MICAT Exam Analysis 2024

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Updated on
January 27, 2024

MICAT II Exam Analysis 2024: Exam Over on January 27, 2024; Students Face Time Crunch; Moderate Difficulty Exam; Check Key Changes, Cut Offs

MICAT II exam was conducted on January 27, 2024 in a single slot of 2 hours 15 minutes duration from 9.00 AM to 11.15 AM as a computer-based test. There was no change in the exam pattern, the candidates struggled for time in Psychometric Test. The Section-C score remains the turning point to get GE-PI call. It is expected that a score of around 26-27 marks in Section C may get you a GE PI call from MICA.

 

MICAT II Exam Analysis: Key Highlights
MICAT II was not much different from MICAT 1 and was of moderate difficulty level. Like in MICAT 1, the candidates struggled for time in MICAT II. Shared below are the key highlights of MICAT II exam:

  • MICAT II Exam Duration: 2 Hrs 15 Minutes
  • Number of Sections in MICAT II: 3 (A, B, C)
  • 4 Sub Sections Under Section C: Check Exam Pattern Below
  • Navigation between sections not allowed
  • Section C carried 1 mark per question. 0.25 for each incorrect response.
  • No Negative Marks for the Psychometric Test and the Descriptive Test
  • Exam Difficulty Level: Moderate
  • Cut off for Section C: 26-27 Marks

Psychometric Test is Qualifier
The Psychometric Test is compulsory and the performance in the psychometric test is used as a qualifying criterion for the next stage. Candidates must attempt all the questions in the Psychometric Test to ensure that their paper is evaluated. 

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MICAT II Exam Pattern
MICA admission test, MICAT II remained a multidimensional computer based examination, which is focused to assess candidates in areas such as Divergent Thinking Abilities, Written Communication Abilities, General Awareness about contemporary social and business issues, including areas relevant to media, marketing, advertising & current affairs and Analytical & Verbal Abilities. MICAT-II consisted of same test sections. Following three sections are there in MICAT exam:

Sections in MICAT-I & MICAT-II
Name of Sections
Sectional Time Duration
Section A:
Psychometric Test
30 Minutes
Section B: 
Aptitude Test with 4 Sub Sections:
1) Verbal ability;
2) Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation;
3) General Awareness; 4)Divergent and Convergent Thinking
1 hours 20 Minutes
Section C:
Descriptive Test
25 Minutes

Section Wise Questions, Marking pattern, Important Instructions
The 3 broad sections effectively made the MICAT an exam with 6 sections as follows:

 

Section A: Psychometric Test 

  • Total Time allotted to this section is 30 minutes
  • Around 150 questions to be attempted in 30 minutes
  • The questions to be quickly answered
  • No Negative Marking for the questions in this section
  • There is no right or wrong answer for the questions in this section
  • It is important to answer all questions in the Psychometric section
  • Any un-attempted question will be allotted ZERO mark
  • You Cannot go back to any other section or move ahead to any other section from Psychometric test until the end of 30 Minutes

Section B: Descriptive Test

  • Total time allotted to attempt this section was 25 minutes
  • All the questions were of descriptive type
  • Total Questions were 4
  • You needed to type short answers in the given space
  • Type of question: Give 5 arguments in support of the Statement – Environment is more important than Development
  • Write your views on the topic above
  • You may be required to answer a bit longer answers of appx 100/200 words also
  • Write a story based on pictures and images
  • No negative marking is done for the questions in this section
  • Answers to the Descriptive section should be typed in the space provided
    You Cannot go back or move ahead from the Descriptive section until the end of 30 Minutes allotted for this section

Section C: Aptitude Test with 4 Sub sections on Verbal ability; Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation; General Awareness; Divergent and Convergent Thinking

  • Total time allotted to this section is 1 hour and 20 minutes
  • Each correct answer will be awarded +1 Mark
  • All questions are of MCQ type
  • Total number of Questions expected in this section are 100
  • Maximum Marks for the section are 100
  • Verbal Ability has 25 questions
  • Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation has 25 questions
  • General Awareness has 25 questions
  • Divergent and Convergent Reasoning (Thinking) has 25 questions
  • Questions in this section carry negative marking of 0.25 mark for each wrong answer.
    Any un-attempted question will be allotted ZERO mark.
    You Can navigate across sub-sections – 1; 2; 3;4 in the Aptitude test during the allotted time of 1 hour and 20 minutes
  • You cannot move to any other section like Psychometric Test or Descriptive Test from Aptitude Test till the allotted time of 1 hour 20 minutes is over for Aptitude section

MICAT 1 Analysis: Exam Over on December 2, 2023
Out of the two MICAT exams, MICAT-1 has got over on December 2, 2023 and MICAT-II is scheduled on January 27, 2024. While there was no change in the exam pattern, the candidates gasped for time in Psychometric Test. The Section-C score remains the turning point to get GE-PI call. It is expected that a score of around 25 marks in Section C may get you a GE PI call from MICA. 

