7 days of CAT 2013 – Kahaani ab tak

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.

178 Comments

  1. hi sir
    i am a lecturer (NET qualified ) and have been teaching to the post graduate students in a government college for last one year on temporary basis for financial support.
    preparing for cat 14
    is this work exp valid for iims?

    • Jaskiran, typical synonym and antonym questions are obsolete for CAT now. The questions these days are related to the contextual usage of words. So, instead of going after direct synonyms and antonyms you should be focusing on building a good vocabulary.

  3. Sir i am an SC who scored 53% in 10th std from maharashtra board, 79 % 12 th hsc commerce and 82 in tybcom from mumbai university??
    Inspite of low marks in my 10 can i expect a call from IIM A??
    And for that how much precentile should an SC candidate score to get a IIM A call??

    And what is the cut off in Jbims for an SC candidate

    • Jaskiran, with 53% in XII you will have to get a high CAT score to get a call. While the cutoff for SC candidates is lower, with your X marks you should target a score of 95%ile for a IIM A call.
      My estimate is that a Mumbai University SC candidate should be able to make it to JBIMS at a score of 120+ but would be able to confirm later since this year we have a new system (CET without GDPI) in place.

  4. Hello sir,
    i am planning to start a small scale industry,
    Does preference in iim’s is more for work exp in other companies or own????
    kindly please suggest me..

  6. hello sir..this is mansi…
    I am a SC category student.I gave CAT on 8 nov.
    in quant i attemptd 15,13 correct and in Verbal and LR i attempted 18 maybe 15 correct.
    what %ile can i expect?
    i have applied for IMI,NITIE,GIM and sir what about calls from IIMs??

    • Mansi, please enter your attempt and estimated correct in the True Percentile Predictor at CL Exam Corner to get an idea of your CAT percentile. The B-school Advisory will also give you the list of institutes that you can from where you can get interview calls based on your category.
      My estimate is that as a SC candidate with 28/33 in CAT you should have a score of over 90%ile and hence calls from all IIMs, FMS and all IITs are possible.

  8. QA 7 attempts 7 correct n VA 13 attempts estimating 11 correct.I am a general Catagory student and the application true percentile predictor is not running.Will u tell me what will be my percentile please?

    • Avishek, please enter your attempt and estimated correct in the True Percentile Predictor at CL Exam Corner to get an idea of your CAT percentile. The B-school Advisory will also give you the list of institutes that you can from where you can get interview calls based on your category.
      However my estimate is that you should be around 80%ile in CAT.

    • Avishek, apologise for the delay as I was travelling.
      please enter your attempt and estimated correct in the True Percentile Predictor at CL Exam Corner to get an idea of your CAT percentile. The B-school Advisory will also give you the list of institutes that you can from where you can get interview calls based on your category.

  10. appreciate your effort to reply to each comments sir… i am currently working and have 2.7 yrs of exp.. nt sure if having work ex helps.. considering its really difficult jugglin work and study.. bt i guess its all about chasing dreams… i am considering giving GMAT next yr.. have become really disillusioned with cat and iim dreams..

  11. Sir, i have attempted 9 questions , 8 right in Quant and DI, but i did not attempt a singe question in DI… and 14 questions in LR/Verbal with 13 or all correct… I belong to ST category..
    what are my chances!

    • Prem, please enter your attempt and estimated correct in the True Percentile Predictor at CL Exam Corner to get an idea of your CAT percentile. The B-school Advisory will also give you the list of institutes that you can from where you can get interview calls based on your category.
      However my estimate is that with 8/9 in QADI and 13/14 in VALR you should be get more than 80%ile in CAT. As a ST candidate you should be able to get calls from all IIMs, all IITs, FMS, NITIE, MFC etc. Start your PDP classes at the earliest tto ensure that you are well prepared for the personality assessment stage.

  12. sir.. i have attempted 13 questions with 100% accuracy in quant section and 20 in va/lr almost 80% accuracy.. could you please estimate my cat score.. considering i had given test on 8th nov.. heard many attempted 20 in quant sectn that day.. so worried……..

    besides with this attempt..can i expect a cal from iim shillong.. 88% in 10th.. 77% in 12th and 66% in btech.

    • Shruti, please enter your attempt and estimated correct in the True Percentile Predictor at CL Exam Corner to get an idea of your CAT percentile. The B-school Advisory will also give you the list of institutes that you can from where you can get interview calls based on your category.
      My estimate is that with 13/13 in QADI and 16/20 in VALR you should be around 95%ile in CAT. With your academic profile and a score of less than 95%ile a call from IIM S could be difficult. Please check the True Percentile Predictor for a more accurate estimate.

  13. Sir I have got 10th – 84.72
    12th – 91.33
    grad – 81.6
    i had taken my cat on 21-oct with
    QA – 13 -(10 )
    VR – 9 – ( 6 )
    in which out of 16/22 will be correct …can I expect a call from NITIE mumbai.

