The national level MBA entrance exam i.e., Common Admission Test, IIM CAT 2023 notification will be released by the Indian Institute of Management (IIM). All the important details regarding the CAT 2023, including the exam dates, registration, eligibility, and exam pattern, will be shared along with the official notification. The registration process for CAT 2023 is expected to start in the first week of August.
The entrance exam is held on a rotating basis by IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta, IIM Lucknow, IIM Kozhikode, and IIM Indore. Last year the exam was conducted by IIM Ahmedabad. However, it has been reported that the CAT 2023 entrance will be administered by IIM Bangalore. The cities where the exam is going to be held will be mentioned in the notification itself.
The Indian Institute of Management Indore, or IIM Indore, has launched the official website for CAT for candidates to be able to apply for the admission test to the IIMs. CAT is a national level entrance examination for admission to more than 600 B-schools across the country. Candidates who are interested to appear for the CAT, can apply online on the official website – iimcat.ac.in.
CAT will be conducted in test centres spread across around 156 test cities. Candidates will be given the option to select any four test cities in order of their preference. Those who clear the exam will be eligible for admission to management courses, including PGP, PGDM, PGPEM, EPGP, PGPBM, PGPEX, at various IIMs and other B-schools across the country.
IIM CAT Notification Details
| Name of the exam | IIM CAT |
|---|---|
| Title | Apply for IIM CAT Exam 2023 |
| Subject | IIM has released CAT Notification on its web portal |
| Closing Date To Apply | September |
| Category | Entrance Exam |
| Exam Date | November |
| For Admission Into | Management courses, including PGP, PGDM, PGPEM, EPGP, PGPBM, PGPEX, |
| Official Website | https://iimcat.ac.in/ |
The candidates must possess Bachelor’s degree with at least 50 per cent marks or equivalent. The reserve category candidates – Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Persons with Disability (PwD) – need to hold a minimum of 45 per cent marks from the recognised university.
The application fees for the candidates belong to the general category is Rs ₹2000, while for the reserved category SC, ST and PwD are Rs 1000. The Common Admission Test (CAT) is conducted by the IIMs to fill seats in their PGP programmes. The entrance exam’s scores are accepted by many B-schools including JNU.
IIM CAT
Check eligibility criteria and other details. The Indian Institute of Management (IIM) has released the official notification for Common Admission Test (CAT) on its official website, the link for which is www.iimidr.ac.in. This year, IIM Indore will conduct the CAT at around 153 test centres around different cities.
The Common Admission Test (CAT ) conducted by the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) will be held in two sessions. The CAT website, which will go live and will contain a section on Frequently Asked Questions that addresses some of the commonly asked queries regarding CAT. Tutorials to understand the format of the test will be available on the CAT website. The CAT is an entrance exam for admission to management courses in the IIMs and other top MBA colleges in the country. The test is conducted once a year by one of the IIMs on a rotation basis..
CAT will be conducted in test centres spread across approximately 156 cities. Candidates will be given the option to select four test cities in order of preference. Cities and centres will be assigned to the candidates only after the last date for CAT registration and hence candidates need not rush to block slots and cities in the initial days of registration, the statement said.
Candidates must pay the registration fee through online payment modes only, which will include credit cards, debit cards and net banking. After submission of the application, candidates will be permitted to download their examination admit card from the website.
The duration of the test will be 180 minutes and there will be three sections: Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension, Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning and Quantitative Ability. Candidates will be allotted exactly 60 minutes for answering questions in each section and they will not be allowed to switch from one section to another while answering questions in a section.
Those who clear the exam will be eligible for admission to management courses, including PGP, PGDM, PGPEM, EPGP, PGPBM, PGPEX, at various IIMs across the country. The results for the CAT are usually released in the second week of January. The results of CAT 2019 was declared on January 8. The overall 100 percentile was scored by 20 candidates, however, only two female candidates and three non-engineers came in top 20
CAT Eligibility criteria
All the candidates interested in applying need to possess a Bachelor’s degree with at least 50 per cent marks or equivalent CGPA (45 per cent in case of the candidates belonging to 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 the 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 recognized by the Ministry of HRD, Government of India.
