STRATEGY AND PREPARATION PLAN FOR MICAT 2019 WITH BOOKS AND SOURCES

Strategy and preparation plan for MICAT

Selection Process of MICAT  (Batch 2017-19)
MICAT is a 2 hrs 45 minutes online test divided into 6 sections which starts with Psychometric test which is qualifying Test. It's followed by Verbal ability, Quantitative ability, General awareness, Divergent-Convergent reasoning Test and Descriptive test which makes it a unique test. MICAT will be conducted twice for selection of PGDM-C 2017-2019 batch. Better of the two MICAT Scores will be considered. MICA considers CAT/XAT/GMAT scores along with MICAT scores to shortlists candidates for GE-PI process.

The selection process involves three steps. The process is described below:

Step-I: CAT 2016, XAT 2017 and GMAT (2015 onwards).

Each candidate has to take at least one of the three exams: CAT 2016, XAT 2017 and GMAT (2015 onwards).-

Step-II: MICA Admission Test (MICAT).
All the candidates are assessed on MICAT which consists of 6 sections:
Section 1- Descriptive Test
Section 2- Psychometric Test
Section 1 and Section 2 are no negative marking sections 
Section 3-Reasoning
Section 4- General Awareness
Section 5- Verbal Ability
Section 6- Quantitative Ability Section 3- 6 are negative marking sections that attract 0.25 marks for each wrong answer  

SECTION 1

Descriptive Test (DT).

Previous Year analysis
This section tested the analytical and descriptive writing ability and creative skills of test-takers. The total time given for attempting these questions was 35 minutes.
The first three questions were related to each other.
For the first two questions, students had to write three points for and against a particular topic. 
In the third question, the students had to write a 300 word answer either in favour of or against the topic as a part of a letter to the editor.
The instructions for the question clearly stated that ‘no marks would be awarded for a neutral viewpoint’. Students reported that the topic for the first three questions was based on whether public opinion was necessary for making policy or not.

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 iterations) and explain it with the help of a story. The pictures were related to a scene of a traffic jam, a mother and daughter in the sea playing with each other, a long-winding circular staircase and snow-capped mountain.

Books to be refer

Amazon Link-
http://www.amazon.in/100-Ways-Improve-Your-Writing/dp/0451627210/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1501836477&sr=8-1&keywords=100+ways+to+improve+your+writing+by+gary+provost

SECTION 2-Psychometric (P)- 

There were 36 questions in this section. The test instructions released by MICA mentioned that it was necessary to attempt all the questions in this test and failure to do so would lead to disqualification of the candidate. In this section, there were no correct or incorrect responses.

In the first set of questions, 
There were three options for each question about a particular personality trait. Students had to select any single option. There were 10 questions of this type.

The second set of questions
Asked one to choose from a set of two arguments and to rate them in accordance with one’s personality traits. Around 16 questions were based on this pattern. One statement was presented on the left and another was on the right side of the screen. The six options from which students needed to mark their answer were:

· Very Strongly agree with the statement on the right

· Strongly agree with the statement on the right

· Moderately agree with the statement on the right

· Very Strongly agree with the statement on the left

· Strongly agree with the statement on the left

· Moderately agree with the statement on the left

In the third set of questions,
The students had to rank various action responses in the given scenario on a scale of 1 to 6 (where a rating of 1 implied highest priority and a rating of 6 meant lowest priority). Around 10 questions were of this type.
For someone accustomed to taking psychometric tests, this section was simple and less time consuming. Students are advised not to have pre-conceived notions about which option constitutes the perfect answer. Instead, they should attempt each question honestly.

Read this book and practice previous year questions of MICA

How to master Psychometric test by Mark Parkinson

Amazon Link

http://www.amazon.in/How-Master-Psychometric-Tests-Preparation/dp/0749461284/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1501836405&sr=8-1&keywords=how+to+master+psychometric+test

Section 3- Reasoning

Divergent-Convergent Reasoning (DCR)-

Previous year analysis

Topic	No. of Qs.	Level
Word Association	15	8 Easy, 5 Moderate, 2 Difficult
Statement Assumption	4	3 Easy, 1 Moderate

The verbal reasoning questions were of easy-to-moderate level of difficulty.  

