Know all the changes in CAT 2014 exam pattern and how to adapt your preparation

With an aim to make CAT 2014 exam more user friendly, IIM Indore and TCS have gone ahead and made some distinctive changes in the CAT 2014 exam pattern. Know how to adapt with these changes for your CAT 2014 exam preparation 

CAT 2014 exam pattern has undergone a lot of changes since last year including Exam dates, Registration process, results, exam pattern, CAT 2014 paper pattern, etc. With an aim to make CAT 2014 exam more user friendly, IIM Indore and TCS have gone ahead and made some distinctive changes in the CAT 2014 exam pattern.

This might be surprise news for many CAT 2014 aspirants who were busy preparing for their exams based on the pattern of last year as they now have to re-adapt themselves with the new and changed CAT 2014 exam pattern.

This article will provide you the detailed changes in CAT 2014 exam pattern and expert tips on how to cope up with these changes and align your CAT preparation schedule.

Important changes in CAT 2014 Exam Pattern

1. CAT 2014 exam duration has been increased to 170 minutes i.e. 2 hours and 50 minutes. Earlier the time limit was of 140 minutes. The CAT 2014 exam Syllabus will remain same though.

2. Candidates have been given the flexibility to switch between sections at any point of time during the examination.  Thus you have the option to devote less or more time in a particular section as per your choice.

3. The number of questions per section has been increased to 50 questions. Quantitative Aptitude and Data Interpretation will consist of 50 questions and Logical Reasoning and Verbal Ability will have 50 questions each. Earlier these sections had only 30 questions each.

4. This year in CAT 2014 exam, there will be no tutorial before start of examination. Candidates are advised to check and practice the tutorial from the official CAT 2014 website prior to testing date.

Impact of changes in CAT 2014 Exam Pattern

With so many changes in CAT 2014 exam pattern, aspirants have to make some amendments in their preparation schedule and style to achieve excellent percentile in CAT exam.  
• With the flexibility to switch from one section to other, aspirants must keep a check on their time spent on each question and section.

• Aspirant now has to attempt a total 100 question in 170 minutes while earlier it was 60 questions in 140 minutes. Thus the time per question has been reduced from 2.3 mins per question to 1.7 mins per question now.

• Increase in number of section question means greater representation of various smaller topics and different types of question. Thus, CAT 2014 aspirants now don’t have the liberty to leave any topic aside during their CAT preparation.

• With increase in exam time, candidates must adapt themselves to sit for 3 hours continuously while staring at the computer screen.

• With reduced Minute per question, candidates now need to be very choosy and sure as to which question to attempt and which to leave as attempting wrong or lengthy questions will kill their precious time.

• remember, sectional cut off is still prevalent for Admission to IIMs and other top B schools. Hence, candidates have to keep a check on their number of attempts in both the section. With an option of free movement between sections, chances of miscalculation and over-attempts are more.

How to adapt to New CAT 2014 Exam Pattern

Some suggestions for CAT 2014 aspirants to quickly adapt to the new changes in CAT 2014 exam pattern are:

1. Starting attempting mock test for 170 minutes with 50 questions in each section. Note the total time you spent on each question and section.

2. Follow a trial and error method to know the best possible strategy for your exam day. Since, now you have the option to switch section, hence decide which section you want to attempt first and in which order.

3. Analyze your results of every mock test to find out the best strategy which works for you.

4. Increase your accuracy and speed to attempt right question in less time to improve your sectional and overall scores.

5.  With increase in number of question, make sure you don’t leave out any topics without practice.

What do the CAT Expert suggests

CAT 2014 aspirants shouldn’t be afraid of the increase in length of the test.  The time is also increased and every candidate has sufficient time.  The best part is the facility to navigate and switch to and fro both the sections.  There could be questions in one or other section where candidates may consume less time vis a vis the question where more time is required to solve. So practically the new pattern will be beneficial to them. Level of difficulty may remain the same while composition of questions may change to some extent. Aspirants are advised to focus on all the topics and practice them more.

For Latest updates on CAT 2014 exam Registration, keep a check on the below link for LIVE Updates: CAT 2014 Exam Notification Details

What is Syllabus of CAT?

This is the most frequent question asked when one starts preparing for CAT. CAT is a test with no predefined syllabus, however past trends suggest that CAT tests in general aptitude including Verbal Ability (English), Quant Ability (Mathematics), Logical Resoning (LR) and Data Interpretation (DI) skills.

