CAT 2011 – Paper Analysis

Overview

  • CAT 2011 witnessed 2 sections instead of 3 sections as in the earlier versions of CAT with designated time limits that are 70 minutes for 30 questions in each section.
  • Within the allotted time candidates can review the section but as they move on to the next section then they can’t go back to the previous section.
CAT 2011 paper analysis cat 2011 paper

Verbal Ability and Logical Reasoning

  • The level of the questions was moderate.
  • Verbal Ability covered entirely every topic of English usage.
  • Good knowledge of grammar and vocabulary would have helped students to achieve good score in this section.
  • Reading comprehension passages were manageable if a student has done lot of reading.
  • Generally passages were based on science, politics, philosophy and cultural topics.
  • Logical reasoning witnessed sets that were easily manageable as they were more or less logic based only.
cat 2011 VARC tablecat 2011 varc

Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation

  • There were 21 questions of QA and 9 questions of DI in both the slots.
  • The difficulty level was high and the questions were designed to test the grasp of fundamentals.
  • There were questions from regular topics like Number System, Algebra, Geometry, Modern Math and Geometry.
  • Questions in Data Interpretation area were also not simple and involved convoluted calculations.
  • All the questions in DI came in sets of 3.
cat 2011 DILR tablecat 2011 QADI

Verdict

Though the difficulty level of CAT 2011 was balanced in the later slots, initially the toughness quotient rested only on the quantitative ability & data interpretation section and the verbal ability & logical reasoning area seemed to be a cakewalk. This skewed distribution of the difficulty level once again seemed to prove CAT as a test meant for students from the engineering and science backgrounds.