Sunday, December 28, 2014

CAT 2014 Result Analysis | Score-Percentile Distribution

The CAT 2014 results were declared at 5pm yesterday even while thousands of students were unable to access their results well past 9pm. 
There were sixteen 100 percentilers this time versus eight in 2013. Neha Manglik, a student of BITS Pilani is the only girl in the list and the first girl since 2009 to secure a 100 percentile. Over 1000 students have scored above 200 (scaled score) while close to 10,000 students have scored above 150(scaled score). Around 1.68 Lakh of the 1.97 Lakh registered students took up the test conducted in November and the score-percentile distribution looks as shown below.

Back on Nov 16th, we were the only ones who predicted that one would need a score as high as at least 215 to be get a 99.90 and a safe score of at least 180+ to secure 99 percentile (Read our blog here). 215 turns out to be 99.70 percentile. While most other sources indicated our numbers were extremely high, actual results show that our estimates were in fact slightly conservative!


Click here for to prepare for CAT 2015 | XAT | NMAT | SNAP | CMAT | MHCET 

Thursday, December 25, 2014

XAT Exam Pattern - Past Year Papers

XAT is the arguably the second most sought after MBA exam after the CAT and one of the last few exams of the MBA Season (CMAT & MHCET the other ones). Many good B-schools accept XAT score with some of the top colleges listed below. We'll also have a look at the XAT exam pattern and its differences from other MBA exams. Click here to sign up for XAT Mock Tests & Decision Making Course.


Top Colleges Accepting XAT Score
XLRI, Jamshedpur
SP Jain IMR, Mumbai
IMT Ghaziabad
TAPMI, Manipal
XIM, Bhubhaneshwar
Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai
Prin. LN Welingkar IMDR, Mumbai
Loyola Institute of Business Administration, Chennai
GIM, Goa
XIME, Bangalore

XAT Paper Pattern:- 

XAT is a paper-based test typically conducted in one slot on the first Sunday of the year. 
Like other MBA exams, XAT has an aptitude section (Quant, Resoning & Verbal) but along with that it has a Decision Making section as well. This is unique to the XAT exam.
The objective of the Decision Making questions is to test the ability of a candidate to analyze a given situation, evaluate the various options available to him along with its consequences, and then pick the best or the most effective option.  A real or a hypothetical case is presented with a problem facing one of the stakeholders in the case along with five options, each option being a course of action that can be taken. The student has to understand the case, analyze the main problem and select an action that will solve the problem in the most effective manner. The best way to solve such questions is to eliminate options one by one. 


The other difference in the XAT exam (compared to CAT and others) is that it has a GK + Essay section but whose score is not used initially while shortlisting of candidates. The GK score is used only during subsequent rounds of elimination. The initial shortlist is made on the aptitude section alone. The Essay (one essay to be written) writing is present to test your writing skills. The aptitude section is timed separately and distinct additional time is available for the GK & Essay portions. 

XAT has historically varied the number of questions in the exam every year. Here's a look at how it has been for the last three years.
Scoring Pattern: +1 for correct and -0.25 for incorrect answers.


Number of Questions by section over the last three years. 



XAT 2014 XAT 2013 XAT 2012
Quant + DI 31 36 28
Verbal Ability 28 30 32
Decision Making 24 25 25
Total 83 91 85
GK 20 30 0


Click here for Mock Tests & Practice Tests for XAT | CAT | NMAT | SNAP | CMAT | MHCET 

Sunday, November 23, 2014

Group Discussion Tips & Approaches



What is Group Discussion?
Group Discussion is a modern, yet common method of candidate elimination conducted in MBA Admissions. It is typically conducted as a second round of elimination for candidates who cleared the written tests. Over here, a small group (typically 5-10 members) is created and a topic is given for discussion. The candidates in the group are then asked to discuss the topic and share their opinions. Read more below or Click here to prepare for CAT & other MBA exams.

