The Common Admission Test (CAT) is administered by the
Indian Institutes of Management as an entrance exam for the
management programmes of its seven business schools. In 2007 there
were over 220,000 candidates competing for about 1,500 places in
the seven IIM business schools.
The seven IIM business schools are: IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore,
IIM Calcutta, IIM Indore, IIM Kozhikode, IIM Lucknow, IIM Shillong
The CAT covers
numerical reasoning and
verbal reasoning as well as
English language skills. The total number of questions has varied
over the years and has gradually decreased to 75 in 2006 and 2007.
Since 2006 the duration of the CAT has been extended to two and a
half hours. The test is multiple choice and even though there are
relatively few questions it is impossible to answer them all in
the time allowed. This means that candidates must be able to
prioritise which questions to attempt in the light of their own
known strengths.
The CAT is held annually on the third Sunday of November and is
the first step for admission to the IIMs. CAT scores are relative
and are calculated on a percentile basis for individual sections
as well as for the overall total. Candidates invited for the next
stage usually possess total scores that are in the 99th percentile
and are well balanced across all three of the individual topic
areas.
The CAT has 75 questions which are spread equally across three
topic areas. Each questions has five answer options and there is a
maximum of 4 marks per question. Note that one mark is deducted
for each incorrect answer.
Some of the more prestigious colleges which accept CAT scores for
admission are:
Institute of Management
Technology Ghaziabad
Institute of Management, Nirma
University, Ahmedabad.
Management Development Institute
(MDI), Gurgaon
Mudra Institute of Communications
Ahmedabad (MICA), Ahmedabad
National Institute of Industrial
Engineering (NITIE), Mumbai
National Insurance Academy School
of Management (NIASoM), Pune
S. P. Jain Institute of
Management and Research (SPJIMR), Mumbai
T.A.Pai Management Institute (TAPMI),
Manipal
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