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SimCAT12016Experts'Take

TESTOVERVIEW
Section

Cutoff

VerbalAbilityReadingComprehension

40

DataInterpretationLogicalReasoning

30

QuantitativeAbility

31

Overall

130

ThiswasthefirstSimCAToftheseason.Foramajorityof
students,thistestSimCAT1wouldhavebeenthefirst
fulllengthCATtypetestunderactualtestconditionsi.e.with
atimeconstraintandallquestions.Sofarifyouwereusedto
solvingindividualquestionswithnotimeconstraints,you
wouldhaverealizedthattakingafulllengthtestunderactual
testconditionsisadifferentexperiencealtogether.
Challengesseemmanifold,theclockistickingcontinuously
andeverysecondnotspentonansweringaparticular
questionseemstoaddtothepressure.
IfyoudidnotperformwellinSimCAT1becauseyouwere
unabletohandlethesemultipletaskssimultaneously,dont
loseheart.Thisisjustthebeginningofyourjourneyintaking
testsinasimulatedenvironment.CATisafullfivemonths
away.Asyouappearformoreandmoretests,your
performanceissuretoshowanupwardgraphinthefuture
SimCATs.

Overallanalysis
WetriedtomapSimCAT1roughlysimilarlyintermsof
structureandthelevelofdifficultyastheCAT2015.
Accordingly,thetestwasmarkedbyeasytomedium
Readingcomprehensionquestions,mediumtodifficultVerbal
Abilityquestions,mediumDataInterpretationquestions,
difficultLogicalReasoningsetsandaneasytomedium
quantitativeabilitysection.
AnanalysisoftheperformanceofstudentsinSimCAT1
revealsaninterestingpattern.Whiletheperformanceof
studentsintheDILRsectionwasbetterthanour

expectations,theperformanceintheQAsectionwaslower
thanourexpectations.LikeinCAT2015,theDILRsection
inSimCAT1wasratherdifficult.Thatseemstohave
affectedtheperformanceofalotofstudentsintheQA
sectionwhichcamedirectlyafter.

VerbalAbilityReadingComprehension
Thissectionwasrelativelytheeasiestofthe3sectionsand
itwasnosurprisethatitscutoffwasthehighest.However,a
cutoffofjust40indicatedtousthatmoststudentsfoundthe
sectiontobemoredifficultthanitactuallywas.Frankly,we
wereexpectingahighercutoff.Thisanomalyisperfectly
understandableatthispointintimesinceitwasthefirst
SimCATandmostofyouarestillnotveryadeptatbeingable
todifferentitebetweenthecorrectanswerandtheclose
wrongoption.Donotworry,thislacunawillbediminished
greatlybyappearingformoreandmoreSimCATsinfuture.
MostoftheRCquestionswerespecificquestionsand
specificquestionsarealwayseasiertoanswerthan
summaryquestions.Forexample,questions8,9,15,16and
17couldhavebeenansweredbyreferringtojustone
paragraphineachofthequestions.
Similarly,Questions30,31,33and34wereeasyOdd
sentenceoutoftheparagraphquestionsastheodd
sentencecouldbeidentifiedquiteeasily.Theyweremustdo
questions.
However,questions2529involvingSummaryandPara
Jumbledquestionsweredifficultandtimeconsuming.They
werebestleftalonequestions.Questions13,19,21,22,23
and24weremostlyRCspecificquestionsandcouldhave
beensolvedifyouhadleftthedifficultquestionsaloneand
spentsomeextratimeinsolvingthem.Ifyouhadfollowed
thisstrategyyouwouldhavereachedthecutoffcomfortably.

DataInterpretationandLogicalReasoning
Asstatedearlier,thissectionwasthetoughestsection
amongthethreesectionsofSimCAT1.However,theDIsets
werelesschallengingthantheLRsets.
OutofthefoursetsinLR,thesetonChesstournamentwas
fairlychallengingandtimeconsuming.TheLRsetinvolving
fourfriendsandagameinvolvingfourroundscouldbe
solvedonlyifyousolveitbackwardsi.e.startingfrom4th
round.Studentswhotriedtoformequationstosolvetheset
wouldnthavebeenabletogettheanswerswithinthegiven
timelimit.OutofthefoursetsinDI,thesecondset(seton
marks)wasrathertough.However,theremainingsetswere

lesscomplex.ThesetonTemperatureswastheeasiestset
amongthe8setsinthesectionanditwasamustdoset.

