe that these tests are closest to CAT. Do analyse the paper, identify important questions for revision.
2. Revise the questions (especially of Algebra and Geometry) from past CAT papers and your Mock CATs.
3. Last 2-3 days before CAT should be only for revision.

4. How many attempts should I target in CAT? 

QADI: It appears that 20 is a very good attempt in this section. While QA is a bit difficult, an attempt of about 12-13 questions is not difficult. Also while one DI set is difficult the other two are do-able in most cases, hence 6 out of 9 DI questions should not be a problem

VALR: A good attempt in this section is in the range of 20-22. As in the case of DI, most of the slots have had 1 difficult set of LR and 1 difficult passage of RC and unless you are very good you should not be worrying about attempting all three sets/passages of LR or RC. Out of the 11 usage questions, 7-8 is a good attempt because apart sentence correction and phrasal verbs most of the slot have reported 1-2 difficult questions of para completion and para jumbles.

5. I have taken CAT – now what?

First things first – enter your estimated score in the True CAT Percentile predictor. We will be upgrading the B-School Adviser to start showing you the colleges you need to apply on the basis of your expected CAT scores.

We will also be sending you alerts on application dates deadlines for those colleges suitable for you.

CAT is perhaps entering into it first peak period. CL students have booked a large number of slots in the coming week- a much higher number than the past week. As they come back and report their estimated attempts, we will have more data to chew on and will get back to you if anything interesting turns up.

Visit the CL Exam Corner regularly and stay in touch ! All the very best!!!

CL Academic Team (CAT)

Disclaimer:
CL does not believe in discussing questions which have appeared in CAT and strongly discourages this practice. Please use your best judgement in all the advisories issued by our academic team.