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AIMCAT1420 Analysis
Your journey towards cracking CAT2013 begins with the AIMCAT1420. The path ahead would be filled
with many moments of exhiliration and probably some disappointment too. The key lies in using every
AIMCAT as an opportunity to learn and grow. Make many mistakes, it is your opportunity, experiment
with strategy, but do not repeat the mistakes.
We at T.I.M.E. would like to reiterate our promise of giving you the most challenging and enriching
learning experience one that would help you crack CAT2013 and get admission into the coveted
Indian Institutes of Management!!
So fasten your seat belts and enjoy this exhilarating roller coaster ride till October, 2013.
The first AIMCAT was very similar to the actual CAT from the last season in terms of the overall
difficulty level and the style in which the questions are framed. There were a fair number of easy and
moderate difficulty questions with the higher difficulty questions interspersed throughout. Overall the
QA section tended on tricky, DI on confusing, VA on difficult and LR on easy. Given the early stages
of preparation for most students, the overall scores would tend to be on the lower side. It would be
important to discuss a few ground rules regarding your preparation here. But before that lets look at
the sections in detail.
Section 1: Quantitative Aptitide and Data Interpretation
The first section of AIMCAT1420 can be rated to be somewhere between medium and difficult. It was
very much in line with the general level of the first section of the CAT2012 paper with a good
balance between concept oriented and application based questions. Though the cut off is bound to
be on the lower side, the key to crossing the cut off in this section was to read every question
thoroughly and identify those few questions that were amongst the simplest and then attempt them.
Only after those few simple questions were dealt with, should one have bothered to try their hand at
the other more complicated questions. Most of the concept oriented and direct questions were
pretty simple and should have definitely been attempted. Some of them were Q. Nos. 3, 10, 11, 12,
16, 26 and 29. The three sets on DI were of moderate difficulty and your ability to solve them would
depend on how attentive you have been in class and if you have solved the basic SM from the study
material. Most of the remaining questions were application oriented and on the difficult side.
On the whole, an average student could have managed a score of 18+ marks in this section. Any
score from 26 to 34 would be good, 35 to 50 very good and 50+, excellent.
Section 2 : Verbal Ability & Logical Reasoning
The Verbal Ability & Logical Reasoning section of AIMCAT1420 can be classified as moderate in terms
of difficulty. However for many students for whom this was the first real test the AIMCAT would
have seemed to be of a very high order of difficulty. This section was on the lines of what has been
seen in the CAT papers of recent years. There were three RC passages with a total of 10Qs; 3 Logic
puzzles with 9Qs and 11Qs from an assorted mix of Verbal Qs types.
This paper had a good mix of medium, difficult and few very difficult questions and the key to doing
well would be a judicious selection of Qs to attempt. The RC passage on America and Philosophy
looked daunting to read but the Qs that followed it were quite easy and could have been solved by
referencing key sentences in the passage. The RC passage on Natural & Social Sciences was easy
to read but had tricky and difficult inference based Qs in it. The third RC passage on Money Value
was a tad difficult to read but the Qs were straight-forward and could have been easily attempted.
The Logic puzzles on Buildings and the 3 day Cricket tournament were sitters and should have
helped in clearing the cut-offs in this section. The Verbal Qs on para-jumbles and para completion
were tricky and could have induced errors from many students.
An average student in Verbal Ability & Logical Reasoning could have managed a score of around 18-
20 marks and any score from 26 to 40 marks can be considered to be good. Any score from 41 to 56
would be very good and 56+, excellent.
When you look at the performance analysis on your homepage, you will also observe a tab for cut-
off(s) for the sections as well as overall. The cut-offs are decided by pegging the score against the
85 - 90 %ile mark. As you will observe, the cut-offs for the first few AIMCATs would be on the lower
side before they increase gradually as more students start writing the tests and the levels of
preparation improve.
At this stage, many students would have apprehensions regarding how to approach the paper, how
to perform better, how to direct their preparation etc. The following suggestions will help you in the
process -
1. Things to be kept in mind while writing a test
1. Solve the paper in iterations - Complete your first round solving only the easier questions. If
you think you can solve a question, but it may take time, leave it for the second round. You
can always come back. This way you make sure you have not missed out on the easier
questions which could have been placed at the end of the section and you do not overspend
time on the tougher questions. Depending on your comfort level you can target completing the
first round in anything from 40 to 60 min.
2. Order of questions doesn't really make a difference Still, your concentration tends to be
lower at the start of a section and it is advisable to not take up areas where one tends to
make mistakes (RC for some students). Similarly, one would better avoid taking up a DI/LR set
in the last couple of minutes lest one should not be able to mark answers despite having got
the logic right.
3. Avoid Guessing You need to be able to revisit your performance to get an exact idea on
your accuracy, level of proficiency on a topic etc. Blind guesses hurt. Also, they hardly ever
help.
4. Do not end the test before time Please do not end the paper before time. DI can always be
figured out given ample time. With LA, the more time you spend, the better your accuracy will
be.
2. Way forward for preparation
1. Identify your strong areas and work on increasing your attemps and accuracy. If LA is
your stronghold, you should go a little slow with the questions and think from every perspective
before marking an answer. If QA is your USP work on identifying areas/topics where you need
to do better. Also, high accuracy is a function of attention to detail A Language question
needs to thought through from every perspective. A Quant problem demands careful
understanding of every possibility and the fine definitons of terms (positive integers vs non-
negative integer type). Analyse your performance. Solve every question again after the test
window is over to look for shortcuts/methods.
2. Have a clear plan for the weak areas, discuss it with faculty, stick to it and seek
feedback. For QA, solve the study material. Seek help from the faculty if you face any issue.
Solve the online sectional tests Basic, Intermediate and Advanced levels. With LA, you need
a 4 pronged strategy 1. Start reading. Anything you like will do to begin with. 2. Prepare
notes on how to solve various question types in VA. 3. Practice as many questions in Grammar
as you can. 4. Spend time with the cue-cards. The DI and LR sections are more a function of
practice. Once you have put sufficient hours into them, both your attempts and accuracy will
improve. Now would be a great time to solve the Basic SMs end-to-end.
In the end, every AIMCAT is an opportunity for you to identify your strengths and areas of
improvement for the ultimate objective of acing CAT-2013. Make the most of them.
All the best!