About CAT

CAT: Common Admission Test

CAT is a test of general skills and abilities that you have acquired over time.The CAT is one of many factors Business Schools in India use when reviewing applications for admission,it is typically balanced with work experience,group discussion and an interview.Still a candidate's performance on the test goes a long way towards determining whether or not he/ she should be admitted to his/ her school of choice, these other admissions criteria also play a pivotal role.
This is an examination created and administered by the IIM's (Indian Institute Of Management). There are six IIM in India which takes CAT as the basis for admission to the Business School. Apart from IIM's several other B-Schools accept CAT score as eligibility for the admission.
Ex: SP Jain, MICA, MDI & T A Pai.

→ CAT Overview
→ Eligibility
→ Programs
→ The Test

CAT Overview


The exam measures basic
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Quantitative Aptitude
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Verbal ability,
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Comprehension,
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Data Interpretation, Reasoning and Data Sufficiency.

It does not measure:
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Your business skills
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Your job related skills
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Your undergraduate course work,
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Any other quality such as team work, creativity, communication and professional skills.

Note: Do not get confused by the above statements. Some of them may be valid at the time of interview and can differ across different schools.

Eligibility 

The candidate must hold a Bachelor’s Degree, with at least 50% marks or equivalent CGPA [45% in case of the candidates belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC)/ Scheduled Tribe (ST) or Persons with Disability (PWD) category], of any of the Universities incorporated by an act of the central or state legislature in India or other educational institutions established by an act of Parliament or declared to be deemed as a University under section 3 of UGC Act, 1956, or possess an equivalent qualification recognized by the Ministry of HRD, Government of India.

Note : Candidates appearing for the final bachelor's degree / equivalent qualification examination can also apply. Such candidates must produce a certificate from the Head of the Department / Registrar / certifying that the candidate has obtained 50% marks or equivalent (45% in case of candidates belonging to SC/ST/PWD category) based on latest available grades/marks.
If selected, such candidates will be allowed to join the program provisionally only if they submit a certificate latest by June 30, 2007 for the 2007 batch, from the Principal/Registrar of their college/institute stating that they have completed all the requirements (the results may, however, be awaited) for obtaining the bachelor's degree/ equivalent qualification on the date of issue of the certificate.

Programs 

Post Graduate Programs in Management (PGP)
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IIM Ahmedabad PGP, PGP-ABM and PGP-PMP
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IIM Bangalore PGP and PGSEM
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IIM Calcutta PGP-PGDM and PGP-PGDCM
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IIM Indore PGP and Exec-PGP
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IIM Kozhikode PGP
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IIM Lucknow PGP and PGP-ABM


The Test Top

Number of questions and sometimes pattern varies from year to year. The test comprised 90 questions divided into 3 sections in the year 2005. Typically as the past historical record shows this test can be expected to comprise between 100 to 150 objective type questions and is usually divided into three to four sections. The duration of the test is of 120 minutes.
Each question has a question statement followed by four alternate answer choices and the candidate has to choose the best answer for each of the questions. There is negative marking in the CAT paper and for every wrong answer a certain score is deducted from your total. The IIMs do not disclose the way they calculate the negative marks for the wrong answers. 

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