CAT or Common Admission Test –
Conducted by – Indian Institute of Management ( IIM )
Purpose – For the admission in Graduate Management Programmes or PGDM or MBA or Fellow Programmes in Management or FPM or Ph.D courses in different IIMs in India and also in other institutions who are approved to use the CAT score. Indian Institute of Technology ( IITs ) and Indian Institute of Science ( IISc ) also use CAT scores for the admission in their management courses.
Separate advertisements may be published for the admission in courses other than PGP programmes. Before applying students must visit the website to know details about the advertisement.
Separate institutions also publish their own eligibility and admission criteria.
National level Examination.
Candidates – In 2023 2.88 lakh students appeared in the examination.
Eligibility – Graduate degree with at least 50% marks or equivalent CGPA ( 45% for the candidates of SC, ST, PwD categories ).
Candidates appearing in the final exam or completed the final exam but awaiting for the result can also apply.
Reservation – There is also reservation of seats . For details please visit the website.
Type – Computer based test ( Not internet based test )
Language of the test – English
Exam Pattern – There are three sections in the exam –
1 . Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension
2 . Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning
3. Quantitative Ability
Total number of questions – 66
Total number – 198
Each question carries 3 marks for correct answer and for incorrect answer -1 mark. No negative marking for unattempted questions.
Question type – MCQ and non – MCQ
Duration of the Examination – 2 hours. ( 40 minutes in each section – Extra time for PwD students . )
Session of the Examination – The examination is generally conducted in three sessions –
Session 1 – 8:30 am to 10:30 am
Session 2 – 12:30 pm to 02:30 pm
Session 3 – 04:30 pm to 06:30 pm
CAT Score – The cat score is valid for one year. It will be available on the CAT website . Generally results may be declared in the month of January.
Good score – It is really a highly competitive examination. A percentile of 90 or above is good but a percentile of 95 is preferred.
Time of Advertisement and Examination –
Generally the advertisement published in the month of July . The registration process continues in the month of August – September. The Admit card can be downloaded in October. The examination is conducted on the last Sunday of November.
Test Centre – The Examination is conducted in centres spread around 155 test cities in India.
Website – For every details and registration visit – www.iimcat.ac.in