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MICA Ahmedabad conducts its own admission test MICAT for the candidates who apply to MICA for admission to PGDM or PGDM-C programme on the basis of CAT/XAT/GMAT scores. The PGDM-C is the flagship programme of MICA, Ahmedabad. The two-year, full-time, residential programme is AICTE approved and is deemed equivalent to an MBA by the Association of Indian Universities (AIU). While MICAT-I is over, MICAT-II is scheduled on January 27, 2024. Check below the MICAT-1 Analysis from IMS experts with:

  • MICAT-1 Exam Pattern
  • MICAT-1 Difficulty Level as Compared to Previous Year
  • Overall Analysis
  • Sectional Analysis
  • MICAT-1 Expected Cut off for MICA Admission 2024

MICAT-1 Analysis from IMS Learning

MICAT (MICA Admission Test) is the ONLINE entrance exam for PGDM-C/PGDM from MICA, Ahmedabad. Generally, MICAT is held twice for admission to the batch in the ensuing year. MICAT-I is held in December and MICAT-II in January for the batch commencing a few months later in June/July. MICAT I 2023 for 2024-2026 batch was held on December 02, 2023, from 9 AM to 11:15 AM.

 

Test Structure and the IMS estimate of good attempts:

Section
Name
No. Of Questions
Time allocated
Good Attempts
A
Psychometric Test
150
30 minutes
ALL
B
Descriptive Test
4
25 minutes
ALL
C
i. Divergent and Convergent Thinking
20
80 minutes
Dec-13
ii. Verbal Ability
20
11-Dec
iii. Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation
20
09-Oct
iv. General Awareness
10
05-Jun
  • Navigation between sections not allowed
  • Section C carried 1 mark per question. 0.25 for each incorrect response.
  • No Negative Marks for the Psychometric Test and the Descriptive Test
  • Psychometric Test is compulsory and the performance in the psychometric test is used as a qualifying criterion for the next stage. Candidates must attempt all the questions

in the Psychometric Test to ensure that their paper is evaluated. However, the marks or the assessment criteria of the test are not revealed to the candidates.

 

VERDICT

Students who have ‘cleared’ the Psychometric Test and secured an overall score of 25 in Sections C (i) to C (iv) can expect a call for the GE-PI round (subject to their fulfilling the other criteria specified at : https://www.mica.ac.in/postgraduate-programme/selection-processand- timelines

 

ANALYSIS BY SECTION

 

Section - A

PSYCHOMETRIC TEST: There were 150 questions in this section.

Apparently, there are no correct or incorrect responses in a psychometric test. Around 37 questions presented a situation/course of action and the test-taker had to mark either True or False. Around 113 questions were about a particular personality trait or a course of action. which required the candidates to respond with one of the following 8 options.

  • Totally Disagree
  • Strongly Disagree
  • Disagree
  • Somewhat Disagree
  • Somewhat Agree
  • Agree
  • Strongly Agree
  • Totally Agree

Given that 150 questions were to be attempted in 30 minutes, it was necessary to work fast and mark the answer quickly.

 

Section - B

 

DESCRIPTIVE TEST

This section tested the analytical and descriptive writing ability and creative skills of testtakers. The first three questions were related to each other. The topic for the first three questions was “If social media gets really social”. For the first two questions, students had to write three points each, ‘for’ and ‘against’ the topic. These two questions carried 10 marks each. In the third question, students had to write 300 words answer to ‘how a young manager can employ the social ability of social media to create an egalitarian work culture in their organization’ The instructions stated that the points for the third question should not include the points stated in the first two questions. 20 marks were allocated to this question.

 

The fourth question in this section consisted of four pictures. Students had to write down a story using these images in any order (A-B-C-D or D-C-B-A or any such combination). The order was to be mentioned before the story. The pictures were related to: ‘A red square, A roadside barber, A monument, A chariot without a horse’. This question carried 30 marks. This section was to be attempted in 25 minutes and carried no negative marking.

 

Section C

 

APTITUDE TEST
The aptitude test had 4 sub-sections with a total of 70 questions. These 70 questions had to be solved within 80 minutes. The test this year had a mix of questions with 8, 6, 5 and 4 options. This was a change from the previous year Out of 70 questions, about 30 had 8 options.

 

(i) Sub-section: DIVERGENT AND CONVERGENT THINKING

The Reasoning section comprised 20 questions including word-association, analogies, statement-assumption, data sufficiency, puzzle, numerical series-odd one out, Circular arrangement and visual reasoning questions.

