Pros:
- On attempting the test, one feels that indeed the test was well-designed.
- The questions that are tough are not tough simply because of mindless calculations, but because of the conceptual knowledge required.
- The exam is designed such that memorisation, rote learning, endless hours of slogging and other such brute force methods do not yield results all by themselves. Conceptual understanding is a must.
- The exam is fairly standardised in format.
Cons:
- Absolute lack of transperancy. No one knows how much they scored. No one knows how the institutes interpret/use their scores. No one knows how much of the admission decision is dependant on the CAT score alone. Such lack of transperancy is not expected from a managment institute.
- Though many non-IIM institutes have started accepting CAT scores, the application fee of these institutes is still inexplicably high.
- The CAT is primarily an exam of Math and English. Logical and Analytical Reasoning is nearly absent (except for some verbal reasoning).
- Students who have not studied math at the graduation level stand little chance of scoring the bare-minimum marks required in the quantative section