CAT 2017 or Common Admission Test 2017 is an assessment exam that all students aspiring to study Management courses in India are aware of and most probably familiar with the courses and strategies as well. The nineteen IIM (Indian Institutes of Management) in India take turns to conduct the Common Admission Test every year. It is conducted every year to select students to study post- graduate courses in management.

This exam is generally considered a tough one and students commonly start preparing for the exam as much as a year before the actual exam. The preparation is also followed by the mock tests as the general perception suggests that it requires a lot of practice and time management skills to ace this exam.

Common Admission Test – CAT 2017

Admission for Indian students to the IIMs and mostly all good business schools is offered on the basis of performance of students in the Common Admission Test (CAT) and their overall percentile. Some other prestigious Management Institutions apart from IIMs that consider a candidate’s CAT percentile for admission are S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research (Mumbai), Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), MDI Gurgaon, IMT Ghaziabad, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi etc. However, the weightage given to the CAT scores may differ at different Management Institutes.

The CAT score and a lot of other factors together determine which Management Institutions the candidates will get a call from, for the next round of the admission process. Some important factors which are considered by these prestigious business schools include work experience of a candidate, over- all academic performance, participation in extracurricular activities, candidate’s performance in the Group Discussions (GD), writing assessment scores and Personal Interviews (P.I) etc.

Last year an estimated 2,04,370 students competed for approximately 1600 seats making it one of the most competitive exams in the country.

CAT 2017 Eligibility Criteria

The candidates interested in CAT 2017 must check that they fulfil the eligibility requirements before filling up the form and applying for the exam. Here is a list:

• Applicants must have secured at least 50% marks in their graduation or an equivalent score at an institution that is recognised by the Government of India. In case of applicants who belong to the reserved category such as Scheduled Caste (SC), Schedule Tribe (ST), Differently Abled (DA) and People with Disabilities (PWD), the minimum score requirement to appear in this exam has been reduced to 45%
• In case, an applicant’s degree issuing institution follows a different method of awarding scores such as grades/ CGPA, instead of marks in percentage format, the conversion of marks of such applicants will be done on the basis of conversion procedure recommended or followed by that respective university / Institute/ College. If any University happens not to have such a score conversion scheme then a standard procedure will be followed for converting CGPA to equivalent marks. The score equivalence will be drawn by dividing the applicant’s CGPA by the maximum CGPA possible. The result of which will then be multiplied with 100.
• Applicants who are currently in their final year of the under- graduate degree program or a degree program that is equivalent in nature and recognised by the Government of India or such applicants who have completed their final year but are still awaiting the results can also apply. Upon being selected, such candidates will be given the liberty to join the Management degree program provisionally. However, such candidates will be required to produce and submit their undergraduate qualifying degree certificate latest by June 30, 2018. The final score submitted should meet the primary requirements stated in the CAT eligibility criteria. Refer to the instruction provided on the CAT official website or bookmark this page for the latest updates on the eligibility criteria.
• IIMs will verify the legitimacy of the applicant’s documents and if they fulfil the eligibility requirements at various steps of the way. Please only furnish correct documents and information throughout the admission process. Any wrong or intentionally misleading information may result in the applicants’ candidature being rejected or the candidate being barred from taking the CAT exam in the future.

The selection procedure for IIMs is usually very intensive and rigorous and merely meeting the eligibility criteria is not enough to ensure a place at one of the IIMs or any top notch management institution. This information is being given here not to discourage prospective candidates but to encourage them to perform better academically and to prepare well for the exams if their dream is to study at one of the top business schools.

In the application, candidates are encouraged to provide a unique and working email ID and a phone number on which they can be easily approached and be available as most of the information related to the admission procedure is communicated online through email or phone notifications/ text messages.

Details about Reservation in CAT Exam

A definite number of seats are reserved for candidates belonging to any of these categories:

Candidates belonging to reserved categories listed above must read the information booklet carefully and abide by the rules laid down by the CAT conducting body. While the government has made provisions to accommodate people from all categories, the candidates belonging to all these categories will still have to fulfil the minimum eligibility criteria to write the exam as well as score a minimum required marks in the CAT exam to secure admission at one of the IIMs. The candidates belonging to the OBC category must check an updated list of caste included in Central List by the National Commission of Backward Classes, Government of India.

The list can be accessed on NCBC site.

