CAT 2019 Exam Analysis, Expected Cut offs & More !!
CAT 2019 has been conducted on 24th November across India. We hope you performed well to crack the CAT 2019 exam. Read this space for CAT 2019 Analysis, expected percentile & much more!
There wasn’t much to differentiate between the two Slots with selective feedback on verbal and DI being slightly tougher in slot II. A marginal drop is expected in overall score for 99%ile compared to last year. Unlike the common beliefs, the CAT examiners seemed to focus on a candidate’s aptitude rather than testing student’s ability to handle a disruptive pattern. The overall difficulty level of the exam of slot two was comparatively similar with the difficulty level of the exam held in slot one. Approximately 1.10 lakh candidates appeared in the second slot.
CAT 2019: Result will be tentatively announced in the second week of January, 2020
Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension: Analysis
The VARC section was of moderate difficulty level. However, the pattern was the same as that of the previous year. There were 34 questions, with 10 Non-MCQ questions. There were 5 passages. One had 4 questions (the passage on Emperor Penguins) while the rest had 5 questions each. The topics of the remaining RC passages were from varied areas. While some were easy to read, there were few that were tedious and had confusing answer options. There were quite a few inference-based questions; and most of these had tricky answer options. However, a student should have followed the POE (process of elimination) to be able to achieve a decent accuracy rate, as the options were not straightforward.
Slot I -
In terms of level of difficulty, the verbal section can be labelled as easy to moderate. The accuracy will be the key to good score. As with the exam last year, the exam did not feature any question from Grammar and vocabulary. This effectively meant that the aspirants who were proficient in the topics that are reading-based would have been more comfortable in this section. There were Five RC passages (each of 350-400 words) out of which four passages had five questions each and the fifth had 4 questions. Other questions were from sentence rearrangement, para-jumbles and -summary. There were 7 TITA questions.
Slot II -
In terms of level of difficulty, the verbal section can be labelled as moderate. The accuracy will be the key to good score along with selection of passages. One passage was considerably tough to understand. As with the exam last year, the exam did not feature any question from Grammar and vocabulary. This effectively meant that the aspirants who were proficient in the topics that are reading-based would have been more comfortable in this section. There were Five RC passages (each of 350-400 words) out of which four passages had five questions each and the fifth had 4 questions. Other questions were from sentence rearrangement, para-jumbles and -summary. There were 7 TITA questions.
How CAT changes through years:
2015: MCQ questions withdrawn
The exam pattern was again changed in 2015. The IIM-Ahmadabad conducted Common Admission Test (CAT) in 2015 of 100 questions (34 in two sections, and 32 in other). The CAT examination was held over a period of 180 minutes. For the first time, the paper was of objective type, without multiple choice questions (MCQs), and the IIM allowed on-screen calculators in the entrance examinations
Section-wise expected score for 99%ile+
| Section | Expected Score for 99%ile |
| VA RC | 65 - 67 |
| DI LR | 48 - 50 |
| Quant | 55 - 58 |
| Overall | 157 - 160 |
B-School Cut-offs
CAT scores are used as a primary screening tool by B-Schools for short listing candidates for the GD/ PI round. Apart from CAT percentile other factors which are taken in to account for generating calls include academic performance in 10th, +2, Graduation, duration of work experience. Normally, the cut offs for old IIMs are higher than those for new IIMs.
| Level (Approx cutoff percentiles Gen.) | Institutes |
| 99.5+ | 3-8 Call from IIM A,B,C,L,K,I,S, FMS |
| 99+ |
1-2 Call from IIM A,B,C,L,K,I,S And All other IIM calls, IIT B |
| 98+ | IIT-D, MDI-PGP, All IIMs except old 7 |
| 96.5+ | SPJIMR, , NITIE, MDI- HR/IM, few new IIMs ( Latest 6) |
| 94.5+ |
IIT-KH, IIT-KN, IIT-C, IIT-R, IISc-B, XLRI-Global BM, MDI-M, IIMA (Abm), IIML (Abm) |
| 90+ |
MICA, IMT-G/N, XIMB, IMI-D, FORE, IRMA, GIM, TAPMI, KJSIMSR, SIMSREE, UBS-CHD, SPJAIN-D/S, BIM, NIRMA |
| 87+ |
Welingkar, LBSIM, LIBA, IMI-K/B, Great Lakes, BIMTECH-PGDM/IB, IBS-ICFAI, MFC-DU, IFMR, MIB-DU, MHROD-DU, IMT-H |
| 75+ | SDA Bocconi, IFIM, MBE-DU |
| 60+ |
IMI-K, IBA, BIMTECH-Retail/Insurance, BIMTECH-Bhuvaneswar, NITS, SOIL, TAXILA, IISWBM, NDIM, Shiv Nadar, IMDR, BIMM, JK LAXMIPAT, DSB, PMLSD, ACCURATE, MILE, LM Thapar, IILM, UPES, UBS-Mumbai, IMDR |
CAT 2019: Those who clear the exam will be eligible for admission to management courses, including PGP, PGDM, PGPEM, EPGP, PGPBM, PGPEX, at the IIMs and other management colleges across the country. CAT 2019 score is valid only till December 31, 2020, and will accordingly be accessible on the website.
After the CAT 2019 Exam, it is very natural to feel uncertain and anxious about how your exam actually went and what your future course of action should be. This is where our expert team member or counselor comes into play. For free career counseling you can write us at sampark@shikshaadvisor.in or post your queries below in the comment section.
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