Priyanka and Pankaj are going to appear for the CAT exam. They have completed their BBA from a very good college and have been preparing for over a year. However, Pankaj does not know much about the concept of normalization which is being applied to the results. The following is a conversation between Pankaj and Priyanka:
Pankaj: Hey, how is the preparations going on? CAT exam is now around the corner. I hope you are studying hard.
Priyanka: Of course, I am. I want to get into one of the best MBA colleges in India.
Pankaj: So, have you been taking CAT mock tests?
Priyanka: Yes, I have been taking a CAT mock test every week. I have been consistently achieving over 95 percentile in them. However, I am still sceptical about the scores because these mock tests do not account for normalization.
Pankaj: Yes, that is true. Can you tell me more about normalization? I do not have much idea how it works.
Priyanka: How can you not know? It is one of the most important factors affecting our results!
Just like Pankaj, many students, who seek admissions into the top business schools in India don’t know about normalization and how it affects the CAT results. Read on to find out more.
What is normalization?
Normalization is the process which is applied to the results to ensure fairness and equality in comparison of performances of candidates across the country. Normalization process adjusts for location and scale differences of score distributions across forms. After normalizing the overall score, the next step is to normalize scores across sections. The scaled scores obtained after normalization will then be converted into percentiles. However, authorities do not share the actual method used for normalizing scores. We can still be sure that numerous factors, like locations, difficulty, score, mean, mode, deviation, highest score etc. affect the normalization multiplier.
Praqtice Fact File: The process of normalization is an established practice that has been used to compare scores across multiple exams. It has been adopted in the educational tests being conducted on a wide scale, like Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE).
How normalization will affect your CAT exam scores?
Normalizing is a natural outcome in CAT as there are multiple papers for the same exam.. The people who design the question papers are very careful to ensure that you overall difficulty level of all the papers is the same. However, the difficulty level across question papers will vary as a result of the human factor. Normalising helps in comparing the scores objective
Let’s understand this further with an example. Assume that the intelligence and capability distribution of the students in all the slots is the same. Now, the students should score an equal number of marks on average if the level of difficulty across the question papers was equal. However, the actual test results may suggest otherwise. Consider the following test results:
Batch1 average score – 100 and batch2 average score – 110.
As per our assumption, the students in both the batches are equally intelligent and capable, which means that the question paper which batch1 got was more difficult. Hence, for normalising, the marks of all the students in batch1 are multplied by a multiplier, 1.1 in this case, so that the authorities can compare the scores objectively.
This is a very basic example with a very strong assumption that a very high level of difference in the difficulty level of the papers. Hence, in real-life scenarios, the examination authorities would use several other factors and inputs, like the highest score, mean, median, standard deviation, lowest score, etc. to determine the multiplier. However, unless the exam authorities disclose the actual methodology , all we can do is guess.
Should you change your strategy to counter the effect of normalization?
The answer is, no! There is no way to know for certain how the scores of a batch of students will be normalized. Hence, the best you can do is outperform all the students in your batch to counter the effect of normalization. You do not need to change your strategy to tackle the CAT exam to counter the effect of normalization. And you do not have to answer all questions for countering the effect of normalization. Instead of answering more questions, answer the questions more efficiently to better tackle the CAT exam.
Normalization is not an aspect that is within your control. There are is no specific standard for normalization. This means, no one knows what factors will affect the process and to what extent. In such a case, the simplest way to tackle normalization is to perform your personal best. Do not alter the strategy that you have formed for the CAT exam. There is no mantra to counter the effect of normalization, so stick to the game plan that suits you best.
Let us understand this further with an example. Consider that you and your friend appeared for the CAT exam. Both of you took the exam in different slots, different batches, and different geographical locations. Assuming you both scored precisely the same marks, the effect of normalization may change your percentiles. It is possible that despite answering 53 questions correctly while attempting only 53 questions, you may score 99.25 percentiles, while you friend scores 90.25 percentiles.
Conclusion: A Praqtical Look
There is not and there cannot exist an optimum strategy to counter the effects of normalization. The best way to achieve the best score is to outperform yourself every time you take a practice test. Do this and you can forget about normalisation in the CAT exam!
How concerned are you about normalisation? Have you thought about it as a problem that needs your attention? Please tell us in the comments.
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