  14. Hello sir,

    We are having very tough situation in my family so huge monetary issue.Cant afford applying to lots of colleges.My sister has CMAT score of 188.She is aiming for XIME,XLRI,K J SOMAYA,WELINGKAR and National insurance academy.She has attempted 8 question in quant with 100% accuracy and 8 in Sectin 2 with all correct.What would be the expected CAT percentile?

    • Vikram, your sister is likely to be around 75%ile in CAT and is unlikely to get a call from any decent institute. XAT is similar to CAT it could be difficult for her but SNAP is a simpler paper and if she practices the last 5 year SNAP papers (available in CL website in SIS) she should be able to do well. That she has got 188 in CMAT (around 90%ile) means that you can target a higher score in SNAP which will allow her to get into one of the better MBA institutes of SNAP.
      Do call me at 9811155160 in case you need to discuss this further.

  17. Hello Sir,
    Its really kind on your part that u reply to all comments with patience.
    I have attempted 22 questions in QADI and 21 in VALR.
    As per my knowledge i have answered with 90% accuracy.
    10th- 85.67%
    Inter- 95%
    B.tech- 87%.
    Can i xpect calls from IIMs??
    Plz reply!!

    • Gopal, please enter your attempt and estimated correct in the True Percentile Predictor at CL Exam Corner to get an idea of your CAT percentile. The B-school Advisory will also give you the list of institutes that you can from where you can get interview calls based on your category.
      However my estimate is that with excellent academic record and 20/22 in QADI plus 18/21 in VALR you are likely to get calls from all IIMs and FMS and should start preparing for the personality assessment stage immediately.

  18. Sir,

    I gave my cat on October 24th, Slot 2.

    QA – 23A (20-22C)
    VA – 26A (19-23C)

    I got an estimated 99.38%ile when I entered 20C in each section. What score according to you will fetch 99.5+ %ile?

    Can I expect calls from IIM A,B,C – I have 90+ in both X, XII and 88% in graduation, presently in my final year at IITK(if that makes a difference).

    • Mishra, IIM C typically requires over 99.5%ile in CAT so it is a function of your accuracy level. 21 correct in VALR will most probably take you to 99.5%ile. You are in line for calls from all IIMs and FMS hence start PDP immediately after IIFT so that you are well prepared for the next stage.

  19. Hello Sir,

    My slot was 5th nov morning slot (Had one of the toughest VA/LR section among all other slots.can be confirmed even on other MBA forums and websites)

    QA/DI : 75 (for sure)
    VA/LR : 39-47

    1)Sir my querry was what percentile to expect ?

    2)And secondly i got a tough slot in VA/LR but the percentile predictor doesnt know of that fact neither it considers it..
    So obviously a tough slot will not be graded equally with a medium slot in marks..so what is a good score in tough slot of VA/LR ?

    *Also RCs where not simple at-all (i had seen last year CAT RCs and they where no-where close to this years RCs level)

    *I had 8 inference questions (just 2 main theme)

    • Rohini, normalisation is a black box that has not been explained by CAT/Prometric and hence you should ignore it. In case it comes into play then your percentile will go up.
      With a raw score in the range of 114-122 you are definitely around 99%ile and should start PDP early so that you are well prepared for the next stage of selection.

  20. Hello Sir,

    My slot was 5th nov morng slot (Had one of the toughest VA/LR section among all other slots.can be confirmed even on other MBA forums and websites)

    QA/DI : 25A (24-25C) : 71-75 (for sure)
    VA/LR : 21A (15-17C) : 39-47

    Sir my querry was what percentile to expect ?
    And secondly i got a tough slot in VA/LR but the percentile predictor doesnt know of that fact neither it considers it..
    So obviously a tough slot will not be graded equally with a medium slot in marks..so what is a good score in tough slot of VA/LR ?

    • Dante, I have responded to this query of yours in another post. Repeating it for your reference.

      Rohini, normalisation is a black box that has not been explained by CAT/Prometric and hence you should ignore it. In case it comes into play then your percentile will go up.
      With a raw score in the range of 114-122 you are definitely around 99%ile and should start PDP early so that you are well prepared for the next stage of selection.

  21. Sir

    I wrote my CAT on 5th Nov afternoon slot. My attempts are as follows:
    QADI : 30 attempts (estimated 25 correct)
    VALR: 30 attempts (estimated 23 correct)
    What is your estimate of my overall and section wise percentile. Also if marks in X,XII and Graduation are above 90% with no work experience, roughly what percentile would be required for IIM A,B and C? What are my chances?

    • Ishan, Please enter your attempt and estimated correct in the True Percentile Predictor at http://www.careerlauncher.com/cat2013 to get an idea of your CAT percentile. The B-school Advisory will also give you the list of institutes from where you can get interview calls based on your category.
      However my estimate is that your sectional and overall percentiles should be above 99.5%ile so you are in line for all calls. Start PDP early to ensure that you are well prepared for the next stage of testing. Do not worry about work experience, with your marks and expected percentile you get calls comfortably.

