Ahmedabad: The Common Admission Test (CAT) 2021 which will be conducted on November 28 will have fewer questions this time. The CAT format was changed last year because of the COVID-19. After the adjustment of the format, many candidates had grumbled about the absence of time to finish the test.
Considering the grievances of the exam organising institute, IIM Ahmedabad has decided to decrease the number of questions asked in the B-school entrance test.
Last year, the duration of CAT was reduced from three to two hours and the sectional time duration of CAT was reduced to 40 minutes from 60 minutes.
“Last year’s CAT format changes were necessitated due to Covid-19 pandemic. Since we are seeing the same pandemic issue this year, the CAT 2021 exam format and pattern will remain the same. However, considering that there could have been time pressure to complete the CAT exam last year on account of changes made, for CAT 2021 the CAT Committee is making an attempt in reducing the number of questions across all three sections – QA, DILR and VARC”
The format of the test will, however, remain the same as last year. It will contain questions from three sections — verbal ability and reading comprehension (VARC), quantitative ability (QA), and data interpretation and logical reasoning (DILR). To reduce the pressure to complete the exam on time, the authorities will be decreasing the number of questions this year.
Further, the committee will release mock tests and tutorials on the last week of October to familiarise students with the format of the exam. It will be available on the official website of CAT — iimcat.ac.in.
CAT 2021 will be a two-hour exam divided into three shifts. Candidates will be given 40 minutes for each section, that is, VARC, QA and DILR, while PwD candidates will get 13 minutes and 20 seconds extra for each section. Usually,
Approximately 2.31 lakh candidates have registered for the MBA entrance this year. It is scheduled to be conducted at over 400 Test Centres, spread across 159 cities.
The exam will be held in a computer-based test (CBT) mode. For every correct answer, the candidate will get three marks, while for every wrong answer, candidates will lose one mark for each incorrect answer. This year, IIM Ahmedabad is the exam conducting body.
