Understanding CAT

    15-Sep-2021
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Ranjan K Baruah
Contd from previous issue
Admission to the two year post graduate programmes in IIMs is based on merit and involves a rigorous selection process consisting of a Personal Interview, Written Ability Test/Group Discussions, and scores in the Common Admission Test which is commonly known as CAT. CAT is a management aptitude test conducted by the IIMs primarily to evaluate and shortlist candidates for the post graduate programme. It is a computer-based exam and a candidate has to follow the due process of registering in order to appear for this exam conducted once a year.IIMs are leading institutions providing management education in India with the older IIMs having been established more than 50 years ago. Today, there are 20 IIMs established in different parts of India.
Bachelors from different fields may appear for the CAT. The candidate must hold a Bachelor’s Degree, with at least 50% marks or equivalent CGPA 45% in case of candidates belonging to the Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Persons with Disability (PwD) categories], awarded by any University or educational institution as incorporated by an Act of Parliament or State legislature in India or declared to be deemed as a University under Section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956, or possess an equivalent qualification recognised by the Ministry of HRD, Government of India. The percentage of marks obtained by the candidate would be calculated based on the practice as followed by the respective University/Institution.
As per the legal requirements, 15% of the seats are reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates, 7.5% for Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates, 27% for Other Backward Classes candidates belonging to the “Non-Creamy” layer (NC-OBC), up to 10% for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) candidates and 5% for Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwD). (To be contd)