English tough for many of the IIM Aspirants

English tough for many of the IIM Aspirants

Chennai: As they walked under the overcast sky on Sunday after the nationwide common admission test for prestigious management institutes, students, cursed in the same breath: “English did us in.” More than the questions, it was the answers that gave them a hard time.”

After a year’s preparation, a tough verbal ability was hardly on their minds. Their disappointment could not be washed away even by the quantitative analysis paper that was a tad easier.

“QA and DI (data interpretation) were easy, but English did me in,: said Dileep, who works for a software firm here. His friend Deepthi, who attended the test, echoed his words.

Many complained that it was the choice of answers that confused them. “There were some questions that could have at least two answers based on how you infer it. I guess direct questions would have let me into one of the IIMs,” lamented Ramakrishnan, a private bank employee.

“I did not go for any coaching. All I had was a little over one month for preparation with which I did a reasonably good job,” said Sunil Mathew.

Sayed Fareed, a final year graduate student of Anna University was pleased with his performance.” I found all papers easy, especially QA and DI,” he said.

“We felt that DI was a shade tougher when compared to last year. But English was the most challenging,” said Vidyalakshmi, regional director, TIME. She added that there was no surprise in DI questions, as there was a slight tilt towards tougher reasoning test since last year.

Meanwhile this year’s fewer questions and longer duration were welcomed by the candidates and coaching experts alike.

All candidates whom Express spoke to said that they had the time to go through each question before zooming in on an answer, compared to the earlier “mad rush” to attend as many questions as possible.

“This time, CAT was not about speed but comprehension and knowledge in the subject. Most students could clearly go through the questions before attempting them,” said Vidyalakshmi.

For the first time, the admissions section of the IIMs decided to increase the time by 30 minutes, a move that was widely welcomed. However, the continuation of the same pattern is not confirmed yet.

In this edition of CAT, the total number of candidates went higher at 1.91 lakh, despite the IIMs raising the criteria to 50 per cent in graduation.

Last year 1.70 lakh aspirants had applied for the test. This year, nearly 9, 000 candidates applied from Chennai.

There were pamphlets, executives in blazers and even youth brigade in T- shirts bearing the logo of various management institutes on the premises of the exam centre promising a pay packet on par with the IIMs if they join their respective institutes.

English tough for many of the IIM Aspirants

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English tough for many IIM Aspirants |  Nationwide Common Admission Test CAT |  Quantitative Analysis |  Data Interpretation |