  22. *26th, October (morning slot)
    Approximately What percentile should i stand by ?
    (Continued from previous query)

  23. Sir, I attempted 15 questions in each section with accuracy being 80% in Section 1 and 70% in section 2.
    How much should the percentile be around approximately ?
    (A raw score around 60)

    • PRateek, Please enter your attempt and estimated correct in the True Percentile Predictor at http://www.careerlauncher.com/cat2013 to get an idea of your CAT percentile. The B-school Advisory will also give you the list of institutes from where you can get interview calls based on your category.
      My estimate is that with a raw score of 60 you are likely to be around 50%ile and hence forget CAT and prepare for the other tests.

    • Dear Suryansh,

      We do not endorse discussing actual CAT questions since it is a clear violation of rules and regulations set by the CAT Governing body. We suggest you refrain from doing so in future anywhere else too.

      Regards,
      Team CL.

    • AB, Please enter your attempt and estimated correct in the True Percentile Predictor at CL Exam Corner to get a clear idea of your CAT percentile. The B-school Advisory will also give you the list of institutes from where you can get interview calls based on your category.
      However my estimate is that you are likey to be below 80%ile in CAT’13

  27. sir,
    i am pursuing food technology and i am in first year ……so can i start my preparations for cat now?

    • Vijaya, if it is a 3 year program then start in your 3rd semester if it is a 4 year program then in 5th semester. Till then read a lot – daily newspaper, current affairs magazine, novels etc, solve puzzles and brush up your basic maths.

  28. Sir gave my cat exam and i am expecting a decent percentile.i am an NC-OBC candidate too..
    HSC-93.6
    SSC-94.25
    BACHELORS-7.94
    any chance for calls..??.

    • Akash, Please enter your attempt and estimated correct in the True Percentile Predictor at http://www.careerlauncher.com/cat2013 to get a clear idea of your CAT percentile. The B-school Advisory will also give you the list of institutes from where you can get interview calls based on your category.
      Based on your profile IIM A and B will be difficult but the others are possible.

  29. I gave my CAT on 26th october, 2013
    QA&DI: 15 attempt (3 wrong)
    VA&LR: 20 attempt (5 wrong)
    How much percentile can I expect sir? (Your estimate)

    Thanks

    • VV, Please enter your attempt and estimated correct in the True Percentile Predictor at http://www.careerlauncher.com/cat2013 to get a clear idea of your CAT percentile. The B-school Advisory will also give you the list of institutes from where you can get interview calls based on your category.
      My estimate is that you would be less than 80%ile.

  30. sir in CAT 2012..my frnd attempted 10 in QA and 27 in VA …and scored 94.94 and 98.38 overall 99.03 ……how it is possible???

  31. Dear gp sir,
    i have written cat on 25th oct 2013 and i have attempted 28 in QA/DI and expecting around 22-23 correct atleast and 27 in VA/LR and expecting 17-18 correct (being pessimist here ) as i havent got good accuracy in this section as per CL mocks. my cl mocks percentile varied from 85 to 97 with 96,97 being the latest percentiles. how much is my expected percentile in CAT sir? please reply sir

    • Praveen, Please enter your attempt and estimated correct in the True Percentile Predictor at http://www.careerlauncher.com/cat2013 to get a clear idea of your CAT percentile. The B-school Advisory will also give you the list of institutes from where you can get interview calls based on your category.
      My estimate is that in QADI (with 22/28) you should be around 99%ile and in VALR (with 18/27) you are likely to be around 90%ile and your aggregate score would be around 96-97%ile. In case VALR is 20/27, the sectional and the aggregate scores would be around 95%ile and 98.5-99%ile respectively.

  32. Hello Sir !!! I am expecting at least 75%tile in CAT ad having 2.5years of work ex in TCS. Could you please guide me about FMS-BHU ,SIOM , SIBM Bengaluru and SIIB?
    Which one would be better and howz FMS-BHU in terms of placement? I’m OBC candidate sir and i am focusing only which i could really get through.
    Also please guide me sir if any other college could be better option for me.

    Thanks a lot Sir !!!!

    • Avinash, Please enter your attempt and estimated correct in the True Percentile Predictor at http://www.careerlauncher.com/cat2013 to get a clear idea of your CAT percentile. The B-school Advisory will also give you the list of institutes from where you can get interview calls based on your category. While your work experience will be helpful but most of the good institutes will need at least 80%ile from a NCOBC candidate for a call.
      FMS BHU is avoidable for you but the SIBM Blr, SIOM and other SNAP institutes can be considered favourably. Do focus on SNAP preparation, target score in SNAP for you is minimum of 85%ile. You can also consider applying to MFC and MBE of DU.

      • Thanks a lot Sir for your reply…Have cleared my doubt. I am just worried about SNAP GK , hopefully i will get through…Could you please suggest any GK book, i mean all in one composed !!!

