CAT 2024 - Syllabus, Eligibility, Application form, 2024 Notification

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Exam Summary

Exam Name Common Admission test
Commonly Known As CAT
Organizing Authority IIM Lucknow
Official Website https://iimcat.ac.in/per/g01/pub/756/ASM/WebPortal/1/index.html?756@@1@@1
Exam Type National Level Examination
Programs Offered MBA, PGDM
Mode of Exam Online
Number of questions Quantitative Aptitude- 34

Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning- 32

Verbal and Reading Comprehension- 34

Section Quantitative Aptitude

Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning

Verbal and Reading Comprehension

Total Marks 360
Type of questions MCQ
Exam duration 2 session of 3 hours each
Eligibility Criteria At least 50% in graduation (45% for SC/ST/PwD)
Exam Date 25th November 2018

What is CAT?

Common Admission Test (CAT) is conducted by the Indian Institutes of Management. The exam gives candidates an opportunity to pursue a course in management from the IIMs. A point to be noted is that different IIMs give different weight age to the CAT score and also consider other parameters like work experience, performance in group discussion and personal interview to determine the results.

Every year this exam is conducted by one of the IIMs on a rotational basis. For the year 2017, the test paper was set by IIM Lucknow. Additionally, the Indian Institutes of Technology and the Indian Institute of Science have also started using the CAT score for admission into their university.

Over 2,30,000 aspirants applied for this examination in 2017. The CAT score is valid for one year only.

Pattern of CAT 2018

The subjects, number of questions in each subject and the allotted time for each section is as follows:

Subject No. of questions Marks Duration
Quantitative Aptitude 34 120 60 minutes
Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning 32 120 60 minutes
Verbal and Reading Comprehension 34 125 60 minutes
Total 100 360 180 minutes

Each section has a time limit and it is important that the candidates finish the particular section in the allotted time as they will not be able to go back to the section once the timer runs out. The candidates cannot switch between sections and have to answer the sections in the prescribed order.

Duration: The exam is held in two sessions on the given day, the first session from 10 AM to 1 PM and the second session from 2 PM to 5 PM.

Marks: For every right answer the candidate will be awarded 3 points and for every wrong answer, 1 point will be deducted for the MCQ type questions.

However, it is possible that some of the questions asked in the CAT exam are not of the MCQ type. They are “Type in the answer (TITA)” type questions where a candidate will have to type in the answer to the questions with no options being provided. For these kinds of questions, there will be no negative marking.

The exam does not contain any subjective questions. Rather it evaluates a candidate’s aptitude and language skills.

Candidates can also access the mock test to assess their preparation level.

CAT 2018 Eligibility

  • Applicants must have a Bachelor’s degree in any discipline from a recognized university and should have scored the minimum required marks.
  • CA, CS, and ICWA degree holders can also apply.
  • In the Bachelor’s course, the candidate should have scored a minimum of 50%. For candidates belonging to SC, ST and PwD groups, the minimum score is 45%.
  • Students in their final year can also apply for this exam.

CAT 2018 Application and submission procedure

Interested candidates should go to the official site and fill up the application form. The application form will be available at the official website.

  • First and foremost the candidates have to register themselves by providing their official email id and mobile number.
  • Once this is done, the candidate will be given a username and password that can be used to login to their id.
  • Next, with the use of the provided credentials (username and password); they need to login to their account and fill up the application form. Specifically, the application form is divided into 5 sections – personal details, academics, work experience, programs, and payment.

Usually, the application form is released in the month of August and remains open until September. The candidate will be asked to fill in some basic information like their name, age, gender, guardian’s information etc. The candidate also has to select the city where one will be taking the exam. The exam is conducted in almost 140 cities with multiple test centers in a single city and the candidate can select the city that suits them the best.

Additionally, the candidate has to select 4 test centers. This is done so that the candidates can be accommodated in other test centers if there is no availability in their first choice of test center. Once the candidate fills in these details, he/she will have to upload a few documents.

The following are the necessary documents:

  • Scanned image of photograph
  • Scanned image of the signature
  • Scanned image of the SC/ ST/ PwD certificate

Once the candidate finishes uploading the required documents, he/she will be taken to the payment page for the exam fee. For candidates belonging to the general and NC – OBC category, the application fee amounts to Rs. 1800. For SC/ ST/ and PWD candidates, the fee amounts to Rs. 900. The application fees can be paid through online mode only, either using a debit card, credit card or net banking.

Once all the above steps have been completed, the candidate has to submit the application form. The IIMs also provide ways to correct any mistakes that the candidates make while filling up the form. Usually, once the application closes, candidates are given three to four days to make any changes or correct any unintentional mistakes made while filling up the form.

It is recommended that the applicant should be extremely careful while filling up the form and provide correct and accurate details. Additionally, they are also recommended to take a printout of the application form for future reference.