QuantitativeAbility
Asstatedearlier,thedifficultDILRsectionseemstohave
affectedtheperformanceofstudentsontheQuantitative
Abilitysection.AlthoughthequestionsintheQAsection
weremostlyontheeasierside,theperformanceofthe
studentswasnotasgoodasitshouldhavebeen.This
sectionhadonlyafewquestionsthatweresomewhattricky.
SomeexamplesofsuchquestionsareQ.3,4,6,10,13,19,
25and30.Howevermostoftheotherquestionswere
straightforward.Yetthesequestionswereattemptedby
fewerstudentsthanourexpectations.
Thissectionconsistedofanumberofquestionsthatwerea
straightforwardapplicationofconcepts.Forexample,
questions1and18involvedapplicationsofMixturesand
Alligations.Q.8involvedapplicationofRatioProportion
theorywhileQ.14wasanapplicationofProfitandLoss
concepts.Inall,16questionsinthissectionfellinthis
category.TheywereQ.1,5,8,11,14,18,24,26,29and31
onArithmetic,Q.15and30onModernMathematics,Q.17,
22and32onGeometryandQ.34onAlgebra.Astudent
whowasreasonablyfamiliarwiththeconceptsofdifferent
topicswouldhavebeenabletosolvemostofthese
questions.Therefore,itwassurprisingthattheywerenot
abletodoso.

Selectionofquestions
Inordertoclearthecutoffforsection1comfortably,about
18questionscouldhavebeensolvedwith80%accuracy.To
dothesameforsection2,about13questionscouldhave
beensolvedwith80%accuracy.Todothesameforsection
3,about14questionscouldhavebeensolvedwith80%
accuracy.Inordertocleartheoverallcutoff,youwouldhave
tosolveabout15morequestionswith80%accuracy.Given
belowarethequestionsyoushouldhavesolved.

Sec

MustSolveQuestions*

PotentialScoreImprovers**

VA
RC

8,9,13,15,16,17,30,31,33,
34

2,4,9,14,18,13,19,20,21,22,23,24

DI
LR

9,14,18,27

1,2,3,6,7,8,10,12,13,16,19,20,21,23,30,32

QA

4,5,6,7,8,9,11,12,16,17,20,21,22

13,14,15,18,23,24,34

*Questionsthathavebeenattemptedbyamajorityofthetop10%ilestudents,with
anaccuracyofatleast80%.
**Questionsthathavebeenattemptedbyamajorityofthetop10%ilestudents,with
anaccuracyof5080%.

LEARNINGS
EverySimCAToffersyousomelearnings.Theselearnings
canhelpyoufocusyourpreparationinabetterwaysothat
youwillbebestpreparedontheDdayandclearthecutoffs
oftopbschools.

Learning1:Understandthenatureofthetest
Since2015,sectionaltimelimitshavebeenimposed.Asa
result,theCATisnotonetestofthreehoursanymorebutit
isnow3differenttestsofonehoureach.Ifyouweretotake
othertestssuchastheIIFTandtheXATinadditiontothe
CAT,youwouldnotletyourperformanceinoneexambe
affectedbyyourperformanceinanotherpreviousexamand
youwouldsurelytreateveryexamasadifferentexam.Do
thesamewiththedifferentsectionsoftheCAT.
Atthispoint,letuswriteabouttheexperienceofsomeofour
goodstudentsinCAT2015.TheDILRsectionwastoughin
CAT2015.Somestudentswhosolvedonly4setsoutof8
butwithhighaccuracywereabletogethighpercentilesin
thattoughsection.Howevertheywerebitterlydisappointed
thattheywereabletosolveonly4setsoutof8andthought
thattheyhadbungledtheirCATbadly.Thismadethem
nervousandaffectedtheirperformanceintheQAsection.
Asaresult,suchstudentsclearedthecutoffsoftheDILR
sectioncomfortablybutfailedtoclearthecutoffoftheQA
sectioneventhoughtheQAsectionwasextraordinarilyeasy
inCAT2015.
Dontletthathappentoyou.Afurtheranalysisofdata
revealsasimilarfeaturetakingplaceforSimCAT1aswell.
HalfofthestudentswhoclearedthecutoffoftheDILR
sectionscoredfewermarksintheQAsectionthanintheDI
LRsectionalthoughtheQAsectionwasmucheasierthan
theDILRsection.
Whenyouareinaparticularsection,thinkonlyofthat
section.WhenyouaresolvingtheQAsection,theDILR
sectionisthethingofthepast.Nomatterwhatyoudo,your
performanceintheDILRsectionisnotgoingtochange
oncethesectionisover.Thenwhyworryaboutthatsection
andletitaffectyourperformanceintheQAsection?Instead

focusyourfullattentionontheimmediatetaskathandi.e.the
currentsection.