  34. 7 days are left for my CAT.I know i should be revising all important mock questions at this time but should i see the questions in CL Assignments too?If i attempt to see Proc mock questions + test gym questions + assignment questions then dont u think it will take too much time.What i mean is i dont have to see questions from everywhere then should i focus on previous cat and proc mock questions?

  35. Sir,

    In rc passage i encountered a diff type of ques-
    What would you like to ask author in the end?

    What points should we keep in mind while answering this
    type of ques

    • Rg, these questions are a combination of Para Completion and inferential questions. The author should be asked something that is not explicitly mentioned in the passage and needs to be inferred. It should obviously be connected to the passage and the 4 Rules to Master Para Completion can be used to eliminate options.

    • Ajeet, in CAT’12 if you attempted only the 9 LR questions and got all of them right you would have got around 70%ile, in CAT’11 this was around 85%ile. In CAT’13 my estimate is that this will mean around 75%ile. So attempt of around 15 questions with 3 errors should take you to over 80%ile in CAT’13 VALR.

  37. sir,
    i have attempted 19 questions in QADI and 22 Questions in VALR.I would like to take your advice on whether i should apply to sp jain or not?

  38. sir what is level of difficulty of iift exam as compared to cat? is iift more on the tougher side? for gk section of iift is gyan dhara and the sis account enough for iift?

  39. Hello sir.
    I have taken CAT 2013 on 30 oct.I attempted 14 QA(12-13 correct),10 VA(8 correct).As i entered CL %le predictor based on Mock score it shows 79%le.But as i entered my CAT attempts i got 39 % only.I didnt get why this huge difference.Got disappointed.Next i have NMAT,IIFT.Not sure to apply xat or anymore.
    Plz suggest

    • Ashu, 14 attempt in QA is low but acceptable but 10 in VA is very low is the reason for a low percentile. With 24 attempts and 20 estimated correct you are unlikely to be above 50%ile.
      My suggestion is that you should forget CAT and focus on other exams – NMAT and IIFT. You should also apply for SNAP as not only is the paper simpler as compared to most of the others exams but also it has lesser competition. At least 5-6 SNAP institutes provide good placement opportunities.

  40. respected sir
    my cat exam is on 6 November at 10 a.m. sir please give me suggestion for 2nd section because my english is not so good so I m not able to understand RC.

    what shoild I do for getting good percentile in 2nd section…

    thank you sir

    • Ajeet, apologise for missing your query.
      Please refer to the blogpost The Ultimate Guide to the VA-LR section: Make every single minute count. for guidance on how to tackle the VALR section. However since you are absolutely uncomfortable with RC you will need to focus on LR and Usage questions.
      Your target should be to attempt all 9 LR questions even if it takes you 35-40 minutes. In the usage questions focus on Para Jumbles, Para Completion and Fill in the blanks. Attempt sentence correction and phrasal verb questions only if you are 100% sure of the answer else leave it without wasting time. These LR and usage questions will not take more than 55 minutes and in the remaining 15 minutes you can choose to attempt one RC passage. Attempt the passage whose subject you are most comfortable with. You can also choose to check the questions first and attempt only the factual questions.

  41. Dear gp sir,
    i have written cat on 25th oct 2013 and i have attempted 28 in QA/DI and expecting around 22-23 correct atleast and 27 in VA/LR and expecting 17-18 correct (being pessimist here ) as i havent got good accuracy in this section as per CL mocks. my cl mocks percentile varied from 85 to 97 with 96,97 being the latest percentiles. how much is my expected percentile in CAT sir?

  42. 30th Oct (Afternoon Slot: 3.15 pm)
    My Attempts are:
    QA – 14 (expecting 11-12 correct)
    VA – 19 (expecting 14-15 correct)
    Category: General
    Xth: 79.4%
    XIIth: 63%
    B.com: 63%
    Work Exp: 14 months
    What %ile should I expect and what colleges should I target?

    • Yash, Please enter your attempt and estimated correct in the True Percentile Predictor at http://www.careerlauncher.com/cat2013 to get a clear idea of your CAT percentile. The B-school Advisory will also give you the list of institutes that you should apply to. However my estimate is that you are likely to be less than 90%ile and hardly any good B school will be possible. Suggest that you forget CAT and shift your focus to the other tests – IIFT, SNAP and XAT.

      • ok..thank you sir….i scored 225 (97%ile) in sept cmat….will apply in GIM and KJ with that score and target all upcoming exams…

  43. Sir,
    I took C.A.T.on 29th October Morning slot.Attempted 20 in quant and 22 verbal.I Used to attempt the same in my C.L.mocks and my incorrect attempts ranged from 7-13…Where should I apply as I’m not sure of my C.A.T.PERCENTILE as it fluctuated from 85 to 95 in mocks?

    • Karan, These are good attempts, hopefully your incorrect answers will be at the lower end. Please enter your attempt and estimated correct in the True Percentile Predictor at http://www.careerlauncher.com/cat2013 to get a clear idea of your CAT percentile. THe B-school Advisory will also give you the list of institutes that you should apply to.

