Common Admission Test (CAT) for Management Admissions: Eligibility, application & registration process

If you are looking for Management Admissions in top IIMs in India, then you need to appear for Common Admission Test (CAT). Apart from IIMs, many Non-IIM Colleges & B-Schools in India which accepts CAT Scores for shortlisting of candidates.

CAT entrance exam is conducted by Indian Institute of Managements for admissions to various Post Graduate and Fellow Programmes. CAT entrance test is conducted once in a year and the exam date for CAT falls usually in the month of October-November.

IIM Management Programmes: Post Graduate Courses & Fellow Programmes

Here is the list of various management programmes of IIMs.

IIM Post Graduate Programmes in Management

The following programmes in management is equivalent to MBA.
IIM Ahmedabad - PGP and PGP-ABM
IIM Bangalore - PGP, PGP-EM and PGPPM
IIM Calcutta - PGP-PGDM and PGP-PGDCM
IIM Indore - PGP and EPGP
IIM Kashipur - PGP and EPGP
IIM Kozhikode - PGP
IIM Lucknow - PGP and PGP-ABM
IIM Raipur - PGP and PGPWE
IIM Ranchi - PGDM and PGDHRM
IIM Rohtak - PGP
RGIIM Shillong - PGP
IIM Tiruchirappalli - PGP and PGPBM
IIM Udaipur - PGP

IIM Fellow Programme in Management

The FPM programmes (IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta, IIM Indore, IIM Kozhikode, IIM Lucknow, IIM Raipur, IIM Ranchi, IIM Tiruchirappalli) are equivalent to Ph.D.

Eligibility criteria for CAT entrance exam

Candidates with Bachelor's Degree having not less than 50% marks or equivalent CGPA (45% for SC/ST/PWD) are eligible to apply.

Also candidates who are appearing for final year of Bachelor's Degree or equivalent qualification and those who are awaiting for results also can apply. Such candidates who are selected will be allowed to join upon providing the proof of qualifying examination on the prescribed date as instructed on the notification.

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IIM Admission Procedure

Next to CAT entrance, each IIM follows it's own selection process for admissions to IIM which might include WAT, GD and Personal Interview and also the academic cut-offs and weightage varies across IIMs.

CAT exam syllabus and pattern

CAT exam aims to test candidates logical, numerical, analytical and linguistic abilities. CAT entrance test has two sections. Time given to complete each section is 70 minutes to answer 30 questions each. The first section is Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation and second section has Verbal Ability & Logical Reasoning.

There will be a 15 minute tutorial - a kind of practice test for CAT, before the exam starts, so as to facilitate students to be familiar with screens, layout, navigation, timed sections. So the total time duration given to complete CAT entrance including tutorial is 2 hours and 35 minutes.

During the exam, candidates should not carry any kind of papers for rough work to the test venues, but they will be given a scratch paper to do calculations. They need to leave the scratch paper at the desk after the completion of the test.

CAT Application & Registration Process

The CAT online registration consists of two steps. Purchase of CAT Vouchers and registration process. Candidates can either purchase CAT e-voucher online or can purchase offline through Axis Bank Branches, on payment of prescribed application fees for CAT. The applicants should buy only one CAT voucher irrespective of the number of institutes he/she is applying for.

Have a valid email id before you register online for CAT exam. Visit the official website of CAT, create a profile, dully fill the CAT application and schedule your test. Upon completion, you will get a confirmation page with edit option to correct the mistakes done during the registration process. If all information is correct click I am done button to end the process.

You will get admit card for CAT and application summary on your mail within 24 hours time. Also you have the option to print your CAT admit card on the confirmation page. Candidates should take the admit card for CAT exam without which you will not be allowed to take up the test.

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