Common Admission Test (CAT) is considered to be the toughest nut to crack, among all the management exams. Good performance in CAT ensures good chances in the IIMs and over a hundred other top MBA institutes. CAT which was held every year on the third Sunday of November in a paper pencil format has now been changed to computer based test from the year 2009. The CAT 2009 entrance exam was held in a span of 13 days in two phases.
CAT over the last 3 years: An Analysis
Duration:- Two and half hours
Area of Test:- Quantitative Ability, Verbal Ability and Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning.
Level:- Generally difficult
Popular for:- Throwing surprises every year.
Let’s have a look at the last three year’s CAT structure and difficulty levels.
Year | Sections | No. of Questions | Difficulty level |
2007 | Quantitative Ability Verbal Ability Logical Reasoning and Data Interpretation | 25×3 = 75 | Difficult |
2008 | Quantitative Ability Verbal Ability Logical Reasoning and Data Interpretation | DI 25, QA 25, VA 40 | Difficult |
2009 | Quantitative Ability Verbal Ability Logical Reasoning and Data Interpretation | 20×3 = 60 | Moderate -Easy |
CAT 2009 paper analysis
The overall test was of easy to moderate difficulty level. It was more or less same for all the sections. Quant was easy, followed by Verbal and DI. One important change observed was the jumbling of questions within the sections i.e., one type of questions were not coming together.
The Quant questions were from conventional areas. This section consisted of questions from number system, algebra, mensuration, and commercial math.
The Verbal Ability section was also of medium difficulty level and consisted of questions from conventional topics. RCs, Sentence Rearrangement, Sentence Correction, Sentence Completion and Critical Reasoning were some such topics.
The Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning section was dominated by Data Sufficiency (DS) questions. DS questions were verbose and lengthy. So they were time consuming and required a lot of concentration.
CAT Eligibility
The candidate must hold a Bachelor’s Degree, with at least 50 per cent marks or equivalent CGPA [45 per cent in case of the candidates belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Differently Abled (DA)categories], awarded by 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 the UGC Act, 1956, or possess an equivalent qualification recognized by the Ministry of HRD, Government of India.
The percentage of marks obtained by the candidate in the bachelor’s degree would be calculated based on the practice followed by the university/institution from where the candidate has obtained the degree. In case the candidates are awarded grades/CGPA instead of marks, the conversion of grades/CGPA to percentage of marks would be based on the procedure certified by the university/ institution from where they have obtained the bachelor's degree. In case the university/ institution does not have any scheme for converting CGPA into equivalent marks, the equivalence would be established by dividing the candidate’s CGPA by the maximum possible CGPA and multiplying the result with 100.
Candidates appearing for the final year of bachelor’s degree/equivalent qualification examination and those who have completed degree requirements and are awaiting results can also apply.
CAT Application Process
The candidates should first buy the CAT voucher. Registration should be done online in www.catiim.in. Candidates must have a valid email id as IIMs will do all the communications by that email id only.
Expected Dates for CAT 2010
CAT 2009 was held in a 10 day window in the computer based exam from Saturday, November 28, 2009 to Monday, December 8, 2009. The second phase of exam of exam was held on Saturday, January 30 and Sunday, January 31, 2010.
The deadlines for CAT 2010 are as follows:
Sale of CAT 2010 Vouchers: Monday, 30 August 2010 - Monday, 27 September 2010
Registration for CAT 2010: Monday, 30 August 2010 - Thursday, 30 September 2010
CAT 2010 Exam Dates: October 27 to November 23, 2010.
CAT 2010 Result: Wednesday 12 January 2011
Participating Institutes
The CAT exam is the common entrance exam of the seven existing IIM institutes in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Lucknow, Indore, Kozhikode and Shillong, and the new IIMs at Ranchi and Trichy.
Apart from the IIMs, there are more than 151 non-IIM institutes that are registered for accepting CAT scores.
Some of the leading MBA institutes that use CAT entrance exam scores are:-
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