simcat-12 2015-experts take final

7/24/2019 SimCAT-12 2015-Experts Take FINAL

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SimCAT 12 Experts Take

SimCAT12:TheExpertsTake

TESTOVERVIEW

Section Cutoff

VA 38

DILR 50

QA 34

Overall 157

Following is the snapshot of marks required to fetch different percentiles in each of the three

sections

as

well

as

overall

percentile

in

SimCAT

12.

Percentile Score Quant Score Verbal Score DI-LR Overall Score

99% 60 63 77 176

95% 49 52 67 144

90% 41 43 58 125

80% 31 35 46 98

70%

25

30 38 90

WenoticedthatseveralstudentsattemptedtheSimCATfromhomeandtooksignificantlylonger

than 3hours to complete the test. Such students naturally got an advantageoverthe genuine

studentsandasaresultperformedmuchbetter.Allsuchstudentshavebeentakenoutofthe

percentilescalculation. Itwasdisappointingto notethat severalstudents were involved inthis

malpractice eventhoughwehadurged thestudents earliernottodoanything thatwouldnot

helptheminpreparingmeaningfullyfortheCAT.

TheoverallcutoffinSimCAT12ishigherthanthecutoffinSimCAT11,mainlyduetothehigher

cutoffintheDILRsection.

The DILR section of SimCAT12 was only slightly easier than the DILR section of SimCAT11.

Moreoverafewsets(set1Q.1to4,set6 Q.21to24andset7 Q.25to28)involvedafewtwists.

Yetthecutoffwassubstantiallyhigher.Ananalysisoftheperformanceofstudentshasrevealed

asomewhatsurprisingphenomenon.Weperformedtheanalysisoftherelativeperformancesof

allstudentsandalsothetop10percentilersonallthequestions.Theobservationsarepresented

inthefollowingtable:


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QAsection

We arehappyto note that studentswere able to get some reallytricky questionscorrect. For

example,Q.8(questiononescalators)wascorrectlyansweredby81%ofallstudentsand96%of

top10percentilers.SimilarlyQ.15(questiononlogarithms)wascorrectlyansweredby69%ofall

studentsand95% of top 10 percentilers. Similarly Q.23 (question on probability) was correctly

answered by 52% of all students and 85% of top 10 percentilers. We are happy to note that

students in general have been able to correctly answer the questions on areas generally

perceivedtobedifficult.

Q. 5: This question was easy but surprisingly it was correctly answered by only 8.6% of all

studentsand17.9%oftop10percentilers. Ifthe sofa issoldat85%of the labelledprice (ora

discountof15%isoffered),aprofitof13.33%isearned.Onceyoufigureoutthatifthediscount

isnotoffered,thesellingpricewillbeRs.20,000.Further,ifthediscountisnotoffered,theprofit

willbenecessarilygreaterthan15+13.33orgreaterthan28.33%.Nowthereareonlytwooptions

greater

than

28.33%

i.e.

30%

and

33.33%.

Using

these

two

options,

you

can

figure

out

that

33.33%isthecorrectanswer.

Q.6: If you could answer the question using the principles of geometry, thats great. Even

otherwise this questioncouldhavebeenanswered.Length PD is necessarily lessthandiagonal

BD.LengthofdiagonalBD=16 64 80 8.94.Further,lengthBDisnecessarilylessthanlength BM (the radius of the circle), which is equal to 2 cm. Therefore 8.94 2 or 6.94. Therefore,6.94 8.94.Nowletsevaluateoptions.

Option1:55 11.18.Optioneliminated.

Option2:35 6.71.Optioneliminated.

Option3:

8.05.Thisispossible.

Option4:

4.03.Optioneliminated.

Thusyoucanseethattheanswerisoption[3]

Q.17: Thisquestioncanalsobesolvedusingoptionelimination. Inordertoeliminateoptions,

youshouldbeabletoseethat40 6.3and15 3.9.Puttingthesevalues, 4.44 2.1and 7.9 2.8.Therefore 4.9.Similarly,approximatesquareroots intheoptions

andsee

which

option

gives

the

answer

equal

to

4.9.

You

will

see

that

it

is

option

[1].

DataInterpretationandLogicalReasoningSection

MostlyDILRsetsinSimCAT12werestraightforward.Howeverthereweresometrickysetsas

well(set1Q.1to4,set6 Q.21to24andset7 Q.25to28).Percentattemptsandaccuracyon

thesesetswaslowerthanonothersets.


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Atthispoint,wewould liketorecalltheSimCAT14fromthe2014season. Itwasarathereasy

SimCATandthereforeitscutoffwasveryhigh.AfterhavingobservedaratherdifficultCAT2013,

studentswereperhapsexpectingarepeatofthetoughCAT2013aswellfor2014andasaresult

there was significant consternation among students about the high cutoffs of SimCAT14.

However

some

important

changes

were

implemented

in

CAT

2014

as

opposed

to

CAT

2013.

TherewerenosectionwisetimelimitsinCAT2014.Furthermore,averagetimeperquestionwas

moreinCAT2013ascomparedtoCAT2014.WemadeSimCAT14asperourexpectationofwhat

CAT2014 would eventually be and it turned out that SimCAT14 was the closest to the actual

CAT2014test.

OfcoursenobodycanpredicttheexactnatureoftheCATexamination.Allwecandoistoexpose

youtoDILRsetsatdifferentlevelsofdifficulty.RememberthatinoneoftheearlierSimCATs,the

DILRcutoffwasaslowat19. Moreover,afterhavingtakensomanySimCATs,studentsshould

bebetter

prepared

to

tackle

the

types

of

sets

that

they

have

encountered

in

SimCAT

12.

If

the

same types of sets had appeared in the earlier SimCATs, it is most likely that the majority of

studentswouldhavefoundthemtobeonthemoredifficultside.

Learning2:Makejudicioususeofoptionelimination

Aspointedout inthediscussionofQAsection,somequestionscouldhavebeensolvedquickly

usingoptionelimination.Wheneveryouseeanyquestion,trytosee ifyoucangettheanswer

fasterbyeliminatingwrongoptions.Rememberthatattimes,eliminationofoptionswillhelpyou

getanswerstoreallydifficultquestionsquickly.

Learning3:

Attempt

all

TITA

questions

AlthoughwearepleasedtoobservethatattemptsonTITAquestionshavegoneupsignificantlyto

wellover80%intheVerbalAbilitysection,wewouldliketoseeastillhigherpercentagenumber

inthenextSimCAT.ThisisaAllWinNoLosetypeofquestionandwearestillunsureastowhy

thepercentageattemptforthesequestionshasnotreachedcloseto100percent.

Learning4:Makenoteofsubtlechangesinmeanings

In the VA section, most close incorrect options will differ from the correct answer option only

very slightly. Read the answer options at a speed that will enable you to comprehend and

understandthem

well

along

their

subtle

changes

in

meanings.

If

necessary,

cut

down

on

your

reading speed while reading the options but make sure you understand the meanings in the

optionsclearlyandwithoutanyambiguity.

SimCAT12isover.Whatnext?

Now the actual CAT is about one month away. This is a very important phase in your CAT

preparation.Inarace,thelastmileisinevitablythemostexhausting.Thosewhocansurvivethe


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gruellinglastmilewillultimatelywin.Makesurethatyoumaintainapositiveattitudethroughout

the remaining month. At times the task in front of you might appear really daunting and

overwhelming.Butdonotgiveup.Rememberthatyoucanonlywinifyoutrustinyourabilityto

doso.

Allthe

Best

for

SimCAT

13!

simcat-12 2015-experts take final

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