Meanwhile, candidates appearing for the final year of Bachelor’s degree/equivalent qualification examination and those who have completed degree requirements and are awaiting results can also apply. Further, candidates can get more details on eligibility criteria once the official notification is released on iimcat.ac.in. The CAT 2020 entrance examination is held for admission to these 20 IIMs and more than 100 institutes across India.
Centres: Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bangalore, Bodh Gaya, Calcutta, Indore, Jammu, Kashipur, Kozhikode, Lucknow, Nagpur, Raipur, Ranchi, Rohtak, Sambalpur, Shillong, Sirmaur, Tiruchirappalli, Udaipur, Visakhapatnam.
List of courses offered by IIM:
- Post Graduate Programme in Public Policy and Management
- Post Graduate Programme in Management
- Post-Graduate Programme in Food and Agribusiness Management
- Executive Post Graduate Programme in Management
- Post Graduate Programme in Securities Markets
The duration of the CAT will be 180 minutes. Some questions in each section may not be of multiple choice types. In addition, candidates will be allotted exactly 60 minutes for answering questions in each section and they cannot switch from one section to another while answering questions in a section.
CAT Exam pattern
The examination will be of 180 minutes and candidates will be allotted sixty minutes for answering questions in each section and they will be restricted to switch from one section to another. The questions will be in three sections, A. Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension, B. Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning, C. Quantitative Ability.
The CAT test will have three sections namely:
Section I: Verbal ability and reading comprehension
Section II: Data interpretation and logical reasoning
Section III: Quantitative ability
CAT Selection procedure:
The selection of candidates will be done on the basis of a Written Ability Test (WAT), Group Discussion (GD), followed by a Personal Interviews (PI) round. All the selected candidates will get admission in around 20 IIM institutes established in various parts of the nation.
The normalisation of CAT scores: In order to ensure fairness and equity in comparison of performances of candidates across different test sessions, the scores of the candidates shall be subjected to a process of ‘Normalisation’. The normalisation process shall adjust for location and scale differences of score distributions across different forms. After normalisation across different forms, the scores shall be further normalised across different sections.
Required documents and instructions for IIM CAT:
- Scanned image of passport size photo
- The photo should be within the dimensions of 30mm X 45mm.
- Scanned image of Students’ signature
- Signature should be in the dimensions of 80mm X 35mm
- The documents file format should be a .jpg or .jpeg
- Size of the documents should not be more than 80KB each
- Students will be required to upload all the documents related to their academic qualifications
- Other certificates like Caste certificate, sports certificate will also be required in case mentioned
How to fill the IIM CAT Application form?
- Go to the official website of IIM CAT, iimcat.ac.in.
- On the homepage, click on ‘Register’ (if not already registered) otherwise click on ‘Login’
- Login or Register using asked credentials
- CAT application form will be displayed on the screen
- Fill in the form with all asked credentials
- Now, upload all the scanned documents as asked
- Pay the application fees using the prescribed gateways
- Submit the form after cross checking all the details carefully
- Save or take a print out of the application form for further use
Students will have to submit the application fee for CAT exam which is Rs.2200 for the general category and Rs 1100 for reserved category.
Important dates for CAT:
- Registration process: August 3
- Registration ends: September 14
- Admit cards download begins: October 27
- Test day: November 27
- Declaration of results: Second week of January 2023
- IIM CAT Website
FAQs on CAT
What is CAT?
CAT is a national-level eligibility test and is held for admission to postgraduate business programmes.
What is the exam pattern of CAT?
The CAT examination will be conducted in a CBT mode with both MCQs and non-MCQs. It will last for 120 minutes. Now, with the revised exam pattern introduced last year, the CAT will consist of 66 questions divided into three sections: Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension, Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning, and Quantitative Ability. Three marks are awarded for each correct answer, while each incorrect attempt will lead to a one-mark deduction.
How much is application fee for CAT?
In 2021, IIM Ahmedabad increased the CAT registration fees for the general category from Rs. 2,000 to Rs. 2,200. Whereas the fee for the reserved category increased from Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 1,100. The amount for the application fee this year can be around these figures only.
What is the eligibility for CAT?
As per the basic CAT eligibility requirements, candidates who have a bachelor’s degree from a recognised institute are eligible to apply.