CAT 2007 Analysis and Cutoffs (by IMS)

Source: IMS

What did not change in CAT 2007 was the structure of the test - 75 Questions, 3 Sections, 5 answer choices, 4 marks for correct and negative 1 mark for incorrect. However, there were quite a few changes with regards to the kind of questions asked in CAT 2007.

Quant:
The Quant section was tougher than last year, as some of the questions not only demanded a higher level of reasoning but also were based on tougher concepts. Conceptual clarity and a strong reasoning ability were a must to clear the cut-offs in this section. Quite a few questions were option based and one could get them right if one had the patience and the perseverance to go the distance. Another salient feature of this section was the return of the Data Sufficiency questions. The 4 DS questions had an average level of difficulty and one could have solved at least two of them. Overall, the section was difficult with a few easy questions interspersed within it. The key to succeed in this section was to select the right questions. Possible cut-off: 25-28

Data Interpretation:
On first glance, one would have thought that the CAT has gone back to the nineties when the DI in CAT used to be calculation intensive. The last few years had witnessed a major change in DI with questions getting more and more reasoning based and correspondingly a decrease in the need for intensive calculations. The DI in CAT 07 had no Logical reasoning questions. The DI sets were calculation based but with a difference: one needed a fair level of reasoning and comprehension ability before getting into the calculation mode. LR based Data Sufficiency made an appearance in this section after a gap of 2 years and they were relatively easy. Overall, most of the DI sets were easy but time-consuming thus bringing down the number of attempts in this section.
Possible cut-off: 30-33

Verbal:
After the CAT 06 Verbal experience, all of us had our fingers crossed for this one. The Verbal section was relatively easier compared to last year, but only relatively. There were 4 RC passages with 3 questions each. The onus was on understanding the passage as a whole rather than specific parts of the passage. All the questions were inferential and reasoning based. Some of the options were too close for comfort. This meant that one needed to have a strong reasoning and comprehension ability to get them right. The 4 ‘Jumbled para’ questions were tough but solvable and so were the 3 ‘complete the para’ questions. The 6 usage and grammar based questions were relatively easy to score in.
Possible cut-off: 30-33