Similar to CAT, there are other admission tests - MAT, XAT, CMAT and SNAP. There are some B-Schools (like IIFT and IRMA) which conduct their own exam. And there are state level entrance tests for admission to colleges in respective states.

CAT English/Verbal Ability: Reading comprehension, verbal reasoning, syllogisms, analogies, antonyms and synonyms, fill in the blanks, sentence correction, idioms, etc.

CAT Maths/Quant Ability: Number systems, geometry, trogonometry, probability, permutation combination, algebra, mensuration, time and work, averages, percentages, profit and loss, quadratic and linear equations, etc.

CAT Data Interpretation: Interpretation and analysis of data based on text, tables, graphs (line, area), charts (column, bar, pie), venn diagram, etc.

CAT Logical Reasoning: Clocks, calendars, binary logic, seating arrangement, blood relations, logical sequence, assumption, premise, conclusion, linear and matrix arrangement, etc.

1	Quantitative Ability
2	Data Interpretation
3	Logical Reasoning
4	Verbal Ability
5	XAT Pattern and Syllabus
6	SNAP Test Pattern & Syllabus
7	CMAT Pattern & Syllabus
8	MICAT Paper Pattern & Syllabus
9	ICET Syllabus and Test Pattern
10	IBSAT Pattern & Syllabus

GATE 2015: Learn how to make notes?

This article is intended to bring more clarity to let you all know about how you should go about preparing notes and what things need to be kept in mind as I have often referred to notes being most important part in one's preparation and this post will be tackling that issue specifically.
GATE is an application oriented exam where bare minimum concepts are required but you need to be well prepared to apply those concepts in every way possible and thus the short can really be very short and while preparing notes you must keep the GATE curriculum open so that you do not miss out anything and you do not add anything unnecessary. The following points should be taken care while preparing notes.

• The notes should be prepared in form of bullets and not entire paragraphs as bullets are easy to remember and revise and paragraph type notes are a big turn-off.
• Always highlight the point which you have made a mistake more than once because that will keep you reminding that you should take care like in my case I used to get confused between idempotent and involuntary matrices so the criterion, I always kept highlighted.
• The font of handwritten notes should be very small and try to put as much data as possible in a single line as possible as then the number of pages covered will be very less and will imbibe a sense of confidence in you whenever you think of revising them as you will be confident that you only have to revise a less number of pages.
• Sometimes, it is also good to keep a track of some numericals which you felt were very good and helpful by noting down the page number and question number so that you can refer them once before the exam.
• The notes are specific to the person that creates them as you may want to write something which seems very trivial to some other person, but you should write it down because the notes are meant for you only and not for anyone else.

KMAT 2014: Admit cards available from today!

KMAT 2014 admit cards are available for downloads from today, July 30, 201. Aspirants can download the same from the official website.
Click here to download your Hall Ticket!
The test will be conducted on August 3, 2014. Karnataka Management Aptitude Test (KMAT) 2014 scores are considered for admission to MBA/PGDM courses in more 169 colleges across Karnataka. The duration of the exam is three hours. KMAT is an objective type test.
It is mandatory for all candidates to carry admit cards along with them to be able to appear for the test. Candidates should carry the print out of the admit cards, no soft copies are accepted at the test centers.

DU Admissions 2014: Cluster Innovation Centre important dates at a glance

Cluster Innovation Centre (CIC) of Delhi University (DU) has invited applications for admissions into its undergraduate programme for the academic session commencing in 2014. Interested candidates need to submit their duly filled application forms latest by 5 pm on August 5, 2014.
The programmes on offer at CIC include Bachelor of Arts (BA) Honors in Humanities & Social Sciences and Bachelor of Technology (B Tech) in Information Technology & Mathematical Innovations.
CIC will be conducting an entrance examination to offer admissions for the eligible candidates. The entrance exam for both the courses will be conducted on August 9, 2014. However, while the entrance exam timing for the BA honours programme is from 10 am to 12 noon, the exam timing for the BTech entrance exam is from 12 pm to 4 pm.
CIC Admissions 2014: Important Dates

