No changes in CAT 2017 paper pattern

PaGaLGuY managed to steal a few moments with the 2017 CAT Convenor, Prof Neeraj Dwivedi. The first point discussed was the much loved ‘difficulty level’ issue. He informed that while this year’s papers would have an equal difficulty level for all candidates.

Speaking further, Prof Dwivedi remarked that this year, the paper pattern will be unaffected and quite like the one in 2016. “We have decided not to make any changes,” he confirmed.

The 2017 CAT Convenor is, at the moment, terribly busy with the about-to-begin registration process (window being August 9 – September 20). “I have to make sure the registration process is carried out smoothly,” he added as a matter-of-fact.

Talking about slots, Prof Dwivedi said that the slots this time will be randomly allotted and that candidates will not be able to choose. PaGaLGuY guesses that this could be because the exam is on one day only and a slot preference could get skewed in favour of any one.

As for centres, the CAT Convenor 2017 said that candidates will be given the option to select 4 test cities in order of preference. CAT 2017 will be conducted in centres spread across approximately 140 cities (it was 136 cities in 2016).

Prof Dwivedi, added, “We have kept a higher capacity on the number of test cities, though it depends on the number of registrations.”

PaGaLGuY reminded Prod Dwivedi about an incident in 2016 when a candidate managed to sneak in a phone and posted pictures of the questions on Facebook, seeking help with the answers to those questions. To this, he replied, “We are still discussing precautionary measures. We will give it our full attention once the exam is near.”