CAT 2018 Admit Card

The admit cards for the exam are usually released on 25th October and candidates have a month, until 26th November to download the admit cards. It is important that the candidate carry the admit card while appearing for the exam. Admit card has the following details about the candidate:

  • Name
  • Gender
  • Test date
  • Venue
  • Timings of the exam

The admit card contains the necessary details required by the candidate to gain entry into the exam hall and hence it is an important document. The candidates have to be present at the test center 1 hour and 30 minutes prior to the exam with a copy of the admit card and a photo identity proof. The identity proof can either be an aadhaar card, pan card, the passport or any government issued photo id.

CAT 2018 Admission Procedure

Securing an admission into the IIMs is seen to be a tedious and a drawn-out process. The selection procedure and the ranking depend on the cut off marks decided by the conducting institutions, namely the IIMs. Usually, this is calculated using a lot of variables like the number of seats available, number of students appearing for the exam, exam difficulty etc.

Cut off marks is different for different IIMs. Additionally, the cut off also varies based on the categories like SC, ST, NC-OBBC etc.  The results will be announced during the 2nd week of January 2018 and is published on their official website.

Each IIM has its own rules and regulations when it comes to admissions. CAT is just the first step in the admission process. Candidates, who clear the online exam, have to go through numerous interviews and group discussions to secure a place at the IIMs. Some IIMs also conduct a written ability test to filter out students.

CAT score is an important factor in determining the level of difficulty for the next rounds. Once a candidate clears these rounds, he/she can proceed through with the payment of fees for the course that they have chosen.

CAT 2018 Notification

The Common Admission Test (CAT exam) is an annually conducted management examination. The notification of the exam for 2018 has not yet been published. It is usually published on the official site of the examination. The notification for CAT examination 2017 was released on 30th July 2017.

CAT 2018 Syllabus

The CAT examination does not have a fixed or defined syllabus but it is divided into 4 sections mainly quantitative ability, data interpretation, verbal ability and logical reasoning. The contents of the CAT examination are based on general or basic knowledge of the subjects that the candidates have studied.

  • Quantitative ability or mathematics usually contains the topics from 10th and 12th level standard and fundamental mathematics.
  • Data interpretation contains problem which the candidate has to solved through accuracy and understanding the data given.
  • Verbal ability and English contains the Standard English grammar and comprehension questions.
  • Logical reasoning basic reactions or test to know how a candidate reacts to the given situation.

The detailed syllabus of the examination is as follows:

Quantitative ability Data interpretation Verbal ability and English Logical reasoning
Geometry Graph (line, area) Verbal Reasoning Direction Sense
Number system Interpretation and Analysis of data based on text Antonyms and synonyms Clocks and calendars
Interest Chart (column, bar, Pie) Sentence correction Puzzles
Quadric and linear equation Tables Fill in the blanks Binary logic
Probability Paragraph Critical thinking and reasoning Sitting arrangement
Trigonometry Venn diagram Syllogism Coding decoding
Time and work Analogies Blood relations
Percentages Idioms Logical sequence
Profit and loss Data Structure
Algebra Assumption
LCM and HCF Premise
Averages Conclusion
Permutation Linear matrix arrangement
Ratio and proportions
Complex numbers

CAT 2018 Important Dates

The date for the CAT 2018 has not yet published. Below are last year’s exam dates.

EVENTS DATES (2017)
Notifications regarding the exam 30TH JULY 2017
Application form availability 9TH AUGUST 2017
Last date of correction of applications 27TH – 30TH SEPTEMBER 2017
Last date for submission of applications 30TH SEPTEMBER 2017
Availability of the admit card 25TH OCTOBER – 25TH NOVEMBER 2017
Mock Test 30TH OCTOBER 2017
Date of Exam 26TH NOVEMBER 2017
Availability of Answer key 7TH DECEMBER 2017
Date of Result (EXPECTED BY) 9TH JANUARY 2018

The important days and events for CAT examination 2018 may be as follows.

The dates provided for the examination for the year 2018 are tentative.

The registration for the examination may commence from the second week of August 2018.  Registration for the same may end by the second or third week of September 2018. Admit cards will be available to students by the third week of October 2018 and its distribution may end by the fourth week of November 2018. The CAT examination will be held around the third week of November 2018.  The results will be declared by the second week of January 2019.

List of CAT 2018 Exam Centers

The CAT examination is conducted in across around 140 cities of India. The name and address of the test centers will be printed on the admit card of the candidate. The candidates can check their test centers or exam cities from the official site.

