CAT 2021 Registration Process, Exam Dates, How to Apply, Exam Pattern
CAT 2021 Common Admission Test – The Indian Institutes of Management will conduct a Computer- Based Common Admission Test 2021 (CAT 2021) on November 28, 2021 in three sessions
CAT 2021 will be held on the 28th November 2021 and the online registration for the same begins from the 04th August 2021. MBA aspirants, who have done Graduation and fulfill the eligibility criteria, can apply. CAT is conducted by IIMs, but the score of the exam is also accepted by more than 200 B-Schools across the country for MBA/PGDM admission 2021-22
CAT 2021 Details
- CAT 2021 is a prerequisite for admission to various Post Graduate and Fellow programs of IIMs. CAT 2021 scores are allowed to be used by listed non-IIM member institutions. A list of such institutions is provided on the CAT website.
- IIMs have no role in the selection process of non-IIM institutions
CAT 2021 Programs Offered
- Indian Institutes of Management will conduct a computer-based Common Admission Test (CAT) 2021 on the 28th November 2021 in three sessions. CAT 2021 will be conducted by IIMs as a prerequisite for admission to various management programs of IIMs. These programs are:
- A) Post Graduate Programs in Management (PGP)
Institute/Programs & Website
- IIM Ahmedabad – PGP, PGP-FABM, ePGP [www.iima.ac.in]
- IIM Amritsar – PGP [www.iimamritsar.ac.in]
- IIM Bangalore – PGP, PGPEM, PGPPM, PGPBA [www.iimb.ac.in]
- IIM Bodh Gaya – PGP [www.iimbg.ac.in]
- IIM Calcutta – MBA [www.iimcal.ac.in]
- IIM Indore – PGP, PGP-HRM [www.iimidr.ac.in]
- IIM Jammu – MBA [www.iimj.ac.in]
- IIM Kashipur – MBA, MBA (Analytics), EMBA [www.iimkashipur.ac.in]
- IIM Kozhikode – PGP, PGP-BL, PGP-F, EPGP (Kochi Campus & IL) [www.iimk.ac.in]
- IIM Lucknow – PGP, PGP-ABM, PGP-SM [www.iiml.ac.in]
- IIM Nagpur – PGP [www.iimnagpur.ac.in]
- IIM Raipur – PGP [www.iimraipur.ac.in]
- IIM Ranchi – PGP, PGP-HRM [www.iimranchi.ac.in]
- IIM Rohtak – PGP, EPGPX [www.iimrohtak.ac.in]
- IIM Sambalpur – MBA, Executive MBA [www.iimsambalpur.ac.in]
- RGIIM Shillong – PGP, PGPEX, PGPWE [www.iimshillong.ac.in]
- IIM Sirmaur – MBA, MBA (T&HM) [www.iimsirmaur.ac.in]
- IIM Tiruchirappalli – PGPM, PGPM-HR, PGPBM [www.iimtrichy.ac.in]
- IIM Udaipur – MBA, MBA-DEM, MBA-GSCM, PGDBAWE [www.iimu.ac.in]
IIM Visakhapatnam – PGP, PGPEX, PGPDGM [www.iimv.ac.in]
- Fellow Programs in Management (FPM) [Doctoral]
IIM Ahmedabad – PhD
- IIM Amritsar – PhD
- IIM Bangalore – PhD
- IIM Bodh Gaya – PhD (FPM)
- IIM Calcutta – PhD
- IIM lndore – FPM
- IIM Jammu – PhD
- IIM Kashipur – PhD
- IIM Kozhikode – PhD, PhD (PT)
- IIM Lucknow – PhD
- IIM Nagpur – PhD
- IIM Raipur – FPM/ PhD, EFPM
- IIM Ranchi – PhD, EPhD
- IIM Rohtak – PhD
- IIM Sambalpur – PhD, Executive PhD
- RGIIM Shillong – PhD, PhDWP
- IIM Sirmaur – PhD
- IIM Tiruchirappalli – FPM, E-FPM
- IIM Udaipur – PhD
- IIM Visakhapatnam – PhD
CAT 2021 Important Dates
- CAT Exam Notification Date: 02nd August 2021
- Online Registration Opens: 04th August 2021 (10.00 AM)
- Online Registration Closes:
15th September 2021 (05.00 PM)extended to September 22 (by 5 pm) - Admit Card Download: 27th October 2021 – 28th November 2021
- CAT 2021 Exam Date: 28th November 2021
- Result Declaration: 2nd week of January 2022
Eligibility Criteria for CAT 2021
- Candidate must hold a Bachelor’s Degree, with at least 50% marks or equivalent CGPA [45% in case of candidates belonging to the SC/ST & 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 recognized by the Ministry of HRD, Govt. of India.