Topic
No. of Qs.
Overall Difficulty Level
Verbal reasoning
Word Association
2
Medium
Syllogism
1
Medium
Collective Noun
1
Medium
Non-verbal reasoning
Visual Reasoning - 3 (analogy, sequence completion, paper folding)
16 (8 questions with 4 options + 8 questions with 8 options)
Medium
Data Sufficiency - 1
Puzzles – 12 Arrangement (Linear - 2, Circular - 1), Symbol based Family Tree - 2, Directions - 2 (based on Pythagorean triplet), Coding - 2, Number analogy - 1, Alphanumeric Sequence - 1, Odd One Out - Series - 1

In this section, 12-13 questions (in about 25 minutes with 90 % accuracy) would be considered a good attempt.

 

(ii) Sub-section: VERBAL ABILITY

This section consisted of jumbled paragraphs, word pairs, paragraph completion(cloze), fill in the blanks, and two Reading Comprehension passages.

Topic
No. of Qs.
Overall Level of difficulty.
Reading Comprehension - Passage 1 (Technology and lack of boundaries - 200 words)
2
Medium
Reading Comprehension - Passage 2 (Commercial traffic in the Indian Ocean - 250 words)
4
Medium
ill in the blanks [3 Cloze, 1 4*4 grid]
4
Easy
Critical Reasoning - Inference
1
Medium
Jumbled Paragraphs
2
Medium
Summary
1
Medium
Jumbled sentence
1
Easy
One word substitute - passage
2
Medium
Odd sentence
1
Medium
Para-completion
1
Medium
Synonym
1
Easy

In this section, 11-12 questions (in about 15-20 minutes with 90% accuracy) would be considered a good attempt.

 

(iii) Sub-section: QUANTITATIVE ABILITY AND DATA INTERPRETATION

There were 20 questions in the section, out of which 16 questions were on quantitative ability and 4 questions were on Data Interpretation. The Quantitative Ability section was dominated by 6 Geometry questions and then followed by 5 questions of Arithmetic. Overall, the section was Medium in terms of level of difficulty and it was one notch more difficult than the corresponding section last year. The majority of the questions had as many as 8 options.

 

There was one calculation intensive set on Data Interpretation involving a bar graph with a table involving 4 questions. The set was a straight-forward one with average figure calculation.

 

Following was the break-up of the questions in the Quantitative Ability section:

Area
No. of Qs
LOD
Arithmetic
Average, Mixtures & Allegations, Linear Race, Ratio-Proportion, Percentages, Partnership.
5
Medium - Difficult
Algebra
Quadratic
1
Difficult
Geometry
Rectangle, Pentagon, Cylinder, Trigonometry - 3
6
Medium - Difficult
Modern Math
Set Theory (Venn Diagram), Probability
2
Difficult
Numbers
Sequence - odd one out, Factors
2
Medium
Data Interpretation
Bar Graph & Table
4
Difficult

In this section, an attempt of about 9-10 questions in about 30 minutes with around 90% accuracy would be considered good.

 

(iv) Sub-section: GENERAL AWARENESS

The General Awareness section consisted of 10 questions. Out of the 10 questions, 6 questions were of ‘match the column’ type while 4 were based on marketing and branding. Also, Static GK contributed 2 questions while the remaining 8 questions were based on current affairs. In this section, an attempt of 7 - 8 questions in about 5-7 minutes with 70 percent accuracy would be considered good.

Previous Year MICAT Analysis

Below is shared the previous MICAT exam analysis

MICAT 2023 Analysis

MICAT Exam for MICA admission 2023 has got over at 11.15 AM on Saturday, December 3, 2022. The exam was considered a bit more difficult than last year. A score of 25 in Psychometric Test may lead to the call for PI round by MICA. Apart from being the mandatory exam for MICA admission 2023, MICAT-I has 50% Weightage in Shortlisting for PI round, MICAT-I Analysis reveals that the exam was conducted in 48 cities in India and was taken by a good number of candidates.

 

Below is shared the MICAT-I Exam 2023 Analysis for MICA Admission 2023

MBAUniverse.com shares MICAT-I exam analysis with following details;

  • MICAT Exam Pattern
  • MICAT Difficulty Level as compared to previous year
  • MICAT expected cut off for MICA admission
  • MICAT Analysis from top Coaching institutes like IMS, CL, TIME

MICAT-I 2023 was a multidimensional computer based examination. The exam assesss candidates in areas such as Divergent Thinking Abilities, Written Communication Abilities, General Awareness about contemporary social and business issues, including areas relevant to media, marketing, advertising & current affairs and Analytical & Verbal Abilities. The Admission test also included psychometric profiling to assess the candidate’s leadership potential.

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MICAT-I Test Duration

Total duration of the examination was of 2 hours and 15 minutes.