  44. Sir expecting around 80%ile in CAT 2013.
    Category:NC-OBC
    Should I apply to MFC/MBE of DU and MIB/MHROD courses of DSE? Any IITs which give out calls at this score?

  45. I appeared today morning slot, attempted 13 in QA, 17 in VA with 75% accuracy. 81%/70% in X/XII, 69 in GRADS. Should i fill up for FMS MFC AND NITIE? Which IIM calls can be expected?
    i forgot to mention i belong to sc category …

    • Rohit, 30 attempts with 24 correct answers may not be sufficient for FMS and top IIMs (as a SC candidate). NITIE, MFC and new IIMs are possible.

  46. Hi sir.,
    I took CAT on 29th october…My attempts are:
    QADI :17 ..estimated correct :15
    VALR:22…estimated correct: 18
    Sir i find quant relatively on the tougher side as compared to verbal. There was only one geometry and one number system ques present which i found to be quite strange….What %ile can i expect…i belong to gen category

    • Udit, Please enter your attempt and estimated correct in the True Percentile Predictor at http://www.careerlauncher.com/cat2013 to get a clear idea of your CAT percentile. The B school Advisory will give you the list of institutes that you should apply to based on your estimated percentile. However my estimate is that you are likely to be in the 90-95%ile range in CAT.

  47. Sir, does the True CAT percentile predictor also take into account one’s performance in the mock CATs, or does it only consider one’s attempts in CAT?

  48. Hello Sir,

    Now, that CAT is over ,could you advise us on the preparation of other exams such as NMAT,SNAP,TISS and XAT?

    I have following few points to ask
    1)For GK preparation , is Gyan Dhara from SIS sufficient? Should we focus on current affairs starting from Jan 2013- till date ?
    2) For XAT, how to prepare for decision making section?
    3)Additionally, I want to know about Great lakes’ PGPM course (Chennai and Gurgaon campus). This year, great lakes is considering CMAT scores for PGPM. I scored 97%le in this year’s CMAT exam.
    MY profile is also decent (10th, 12th- 90+ %, Grduation- 76.8%, Work Experience- 30 months)
    Shall I apply in first round ?

    Kindly advise
    Thanks

    • Varenya, I’ll be writing a post on these exams separately. Let me address the questions you have asked:
      1. Gyan Dhara, SIS and Management Compass are sufficient.
      2. Will be conducting a online session on Decision Making.
      3. GL Chennai 1 year program is well established but the 2 year program is yet to establish itself. Between Grugaon and Chennai, for 2 year program, my preference is for Chennai since it is older.
      You have a good chance of getting into GL 1 year Chennai but the program starts early, in April, before the results of many good institutes (including new IIMs) are declared. Apply in the second cycle as by then results of all exams would have been declared.

  49. sir , I would like to know about XISS Ranchi’s placement ???
    and also the difficulty level of CAT 30th oct morning slot… only 3-4 geometry .. no tsd … no ratios … i have attempted 24 questions only…. belong to sc category … will I be able to get call from any good college…
    Next I have SNAP which book should I consult ???

    • Ankita, XISS Ranchi has decent placements – average salary of Rs 5.5 lakh and can be considered.
      Please enter your attempt and estimated correct in the True Percentile Predictor at http://www.careerlauncher.com/cat2013 to get a clear idea of your CAT percentile.
      For SNAP I will be writing a post shortly but do attempt an old paper to understand the structure and its intricacies.

  50. Sir i have appeared Oct 30th Slot. Belongs to NC-OBC and having 30 months of work ex in IT. My attempt was 7-8/12 (QA) and 13-14/18(VA). What should i expect ? and what should be my further strategy as my SNAP,XAT,NMAT are lined up. Please guide me.
    Thanks a lot !!!!

    • Anurag, Please enter your attempt and estimated correct in the True Percentile Predictor at http://www.careerlauncher.com/cat2013 to get a clear idea of your CAT percentile. The B school Advisory will give you the list of institutes that you should apply to based on your estimated percentile.
      However my estimate is that you will be below 75%ile and hence calls are not possible from any decent institutes. Suggest you forget CAT focus on SNAP, NMAT and XAT. SNAP should be the first target since, unlike others, it has NC-OBC reservations. Take a couple of past papers of SNAP and XAT to understand the structure and the intricacies of these papers. I will be writing separately on these papers.

  51. Sir, If there is any question in the exam which contains error, shall we attempt it or leave it? It seems like it has happened in the Oct 28 morning slot. There was an error in the options.

  52. I appeared today morning slot, attempted 13 in QA, 17 in VA with accuracy 75-80%. 81%/70% in X/XII, 69 in GRADS. Should i fill up for FMS MFC AND NITIE? Which IIM calls can be expected?

