CAT Online Exam Duration

Can you tell me about the duration of Common Admission Test (CAT)? Also provide me the paper pattern of Common Admission Test (CAT)?

[sumit]

The Common Admission Test (CAT) is a computer based test held in India. The test scores a candidate on the bases of Quantitative Ability (QA), Verbal Ability (VA) and Reading Comprehension (RC), Data Interpretation (DI) and Logical Reasoning (LR).

CAT is a computer based test which consists of 100 objective type questions.
There are 3 sections of the test are,
• Quantitative Ability (QA)
• Verbal and Reading Comprehension (VRC), and
• Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DI & LR).

The Quantitative Ability and Verbal& Reading Comprehension sections consist of 34 questions, whereas the Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning section caries 32 questions.

Along with the objective type questions, there are some non-MCQ questions in each section. One need to answer in the space provided to them.

The total duration of the test is 180 minutes or 3 hours. However, each section of the test has a time limit of 1 hour each. The test takers cannot switch between the sections and have to attend the test in a particular order.

The order of the sections is-

• VRC
• DI & LR, and
• QA

As per the marking scheme, each question carries 4 marks and there is negative marking of 1 mark for each wrong answer. There is no negative marking for the non-MCQ questions.

Four scaled scores will be presented for each candidate: an overall scaled score and three separate scaled scores for each section.

As the three sections evaluate distinct sets of knowledge and skills, scores do not correlate across sections. A high score in one section does not guarantee a high score in another section.

Percentile rankings are provided for each individual section as well as for the overall exam score.

The Common Admission Test (CAT), like virtually all large-scale exams, utilises multiple forms, or versions, of the test. Hence there are two types of scores involved: a raw score and a scaled score.

The raw score is calculated for each section based on the number of questions one answered correctly, incorrectly, or left unattempted. Candidates are given +3 points for each correct answer and -1 point for each incorrect answer. No points are given for questions that are not answered. The raw scores are then adjusted through a process called equating. Equated raw scores are then placed on a common scale or metric to ensure appropriate interpretation of the scores. This process is called scaling.