By Jyothi Swaroop Makena
15th June, 2023
Common Admission Test or CAT is a national-level management aptitude test that the IIM conducts for admission to the MBA courses offered by its 20 campuses and over 1,200 B-schools in India.
The CAT exam is conducted on a single day in three sessions at about 400 test centres in 150 cities across India. CAT exam for MBA is conducted by the top six IIMs on rotation basis. Last year it was conducted by IIM Bangalore.
Registration will start in the month of August 2023. Students can download their admit card tentatively in the month of October. The exam is tentatively supposed to be conducted in the month of Noverber.
Do Only IIMs Accept CAT Scores?
There is a common misconception that only IIMs accept CAT scores. But this is not true. Besides IIMs, SPJIMR, FMS, MDI, IMT and over 1,200 B-Schools in India accept CAT scores. The courses one can opt for after CAT are MBA/PGDM.
The syllabus of CAT comprises of - - Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC) which includes reading comprehension, para jumbles, etc - Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR) which includes Set Theory, coding-decoding examples – Quantitative Ability (QA) which includes Number System, Algebra.
Those planning to pursue MBA in the 2024 academic session must appear for the CAT exam, as it is an exam accepted by most government and private MBA colleges in India.