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.
Candidates must possess a bachelor's degree with minimum 50 per cent aggregate or equivalent CGPA (45 per cent aggregate for SC, ST and PWD/DA category) from a recognised university to appear in CAT 2023.
There is no age limit to appear for CAT. The CAT exam is open for fresh graduates as well as working professionals. Since CAT is accepted by over 1300 B-schools across India for their full-time as well as executive MBA or online professional courses, a lot of working professionals appear for the CAT to pursue such courses.
Is Any Degree Required?
The education mode of the bachelor's degree can be regular or distance learning, but should be a 3-year programme. Candidates who have completed a professional degree (CA/CS/ICWA/FCAI) with the required percentage can also appear for CAT.
Difference between IIM Eligibility and CAT Eligibility
The basic academic eligibility criteria of CAT and IIM are same. However, while to appear in CAT exam, one has to fulfill mainly academic criteria which is graduation from a recognised university, to be able to get admission in to the IIMs, one has to meet CAT cut off percentile.
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.