Mumbai: The submission of application for Common Admission Test (CAT) 2016, the most coveted national entrance for admission into India’s premier B-Schools including 20 Indian Institute of Management (IIMs), closes on 22 September 2016 (Thursday, 5 PM). CAT 2016 will be held on 4 December 2016 (Sunday).
CAT 2016 notification stated that two sessions will be held on the same day while the test will be conducted across 138 cities. The duration of the examination will be 180 minutes. There will be three sections: Section I for Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension; Section II for Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning; and Section III for Quantitative Ability. Here, we present the key seven trends and significant points of CAT.
20 IIMs with 3,400 seats: There are 20 Indian Institutes of Management with having nearly 3400 seats. More than two lakh candidates are expected to appear the test, who will compete to grab these seats. So, simply, 17.1 seats are available for 1000 candidates.
Other B-Schools grating admission on the basis of CAT: Apart from IIMs, there are more than B-Schools in India which grant admission on the basis of CAT percentile. A few of such institutes are FMS, Department of Management Studies of IITs, MDI, IMT, FORE, etc.
Admission of Fellow programmes in IIMs on the basis of CAT: The admission of fellow programmes (equivalent to PhD) of IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta, IIM Indore, IIM Kashipur, IIM Kozhikode, IIM Lucknow, IIM Raipur, IIM Ranchi, IIM Rohtak, IIM Tiruchirappalli, IIM Udaipur and EFPM programmes of IIM Kashipur and IIM Raipur are done on the basis of CAT score.
New feature in CAT 2016 for smoothening application process: For the very first time, CAT 2016 is providing with the option to correct mistakes, if any, encountered even after submission of the CAT Application. As per the notification, this response can be tracked between October 1st and October 5th, 2016. Candidates will have an option to correct details like Percentage of Marks scored, Work Experience, and Programmes Selected. No other details can be edited.
CAT 2016 results and shortlisting procedure: CAT 2016 results will be tentatively available starting second week of January, 2017 on the CAT official website. The list of candidates shortlisted for the next level of selection will be made available on the website of the respective IIMs. Each IIM will send interview letters to the shortlisted candidates directly. The criteria for shortlisting vary from IIM to IIM are independent.
Exam Pattern of CAT 2016 almost same as 2015: As per the notification, the duration of the examination will be 180 minutes. There will be three sections: Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension; Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning; Quantitative Ability. Some questions in each section may not be of multiple choice type. Instead, direct answers are to be typed on the screen.
All questions will carry equal marks of three (3) both MCQs (Multiple-Choice Questions) and Non-MCQs. There will be a negative mark of one (1) for an incorrect answer in MCQs only. For non-MCQs, 3 marks are assigned for ‘correct answer’ and no marks for ‘incorrect answer or no attempt’. Hence, there is no negative mark system in Non- MCQs. This pattern is almost similar to that of 2015.
CAT 2008 saw the highest registration of applications: The year 2008 saw the highest ever CAT applications from candidates. A total number of 2.90 lakh candidates applied for CAT 2008 where as last year total registration of applications stood at 2.18 lakh. The economic boom and increased confidence of Indian Inc were attributed for the sudden surge in CAT applications in 2008.