Event	Date	Time
Last date to submit online applications	August 5, 2014	Till 5 pm
List of candidates allotted examination, posted at CIC website	August 7, 2014
Written Examination	August 9, 2014	BA Honors- 10 am to 12 noon B Tech- 2 pm to 4 pm
Answer keys to be posted at DU and CIC websites	August 9, 2014	6 pm
Representation against validity of answer keys need to be mailed to admission@ducic.ac.in	August 11, 2014	before 6 pm
Declaration of Results	August 16, 2014
Admissions under first list	August 19 to August 21, 2014
Declaration of second list at CIC and DU websites (if seats remain vacant)	August 21, 2014	6 pm
Admissions under second List	August 22 to August 25, 2014
Commencement of session	August 25, 2014

Cluster Innovation Centre (CIC) of Delhi University (DU) has invited applications for admissions into its undergraduate programme for the academic session commencing in 2014. Interested candidates need to submit their duly filled application forms latest by 5 pm on August 5, 2014.
The programmes on offer at CIC include Bachelor of Arts (BA) Honors in Humanities & Social Sciences and Bachelor of Technology (B Tech) in Information Technology & Mathematical Innovations.
CIC will be conducting an entrance examination to offer admissions for the eligible candidates. The entrance exam for both the courses will be conducted on August 9, 2014. However, while the entrance exam timing for the BA honours programme is from 10 am to 12 noon, the exam timing for the BTech entrance exam is from 12 pm to 4 pm.
CIC Admissions 2014: Important Dates

Event	Date	Time
Last date to submit online applications	August 5, 2014	Till 5 pm
List of candidates allotted examination, posted at CIC website	August 7, 2014
Written Examination	August 9, 2014	BA Honors- 10 am to 12 noon B Tech- 2 pm to 4 pm
Answer keys to be posted at DU and CIC websites	August 9, 2014	6 pm
Representation against validity of answer keys need to be mailed to admission@ducic.ac.in	August 11, 2014	before 6 pm
Declaration of Results	August 16, 2014
Admissions under first list	August 19 to August 21, 2014
Declaration of second list at CIC and DU websites (if seats remain vacant)	August 21, 2014	6 pm
Admissions under second List	August 22 to August 25, 2014
Commencement of session	August 25, 2014

CAT 2014 exam updates: 10 Big changes in this year CAT 2014 exam

Moving away from the past years, CAT 2014 exam notification has brought many surprises and changes in its process of registration, selection of test centre, duration of test, pattern of test &declaration of result.

Moving away from the past years, CAT 2014 notification has brought many surprises and changes in its process of registration, selection of test centre, conduct of test, duration of test, pattern of test and declaration of result. MBAUniverse.com had already anticipated many changes and surprises in CAT 2014, with the change of guard in testing agency from Prometric to TCS and has been advising the aspirants in this regard from time to time.

Appended are the 10 Big changes that will happen in CAT 2014

1. CAT 2014 will be a month late

CAT has the history of being conducted prominently in the month of October every year till 2013. CAT 2014 has been scheduled to be held in the month of November 2014.

2. Only 2 days CAT instead of 21 days

CAT 2014 will be conducted in a 2 day testing window on November 16 & November 22, 2014 in 4 sessions of morning and afternoon instead of 21 days and 42 sessions testing window that took place in CAT 2013. Will TCS be able to manage 2 lakhs of candidates in 2 days, remains to be seen?

3. More Testing cities and sites

CAT 2014 is proposed to be held in 99 cities at 354 testing sites as against 40 testing cities with 76 testing sites. Higher number of centers and cities have been planned to cope with the high number of CAT 2014 aspirants who are expected to take CAT 2014 in 2 days across the country.

4. No Off-line vouchers purchase in CAT 2014

CAT 2014 is poised not to offer the facility of purchasing the off-line vouchers. All the CAT 2014 aspirants shall have to register themselves on line wef August 6 to September 30, 2014 by paying requisite registration fee on-line only. In CAT 2013 dual facility of registration off-line as well as on-line was available.

5. No facility to finalize the Testing centre, date and session with Registration

CAT 2014 aspirants cannot schedule their test on the preferred date nor can they finalize their choice of centre and session at the time of on-line Registration and filling up the application. This big facility was available till CAT 2013 but has been done away with in CAT 2014.  Now the CAT aspirants have to select 3 preferred test cities (Not testing centres) at the time of Registration.

Out of these 3 chosen test cities the aspirant will be allotted one of the cities along with testing centre and session on random basis as per the availability after the last date for registration i.e. September 30, 2014 by the testing agency.  So the choice is no more in the hands of the aspirant.  Besides any of the 4 sessions can be allotted, so the facility of choosing the preferred session has also been withdrawn.

