CAT EXAM

CAT exam is a highly competitive exam and almost a quarter of a million students appear for it every year. Only a handful of the total applicants make it to their preferred institute. For the CAT exam, it is important to note certain details before registration. The important exam details that should be checked are:

What is the CAT Exam?

CAT Exam Date

CAT Exam Eligibility

CAT Exam Pattern

CAT Syllabus

CAT Registration

Eligibility Verification

Admission Process

All these details about the CAT are explained below. Before going through the CAT exam details, it is important to note what the CAT exam actually is and why it is important.

What is the CAT Exam?

CAT Exam (Common Admission Test) is a computer-based selection test conducted by the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) as a prerequisite for admissions to their business administration programs. Apart from the IIMs, the CAT is also a prerequisite for admissions into numerous other prestigious management colleges across India, which include institutes like S.P Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR), Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), Management Development Institute (Gurgaon), Institute of Management Technology (IMT), Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS), International Management Institute (IMI), National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE) and several others.

CAT Exam Dates & Events

CAT 2021 Event Description	Event Date
CAT Exam Online Registration Start Date	August 4, 2021
CAT Exam Online Registration Close Date	September 22, 2021
CAT Admit Card Release Date	October 27, 2021
CAT exam Date	November 28, 2021
CAT Exam Result Declaration	2nd Week of January, 2022

For CAT 2017, IIM Lucknow officially released the CAT 2017 results on January 8, 2018. For CAT 2018, IIM Calcutta prepared their release of CAT 2018 results and released on January 5, 2019 following its leak on January 1. CAT 2019 results were declared on January 4, 2020. So, it can be expected that the results for CAT 2021 will be declared by the second week of January 2022 by the conducting IIM.

CAT Exam Eligibility

To be able to get eligible for CAT, candidates need to fulfil the following criterion:

Should Hold a Bachelor’s Degree and have secured a minimum of 50% marks or equivalent CGPA. The students belonging to any of the reserved categories like Scheduled Tribe (ST), Scheduled Caste (SC), and Persons with Disability (PWD) or Differently Abled (DA) category must have at least 45% marks.

The degree has to be awarded by any of the Universities included by an act of the central or a state legislature in India, or any other educational institutions established by an act of Parliament or are declared to be deemed as a University under Section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956, or hold an equivalent qualification recognized by the MHRD, India.

Applicants who are appearing for the final year of their bachelor’s degree and the candidates who have completed their graduation degree requirements and are awaiting results are also eligible to apply. If selected, candidates will be allowed to join the program provisionally, only if he/ she submits a certificate from the Principal/Registrar of her/his College/Institute (issued on or before June 30, 2021) mentioning that the particular candidate has completed all the requirements for obtaining the bachelor’s degree/equivalent qualification on the date when the certificate was issued.

CAT Exam Pattern

The paper pattern for the CAT exam has changed several times in the past. The CAT 2021 exam pattern with respect to the total marks and no. of sections will be similar to CAT 2020. A brief detail about the pattern is given.

Total Questions in CAT Exam	64-76
Total Marks	192-228
Total Sections	3
Total Duration	120 Minutes
Negative Marking	-1 for Each Incorrect Attempt
Sectional Details	Quantitative Aptitude, Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension, and Logical Reasoning & Data Interpretation

CAT Exam Syllabus

For the CAT exam, there is no predefined syllabus. The syllabus is mainly from the middle school topics of Maths, and English with some generic logical reasoning questions. A few of the details of CAT syllabus are:

CAT Quantitative Aptitude: The syllabus for CAT quantitative aptitude mainly includes topics from class 8-10 like geometry, algebra, number system, etc.

CAT Logical Reasoning & Data Interpretation: The logical reasoning section is very generic and a wide variety of questions based on seating arrangement, direction sense test, etc. are included. The data interpretation section includes questions mostly based on data caselets and graphs.

CAT Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension: In this section, comprehension passages are given followed by a few questions. Apart from that, few of the grammar-based questions like sentence completion, jumbled sentences, etc. are asked.

CAT Exam Registration

CAT exam registration is only available online. The application form is released by the conducting IIM on the official CAT website and applicants are required to fill out the details. The CAT 2021 registration was released on August 4, 2021 and the last date to fill the CAT registration form was till September 22, 2021.. A correction window is given to CAT aspirants. For CAT 2021, the correction window was given to CAT applicants from September 25, 2021 to September 27, 2021. It is important for the candidates to be careful while filling the details as any discrepancies later may result in the cancellation of the complete application. The complete details about the registration process are available in the linked article.

Eligibility Verification

If an applicant is shortlisted for WAT and PI by any of the IIMs, he/she has to comply with the following eligibility verification:

Marksheets and Degree Certificate

Shortlisted candidates are required to produce all the original mark sheets and submit attested photocopies in support of their eligibility at the time of their interview. Also, if a candidate is selected for a particular programme, he/she is also required to submit the original degree certificate and marksheets of all semesters/years along with their respective attested copies at the time of joining the programme.

Reservation Category Requirements

For ST, SC, NC-OBC and DA candidates, if shortlisted, are required to show their original caste/class and/or Disability certificate and submit a copy of the certificate at the time of the interview. Also, a candidate selected for a programme will have to submit the original certificate of qualifying degree and attested copy of the same for verification.

Candidates in the Final Year of Graduation

Candidates appearing for the final year bachelor’s degree or equivalent qualification examination are required to produce an original certificate from the Principal/Registrar/Director of the University/institution certifying that the candidate has obtained 50% marks or equivalent (45% for the SC, ST, and DA category candidates) based on latest available grades/marks at the time of interview. He/she is also required to submit an attested copy of the original certificate (for category candidates).

For the Post Graduate Programmes of IIMs, if the candidates are selected, they will be allowed to join the programme PROVISIONALLY ONLY if they submit a certificate from the Registrar/Principal of their college/institute mentioning that they have completed all the necessary requirements including appearing for supplementary exams, if any (the results may, however, be awaited) for obtaining the bachelor’s degree/ equivalent qualification on the date of issue of the certificate. Also, one must obtain at least 50% marks or equivalent grade and should submit an attested copy of the graduation marksheets and their qualifying degree certificate.

The deadline for submission of the mark sheet and the certificate is December 31, 2021 (Tentative). IIMs also state that “NON FULFILLMENT OF THIS CONDITION WILL AUTOMATICALLY RESULT IN THE CANCELLATION OF THE PROVISIONAL ADMISSION.” In such cases, provisional admission will also be cancelled if it is found that the certificate is incorrect or has any discrepancies later. IIM does not allow any individual to join any of their programmes in case a candidate fails to complete all the requirements for a bachelor degree on or before June (last week) 2021. After June 2021, the IIMs would allow admissions to any candidate.

Admission Process

It should be noted that each IIM shortlists their own candidates for their second stage of selection. The selection process includes a Written Ability Test (WAT) and a Personal Interview (PI). The performance of individuals in the CAT 2021 exam will be an important component in the overall selection process. IIMs also consider previous academic records of the candidates, relevant work experience and other similar inputs while shortlisting and ranking the candidates at various stages during the admission process. The processes, academic cut-offs and the weights allocated to the evaluation parameters may vary across IIMs. For more information, one may refer to the admissions policies on the respective IIM’s website. AsCAT exam is a very competitive exam, it is important that candidates should be well prepared for it.