MICAT-I Sectional Composition

MICAT-I consisted following three sections

Sections in MICAT-I
Name of Sections
Sectional Time Duration
Section A:
Psychometric Test
30 Minutes
Section B: 
Aptitude Test with 4 Sub Sections:
1) Verbal ability;
2) Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation;
3) General Awareness; 4)Divergent and Convergent Thinking
1 hours 20 Minutes
Section C:
Descriptive Test
25 Minutes

Section Wise Questions, Marking pattern, Important Instructions

The 3 broad sections effectively made the MICAT an exam with 6 sections as per following details:

Section A: Psychometric Test 

  • Total Time allotted to this section was 30 minutes
  • Around 150 questions were to be attempted in 30 minutes
  • The questions had to be quickly answered
  • No Negative Marking for the questions in this section
  • There was no right or wrong answer for the questions in this section
  • It was important to answer all questions in the Psychometric section
  • Any un-attempted question will be allotted ZERO mark
  • You couldnot go back to any other section or move ahead to any other section from Psychometric test until the end of 30 Minutes

Section B: Aptitude Test with 4 Sub sections on Verbal ability; Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation; General Awareness; Divergent and Convergent Thinking

  • Total time allotted to this section was 1 hour and 20 minutes
  • Each correct answer is awarded +1 Mark
  • All questions are of MCQ type
  • Total number of Questions expected in this section are 100
  • Maximum Marks for the section are 100
  • Verbal Ability had 25 questions
  • Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation had 25 questions
  • General Awareness had 25 questions
  • Divergent and Convergent Reasoning (Thinking) had 25 questions
  • Questions in this section carry negative marking of 0.25 mark for each wrong answer.
    Any un-attempted question is allotted ZERO mark.
    You could navigate across sub-sections – 1; 2; 3;4 in the Aptitude test during the allotted time of 1 hour and 20 minutes
  • You couldnot move to any other section like Psychometric Test or Descriptive Test from Aptitude Test till the allotted time of 1 hour 20 minutes was over for Aptitude section

Section C: Descriptive Test

Total time allotted to attempt this section was 25 minutes

  • All the questions were of descriptive type
  • Total Questions were 4
  • You needed to type short answers in the given space

MICAT 2022 Analysis for MICA Admission 2022

MICAT-I: Exam Dates and Time Duration

  • MICAT I Exam Date: Dec 4, 2021
  • MICAT I Test Cities: 48
  • MICAT Exam City Abroad: None
  • MICAT I Test Duration: 2 Hours 15 Minutes (135 Minutes)
  • MICAT I Test Timing: 9AM to 11.15AM (Single Session Exam)
  • Reporting Time at Test Centre: 8 AM
  • MICAT I Testing Mode: Computer based test

MICAT-I Analysis: Overall Exam Pattern     

MICAT-I exam duration has been reduced to 2 Hours 15 minutes from earlier 2 hours 45 minutes. The revised exam pattern of MICAT Exam held on Dec 4, 2021 was as below:

Sections in MICAT-I
Name of Sections
No. of Questions
Sectional Time Duration
Section A:
Psychometric Test
150
30 Minutes
Section B: 
Aptitude Test with 4 Sub Sections:
1) Verbal ability:
2) Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation;
3) General Awareness;
4) Divergent and Convergent Thinking
 
 20
 20
 
 20
 20
80 Minutes
Section C:
Descriptive Test
  4
25 Minutes

MICAT-I Difficulty Level

Overall difficulty level of MICAT-I exam was moderate

MICAT Analysis 2022: Testing & Scoring pattern

Following was the testing & scoring pattern in MICAT-I held on Dec 4, 2021

  • MICAT offered 1-Minute break between different sections
  • No navigation allowed between MICAT exam sections
  • There were No Negative Marks for the Psychometric Test and the Descriptive Test

MICAT Analysis 2022: Expected Cut offs 

  • Psychometric Test was compulsory and qualifying. Candidates had to attempt all the questions in this test
  • No Negative marking for Psychometric Test and Descriptive Test
  • Students who clear the Psychometric Test and secure an overall score around 36 to39 percent can expect a call for the GE-PI round 
  • The shortlist will be prepared based on the Composite Score formula with 50% weightage for CAT/XAT/GMAT and 50% for MICAT
  • Around 1/10th of the total number of candidates who appear in the two MICATs are shortlisted for GE & PI based on the Total MICAT Scaled Score

MICAT, conducted by MICA Ahmedabad, is a Computer Based Test (CBT). It is conducted twice for selection of PGDM-C and PGDM programs offered by MICA. A candidate is allowed to appear in both the MICAT exams – MICAT-I and MICAT-II which are conducted in the months of December and January respectively for admission in MICA. Better of the two MICAT Scores are considered for admission. MICAT-I was conducted on Dec 4, 2021 while MICAT-II will be held on January 29, 2022. MICAT-II Analysis will be published after the exam is over. Apart from MBAUniverse.com analysis for MICAT, the detailed analysis by IMS, CL, TIME is also published with exam difficulty level and expected cut offs.