Keep a check for LIVE Updates on CAT 2014 Exam, Click here: CAT 2014 Exam Notification Details

6. Late Issue of Admit Card in CAT 2014

Admit cards, your permission to appear in CAT 2014 will be available on or after October 16, 2014, the date that is falling after 16 days of last date of registration.  So whether you register yourself on August 6 or September 30, 2014, you are at par with other aspirants and as such till October 16, 2014 you won’t have access to your admit card which will also have the details of your test date, test city, session and centre. Till CAT 2013 aspirants could download their admit cards 24 hrs after completion of registration.

7. CAT 2014 will have more questions and time to solve

According to the sources CAT 2014 proposes to increase number of testing questions from 30 in CAT 2013 to 50 in each section. It means total number of questions in both the sections taken together will be 100 since CAT is divided in 2 sections vis. Quant & DI; Verbal & LR.

With the increase in number of questions, time to solve CAT 2014 is also proposed to be increased from 140 minutes to 170 minutes i.e. 85 minutes per section.

8. CAT 2014; test to offer facility of moving to & fro in 2 sections

According to the sources, a great facility of navigation between the 2 test sections in CAT 2014 is proposed to be provided to the aspirants by the test convening IIM Indore. Till CAT 2013 candidates could not go to 2nd section of Verbal prior to completion of 70 minutes allotted to solve the 1st section of Quant nor could they come back to 1st section once they had switched over to 2nd section.

In CAT 2014 aspirants would be allowed to move from one section to another (forward-backward) during the testing duration of 170 minutes without any restriction.

9. No advance tutorial in testing room

The 15 minutes advance tutorial on testing pattern which used to be available till CAT 2013, will be missing in CAT 2014.  All the CAT 2014 aspirants should practice the practice test available on CAT 2014 site, well in advance and before the testing day, to make them conversant with the testing pattern and type of questions, number of options and their answering pattern.

10. Early declaration of result

Although CAT 2014 is proposed to be held a month late on November 16 & 22, 2014 in contrast to CAT 2013 that began on October 16, 2013, the results for CAT 2014, however will be declared in the 3rd week of December 2014 a month earlier than the CAT 2013 results which were declared on January 14, 2014.

It appears that IIMs and testing partner TCS have planned to put CAT 2014 on a faster track in view of its earlier delayed process when Prometric was the testing partner of IIMs.

For Latest updates on CAT 2014 exam Registration, keep a check on the below link for LIVE Updates: CAT 2014 Exam Notification Details

CAT 2014 versus IIFT 2015, know the difference to prepare well

This article will provide you a detailed comparison between both CAT 2014 exam & IIFT 2015 exam in terms of exam pattern, test dates, test pattern, syllabus, Marking scheme, results, etc along with tips on how to prepare for both the exams simultaneously.

The buzz around MBA exams is on a high since the announcement of CAT 2014 exam.

While CAT 2014 exam is regarded as the most popular exam in terms of number of registration, and is accepted by the 13 IIMs and several Top B-schools; there is another important MBA entrance exam which scores high marks over other exams in terms of seat: registration ratio. This is IIFT 2015 exam for admission to IIFT Delhi and IIFT Kolkata campus only.

This article will provide you a detailed comparison between both CAT 2014 & IIFT 2015 in terms of exam pattern, test dates, test pattern, syllabus, Marking scheme, results, etc along with tips on how to prepare for both the exams simultaneously.

CAT 2014 exam has gone through various changes while IIFT 2015 exam will be on the same pattern as last year barring the change in the number of questions.

Key differences between CAT 2014 vs IIFT 2015

1. Mode of Exam: CAT 2014 exam is an online test while IIFT 2015 exam will be a paper pencil test.

2. Date of Exam:  CAT exam is scheduled to be held on only 2-days this time i.e. on Saturday, November 16, 2014 and Saturday, November 22, 2014.

Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), another highly ranked dream B school will conduct the entrance test for its most sought after 2 years MBA programme in International Business on Sunday, November 23, 2014, for the batch 2015-17.

3. Eligibility: To appear in CAT 2014 exam, every candidate must hold a bachelor’s degree with minimum 50% marks (45% in case of SC/ST/DA) from any recognized university or institution. Candidates appearing for final exam need to submit their proof of qualification before June 30, 2015.