The non-verbal reasoning questions in the section were on the easier side. 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 7 questions)
Odd man out	3	Easy
Analogies	2	Easy
Complete the series	2	Easy
Logical Data sufficiency (Total 4 questions)
Relations	1	Easy-Moderate
Directions	1
Matrix arrangement	1
Coding based

Book sources

Section 4-

General awareness (GA)

Previous Year Pattern Analysis

This section consisted of 22 questions. Out of 22, 11 were on National issues while 11 were on international topics. Also, 7 questions were of static type while 15 were on current affairs. Overall, the section was more difficult than MICAT I.The questions were about business taglines, advertisements, slogans, corporate heads and other corporate topics such as brand and marketing campaigns. Some questions types were in the form of ‘Match-the-questions-with-the-answers’ format. Candidates with good knowledge about business logos, taglines, advertising campaigns, head honchos of large corporate and awards could have attempted about 10-11 questions in 10 minutes with 80% accuracy.

Sources and preparation Plan

Follow Economic Times- especially Wednesday feature- Brand Equity
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/brand-equity

Magazine- Outlook Money  or bloomberg
https://www.bloomberg.com/businessweek

Section 5-Verbal ability (VA)-

Previous year pattern analysis

This section consisted of phrase replacements, error spotting, jumbled paragraphs, synonyms, double blanks and a Reading Comprehension passage. Like last year, only 1 RC passage was present this year. The passage was on the easier side. The other question types were mainly easy with around 7 moderately difficult questions.

Students should have targeted attempting about 20-21 questions in about 25 minutes with about 80% accuracy.

Sources and preparation plan

Topic	No. of Qs.	Level
Double FIB	5	4 Easy, 1 Moderate
Jumbled Paragraph - 4 sentences	4	2 Easy, 2 Moderate
Check if the phrase is grammatically correct	3	2 Easy, 1 Moderate
Synonyms of the highlighted word used in the sentence	5	3 Easy, 2 Moderate
Reading Comprehension – 1 Passage	5	4 Easy, 1 Moderate
Error spotting in parts of sentence	3	3 Easy

Pick-up articles (selectively) from The Hindu, Economic Times or The Times of India on a daily basis. The Sunday editions are always the best as they offer a quick re-cap of the week as well as interesting analysis. So you can give yourself extra time to read these
For Grammar, refer to Wren and Martin (High School Grammar and Composition). Go through its Parts of Speech section. Also, make sure you solve online exercises for all grammar topics you study. Basic exercises that probe you to identify nouns/pronouns/adjectives etc. go a long 

Section 6- Quantitative ability (QA)

CAT level practice from your coaching material
Type of questions asked

Type of questions	Number of questions	Level of difficulty
Number	4	2 Easy, 2 Moderate
Algebra	2	2 Easy, 2 Moderate
Arithmetic	5	2 Easy, 3 Moderate
Modern Mathematics
Sequence-Series	2	1 Easy, 1 Difficult
Set Theory	2	2 Moderate
Functions	2	1 Moderate, 1 Difficult
Geometry
Quadrilaterals	1	Moderate
Trigonometry	1	Moderate
Data Interpretation
Pie chart	3	Easy- Moderate
Bar graph	3

 Sources of preparation

Previous year question papers practice practice and practice

Step-III: 
All the candidates shortlisted after MICAT shall appear for both GE & PI

All those candidates who appear in GE and PI , and fulfill the following conditions will be considered for the merit list:
1)Unanimous recommendation by all the panel members of PI.
2)At least 3.5 or more on a 5 point scale in GE
3)At least 4 or more on a 5 point scale in PI

For all those who meet the criteria described in point a), a composite score shall be created based on the following weightage:

MICAT: 50%; GE: 18%; PI: 30%; and CAT/XAT***/GMAT****: 2% (Scaled Scores will be used for MICAT).
Short listed candidates will be called for GE and PI at Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Delhi, Kolkata & Mumbai.

ALL THE BEST

Regards-

Vipul SHarma