MICAT-I Analysis by IMS

Below is shared the MICAT exam analysis by IMS Learning for the MICAT-I exam held on December 4, 2021

 

MICAT (MICA Admission Test) is the ONLINE entrance exam for PGDM-C/PGDM from MICA, Ahmedabad. Generally MICAT is held twice for admission to the batch in the ensuing year. MICAT-I is held in December and MICAT-II in January for the batch commencing a few months later in June/July. MICAT I 2021 was held on December 04, 2021, from 9 AM to 11:15 AM. This year, like last year, the test was of 135 minutes owing to the constraints imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Test Structure and IMS estimate of good attempts:

 Section  Name  No. Of Questions  Time allocated  Good Attempts
A  Psychometric Test 150  30 minutes  ALL
B  Descriptive Test 4 25 minutes  ALL
C i. Divergent and Convergent Thinking 20 80 minutes  11-12
 ii. Verbal Ability 20    11-12
iii. Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation 20    9-10
 iv. General Awareness 20   08-Sep
  • 1-Minute break between different sections
  • Navigation between sections not allowed
  • Section C carried 1 mark per question. 0.25 for each incorrect response.
  • No Negative Marks for the Psychometric Test and the Descriptive Test
  • Psychometric Test is compulsory and the performance in the psychometric test is used as a qualifying criterion for the next stage. Candidates must attempt all the questions in the Psychometric Test to ensure that their paper is evaluated. However, the marks or the assessment criteria of the test are not revealed to the candidates.

VERDICT

Students who have ‘cleared’ the Psychometric Test and secured an overall score of 35-38 in Sections C (i) to C (iv) can expect a call for the GE-PI round (subject to their fulfilling the other criteria specified at : https://www.mica.ac.in/postgraduate-programme/selection-process-and-time...

 

Those who have attempted the IMS test pack of MICAT (a series of 5 tests) would find that the structure, level of difficulty and the types of questions were quite similar to those in the actual test.

ANALYSIS BY SECTIONS

Section - A

PSYCHOMETRIC TEST

There were 150 questions in this section.

 

Apparently, there are no correct or incorrect responses in a psychometric test. Around 33 questions presented a situation/course of action and the test-taker had to mark either True or False. Around 117 questions were about a particular personality trait or a course of action. Which required the candidates to respond with one of the following 8 options.

  • Totally Disagree
  • Strongly Disagree
  • Disagree
  • Somewhat Disagree
  • Somewhat Agree
  • Agree
  • Strongly Agree
  • Totally Agree

Given that 150 questions were to be attempted in 30 minutes, it was necessary to work fast and mark the answer quickly.

Section - B

DESCRIPTIVE TEST

This section tested the analytical and descriptive writing ability and creative skills of test-takers. The first three questions were related to each other. The topic for the first three questions was “Cultural diversity is celebrated while individual efforts are made to assimilate the differences into the mainstream. Then why should we desire diversity?” For the first two questions, students had to write three points each, ‘for’ and ‘against’ the topic. These two questions carried 10 marks each.

 

In the third question, students had to write a 300 word answer to ‘Suggest steps by which a young manager can ensure creativity and innovation keeping in mind homogenous cohorts.” The instructions stated that the points for the third question should not include the points stated in the first two questions. 20 marks were allocated to this question.

 

The fourth question in this section consisted of four pictures. Students had to write down a particular pictorial combination (A-B-C-D or D-C-B-A or any such combination) and explain it with the help of a story. The pictures were related to: ’A fire extinguisher, a horse in an open field, a QR code, a mason tiling the walls.’ This question carried 30 marks.

 

This section was to be attempted in 25 minutes and carried no negative marking.

Section C

APTITUDE TEST

The aptitude test part had 4 sub-sections with 20 questions per sub-section. These 80 questions had to be solved within 80 minutes. This year all sections in the aptitude test saw a mix of questions with 4 options and 8 options. This was a change from the previous year.

(i) Sub-section: DIVERGENT AND CONVERGENT THINKING

The Reasoning section comprised 20 questions including word-association, analogies, statement-assumption, data sufficiency, coding, puzzle (symbol based logic + family tree) and visual reasoning questions. Out of 20 questions, 8 had 8 options each while the remaining 12 had 4 options each.