To appear in IIFT 2015 entrance exam, the applicants must possess recognized Bachelor’s degree of minimum 3 years’ duration, although there is no requirement of minimum percentage of marks.  However in the second phase of admission round profile of a candidate like academic record, work experience, writing skills will play an important role to secure admission in IIFT. 

Candidates appearing for a qualifying examination can also apply subject to submission of proof of requisite qualification by the 7th October 2015.

4. Registration Process:  CAT 2014 has made significant changes in its registration process. Option of offline purchase of CAT voucher has been removed as all the registration will be made online. Also the candidates will now not have the option to choose their own test centre or city. The right to provide the test centre lies in the hands of authority while candidates will provide their top 3 city choices to choose from. The Registration window opens on August 6, 2014 and will close on September 30, 2014.

IIFT has given the facility of application both online as well as off line. However the last date of submission of completed application forms in either mode is September 3, 2014. The last date for obtaining application by post is August 20, 2014. Candidates should retain a photocopy of the completed form and Demand Draft for future reference.

5. Exam Pattern: As per the new changes in CAT 2014 exam, there will be 50 questions each in two sections of CAT exam while the total exam time has been increased to 170 minutes. The CAT 2014 exam Syllabus will remain same though. CAT 2014 exam consists of Quantitative Ability, Data Interpretation, Verbal Ability and Logical Reasoning.

There are no fixed number of questions in IIFT 2015 entrance test, their number may go anywhere in the range of 115 to 130. IIFT 2014 consists of multiple choice objective type questions covering English Comprehension, General Knowledge & Awareness, Logical Reasoning and Quantitative Analysis.

6. Paper Pattern: Unlike last year, CAT 2014 exam will allow candidates to switch from one section to another freely during the test. Thus you have the option to devote less or more time in a particular section as per your choice.

Also this year in CAT 2014 exam, there will be no tutorial before start of examination. Candidates are advised to check and practice the tutorial from the official CAT 2014 website prior to testing date.

IIFT 2015 exam is a conventional paper pencil mode test which will be of two hours duration. There are no fixed number of questions in IIFT 2015 entrance test, their number may go anywhere in the range of 115 to 130. The major difference between CAT & IIFT paper pattern is the presence of General awareness section in IFIT 2015 exam.

7. Marking System:  In IIFT exam, marking system may vary from question to question or from section to section in the range of 0.5 to 1 mark per question. Penalty of one third marks will be awarded for every wrong answer. The candidates therefore have to be careful to avoid this negative marking by choosing the answer options with well calculated thought process.

While in CAT exam, IIMs has not yet announced if there is any change in the marking scheme for CAT 2014 exam or not. As per the last year, 3 marks were given for every correct answer while there was a provision of deducting 1 mark for every incorrect answer.

8. Result date:  CAT 2014 exam results will be announced in the 3rd week of December 2014. CAT 2014 score will be valid till December 31, 2015.
IIFT 2015 exam results are expected to be announced in the month of December 2014.

Tips to Prepare well for CAT 2014 & IIFT 2015 Exams:

-  Except General Awareness, other sections are similar in CAT & IIFT exam. Hence, candidates are advised to spare time for GD section too during their CAT preparations to score well in IIFT 2015 exams.

- IIFT exam might have more question than CAT exam. With just two hours to solve aprrox. 135 questions, the choice of questions and speed plays a key role in cracking the exam. Thus, candidates are advised to focus on speed along with accuracy while preparing for IIFT 2015 exam.

- In IIFT exam, marking system may vary from question to question or from section to section. Hence, candidates must be careful and keep a check on the number of questions they have solved.

-Expert on Verbal Ability Prof S K Agarwal advises the CAT and IIFT aspirants to prepare simultaneously on such topics also that do not appear in CAT but make their presence in IIFT like Proverbs, Figures of speech, one word substitution. Besides regular preparation on topics of General Awareness is very important for IIFT entrance. Those who plan to appear in IIFT entrance should not forget this.

To know all about the changes in CAT 2014 exam, Click on our below updated stories:

CAT 2014 exam updates: 10 Big changes in this year CAT 2014 exam

Impact of changes in CAT 2014 Registration process; how to register for CAT 2014 exam

Normalization issue was not behind CAT 2014 changes: Dr. Rohit Kapoor, CAT 2014 Convener