Sunday, November 16, 2014

CAT 2014: First Day Analysis & Cut-Offs

The CAT exam began today all over the country and after five years of the 60 question format, this was the first time the IIMs had put out a two section, 100 question format.

While difficulty level is subjective, most students will find this paper much easier than any of the recent CAT exams.
Quant was Easy. Most students will find this one of the easiest Quant papers in the last 15 years.
DI was time consuming but definitely not difficult.
The only section that could be classified as difficult was the LR one which had 2 out of 4 sets which were difficult.
Expect cut-offs to be quite high, especially in Sec 1.

Outside of the difficulty level, there were no surprises as such but widely expected topics such as Data Sufficiency, Phrasal Verbs, Fill in the Blanks & FIJ were all missing. Please note that this is only sharing one of the first slot experience and is possibly not representative of students' within the in different slots. All students within the same slot got the same set of questions.

A detailed analysis of the exam is provided below followed by the experience a student will go through before & during the exam. To practice for other MBA exams, click here for XAT | NMAT | SNAP | CMAT | MHCET | CAT 



Expected Cut-Offs:- 
Cut-off ScorePercentile
215+99.9
176+99
139+95
121+90
96+80
Note; These are estimates only and it is recommended that you do not use it as targets. 

Section 1 Analysis:  Out of 50 questions, there were 34 questions on Quantitative ability and 16 on DI. Very similar to what was anticipated and given on the mock test of the IIM CAT. There were several sitters in the paper especially in Arithmetic and Numbers. DI had four sets with one on Tournaments. A serious candidate who spends 90 minutes here could have attempted 35+. 



Section 2 Analysis:  Out of 50 questions, there were 16 questions on RC across four passages with the passages of 450-550 words. And there is no highlighting feature. It is mentioned in the beginning of the exam itself that you will have RCs in four question blocks. Two of the RCs had only three questions together and the final question of each passage was isolated somewhere else in the paper. So do check for this before you believe you have completed your RC passage. There were very few specific detail questions and while many of them required a good understanding of the passages, they were easily doable. Logical Reasoning  had 16 questions across four sets. Surprising aspects was the low weight for pure Verbal ability topics such as Grammar, Fill in the Blanks and Vocab. CR had GMAT style questions on inferences and few on essence of short passages. There were 8 Parajumble questions with half of them being on sentence exclusion. 


Tuesday, November 11, 2014

NMAT Scheduling FAQs | Results

The results for the first window (tests taken up to October 22nd) were out this Sunday. The final shortlisting of candidates for Case discussion & Interview will only be done when the final results are announced on January 22nd 2015. The cut-offs will be around the 95%ile levels like in recent years and hence the cut-off score could vary depending on the distribution of scores at the end of the exam cycle on Dec 20th.
Click here to sign up for 10 NMAT Mock Tests.

NMAT FAQs- Find answers to a few commonly asked questions below.

Thursday, October 30, 2014

CMAT Sep 2014 Result Analysis & College Cut-Offs

The CMAT results were published today and the top score was 323 while the lowest score was -40. 43,212 students wrote the test which is a significant drop from the 60,000+ who registered in September last year. The result summary is shared below.
The disappointing news for CMAT test takers that came in last week was that JBIMS has decided not to use CMAT scores for admission this time around. Admission into JBIMS will use scores of only CAT & MH-CET. Click here to prepare for CMAT Feb 2015 | MHCET 2015





*The approximate cut-offs for a few colleges under CMAT is shared below. Please note that there are only rough guidelines and the actual cut-offs may vary and parameters for selection depend on various other factors as well. 

