CAT 2018 results: 11 score 100-percentile; all male engineers
Now that the CAT 2018 results are out, it has been found that 11 of the over two lakh candidates who took the test have made it to the elite 100-percentile club. While two girls and three non-engineers bagged the perfect score last time, this time, all 11 are male and engineers. Among them, seven hail from Maharashtra. Here are the details.
What we know about the toppers from Maharashtra
Of the seven toppers from Maharashtra, three are from Mumbai, and are CAT coaching faculty who took the exam to understand its altering pattern. Among, students, Amit Bakram, Jagesh Golwala, Rounak Mazumdar, and Ritesh Manchanda made the toppers list from Maharashtra, with Golwala being a final-year IIT-Bombay student, and Mazumdar being an IIT-Kanpur alumnus.
This faculty member bagged a 100-percentile hat-trick
Among the three faculty members who took the test was 42-year-old Patrick D'Souza. Unbelievable though it might be, D'Souza bagged a 100-percentile this year for the third time in a row. He has scored 100-percentile in CAT five times in all.
Details about other toppers and top performers
Of the remaining four toppers, two were from Jadavpur University in West Bengal, while the other two were from Karnataka and Bihar respectively. Meanwhile, 21 people managed a score of 99.99-percentile, and 19 among them were engineers. Interestingly, CAT 2018 saw the largest-ever participation in the examination by girls, but none made it to the toppers club.
Diversity among candidates has been growing in CAT
Since extra marks were introduced in 2010 for women and non-engineers, diversity among CAT takes have increased over the years. If IIM-Calcutta's shortlist is anything to go by, women have indeed fared well, with 43% of candidates in IIM-Calcutta's shortlist being women. Meanwhile, in what is probably a first, one of the four transgender candidates this year got a call from IIM-Calcutta. Two others were shortlisted by IIM-Kozhikode.
Actual scores have dipped this year, courtesy the quantitative section
It should be noted though that this time, actual scores are down by 10%-12%. Whereas in 2017, a score of 174 fetched a 99-percentile, a score of 155 fetched a 99-percentile in CAT 2018. Similar trends are also noticeable in the 98.5-percentile, and 90-percentile benchmark. According to Hemant Panchmatia, the chief mentor of a coaching institute, the fall in scores is resultant of the tough quantitative section.