Maharashtra CET, held on 11th March, 2012 did not come up with any surprises in terms of structure of the

paper of the styles of questions. In fact, most of the question types were similar to the types present in earlier years papers. Students who have seriously taken IMS tests - 12 Comprehensive tests and 10 SimCETs would have found it easier to tackle the questions. The Verbal Ability, Verbal Reasoning and Reading Comprehension questions were quite easy compared to last year, but the Maths part, mainly the Logical Reasoning area proved quite challenging this year. There were only 65 questions in the English area unlike past two years when the total number of questions in English area was in the range of 75 to 80. Questions on family tree, the regular ones in CET, were done away with in 2012 CET. This year being the last year of CET test, experimentation in terms of questioning style was kept at a minimum. CET 2012 as compared to CET 2011 and CET 2010 Overall Test Structure 2012 2011 2010 Total Duration of Exam 150 minutes 150 minutes 150 minutes Total number of Questions 200 200 200 Total marks 200 200 200 Marks per Question 1 mark 1 mark 1 mark Negative marking No No No Number of Sections Not Applicable Not Applicable Not Applicable Number of choices per question 5 5 5 Black Ball point Black Ball point Black Ball Mode of marking the ovals pen pen point pen Area wise Test Structure 2012 25 15 7 58 30 55 10 200 2011 22 20 5 48 25 48 32 200 2010 15 20 5 54 30 61 15 200 2009 15 25 10 53 30 52 15 200

Problem Solving Data Interpretation Data Sufficiency Logical Reasoning Visual Reasoning Verbal Ability and Verbal Reasoning Reading Comprehension Total

PROBLEM SOLVING and DS:

Sr. No. 1 2 3

Type of questions Probability Geometry (Circles, triangles, Quadrilateral) Arithmetic (TSD, number properties, work, partnership, SI-CI, ratios, percentages) Algebra( simple equations) Quantitative Comparison Data sufficiency

No. of questions 6 1 9

4 5 6

4 5 7

BODMAS and Approximation were missing which was typical feature of CET. Even the Arithmetic questions were a little challenging. Quantitative comparison again was slightly tricky and tasted basic concepts. There was a set of 6 questions on probability which surprised the students. DS questions reappeared this year and were of moderate level of difficulty. DATA INTERPRETATION Sr. No. 1 2 3 Type of questions Line Graph - 1 set Table -1 sets Pie Charts - 1 set No. of questions 5 5 5

Maximum questions involved simple calculations. LOGICAL REASONING Sr. No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Type of questions Linear Arrangement 4 sets Circular arrangement- 2 sets Sequential output Series completion (two series) Direction Conditional coding 1set No. of questions 18 11 7 5 2 5

There were in all 40 to 45 questions of Logical reasoning covering many areas, though questions based on family tree were missing this year. Overall difficulty was moderate to tough. Questions based on arrangements were lengthy, tricky and time consuming too. Compared to that, there was a set of 5 questions based on Venn diagram which could have been attempted easily. Questions based on Sequential output were also doable.

Topics like symbol based logic, alphanumeric series and selection criteria did not appear. Series completion questions were tough and should have been left for the end. Questions appeared in the set of 7 or 8 instead of set of 5. There were no single questions. VISUAL REASONING There were 30 questions in this section. They were from one of the three familiar types, viz., complete the sequence, figure analogy and replace the question mark with the appropriate figure. In terms of the difficulty, they were moderate to difficult, as well as time consuming.

VERBAL ABILITY & VERBAL REASONING

A detailed analysis of the types of questions is given below Types of Questions No. of Questions Odd One Out 2 Sentence Correction (highlighted) 5 Sentence Combination 5 Fill in the Blanks (2 paragraphs -5qs 10 each) Mark the Error 5 Critical Reasoning (short paragraph) 4 Critical Reasoning (set of sentences) 3 Syllogisms 6 Missing Sentences in a Paragraph 5 Jumbled Para(6 sentences) 5 Synonym or Antonym of a word 5

Odd One Out There were two questions, which were quite simple and could be solved easily. One had to identify the odd one in the group comprising: 1] basic, elementary, fundamental,essential, primary 2] justify, substantiate, rationalise, prove, simplify Sentence Correction This set of 5 questions was easy and dealt with basic grammatical errors like prepositional errors, tense errors, use of infinitives, confused words, etc. Sentence Combination

In this set there were 5 questions where two sentences were given followed by three probable starters. One had to select the appropriate starter that could combine the sentences in a correct manner. There were multiple combinations and that added to the intricacy. Fill in the Blanks (paragraph) Instead of one long paragraph with 10 blanks, this year there were two short paragraphs with 5 blanks each. The passages were easy to understand and the options were not too close. The elimination of options required grammatical, vocabulary as well as contextual knowledge. Mark the Error There were 5 questions in this set that were extremely easy. Most of the errors were with respect to incorrect spellings or incorrect usage of the word, for example, the word apparently was wrongly spelt as apparantly, coating used in place of quoting, feed up used in place of fed up, etc. Critical Reasoning (short paragraph) This set had the conventional critical reasoning questions, i.e., one short paragraph followed by one single question. The questions focused on strengthening/ weakening argument, inference, etc. There was one passage on which two questions were framed. These questions were easy because the passages were easy to understand and the correct option almost stood out; a must attempt among all the verbal reasoning questions. Critical Reasoning (set of sentences) This was a comparatively new construct that had appeared in CET 2011. A piece of information was given followed by five statements related to the same. Then there were three questions asking the test taker to identify the strengthening statement from the set of 5 sentences, the reason for the comment stated and a definite information that could be derived Compared to last year, this set was a cakewalk and hence a must attempt. Syllogisms The presentation of syllogisms this year alluded to CET 2011. There were two statements and two separate sets of conclusions derived from that set of statements. This was a bit tricky. Missing Sentence in a Paragraph This was a again a new construct. A paragraph was given with two sentences missing and one had to select the sentences from a choice of three sentences that could appropriately fill the blanks. This was again a tricky set because multiple combinations for the sequence of sentences were given. Jumbled Paragraph

Here a set of 6 sentences were given followed by 5 questions on which is the first, second, sentence. This is a common construct in CET though its was not included in CET 2011 paper. This was a moderately difficult set because finding the opening sentence was tricky and if one got a wrong arrangement, then one could get all the answers incorrect. Synonym or Antonym of a Word Though a word based set, the main challenge here was that there could be either synonym or antonym in the options. So one had to be very careful whicle eliminating the options. Topic of Passage An excerpt from the foreword of a book on a social issue Per capita labour productivity being low in Europe No. of questions 5 5

The RC section was easier this year only 2 passages with 5 questions each. The passages were easy to understand and the questions were based on the content of the passages and no word based questions. The only intricacy was that there were too many questions where one had to select the combination of options that could be correct and not just one option. But that would not be a hindrance if you had understood the passage. The second passage (Europe) was moderately difficult. Good attempts 160+ Good score for JBIMS in the range of 140 Good score in this test will be around 130+ for next TOP 3 colleges under CET.