    • Rohit, Please enter your attempt and estimated correct in the True Percentile Predictor at http://www.careerlauncher.com/cat2013 to get a clear idea of your CAT percentile. The B school Advisory will give you the list of institutes that you should apply to based on your estimated percentile.
      However with 30 attempts and about 25 correct you are likely to be less than 85%ile and hence FMS and MFC are unlikely. NITIE (PGDISEM) might be possible.

  53. sir mine slot was 30 oct…ateempted 9/13 in QA and 12-13/17 in VA..what percentile can i expect….belong to sc category……and chances for iims call………X=81 Xii=70 b.tech=69

      • hey almost same was my experience… I found QA difficult… only two questions from geometry 🙁 … very unexpected overall…

  54. Sir I gave my CAT on 24th morning slot.. I am expecting 47 marks in section 1 and around 45-50 marks in section 2.. Is there a chance of getting more than 99 percentile?

  55. Hi GP Sir,

    One can highlight RC passages in real CAT exam , right ?
    My question is can we use the highlight function in parajumbles also? I mean if i want to highlight a couple of words in each of the 5 sentences of the jumble, is it possible as per the interface.

    Regards,
    Rahul

  56. On 29th Oct morning slot I attempted around 20 in QA.(expecting 17 to be correct)and 20 in VA(expecting 20 to be correct).What can be my %ile?

  58. Sir, i took CAT on 29th oct morning slot.
    attempted about 20-21 ques in QA/DI and 17-18 in VA/LR.
    with good accuracy. what can be my percentile?

    Reviews say that this slot was easy.. but i found VA to be tough. and thus did not attempt many.

    • Sonia, Please enter your attempt and estimated correct in the True Percentile Predictor at http://www.careerlauncher.com/cat2013 to get a clear idea of your CAT percentile.
      However assuming 3 errors each in QADI and VALR you are likely to be in the 90-95%ile range. In case your paper is classified as difficult then the normalisation process could increase your percentile scores.

  60. Hi GP sir,

    My CAT is on 6th of November in the morning slot . Please suggest me when should i take my last mock ( asking because people say that one should not take mock very close to actual CAT exam as it may damage confidence in case one didn’t score well). Also tell me the dos and donts for these last few days I have in hand.

    Note :- I am on leave and hence am at home for the entire day till my CAT and will be travelling to test city – Bhopal on 5th November. Please advice accordingly.

    P.S :- In one of my queries above , I replied to your reply and a couple of questions more in my reply to your reply. Kindly reply there also.

    Thanks and regards,
    Rahul

    • Rahul, You can take one Mock on 31st Oct and the last Mock on 2nd Nov. Keep 3rd-5th for revision of all important questions from Mock CATs and past CAT papers.

  61. Sir,
    I gave cat on 29th oct(morning slot).
    Attempted 24 in quant (20+ correct) and 26 in verbal (around 20 correct). What percentile can I expect?

    Also, my profile is 10th-92%, 12th-89% and graduation-83%.
    As a general category male engineer can I expect calls from iim ABCL?

    • Pransh, Please enter your attempt and estimated correct in the True Percentile Predictor at http://www.careerlauncher.com/cat2013 to get a clear idea of your CAT percentile. My estimate is over 95%ile in both sections and an aggregate of 98%ile. With excellent marks in X, XII and graduation you are i line for calls from most of the IIMs including the A and B. For IIM C you will need over 99%ile which will depend upon your number of errors.

  62. Sir,I took the CAT in Oct 25th-2nd session,i am usually pretty good in quant,but there i could attempt just 18 question,can you please tell me if you have any information about this slot,was it more difficult? When i enter my attempts in percentile predictor on SIS,it just shows a percentile of 90,i usually got 97-99.xx in all of my mocks at CL,can you please tell me regarding this slot?

      • sir,i expect 17/18 to be in quant and in verbal 18/21.I have also heard that this slot was more difficult than all other slots,is it true or just because i did less number of attempts i felt so

        • Amit, degree of difficulty cannot be commented upon based on the feeling of students so I normally do not take it into account. In case your slot/paper is more difficult than the normalisation process will take care of it. Your data suggests 90-95%ile in CAT. Please enter your attempt and estimated correct in the True Percentile Predictor at http://www.careerlauncher.com/cat2013 to get a clear idea of your CAT percentile.

  63. Sir, I gave my CAT on 21st Oct first slot. I had attempted 20 in QADI and 24 in VALR. However after coming back home and reading few analysises on various websites i got scared and stretched my negatives a bit more before entering it in true percentile predictor. After reading your blogs and other CL faculties analysis of that day’s slot, i regained the confidence and wish to enter a realistic number of correct attempts. However there is no provision of re-entering your predicted attempts in True Percentile predictor. Is there any other method of predicting my %le? i think i may have 18 correct in QADI out of 20 and 19-20 correct out of 24.

    • Ajeet, I work with the choices. Identify a mandatory pair and eliminate the choices. Please attempt the Para Jumble questions from CAT 1997-2008, check the solution for the first t10-12 questions and look for the clues to mandatory pair. Once you get a hang of this then try the other questions giving yourself 2 minutes per question.