Topic
No. of Qs.
Overall Difficulty Level
Word Association
3
Medium
Statement Assumption
2
Medium
Analogies
2
Medium
Statement Conclusion
2
Medium

Following was the break-up of the non-verbal reasoning questions in the section:

Type of questions
Number of questions
Overall Level of difficulty
Visual Reasoning (Total 3 questions)
Odd man out (Group)
1
Easy
Complete the series (Next figure)
2
Logical Data sufficiency (Total 1 question)
Data Sufficiency
1
Medium
Miscellaneous (Total 7 questions)
Puzzle
3
Difficult
Binary Logic
2
Medium
Coding
2
Easy

In this section, 11-12 questions in about 25 minutes with 90 % accuracy would be considered a good attempt

(ii) Sub-section: VERBAL ABILITY

This section consisted of jumbled paragraphs, word pairs, paragraph completion (cloze), choosing the grammatically correct sentence questions, and three Reading Comprehension passages. Out of 20 questions, 11 had 8 options each while the remaining 9 had 4 options each.

Topic
No. of Qs.
Overall Level of difficulty.
Grammatically correct sentence
2
Medium
Jumbled Paragraph – 5 sentences
2
Medium
One word substitution (passage)
2
 
Reading Comprehension – 1 (Classic mythological hero - 500 words)
2
Medium
Reading Comprehension – 2 (Bitcoin and decentralized finance - 200 words)
2
Medium
Reading Comprehension - 3 (Extension and effects of the human sense - 450 words)
5
Difficult
Cloze (5 blanks)
3
Medium
Word pair (Synonyms)
2
Easy

In this section, 11 - 12 questions in about 15-20 minutes with 90% accuracy would be considered a good attempt.

(iii) Sub-section: QUANTITATIVE ABILITY AND DATA INTERPRETATION

There were 20 questions in the section, out of which 16 questions were on quantitative ability and 4 questions were on Data Interpretation. The Quantitative Ability section was dominated by 12 Arithmetic questions and then followed by 3 questions of Geometry and 1 question on Modern Math- Numbers. Overall, the section was Medium in terms of level of difficulty and it was one notch more difficult than the corresponding section last year. One important characteristic of this section was that only 5 questions had 4 options and the remaining 15 questions had as many as 8 options. There was one set on Data Interpretation involving a bar graph with 4 questions and a singular question on line graph.

 

Following was the break-up of the questions in the Quantitative Ability section:

Area
No. of Qs
LOD
Arithmetic
Time-Speed-Distance, Mixtures-Allegations, Time and Work, Percentages, Ratio-Proportion, Profit & Loss
12
Medium - Difficult
Geometry
Triangles, Coordinate Geometry
3
Medium
Modern Math
Permutation & Combination
1
Difficult
Data Interpretation
Bar Graph
4
Medium

In this section, an attempt of about 9-10 questions in about 30 minutes with around 85% accuracy would be considered good.

(iv) Sub-section: GENERAL AWARENESS

The General Awareness section consisted of 20 questions. Out of the 20 questions, 11 questions were based on national issues while 9 were based on international topics. Also, Static GK contributed 8 questions while the remaining 12 questions were based on current affairs. Overall, the section was more difficult than that of last year’s MICAT. The questions were about business, ad agencies, books and authors, awards, geography, economics, terms, laws and acts, and logos. 4 questions could be classified as easy; 8 as medium and 8 as difficult. 19 out of 20 questions had 8 options each.

 

In this section, an attempt of 8 - 9 questions in about 5-7 minutes with 70 percent accuracy would be considered good.

Previous Year MICAT Analysis for MICAT 2021

MICAT-I has remained a multidimensional computer based examination. The exam assessed candidates in areas such as Divergent Thinking Abilities, Written Communication Abilities, General Awareness about contemporary social and business issues, including areas relevant to media, marketing, advertising & current affairs and Analytical & Verbal Abilities.

MICAT-I: Key Highlights

  • Held on December 5, 2020, MICAT was the computer based exam
  • It was held in 48 cities across the country
  • MICAT was divided in Verbal ability (VA), Quantitative ability and Data Interpretation (QADI), General awareness (GA), and Divergent and Convergent Thinking (DCT) sections
  • The Admission test also included psychometric profiling to assess the candidate’s leadership potential
  • Break of 1 Minute between sections
  • Sections had individual time limit. No Navigation was allowed between sections
  • Section C carried +1 mark for each correct answer and - 0.25 mark for each wrong answer
  • No Negative Marking in Psychometric Test and the Descriptive Test
  • No marks for any un-attempted question in the Psychometric test
  • Difficulty Level: Moderate to Difficult

