Snapshot-Feb2010 MAT(Paper Pencil Test)

This Feb2010 MAT had 200 questions to be attempted in 150 minutes. These 200 questions were from five sections viz. Data Analysis and Sufficiency, Mathematical Skills, Language Comprehension, Indian and Global Environment, Intelligence and Critical Reasoning with exactly 40 questions in each. Each question carried 1 mark and one-fourth mark was deducted for every wrong answer.

Sectional Summary

(*) The marks obtained in the test area of “Indian and Global Environment “ is given separately in the score card and is not counted in the composite score. For evaluating the composite score, the total marks taken into consideration is 160 and NOT 200. Let us analyze the different types of questions from each of the test area along with the overall difficulty level of each of the test area.

Language Comprehension

This section had a mix of 20 questions from Reading Comprehension and 20 questions from Verbals. A good time allocation strategy would be to spend around 30-35 min. This section was on the usual lines except for a couple of surprises in the Verbal area. There were five passages, all on business/economic topics, with four questions each. The questions were of all types, i.e., central idea, inference, fact based. Although the passages were small(the biggest passage was of about 400 words and the smallest about 220 words), some questions were difficult to answer. The verbal area, too, had the usual 20 questions of five different types. The usual Grammar-best statement, Reasoning-PFQ, Vocab-fill in the blanks with two blanks were there. The other two types were a surprise: One – Verbal Reasoning type in which a small paragraph was given and the students were to identify the statement that “could not account for this situation accurately” from among the four given; two – Grammar question type in which a sentence was broken into four parts and the erroneous one was to be identified. Overall, RC was tough and the verbal part was doable. Overall, the test area can be classified as MODERATE. A net marks in the range of 9-10, in this section, will fetch more than 80 percentile.

Mathematical Skills

The paper predominantly had questions from the Arithmetic areas like (Percentages, Profit and Loss, Time and Work, Geometry, Time and Distance, Simple Interest, Compound Interest). The questions involved only the basics and those who would have done adequate practice would have found those questions quite easy. The success in this particular test area depended on one’s basic conceptual skills, and calculation skills. Overall, the test area can be classified as MODERATE-DIFFICULT. A net marks in the range of 9-10 will fetch more than 80 percentile, in this section.

Intelligence and Critical Reasoning

This test area is a mix of Analytical reasoning (31 questions) and Critical Reasoning (9 questions). A good time allocation strategy would be to spend around 30-35 min. The questions on Analytical Reasoning were easy in nature and a majority of the questions were doable. The typical set based questions(Distribution) were conspicuous by their absence. The questions on critical reasoning were vague and ambiguous. Overall this test area can be classified as EASY-MODERATE. A net marks in the range of 17-18, in this section, will fetch more than 80 percentile.

Data Analysis and Sufficiency

As shown in the table below, this test area comprises of DI and DS, with DI accounting for 25 out of 40 questions while DS and Data Comparison put together accounting for the remaining 15 questions. The questions based on Data Comparison were much easier as compared to any other type of questions in the section. Overall, this test area can be considered to be Moderate. A good time allocation strategy would be to spend around 35-40 min. Overall this test area can be classified as MODERATE. A net marks in the range of 12-14, in this section, will fetch more than 80 percentile.

Indian and Global Environment

The questions in this test area were, predominantly, from business, current affairs, Person and their associated fields. Overall this test area can be classified as Moderately Difficult. A good time allocation strategy would be to spend around 5-10 minutes for a good net score of 7 marks.

Overall Summary

The consolidated score is evaluated by taking only four areas into account. Indian and Global Environment is not the part of the consolidated score. Hence, the scoring is done out of a maximum possible score of 160 marks. The table below gives the expected percentile at different possible net marks.