  65. Sir,

    My exam is on 31st Oct in the morning. I’m comfortable in Verbal section and is average at best in LR , DI.

    But my weakness is quant and all I can manage is by SQC method (usual 6-7 ques)

    What should I do in the last 3 days of my preparation?

    And should I refrain from studying just the day before or continue my preparation?

    Thanks.

    • Bharat, most of the papers have reported 2 do-able DI sets so your target should be to attempt 6-7 QA questions + 2 DI sets in about 40-45 minutes. In the reamaining time try attempting another 5 QA questions or the remaining DI set + 2-3 QA questions. In the last 3 days just practice/revise questions of Algebra, Geometry, LR and simple DI sets from old CAT papers as suggested in the blogpost 4 Weeks to CAT’13 – Ab billi door nahin.
      On the last day you could reduce the revision and relax a bit

  66. Hello Sir,

    Amidst all the speculation of the moderate-to-tough difficulty level of CAT till now, with 2 LR and 2 DI sets doable, I find some of my friends who have given CAT in recent slots , not doing so well on their D-Day. The reason given for below par performance is increased level of toughness.
    The reason I’m concerned is, A , the people concerned were at par with me in the mocks , and B, till now I was pretty confident of doing well in CAT because I had planned to do the 2 LR and 2 DI sets with ease, but after learning about the fluctuating difficulty level of the exam, my confidence has gone down a bit and has sent jitters down my spine.

    Please sir, throw some light on my issue, does the difficulty level really varies this much or am I just worrying unnecessarily ??

    • Ankit, many students who do well in Mocks are unable to handle the pressure of the D-day and end up with lower scores. Similarly many students are able to raise their performance on the D-day and end up with higher scores than their expected performance.
      In a paper like CAT wherein no two students have the same paper it is easy to put the onus of poor performance on the degree of difficulty. The fact is that there is no data to suggest that the degree of difficulty is proportional to the Day number. It is possible for student to get difficult paper/data-sets but then the normalisation process will take care of it.
      Focus on your preparation and do not get carried away by these stories of easy/tough papers. The only take away from the performance of others students should be questions shared (if any) by them 🙂
      All the best.

      • Thanks alot sir, that has really helped me gain some of my confidence back. 🙂

        Anyways, sir my CAT is on the 8th of Nov,
        I have planned to give the remaining of my 5 unproc mocks ( with the last one on 5th Nov ) , do past CAT papers in the remaining days and revise on 6th & 7th.
        Is this plan of action fine ??
        Any improvements from your end would be appreciable sir..

        Thanks alot in advance 🙂

  67. Sir,
    I’m expecting a raw score of 108 in 18 october 10:00 slot. Can I get 99.7 percentile with that?
    Also, can you shed some light on normalization? I hear that questions are getting repeated across slots to gauge the quality of students in a slot. And people are violating NDA. So the earlier slot ones are at a disadvantage. I’m confused. Please help.

    • Ambati, 108 is a good score but I do not think it is sufficient for 99.7%ile. Your score should convert to around 98-98.5%ile but if it is classified as more difficult than others then the score could go up a bit. You will get an idea of the normalistion process from Prometric’s LOFT document available at https://www.prometric.com/en-us/news-and-resources/white-papers/Documents/LOFT.pdf
      While some students do share the couple of questions that they remember with their friends, most do not and hence need not worry. Also Prometric has a large bank of questions of similar level of difficulty so the repetition across slots is not much.

  68. Sir,
    I am pretty confused with what to study now as my test is not too far,its like a week,I am trying to do geometry and algebra,while at the same time I am forgetting the other topics.The previous CAT papers are also left out,so do the mocks.In this bit of a time,what would you suggest to do?

    • Aanjaan, there is a mistake, either in my communicating or in your understanding. A 99+ is not possible at 33, you will need at least 37 net correct.

  70. Hello GP Sir,

    I want to know how many attempts (including right and permissible wrong) should be done to have a decent cut off in QA section ?

    Thanks Aditya

  71. Sir, I had taken 2 proctored mocks at the centre and 3 proctored mocks at home. Yet when I try to upload my mock scores on the site..its written cl students should login from sis and the scores will be auto uploaded, it doesnt happen. How should I upload these 5 mock scores for b school advisory? I have given my cat. Could do only 6 out of 30 qns in quant. 22 in verbal.

    • Deepak, am getting it checked. Meanwhile you can upload your attempts and estimated correct answers in the True CAT Percentile Predictor to get an estimate of your CAT percentile and also the institutes that you should apply to.

  72. sir, i need counseling. I’m a 21/Indian/Male/no work ex.This is my 2nd attempt to CAT. I completed my graduation in April 2013. B.Com from CSJM university with 58.XX%; the toppers score was also not more than 66% in the university. So, I see my score as a decent score. But, my % of 10th (UP Board) 54.XX% and 12th (CBSE Board) 49.XX% are very low. I’m not confident this year, but I want to give one more shot to CAT (3rd attempt). Should I go for it seeing my abysmal profile? Can i hope for FMS, XL, JB with high score in respective exams? I’m very close to cut-offs, if the exams would have happened in April, I would have been ready till that but now will have to wait till next year.
    Really,frustrated! Need your help!