Learning2:Youdonthavetosolvethetestin
sequence
AfurtheranalysisofthepercentattemptsintheDILR
sectionrevealsaninterestingpattern.ThePercentattempt
onsetsshowedasystematicdecliningpattern.Thatmeans,
set1(LRsetonboxes)wasattemptedbymorethan80%of
allstudents,whileset7(DIsetonSetTheory)was
attemptedbyfewerthan40%ofallstudents.ThePercent
attemptonset8(DIsetonTemperatures)showedsome
increase.However,consideringthatthesetwasonthe
easierside,itshouldhavebeenattemptedbymorestudents.
AfurtheranalysisofthepercentattemptsintheDILR
sectionrevealsaninterestingpattern.ThePercentattempt
onsetsshowedasystematicdecliningpattern.Thatmeans,
set1(LRsetonboxes)wasattemptedbymorethan80%of
allstudents,whileset7(DIsetonSetTheory)was
attemptedbyfewerthan40%ofallstudents.ThePercent
attemptonset8(DIsetonTemperatures)showedsome
increase.However,consideringthatthesetwasonthe
easierside,itshouldhavebeenattemptedbymorestudents.
Rememberthattheclockistickingwhileyouaretakingthe
test.TheCATisasmuchaboutthequestionsyouavoidasit
isaboutthequestionsyouattempt.Rememberthatgetting
intoaBschoolofyourchoiceismoreimportantthangetting
aparticularquestionright.Ifaparticularquestionseemsto
betakingalongtime,dontmakeitanegoissuebythinking
whycantIsolvethisquestion?Skipthatquestionforthe
timebeingandcomebacktoitlateriftimepermits.You
wouldbebetteroffutilizingthetimeforothermore
straightforwardquestions.
Youdonthaveto(orratheryoushouldnot)solvethe
questionsintheorderinwhichtheyappear.Inorderto
maximizeyourscore,itmakessensetosolvealltheeasy
anddoablequestionsfirstirrespectiveofwheretheyare
located.Bagthosemarks,pluckthelowhangingfruitsfirst
andthenworryaboutothermoredifficultquestions,iftime
permits.Sinceset8inDILRwastheeasiestamongthelot,
itshouldhavebeensolvedbyalotmorestudents.However
theeasiestsetwasthelastsetinthesection.Asaresultof
studentstryingtosolvequestionssequentially,several
studentsdidnotevengetthetimetoreachthatsetinthe
SimCAT.

Similarly,intheVARCsectionQuestions30and31were
someoftheeasiestquestionsinthissectionbutlessthan
halfofthetotalnumberofstudentsactuallyattemptedthem.
Thiswasprobablybecausetheyhadmadethemistakeof
solvingquestionsinthissectionsequentiallyandthusran
outoftime.
Sotheimportantlearningis:Toppersnotonlysolve
questionsdifferentlybuttheyalsosolvedifferent
questions.Identifyingthequestionsyouwanttoattemptand
leavingoutthequestionsyouthinkaretimeconsumingwill
goalongwayinboostingyourscoreintheactualCAT.
IfyoudidnotapplythisstrategyinSimCAT1,makesure
youapplyitfromthenextSimCATonwards.Ifyoudiligently
applythisstrategy,yourscorewilldefinitelyseeaquantum
jump.

SimCAT1isover.Whatnext?
Nowthatthetestisover,themostimportantrequirementis
toanalyzethetest.Solveallthequestionsindependently
withoutreferringtothesolutions.Afterthequestionsare
solved,refertothesolutions.Askyourselfthefollowing
questions:
1.Couldyougetthequestionsrightonyourown?
2.Ifitwasright,wasyourmethodtheshortestordidthe
solutionsofferabettermethodtosolvethequestion?
3.Ifitwaswrong,whydidyougetitwrong?Ifyoudidnot
understandthequestionatallorcouldnotfigureoutamethod
tosolvethequestion,youdefinitelyneedtorevisitallthe
relatedconcepts.Ifyougotitwrongbecauseofasilly
mistake,bemorevigilantanddontrepeatthesamemistake
thenexttimesuchaquestionappears.Itisperfectly
acceptabletomakemistakesatthispointofyourpreparation
providedyoulearnwhyyougotitwronganddonotmakethe
sameerrorinfuture.

Atthistime,whentheactualCATisabout5monthsaway,
yourpriorityshouldbeongettingalltheconceptsright.Make
surethatyousolvealltheBRMsandclasssheetquestions.
Alsorememberthatnomatterhowmanyquestionsyou
solve,youwillnotreapanytangiblebenefitsifyoudont
analyzeeachandeveryquestion.Onceyouhavecompleted
theconceptsintheBRMs,attemptthemoduletests.After
themoduletestsareover,performsimilaranalysisofeach
moduletestonthelinesoftheanalysisofSimCAT1as
outlinedabove.YoushouldcompletealltheBRMsand
moduletestsasquicklyasyoucanandcertainlynotlater

thanJuly31,2016positively.
AlltheBestforSimCAT2!

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