MICAT Exam Pattern

Section
Name
Total Questions
Sectional Time (In Minutes)
A
Psychometric Test
150
30
B
Descriptive Test
4
25
C
i.  Divergent and Convergent Thinking
30
80 (Sub divided into 4 sections)
 
ii. Verbal Ability
25
 
iii. Quantitative Ability Data Interpretation
25
 
iv. General Awareness
25

Final Selection Process after MICAT

  • Candidates need to clear the Psychometric test first. Those who qualify on the Psychometric, their CAT/XAT/GMAT relative performance will be considered (Subject to a minimum cut-off in CAT total percentile/XAT total percentile/GMAT score)
  • Those who qualify on the basis of relative performance subject to a minimum cut-off in Scaled Scores for each of these sections (namely: VA, QADI, GA and DCT) and CAT/XAT cut-off or GMAT score shall have their Descriptive Tests evaluated.
  • Those who qualify on the basis as mentioned above and on the basis of relative performance subject to a minimum cut-off in Scaled Score in DT shall be considered for short listing for GE and PI. Shortlist will be prepared on the basis of MICAT-I and /or II or better of the two relative performances if a candidate has taken both MICAT-I and MICAT-II.
  • The shortlist will be prepared based on the Composite Score formula of 50% CAT/XAT/GMAT and 50% MICAT
  • Approximately 1/10th of the total number of candidates who appear in the two MICATs will be shortlisted for GE & PI based on the Total MICAT Scaled Score.

MICAT-I Exam Analysis by IMS Learning

The detailed analysis of MICAT-1 exam held on December 5, 2020 for PGDM admission 2021 at MICA as shared by IMS Learning is given below:

 

MICAT (MICA Admission Test) is the ONLINE entrance exam for PGDM-C/PGDM from MICA, Ahmedabad. Generally, MICAT is held twice for admission to the batch in the ensuing year. MICAT-I is held in December and MICAT-II in January/February for the batch commencing a few months later in June/July.

 

Overall, the MICAT- I matched the pattern and difficulty level of the last year’s MICATs - neither too easy nor too difficult, barring the normal peculiarities of the test. The General Awareness was reported as difficult. In a major change from the previous years, the psychometric test consisted of 150 questions instead of 27 to 35 questions.

MICAT Analysis 2019: Structure and Good Attempts:

Section

Name

No. Of Questions

Time allocated

Good Attempts

A

Psychometric Test

150

30 minutes

ALL

B

Descriptive Test

4

30 minutes

ALL

C

i.  Divergent and Convergent Thinking

30

105 minutes

19-20

ii. Verbal Ability

25

19-20

iii. Quantitative Ability Data Interpretation

25

18-19

iv. General Awareness

25

15-17

  • 1-Minute break between different sections
  • Navigation between sections not allowed
  • Section C carried 1 mark per question. 0.25 for each incorrect response.
  • No Negative Marks for the Psychometric Test and the Descriptive Test
  •  ‘No marks would be given for any un-attempted question in the Psychometric test’. (Earlier, Psychometric Test used to be a qualifying Test which made it compulsory to attempt all the questions)

VERDICT

Students who have ‘cleared’ the Psychometric Test and secured an overall score of 48-50 in Sections C (i) to C (iv) can expect a call for the GE-PI round (subject to their fulfilling the other criteria specified.

 

Those who have attempted IMS test pack on MICAT (a series of 5 tests) would have found that the level of difficulty and the nature of the questions in these tests, as well as the structure of the paper were similar to those asked in the actual MICAT.

ANALYSIS BY SECTIONS

Section - A

PSYCHOMETRIC TEST

There were 150 questions in this section - up from 27 last years. In this section, there were no correct or incorrect responses.

 

Around 30 questions presented a situation/course of action and the test-taker had to mark either True or False.

 

The other 120 questions were about a particular personality trait or a course of action. Students had to select any one option.  The eight options from which students needed to mark their answer were:

  1. Totally Disagree
  2. Strongly Disagree
  3. Disagree
  4. Somewhat Disagree
  5. Somewhat Agree
  6. Agree
  7. Strongly Agree
  8. Totally Agree

Given that 150 questions were to be attempted in 30 minutes, it was necessary to work fast and mark the answer quickly.

Section B

DESCRIPTIVE TEST

This section tested the analytical and descriptive writing ability and creative skills of test-takers. The total time given for attempting these questions was 30 minutes. The first three questions were related to each other. The topic for the first three questions was ‘Laziness: How it can benefit society’. For the first two questions, students had to write three points each, ‘for’ and ‘against’ the topic. These two questions carried 10 marks each.

 

In the third question, students had to write a 300-word answer to ‘suggest steps by which a young manager could ensure that laziness could be used as a tool for organizational success’. The instruction clearly stated that the points for the third question should not include the points stated in the first two questions. Twenty marks were allocated to this question.

 

The fourth question in this section consisted of four pictures. Students had to write down a particular pictorial combination (A-B-C-D or D-C-B-A or any such combination) and explain it with the help of a story. The pictures were related to an ‘old dilapidated house with a newly constructed gate which was painted red, a shopping complex, a drone in the form of a bee and a window grill with 3 panels’. This question carried 30 marks.