    • Akash, many MBA institutes do not worry about the marks in school and college as long as you fulfil their eligibility requirements and hence with a very high CAT/XAT/CMAT score you can make it to FMS/XLRI/JBIMS etc. Most of the IIMs are however out for you. Before deciding on the 3rd attempt let us check your performance in this attempt. You still have sufficient time for XAT and Feb CMAT so prepare keeping these two in mind and let us take a call in Feb’14. In case you are unable to do well in any of these you should consider picking up a job, gaining a couple of years work experience before going for MBA, but as I said earlier let us decide in Feb’14.

  73. Sir
    please update a few questions on ‘what would you ask the author’

    Because these are nowhere to be seen..it would be good if i could see 5-6 of them to know how to approach..
    thnx..

    • Aastha, these questions are a combination of Para Completion and inferential questions. The author should be asked something that is not explicitly mentioned in the passage and needs to be inferred. It should obviously be connected to the passage and the 4 Rules to Master Para Completion can be used to eliminate options.

  74. Hello Sir..
    I have been trying the percentile predictor but it shows a 0 percentile..
    is it due to server maintainence issues or smthng else..because it showed me a 96 last month but now when i wish to see the b-school advisory section..it is showing me a 0..
    is it just a one time view??
    Please suggest…

  75. Hi sir,

    What is the pattern of the LR paper , is it constant – I mean in terms of type of question. If yes what is the pattern . Is it the one I am writing below:
    1 . Scheduling type
    2. Characteristics & traits
    3. Mathematical reasoning

    Is their any sort of consistency in the type of the difficult LR ( like the one which is difficult of the 3 being of the type of Mathematical reasoning or something like that). Are the two easier LR of the same level as those of proc mocks or are they also more difficult than the doable LRs of proc mocks ( I mean the 2 easier ones out of 3) .

    Is the level of difficulty of 2 doable RCs in the recent slots higher than those of proc mocks, similar or lesser of the 2 doable of procks. The RCs of the recent Cat slots are similar to which of the proc mocks?

    Sir, Please answer the above questions.

    Thanks & regards,
    Rahul

    • Rahul, Most of the students have reported one each of Easy, Medium and Difficult LR sets and have reported each of the three types of data sets mentioned by you. In addition to these a few slots also had Venn diagram (of 3 sets) question sets. The scheduling one is usually the most difficult but some slots have reported the one of the others to be the most difficult. The level of the 2 do-able LR sets is mostly less difficult then the ones in Mocks.
      The RC passages can also be categorised as one each of Easy, Medium and Difficult with lengths ranging from 400 to 600 words. The level of difficulty is at par with the passages in the Mocks.

      • Hi GP sir,

        In the webinar on 18th october, I remember Niraj sir telling that the options of the RCs are not as close as CL mocks. So, when you say that RCs are as difficult as mocks , do you mean in terms of readability and language used ?.

        Apart from this , I have a request . I didn’t get scheduling type of LRs to practice in the mocks or previous Cat papers ( except one question on faculty members – which was very difficult). Can you kindly get some practice Lrs of scheduling type uploaded on SIS or ELIB of SIS( even a pdf having a few questions of this type will be of immense help as it will provide some practice in this question type.).

        Sir , please answer a couple of more questions for me :-

        Q1. How many questions from these subtopics of algebra( equations & progressions) are coming in recent slots. Is their occurrence consistent?. Can we use SQC in these or we have to solve most using conventional methods of equation solving.

        Q2. Are the number of calculative DI sets consistently 2 in most/each papers?

        Q3. We can still apply SQC in 2-3 algebra questions, right ? And these are not of equation or progression type ( correct me if I am wrong ) .

        Thanks in advance for replying

        regards,
        Rahul Arora

        • Rahul, the difficult RC is difficult on account of readability and language not in terms of questions. Will try to guide you to scheduling quesions separately. Coming to your other questions:
          1. there is no specific patterns when it comes to sub topics but you can apply SQC in at least 2-3 algebra questions.
          2. DI is by and large consistent with an one each of Easy, Medium and Difficult and in the calculation questions do work with the choices.
          3.You are correct. Out of the 21 QA questions you can apply SQC in about 5-6 questions.

  76. Sir, don’t you consider unproctored mock score while predicting the colleges or percentile ( I’m asking this question because that window is not showing unproctored scores )?

    • Shantanu, unproc scores are not considered because students take them at different points of time as per their convenience and many times not under test conditions.

      • Hello Sir, I want to go a little out of context here. I wrote my CAT yesterday in the evening slot. Without disclosing anything about the paper, I want to say that I found error in one of the LR passages. I want to know that is it my own error of judgement or some other students have also reported the same??

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