Click here to prepare for CMAT Feb 2015 | MHCET 2015 


College Name ~Percentile Cut-Off*
SIMSREE,  Mumbai 96
Goa Institute of Management,  Goa  94
Great lakes Institute of Management,  Chennai  94
K. J. SOMAIYA IMS&R,  Mumbai 94
Prin. L. N. Welingkar IMD&R,  Mumbai 94
XIME,  Bangalore 92
XISS,  Ranchi 92
IMT,  Nagpur 92
SIES College of Management Studies,  Navi Mumbai 92
IILM-GSM,  Greater Noida   92
N. L. Dalmia IMS&R,  Mumbai 90
PUMBA Department Of Management Sciences,  Pune  90
Prestige Institute of Management,  Indore  90
ITM,  Mumbai 90
Accurate Institute of Management & Technology , Greater Noida  90
MIT School of Business,  Pune   90
St. Xaviers College ,  88
IFIM Business School,  Bangalore  88
IFMR,  Chennai 88
Amrita School of Business,  Coimbatore   86
Gaur Hari Singhania Institute of Management & Research,  Kanpur   86
Alliance School of Business, Bangalore  86
Indus Business Academy, Bangalore  86
Institute of Health Management Research, Bangalore  86
Jaipuria Institute of Management,  Lucknow  86
MIT School of Business,  Pune  86
Sinhgad Institute,  Pune  86
MET Institute of Management,  Mumbai 86
IES Academy,  Mumbai 86
Kirloskar Institute of Advanced Management Studies ,  Harihar & Pune  86
PSG Institute of Management,  Coimbatore  86
ISB&M,  Pune 86
Indus Business Academy,  Bangalore  86
Vivekanand Education Society's Institute of Management Studies and Research ,  86
JRE Group of Institutions,  Greater Noida  86
Acharya Institute of management & Sciences,  Bangalore  86
Jaipuria Institute of Management Studies,  Lucknow   86
Jaipuria Institute of Management Studies,  Noida   86
DoMS,  Durgapur 86
Chetna,  Mumbai 86
Jaipuria Institute of Management,  Ghaziabad  86
Balaji Institute of Management,  Pune 84
LLIM,  Mumbai 84
Acharya Business School,  Bangalore 84
ASM's Institute of International Business & Research,  Pune  84
Indira Global Business School ,  Pune  84
Jaipuria Institute of Management Studies,  Jaipur   84
IIF,  Noida  84
IMT,  Hyderabad 84
Asia Pacific Institute of Management,  New Delhi  84
Medi-Caps Institute of Techno-Management , Indore  82
Indira Institute of Management,  Pune  82
Christ College,  Bangalore 82
Amity University,  Noida 82
MET,  Mumbai 82
ISB&M,  Kolkata 82
BIMTECH,  Greater Noida 80
Nirma Institute of Management,  80
Acropolis Faculty of Management & Research,  Indore  80
Dr. D. Y. Patil Institute of Management ,  Pune  80
Indira School Of Business Studies ,  Pune  80
Jaipuria Insitute of Management,  Indore  80
NIILM,  Greater Noida 80
New Delhi Institute of Management,  80
Birla Institute of Technology,  Mesra  80
Doon Business School,  Dehradun  80
LBSIM,  Bareilly  80
Apeejay School of Management,  Delhi  78
Jaypee Business School,  Noida  76
AICAR Business School,  Karjat  76
Amrut Mody School of Business,  Ahmedabad 76
MITSOB,  Pune  76
Delhi School of Business,  New Delhi   76
ISBR,  Bangalore 76
Sharda University,  Greater Noida 74
Institute Of Management Studies,  Ghaziabad 72
Prin. L. N. Welingkar IMD&R,  Bangalore 72
ITM University ,  70
IMI,  Bhubaneswar 68
Ramaiah Institute of Management Studies,  Bangalore   68
SDMIMD,  Mysore 68
Vignana Jyothi Institute of Management,  Hyderabad 64
JIMS,  Delhi 62
SCMS,  Cochin 60
Thiagarajar School of Management,  Madurai 58
Regional College of Management,  Bhubaneshwar 56
VJIM,  Hyderabad 56
BULMIM,  New Delhi 54
Hyderabad Business School,  Hyderabad 54
KIAMS,   Harihar 52