- Percentage of marks obtained by the candidate would be calculated based on the practice as followed by the respective University/Institution
- In the case of grades/CGPA, the conversion to percentage of marks would be based on the procedure as certified by the respective University/Institution
- If any University/institution confirms that there is no scheme for converting CGPA into equivalent marks, the equivalence would be established by dividing the candidate’s CGPA by the maximum possible CGPA and multiplying the result with 100.
- Candidates who are in the final year of the Bachelor’s Degree / Equivalent Qualification Exam and are awaiting the results after completing the degree requirements can apply.
- For more details on eligibility, candidates are advised to visit the “CAT 2021 Eligibility” section of the CAT website.
Reservation Criteria
- As per the legal requirements
- Scheduled Caste (SC) – 15%
- Scheduled Tribe (ST) – 7.5%
- Other Backward Classes (NC-OBC) – 27%
- Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) – 10%
- Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwD) – 5%
The categories of disability are:
- Blindness and low vision
- Deaf and hard of hearing
- Locomotor disability including leprosy cured, cerebral palsy, dwarfism, muscular dystrophy, and acid attack victims
- Intellectual disability, autism, specific learning disability, and mental illness, and multiple disabilities
How to Apply for CAT 2021 – Application Process
- CAT 2021 registration window opens on the 04th August 2021 and will close at 05:00 pm on the 15th September 2021. The details will be available in the registration guide.
- At the time of registration, the candidates have to select any four test cities, as per their preference, from a drop-down menu. After the last date of registration, candidates will be allotted one among the four preferred cities subject to availability.
Instruction to Apply
- Candidates can register for the Common Admission Test (CAT) through online mode only. The registration can only be done online on the Official Website www.iimcat.ac.in
CAT Registration involves Three Simple Steps
- Step-1 Registration
- Step-2 Fill Application Form & Upload Images of required documents, photograph, signature etc
- Step-3 Make Payment – Details will be available in the registration guide on the website
Registration Fee
- For SC/ST/PWD Category Candidates – Rs.1100/-
- For all for Other Category Candidates – Rs.2200/-
- Candidates will have to pay the registration fee in online mode only. The payment can be done by using Debit Card / Credit Card / Net Banking.
- SC/ST & PwD must upload a copy of their SC/ST/PwD certificates at the time of registration
Selection Process
- Please note that IIMs shortlist candidates for the interview stage based on their own criteria, which may be independent of each other.
- Process may include WAT, GD & PI. Performance in the CAT 2021 Exam is an important component in the admission process
- Every B-school along with IIMs has its own selection criteria and cut-off list
- Second stage of selection includes – WAT, GD and PI.
CAT 2021 Exam Pattern
- Duration of Exam – 180 minutes (60 minutes per section)
- Total Marks – 300
- Exam Timing – Slot 1 – 09.00 am to 12.00 pm
- Slot 2 – 02.00 pm to 05.00 pm
- Number of Sections in Exam – 3
- Name of Sections – Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC)
- Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR)
- Quantitative Aptitude (QA)
- Language of Question Paper – English
- Section-wise No. of Questions – VARC – 34
- DILR – 32
- QA – 34
- Type of Questions – MCQs and Non-MCQs
- Answer Choice in MCQs – 4
- Total Number of Questions – 100
- Marking Scheme – Right Question – 3 marks
- Wrong Question – Negative marking of 1/3
- Non-MCQs – No Negative Marking
- Section-Wise Difficulty Level – VARC – Easy-Moderate
- DILR – Moderate – Difficult
- QA – Difficult
Test Centres
- CAT will be conducted in centres spread across around 158 test cities. Test cities will be mentioned in the CAT website and the name of the test centre will be indicated in the Admit Card
CAT 2021 Score
- Candidates CAT 2021 scorecards will be made accessible on the CAT website. Candidates may also be intimated individually by SMS. CAT Results are likely to be declared by the second week of January 2022
- CAT 2021 score is valid only till Dec 31, 2022 and will accordingly be accessible on the website
CAT 2021 Admit Card
- Admit Cards for CAT 2021 will be available on the 27th October 2021. Exact dates will be available after the release of official notification. Admit Card contains Personal Details, Test Venue, Exam Session, etc.
Exam Syllabus
- For the CAT exam, there is no predefined syllabus. The syllabus is mainly from the middle school topics of Maths, and English with some generic logical reasoning questions. A few of the details of the CAT syllabus are:
- a) Quantitative Aptitude
- b) Logical Reasoning & Data Interpretation
- c) Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension
For more details and to apply online, please visit the official website