NMAT 2017 - Analysis (7th Oct - 2pm Slot)

NMAT 2017 (2pm-4pm - 7th Oct) spun no real surprise as far as the difficulty level was concerned. The paper stuck to a predictable pattern question wise. There were three sections with no negative marking. A student had the choice of deciding the sequence of sections. There were no technical glitches and the experience was quite pleasant. The air conditioner not working at the Noida centre and the rules not permitting a handkerchief in the exam room made it slightly difficult, though.

Compared to day 1- slot 1, the Language Skills section was slightly easier while the Logical Reasoning section and the Quantitative Skills section continued to be easy.

A well-prepared candidate should have attempted 95-100 questions while guessing the remaining in the allotted time. Students aiming for a 99+ in CAT should have ideally been able to solve 105+ questions. Just like last year, the paper pattern varied for different candidates in the same slot. However, the difficulty level didn’t vary drastically. Anyone with poor reading speed would have faced a tough challenge due to the strict sectional time constraint. As always, solid strategy was the need of the hour.

Basis our experience, irrespective of the level of difficulty of the NMAT paper, the cut-off hovers around 207-209 marks due to normalization. This year should be no different. Suggested attempt strategy would be Logical Reasoning followed by Quantitative Skills followed by Language Skills.

The pattern of the paper was as follows:

S. no

Section

No. of Questions

Time (in Minutes)

Difficulty Level

Serious
Attempts

1

Language Skills

32

22

Easy-Moderate

24-26

2

Quantitative Skills

48

60

Moderate

35-40

3

Logical Reasoning

40

38

Easy

30-32

 

Total

120

120

Easy-Moderate

95+

Logical Reasoning

The Logical Reasoning section was easy.

The Analytical Reasoning questions were from predictable areas. The questions were either very easy or calculation intensive. Some questions didn’t have the exact answer as an option and you should have marked the best possible answer. The two LR sets were moderate and slightly time consuming. Students would have done well to work with options rather than solve the sets from scratch. The singlets were pretty easy. In a slight change from day 1, even the input and output questions were easy to solve if one worked with options.

There were 16 questions from the area of Verbal Logic. The six Critical Reasoning questions were of moderate-advance level of difficulty. One of these questions which was on strengthening the argument was pretty vague. In couple of the questions the options were very close and a student would have needed a thorough understanding of the concepts of Critical Reasoning to attempt these correctly. The two course of action questions were structured like decision making questions, which are common in XAT. These were mostly ethic based and the answers could be found by using one’s common sense. There were two syllogism based questions and these were very easy. The remaining questions in verbal logic ranged from easy to moderate level of difficulty.

Overall, as compared to last year, this section was easier. An attempt of 30-32 with 85% accuracy was achievable.

Topic

No. of Questions

Level of difficulty

Coding

3

Moderate- difficult

Blood Relation

2

Easy

Critical Reasoning

5

Moderate- difficult

Statement-Argument

2

Moderate

Statement Conclusion

3

Easy- moderate

Course of Action / Decision making

2

Easy- moderate

Statement-Assumption

1

Easy

Syllogism

2

Easy

Logical Reasoning(matrix)

8 (2 sets, 4 questions each)

Moderate-difficult

Input/output

4 (1 set)

Easy-moderate

Diagram Based (Find the missing number)

2

Easy

Mathematical Puzzles & Direction

2

Easy

Singlets (Contained Visual Reasoning and Set theory based diagram)

4

Easy-moderate

Total

40

Easy

Quantitative Skills

The Quantitative Skills section was of moderate level. Number System dominated the section. Arithmetic, too, made its presence felt. The Data Sufficiency questions were from diverse topics such as Numbers, Geometry, Algebra and Profit and Loss. There was also a set of 4 questions on functions and graphs. These questions were difficult as they were very lengthy. However, one could have solved these by just using the basic concepts. The questions from Modern Maths (P&C, Probability, and Set Theory) were very easy and anyone, even without any Maths background, could have solved these. The TSD questions were time consuming. The Time and Work questions were easy.

There were 4 DI sets which included pie-chart, combination graph, bar graph and a set comprising two tables. Two of these sets were calculation intensive. The remaining 2 were easy. A well prepared student would not have had much difficulty in going through this section. 35 – 40 proper attempts were certainly possible.

Topic

No. of Questions

Level of difficulty

Profit & Loss

1

Easy

Percentages

2

Easy-moderate

Ratio & Proportion

2

Easy-moderate

SI

1

Easy

Time, Speed & Distance

1

Easy-moderate

Work & Time

2

Easy-moderate

Number System

4

Moderate

Progression

2

Easy-moderate

Logarithm

1

Easy-moderate

Functions and graphs

4 questions ( 1 set)

Moderate-difficult

Polygon

1

Easy-moderate

Geometry

1

Easy-Moderate

Mensuration

2

Moderate

P & C / Probability

1

Easy-moderate

Data Sufficiency

5

Moderate-difficult

Set Theory

2

Easy-moderate

DI

16 (4 sets, 4 questions each)

Moderate

Total

48

Moderate

Language Skills

The Reading Comprehension passages made all the difference in this section. Unlike day 1 only 3 out of 8 questions were inference/idea based thus, the RCs were overall much easier than on day 1 and could have been solved in 8-9 minutes combined. The passages were from anthropology and sports. Some other candidates reported passages from different genres. In 1 of RC passage the options to all questions were tricky. The five vocabulary questions were of easy-moderate level of difficulty. The Fill in the blank, and Para Jumble questions were moderate to difficult. The options were, as usual, very close in the Para Jumble questions. The spot the error questions in Grammar covered mostly Tenses and Parallelism. There was 1 question which tested u on “ít’s”. There were the three usual FIB with prepositions questions. The Cloze test was based on Vocabulary and had very close options.

The pattern of this section remained on predictable lines. Overall, the section was of moderate level of difficulty keeping in mind the time constraint. An overall attempt of 26-28 with 80% accuracy is realistic. The other questions could have been educated guesswork.

Topic

No. of Questions

Level of difficulty

Reading Comprehension Passages

8 (2 passages of 4 questions each)

Easy-moderate

Para Jumble

4(3-4 sentence, 1 – 5 sentence)

Easy

Error Spotting

5

Easy-moderate

FIBs (Prepositions)

3 (1 blank each – 3 sentences)

Easy

FIBs (Vocabulary)

2 (2 blanks each)

Moderate

Synonyms

3

Easy

Antonym

2

Difficult

Analogy

1

Moderate

Cloze Test

4 (vocab based)

Difficult

Total

32

Moderate

The overall difficulty level of the paper was moderate and guess work would not have been needed for more than 20% of the paper. Option c did not seem to be the answer in most of the cases thus, marking all guesses as option b or d might have worked better.

TEAM CL