Some of the examination centers are in the following cities:

Puducherry Muzaffarpur Solapur Port Blair
Panipat  Kolar Vijayawada Kurnool
Madurai  Ratnagiri Dhanbad Rohtak
Bareilly  Patna Amravati Ahmednagar
 Ajmer  Satara Visakhapatnam Sonipat
Jodhpur  Chandigarh Jamshedpur Kolhapur
Kota  Mangalore Aurangabad Nellore
 Udaipur  Solapur Chittoor Shimla
Agra  Bhilai Ranchi Nashik
Noida  Mysore Jalgaon Tirupati
Meerut  Shillong Bangalore Asansol
Lucknow  Madgaon Kolhapur Roorkee
Kanpur  Raipur Belgaum Khammam
Durgapur New Delhi Mumbai Tirunelveli
Kalyani Malappuram Guwahati Tiruchirappalli
Kolkata Jalandhar Bidar Palwal
Howrah Bhopal Nagpur Bahadurgarh
Siliguri  Faridabad Silchar  Sagar
Dehradun  Pathankot Aurangabad  Rupa
Coimbatore  Patiala Nashik Patiala
Karimnagar Rajkot Hassan Mohali
Kanpur Pune Jammu Thanjavur

CAT 2018 Contact Details

The cat 2018 contact information is as follows:

Official website:  www.iim.ac.in

Address:

C/o admissions office,

Indian Institute of Management Bangalore,

Bannerghatta Main Road, Bilekhalli,

Bengaluru- 560076

Karnataka, India

Phone number: 0522-6696676

Email: cat2017@iiml.ac.in

Phone number or Helpdesk number (toll-free number):  1800-266-3549(Monday to Saturday from 9:00AM TO 5:30PM)

Helpdesk email: cathelpdesk@iimcat.ac.in

Colleges accepting CAT 2018

The top ten colleges accepting CAT exam scores are as follows:

CAT 2018 Results

The result will be available on the official website of the examination. The result for the CAT examination 2017 is likely to be released on 9th January 2018.

CAT 2018 Cut off

About 2.31 lakh candidates registered for the CAT examination 2017.

Gyayak Jain from Indore who is currently studying in IIM Ahmedabad scored 100 percentile in CAT 2017 examination and securing the top position.

Pranjal Agarwal student of IIM Ahmedabad 2016-2018 batch was the topper of CAT examination, by cracking CAT with 100 percentile in the year 2016.

The cutoff has been published by various IIM institutes of the country.

The cutoff is the minimum marks which the candidate has to secure in the examination to qualify for the same.  The cutoff depends on various factors such as availability of seats, number of candidates, marks secured by the candidate in the examination, the difficulty level of the exam etc.

The CAT cutoff is expected to go high this year as the difficulty level will increase. Usually, the top IIMs and business schools have CAT cut off over 99 percentile but new IIMs and other business schools have cut off ranging from 90 percentile or above. Whereas the business schools belonging to the second and fourth tier of the examination can range the cutoff from 50 to 80 percentile.

The CAT 2017 cut off for various IIM institutes, in general, is as follows:

CATEGORY QUANTITATIVE ABILITY DATA INTERPRETATION AND LOGICAL REASONING VERBAL ABILITY OVERALL
GENERAL 70 – 85 75 – 85 70 – 85 80 – 90
OBC/ NC-OBC 60 – 75 60 – 80 60 – 75 75 – 80
SC 40 – 75 50 – 80 40 – 75 50 – 75
ST 50 – 75 40 – 72 40 – 75 50 – 75
DA/ PwD 40 – 60 35 – 70 35 – 65 45 – 75

*The scores are in percentile rank.

The cut-off the some of the top business schools are as follows:

Business-School CAT Cutoff (expected)
Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi (FMS) 98.20 Percentile
DMS IIT, Delhi 98+ Percentile
SJMSOM IIT, Bombay 99+ Percentile
Department of management studies IIT, Madras 95+ Percentile
Management Development Institute, Gurgaon (MDI) 95+ Percentile
SP Jain Institute of Management and Research, Mumbai (SPJIMR) 85+ Percentile
Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (XIMB) 90+ Percentile
Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad (IMT) 90+ Percentile
National Institute of Industrial Engineering, Mumbai (NITIE) 95+ Percentile
T A Pai management institute, Manipal (TAPMI) 85+ Percentile
Loyola Institute Of Business Administration, Chennai (LIBA) 90+ Percentile

CAT 2018 Score Validity

The CAT examination score is generally valid for one year. The CAT 2017 score is valid until 31st December 2018.

CAT 2018 Reservation & Seat distribution

The reservation seat distribution percentage is fixed by the central government. No change will be done unless there is a change made by the central government. 47.5% of the seats are for the general and other category candidates.

SEAT DISTRIBUTION FOR ADMISSION

CAT 2018 Counselling schedule

The CAT counselling is conducted by various IIM institutes starting from the third week of June 2018.  The counselling starts soon after the results are declared online at the official site.

The candidates must register themselves for the web counselling at the official website of the examination. The qualifying candidates will be personally called by the Institute for counselling.

The counselling session may have spot admission as an extension.

Around 19 (Indian Institute of Management) IIMs participate in the counselling session.

EVENTS DATES
CAT COUNSELLING BEGINS Third week of January 2018
REGISTERING AND CHOICE LOCKING Third week of January 2018
REPORTING TO IIM Fourth week of January 2018

CAT 2018 Sample Paper

Candidates can check the cat answer key of the examination by visiting the official website of cat 2017 and login with their ID and password. They can download the PDF form of the answer key and check the correct options.

Solving the mock question papers will give the candidates a brief idea about the paper pattern and types of questions.

Candidates can apply for mock test from the official website of the examination.

 

 

 

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