Important Dates:

CAT 2017 Application Form:

Important instructions provided by the CAT conducting body for filling up the Common Admission Test 2017 application form are as follows:

• The first and most necessary step in filling up the CAT 2017 application form is registering on the official website of IIM CAT
• The candidates will have to pay a registration fee in order to successfully register on the website online for CAT 2017 entrance exam. General category applicants need to pay 1600/- INR while the reserved category (SC/ ST/ OBC/ DA/ PWD) candidates are required to pay a subsidised fee of 800/- INR only. The fee can be paid online through Net Banking or a Debit /Credit card transaction.
• In the next step, candidates are required to fill in the correct details about their educational qualifications, personal information, and category related information etc.
• In case, a candidate belongs to the reserved category (SC/ ST/ OBC/ DA/ PWD), they will have to upload a copy of their Caste/ DA/ PWD certificate on the website at the time of form submission. Failure to do so will result in rejection of the form as it will be considered incomplete. The same will have to be produced in original at the time of the interview and a copy of the certificate will have to be submitted at the time of admission. Again, a failure to produce the original copy or not- submission of a copy of the reserved category certificate of the candidate during admission will result in the rejection of an applicant’s candidature under the reserved category.
• Candidates applying for the reserved category status must pay proper attention to the CAT literature and must check that their tribe or caste is listed in the Central List issued by the Government of India, of the tribes and caste that are recognised as SC/ ST/ OBC by the government.

CAT 2017 Admit Card

CAT 2017 Admit card/ Hall Ticket will be made available for download on the official site of CAT.It is compulsory for the candidates to carry their admit card with them to the test centre on the day of the exam. Without the admit card, candidates will not be allowed entry to the test venue. The Admit card will have printed on it details of the candidate and the exam such as full name of the candidate and application number along with the test centre location and date & time of the test. To download the form candidates will have to enter their valid login details that they used while registering on the website for the test.

If a candidate has difficulty downloading the form from the website, he/ she can get in touch with the CAT Help Desk and they will help them resolve the issue.

CAT 2017 Paper pattern

In 2016, the duration of the CAT exam was increased by 10 minutes. Candidates are now given 180 minutes of total time instead of 170. In 2016, IIM Bangalore conducted the new CAT. The pattern has not been declared yet for CAT 2017 but most likely it will be the same as last year. Common Admission Test is a computer based test. The question paper will have multiple choice questions as well as some direct questions. Negative Marking Scheme will also be employed wherein 1 mark will be deducted for every question that is answered wrongly. However, the direct answer based questions will not have any negative marking scheme and candidates can freely attempt these questions.

Negative marking scheme will be applied only to the MCQs. From each section, approximately 10% of the total questions are likely to be the direct answer based.  For every question that is answered correctly, candidates will be awarded 4 marks.

The number of questions that will be asked on the test has been revised and re-distributed under three sections which are as follows:     

 CAT 2017 Syllabus

There isn’t any predefined syllabus for CAT 2017. However, going by the current pattern, CAT will have 3 sections, Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR), Verbal and Reading Comprehension (VARC) and Quantitative Ability (QA). It is important that students devote proper time and solve enough previous year questions to get a grip on the kind of questions that are usually asked in the exam. It is equally important for students to familiarise themselves with time management skills as it plays a vital role in improving a candidate’s performance on the actual exam.

The QA section will have questions from Speed, Time and Distance, Profit and Loss,  Geometry, Trigonometry, Probability, Number System, Permutation and Combination, Logarithmic Equations, HCF and LCM, Ratio, Quadratic and Linear Equations, Algebra, Mensuration, Percentages, progressions, Complex Numbers, Simple and Compound Interest. The DILR section will have questions from Logical Games, Calendars, Cubes, Tables, Graphical Representations, Charts and any diagrammatical representation Clocks, Blood Relations, Seating Arrangements etc. The VARC section will have questions from Grammar, Vocabulary, Reading Comprehension Critical Reasoning and Paragraph Formation etc.

CAT 2017 Results

CAT 2017 Results be declared in the second week of January 2018. Prior to that an answer key with be provided by the CAT conducting IIM, so that the candidates can have an idea of how they did on the exam. Also if the candidates feel that there is a problem with the answer key or the questions that were asked in the exam, the candidates can challenge the Answer Key by paying a nominal fee along with their application and proof against the wrong question asked in the exam or answer provided in the answer key.

Candidates will have to score a minimum marks percentage in each section to qualify for the next round of the selection process i.e G.D /P.I. The qualifying marks will be set in accordance with the performance of other candidates in the exam. Candidates can check their results on the official website of CAT 2017.  CAT 2017 admission process will begin in the first week of July 2018.

• Steps to check the CAT 2017 results are:
• Sign into your account on the official portal of CAT
• Click on the link that says ‘DOWNLOAD RESULTS’
• Enter your login details and solve the captcha correctly.
• As soon as the candidate will click submit, a new page will appear on the screen with the result.
• Download it and consider taking a print out of the result for use in the future.

CAT 2017 Selection Process

CAT is a highly competitive exam that can be quite rigorous. After the candidate is done through the first step of the selection process that is writing the CAT exam, they need to wait for the results of the first round. The next two rounds consist of a Group Discussion followed by a Personal Interview. Candidates need a high percentile, usually more than 99% to get a call from the top IIMs. The interview conversion rate is generally dependent on a lot of factors such as prior work experience of the candidate, CAT percentile, academic record etc. Every Institute has their own criteria that they consider while selecting a candidate. Some may give more preference to a candidate’s academic record while others may decide to give more importance to a candidate’s experience and ability to deal with stress.

 Read More about CAT 2018.

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