MAT (December) 2009 Analysis

The  MAT  exam  conducted  on  6th  December 2009  had  200  questions  to  be  attempted  in  150 minutes.  These  200  questions  were  from  five  test  areas with  exactly  40  questions  in  each. However, the paper  did not have any sections.  Each of  the test areas was divided  into  two or three parts and these parts were positioned  at different  places  in the paper. Negative  marks  for each question  were to the extent of  1/4 of  the maximum  marks for each question. A brief  snapshot of the various sections is presented below:

READING COMPREHENSION AND ENGLISH USAGE

The section  had a good mix of Reading Comprehension and Verbal  Ability. In the RC portion, there were five passages with four questions each. Many “best-title” and “best  caption” questions appeared this time. In the Verbal Ability part,  there were five different types of questions with four questions  each. Some of  the questions in Verbal  tested vocabulary while others tested knowledge of the finer differences between formal and informal language. The section comprised of:

The Difficulty  level  of  this  section  was on the easy to moderate side.  Most  questions  in this  section were easy and attemptable.  In all, a good attempt would have been 24-28  questions  in 25 minutes with possible correct attempts of  23+.

QUANTITATIVE APTITUDE

Similar to last  year, Arithmetic  was the most favoured area this  time  too. Almost  all the questions in  this  section  were  solvable  in  comparatively less time and were direct questions based on concepts and requiring no application. The success  in this  particular  test area depended on your basic  conceptual  skills, and  calculation  skills along  with good  practice  of  the regular  topics.  The section comprised of: A good time  allocation  for this  section  should  have been 40 minutes  and one could attempt around 29-32 questions with a possible correct attempts of  27+.

DATA ANALYSIS

The section  comprised  of  Data Interpretation,  Data Sufficiency and Data Comparison.  The pure DI sets were either  lengthy  or difficult to interpret.  This time  all the 7 DI sets  were combination  graph types & hence  difficult to solve.  Another  surprise  was a case-let,  asked for the first  time  in last  3 years.  The easy  part  was 6 questions  from DS  and 6 question  on Quantitative  comparison.  The section comprised of:

A good time  allocation  for this  section  should  have been 35 minutes  and one could attempt around 26-30 questions with a possible correct attempts of  25+.

REASONING

This test area was a mix of Analytical reasoning  (27  questions) and Critical reasoning (13 questions). The questions in Analytical Reasoning were from Blood relations, Venn  diagram, Series both number and letter, Verbal analogies, Seating Arrangement and coding decoding most of  them were of  moderate difficulty level.  The questions on Critical Reasoning  were from Statements  and Assumptions, Assertion and Reasons, Decision making, Input and Output and most of them were of moderate difficulty level.  Questions based on 'Decision  making” appeared after a long  time.  There was a trap laid in the questions based on 'Input-Output”. Overall this test area can be classified as moderate. A  good time  allocation  for  this  section  should  have been 35 minutes  and one could attempt around 25-28 questions with a possible correct attempts of  24+.

INDIAN AND GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT

There  were 40 questions  based  on Current affairs  & some fact based questions.  The main  areas were automobiles,  international  events &  organizations  in the  news,  heads  of  the international organizations,  Punch lines  & Brands of  the companies  etc. In general,  a good time  allocation  for this section  should  have been 10 minutes and  one  could attempt around 23-25 questions  with a possible correct attempts of 21+.

SECTIONAL SCORES AND OVERALL CUT-OFFS

The overall  level  of  the paper  was difficult this  time  and with no clear  demarcation  among sections the expected scores and cut-offs are expected to go lower this  time. Below is present the summary of the above analysis.

Since   MAT  is  silent   on the  marking   scheme   but  looking at  the  past  trends   of   scores a rough prediction of scores of  good colleges participating is given below:

All the Best, Team MBAGuru

Disclaimer:  The  above  cutoffs  are  only  suggestive  in  nature  and  may differ  from  the  actual cutoffs. Roots Education  cannot be held  responsible  for any decision  taken by the candidate  on the basis of the above information.

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