CAT Exam

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CAT (Common Admission Test) Exam is a computer-based management aptitude test held each year by the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) for shortlisting the candidates for MBA programs offered by the premier management institutes.

CAT exam is an essential criterion for admission into more than 100 management foundations across India. Other Indian business schools like IITs, FMS, S P Jain, MDI, and NITIE also accept CAT scores as part of their selection process. The CAT exam is held each year by IIM's on the rotational basis, whose Exam Dates are usually announced in the month of August.

The CAT score is utilized independently by each foundation along with different parameters i.e. work experience, academic performance, written assessment, group discussion and interview performance etc. to select applicants. The weightage assigned to CAT score may contrast for each foundation. Applicants are advised to read the weightage, process, and breakup for each establishment on its individual site.

Any person who has a Bachelor's degree with at least 50% marks or comparable CGPA (45% if the students belonging to Persons with Disability (PWD)/Differently Able (DA) and Scheduled Caste (SC) class) can apply for CAT Exam.

IIM'S also holds 15% seats for SC applicants, 7.5% seats for ST candidates and 27% seats for NC-OBC applicants. 3% seats are also reserved for Persons with Disabilities, concerning government norms.

Eligibility Criteria

General Eligibility:

  • Students must have passed a bachelor’s degree from any recognised college or university.
  • In graduation, applicants must have obtained minimum 50% marks for general applicants and 45% marks for SC, ST and PwD/DA applicants.
  • The percentage secured by students will be calculated on the basis of practice followed by the university/college from where applicants have obtained the bachelor’s degree.
  • Students appearing in the last year of a bachelor’s degree or proportional qualification are also qualified to apply.
  • Students appearing in the qualifying exam are required to process a certificate from the principal/registrar of their college most recent by 30th June 2017 expressing that the applicant has finished all the requirements for getting the bachelor’s degree/equivalent qualification.
Category Percentage
PWD 3%
ST 7.50%
SC 15%
OBC 27%

 

Qualifying Examinations:

Students need to qualify/appearing in any one of the following examinations to get   qualified for CAT:

  • Bachelor’s degree in engineering/technology or BE/B.Tech equivalent examinations of professional Societies, recognized by MHRD/UPSC/AICTE.
  • Any qualification recognized by AIU, New Delhi, which is equal to a bachelor’s degree granted by universities/colleges recognised by UGC.

Exam Pattern

There will be 3 Sections in CAT 2017

CAT Exam Format

Quantitative ability (QA)

34

Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR)

32

Verbal and Reading Comprehension (VARC)

34

Total No. of Questions

100

  • Duration of the examination will be 180 minutes. Some questions in each section (Quantitative Ability, Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning and Verbal and Reading Comprehension) may not be of MCQ type. In its place, direct answers are to be typed on the screen. Also, utilization of fundamental on-screen calculator will be allowed for calculation.
  • Applicants will be given exactly 60 minutes for answering questions in every division and they can't change from one section to another while answering questions in a section.
  • On-screen timer will mark remaining minutes for the test.
  • Three (3) points will be given for each right answer; one (1) point will be deducted for each wrong answer.
  • There is no penalty for questions that are left unanswered.

Exam Test Centers

Here are the CAT 2017 test centers:

Asansol

Coimbatore

Jalgaon

Shimoga

Burdwan

Madurai

Kolhapur

Tumkur

Bishnupur

Namakkal

Mumbai

Udupi

Durgapur

Ajmer

Nagpur

Belgaum

Howrah

Alwar

Nanded

Bengaluru

Kalyani

Jaipur

Nashik

Bidar

Hooghly

Jodhpur

Navi Mumbai

Chikballapur

Kolkata

Kota

Pune

Davanagere

Siliguri

Sikar

Ratnagiri

Hasan

Dehradun

Udaipur

Satara

Dhanbad

Roorkee

Fatehgarh Sahib

Solapur

Jamshedpur

Agra

Jalandhar

Thane

Ranchi

Ghaziabad

Ludhiana

Bhopal

Jammu

Gorakhpur

Mohali

Gwalior

Simla

Allahabad

Pathankot

Indore

Gurgaon

Bareilly

Patiala

Jabalpur

Palwal

Greater Noida

Ropar

Sagar

Panipath

Kanpur

Sangrur

Kasaragod

Rohtak

Mathura

Puducherry

Kochi

Sonipath

Meerut

Balasore

Kollam

Ambala

Lucknow

Berhampur

Kozhikode

Bahadurgarh

Varanasi

Bhubaneswar

Malappuram

Faridabad

Hyderabad

Cuttack

Thrissur

Ahmedabad

Karim Nagar

Rourkela

Trivandrum

Anand

Khammam

Sambalpur

Kolar

Gandhinagar

Chennai

Shillong

Mandya

Rajkot

Thanjavur

Ahmednagar

Mangalore

Surat

Tiruchirappalli

Amravati

Mysore

Vadodara

Tirunelvelli

Aurangabad

Ramnagara

Madgaon

Verna

New Delhi

Raipur

Bhillai

Chandigarh

Aurangabad

Gaya

Muzaffarpur

Patna

Purnea

Dibrugarh

Guwahati

Itanagar

Chittoor

Kurnool

Nellore

Tirupati

Vijayawada

Visakhapatnam

Port Blair