The QA section in CAT 2008 was the toughest section. Although the number of questions remained 25 as last year, the questions were a bit tougher. The questions were from topics like Numbers, Time, Speed and Distance, Ratio and Proportion, Quadratic Equations, Progressions, Functions, Permutation and Combination, Plane Geometry and Mensuration.

There were couple of questions from Data Sufficiency (5 Options-Standard) and logical reasoning. In comparison to last few years the weightage of Arithmetic has decreased while that for Geometry and Algebra has increased. The importance clearly seemed to be on thorough concepts and excellent ability in applying them. For an average student most questions would have seemed out of the normal world.

Questions those should have been attempted with preference
1. Erasing the integers written on a blackboard.
2. Rice selling shop
3. Sum of consecutive integers
4. The Data Sufficiency questions.
5. Permutation, Combination question on digit 0, 1, 2, 3 ..
6. Questions based on knock-out tournaments
7. Mid point of the square
8. Question on arithmetic progression
9. Horse race.

All the above 9 questions could have been attempted in less than 18 minutes and An attempt of 16 to 17 questions with 80 to 85% accuracy can be considered as a good effort and should be enough to clear the cutoff in IIMs.

DI/LR section had four Data Interpretation sets and three Logical Reasoning set, each set comprising 3 – 4 questions. Altogether there were 12 questions from Logical Reasoning and 13 questions from Data Interpretation area.

The LR questions were on Data Arrangement and Analytical Reasoning, while the questions in Data Interpretation were from Bar Chart, Scatter Diagram and Table.

Compared to the last year this year the section was comparatively easier and a good selection of questions would have led to the attempt of 12 – 14 question in around 40 minutes.

The cut-off is expected to be around 30.

Preference of attempts:
The question on finding the circumradius was confusing and should have been left alone.
The question on ‘five horses’ was a bit tricky as it involved three possibilities, and students might have missed out one or two.
The questions on basics of permutation, combination and counting principles were much easier compared to the rest and should be an all attempted with 100% accuracy.
There were less number of questions from Geometry compared to Algebra and Arithmetic.

EU/RC was the surprise package of CAT 08. Number of questions from this section was increased compared to other two sections. But all the surprise would have been removed as the student started answering questions and found that the questions were relatively easy to tackle.

There were 20 question were on RC and 20 questions on English Usage and Verbal Ability. The level of difficulty of English usage section was easy to medium and the passages with 700 to 900 words were not that difficult to comprehend. The RC questions were mix of direct and inferential in nature. In EU area the questions based on Fact, Inference and Judgment and Para Jumble were missing. Fill in the Blanks, variety of Sentence Correction questions; Vocab based usage were major component of EU section.

Overall the EU/RC was an easy section, with plenty of chances of maximizing one’s score. An attempt of 10 questions from RC (two passages) and 15 questions from EU with an accuracy of 85 to 90% would be considered as a good performance. The cutoff in this section would be around 45+.

RC Topics:
1. Philosophical: Art in the 20th Century Understanding the emergence of concepts in modern arts (650 words)
2. Historic: Analyzing the causes responsible for the collapse of the Mayan civilization (750 words)
3. Social: The changing concepts of morality (720 words)
4. Philosophical: Role of Language (630 words)