Section C

(4 Sub-sections)

 (i) Sub-section: DIVERGENT AND CONVERGENT THINKING
The Reasoning section combined 30 word-association, statement-assumption, data sufficiency and visual reasoning questions. Usually, questions in this section used to have 5 options. However, this year there were 4 options.

Topic

No. of Qs.

Level

Word Association

9

2 Difficult, 5 Moderate, 2 Easy

Statement Assumption

4

2 Easy, 2 Moderate

The non-verbal reasoning questions in the section were of easy-to-moderate level of difficulty. Following was the break-up of the non-verbal reasoning questions in the section:

Type of questions

Number of questions

Level of difficulty

Visual Reasoning (Total 11 questions)

Odd man out (similar pairs)

4

Easy-Moderate

Analogy (A:B::C:D)

4

Complete the series (Next figure)

3

Logical Data sufficiency (Total  4 questions)

Data Sufficiency

4

Easy-Moderate

Miscellaneous (Total 2 questions)

 

 

 

 

 

Family Tree

1

Medium

Arrangement

1

Easy

In this section ,19-20 questions in about 30 minutes with around 80% accuracy would be considered a good attempt

(ii)Sub-section: VERBAL ABILITY

This section consisted of jumbled paragraphs, synonyms, double blanks, sentence errors, paragraph completion, idiom-based questions and a Reading Comprehension passage. Like last year, only 1 RC passage was present this year. The passage was on the easier side.

Topic

No. of Qs.

Level

Grammatically correct sentence

1

1 Moderate

Jumbled Paragraph – 4/5 sentences

5

3 Easy, 2 Moderate

Synonyms of the highlighted word used in the sentence

3

1 Easy, 2 Moderate

Reading Comprehension – 1 Passage

5

3 Easy, 2 Moderate

Antonym

2

2 Easy

Error in underlined part

2

1 Easy, 1 Moderate

Preposition-based FIB (3/4 blanks)

1

1 Moderate

Phrase-based FIB

1

1 Easy

FIB with Four blanks

1

1 Moderate

Meaning of underlined idioms/ Idioms-based FIB

4

1 Easy, 3 Moderate

In this section, 19-20 questions in about 25-30 minutes with around 80% accuracy would be considered a good attempt.

(iii)  Sub-section: QUANTITATIVE ABILITY AND DATA INTERPRETATION

There were 25 questions in the section, out of which 20 questions were on quantitative ability and 5 questions were on Data Interpretation. The Quantitative Ability section was dominated by 7 Arithmetic questions and then followed by 6 questions of Geometry and 5 questions of Modern Math. There was 1 question from Numbers and 1 question from Algebra. Most of the questions were based on elementary concepts but were time-consuming. Overall, the section was Easy to Moderate.

 

There were two sets on Data Interpretations. One set had a table and the calculations were based on Average and Percentage. The other set had a pie chart in which the break-up of the production quantity of 5 products was given in terms of degrees and the questions were asked on the percentage and ratio.

 

Following was the break-up of the questions in the Quantitative Ability section:

Types of questions

Number of questions

Level of difficulty

Arithmetic (7 questions)

Profit & Loss

2

1 Easy, 1 Moderate

Mixtures

1

Easy

Ratios

1

Easy

Time Speed & Distance (Trains, Circular Tracks, Boats and Stream)

3

2 Easy, 1 Moderate

Numbers  (1 question)

Fractions

1

Moderate

Modern Maths (5 questions)

Set Theory

1

Easy

Permutation & Combination

3

1 Easy, 2 Moderate

Series & sequences

1

Difficult

Geometry ( 6 questions)

Plane Geometry (Angle of elevation)

4

4 Moaderate

 

 

 

Mensuration

2

1 Moderate, 1 Difficult

Algebra  (1 question)

Quadratic Equations

1

Easy

Data Interpretation (5 questions)

Table

2

Easy to Moderate

Pie Chart

3

Easy to Moderate

In this section, an attempt of about 18-19 questions in about 40 minutes with around 80% accuracy would be considered good

(iv) Sub-section: GENERAL AWARENESS

General Awareness section consisted of 25 questions. Out of the 25 questions, 7 were on National issues while 13 were on international topics. 5 questions were of miscellaneous types (logos, taglines etc.) Also, 18 questions were of static type while 7 were on current affairs. Overall, the section was more difficult than last year’s MICAT. The questions were about business, government, politics, ad agencies, laws and acts, and logos. 5 questions could be classified as easy; 12 as medium and 8 as difficult.

 

In this section, an attempt of 15 – 17 questions in about 10 minutes with around 60% accuracy would be considered good.

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