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CAT 2021 Exam Dates, Application Form, Exam Pattern, Eligibility, Syllabus
CAT 2021 Notification, Registration, Exam Dates, How to Apply, Exam Pattern
CAT 2021 Common Admission Test - IIM will be releasing CAT 2021 notification, information brochure, and other details.
CAT 2021 will be held on the 4th Week of November 2021 and the online registration begins from the 1st week of 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
Check now - Full Form of CAT
Get complete details of CAT 2021 including notification, exam date, registration, exam centers, pattern, Admit Card, Application procedure, Selection Procedure, and preparation tips here on this page
Must Read - Will CAT Exam 2021 move to IBT Mode?
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
The Indian Institutes of Management will conduct a computer-based Common Admission Test (CAT) 2021 in the 4th week of November 2021 in two 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 - PGP [www.iimj.ac.in]
IIM Kashipur - PGP, EPGP [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 [www.iimsambalpur.ac.in]
RGIIM Shillong - PGP, PGPEX [www.iimshillong.ac.in]
IIM Sirmaur - PGP [www.iimsirmaur.ac.in]
IIM Tiruchirappalli -PGPM, PGPBM, PGPM-HR [www.iimtrichy.ac.in]
IIM Udaipur - MBA [www.iimu.ac.in]
IIM Visakhapatnam - PGP [www.iimv.ac.in]
B. Fellow Programs in Management (FPM) [Doctoral]
Institutes & Programs
IIM Ahmedabad - PhD
IIM Amritsar - FPM
IIM Bangalore - FPM
IIM Bodh Gaya - PhD (FPM)
IIM Calcutta - Doctoral
IIM lndore - FPM
IIM Kashipur - FPM, EFPM
IIM Kozhikode - FPM
IIM Lucknow -FPM
IIM Raipur - FPM, EFPM
IIM Ranchi - PhD, EPhD
IIM Rohtak - FPM, EFPM
IIM Sambalpur - PhD
RGIIM Shillong - FPM
IIM Sirmaur - PhD
IIM Tiruchirappalli - FPM
IIM Udaipur - PhD
IIM Visakhapatnam - FPM
CAT 2021 Important Dates
CAT Exam Notification Date - 4th week of July 201
Online Registration Opens - 1st week of August 202`
Online Registration Closes - 2nd week of September 2021
Admit Card Download - 4th week of October 2021
CAT 2021 Exam Date - 4th week of 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 and 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.
- The 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 appearing for the final year of Bachelor’s the degree/equivalent qualification exam and those who have completed degree requirements and are awaiting results can also apply
- For more details on eligibility, candidates are advised to visit the “CAT 2021 Eligibility” section of the CAT website.
See Full Details - CAT Eligibility Criteria
Reservation
- As per the legal requirements, 15% of the seats are reserved for SC candidates 7.5% for ST candidates 27% for Other Backward Classes candidates belonging to the “Non-Creamy” layer (NC-OBC), up to 10% for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) candidates and 5% for Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwD).
- As defined in the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 (PwD Act 2016), “Person with Benchmark Disability” means a person with not less than forty percent (40%) of a specified disability where the specified disability has not been defined in measurable terms and includes a person with a disability where the specified disability has been defined in measurable terms, as certified by the certifying authority.
- For the purpose of being considered for reservation, the applicable Central Government list as on the last date of CAT registration shall be binding.
- No subsequent changes will be effective for CAT 2021 and any subsequent selection process of the IIMs
How to Apply for CAT 2021 - Application Process
- The CAT 2021 registration window opens on the 1st week of August 2021 and will close at 05:00 pm on the 2nd week of 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
Also, see - Sudden Increase in CAT Applicants
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 and Upload Images of required documents, photograph, signature etc.
Step-3 Make Payment
The details will be available in the registration guide on the website www.iimcat.ac.in
Registration Fee
For SC/ST/PWD Category Candidates - Rs.1000/-
For all for Other Category Candidates - Rs.2000/-
- The 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 candidates must upload a copy of their SC/ST/PwD certificates at the time of registration. Fees once paid cannot be refunded under any circumstances.
Selection Process
- Please note that IIMs shortlist candidates for the interview stage based on their own criteria, which may be independent of each other.
- The process may include Written Ability Test (WAT), Group Discussion (GD) and Personal Interviews (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. The first stage for selection includes admission test, academic performance & relevant work experience,
- The second stage of selection includes - Written Ability Test (WAT), Group Discussions (GD) and Personal Interviews (PI).
Written Test - Candidate has to write on one or more topics a brief essay in the time duration of 15-45 minutes.
GD - A round is held where 8-10 candidates are given a particular topic and they have to discuss it. This is to check the candidate’s group dynamics.
PI - In this round candidate has to present himself/herself before the panel of 4-8 interviewers. This is a final round and is held to check the candidate’s educational qualification, hobbies, interests and work experience. Students will be selected for admission on the basis of Entrance test, WAT, GD and PI
CAT 2021 Exam Pattern
Duration of Exam - 180 minutes (60 minutes per section)
Total Marks - 300
Exam Timing - Slot 1 - 9 am to 12 pm
Slot 2 - 2 pm to 5 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 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.
Port Blair
Hamirpur
Mumbai
Guntur
Jammu
Nashik
Nellore
Bokaro
Satara
Vijayawada
Dhanbad
Palghar
Kakinada
Hazaribagh
Ulhasnagar
Rajahmundry
Jamshedpur
Shillong
Visakhapatnam
Ranchi
Aizawl
Kurnool
Belagavi(Belgaum)
Kohima
Tirupathi
Bengaluru
Balasore
Vizianagaram
Hubballi (Hubli)
Cuttack
Itanagar
Mysuru (Mysore)
Sambalpur
Dibrugarh
Kalaburagi (Gulbarga)
Berhampur
Silchar
Shivamogga(Shimoga)
Dhenkanal
Guwahati
Dharwad
Bhubaneswar
Tezpur
Mangaluru (Mangalore)
Rourkela
Jorhat
Udupi
Puducherry
Aurangabad-Bihar
Kannur
Pathankot
Darbhanga
Ernakulam
Ludhiana
Arrah
Kollam
Amritsar
Muzaffarpur
Kottayam
Bhatinda
Bhagalpur
Kozhikode
Patiala
Patna
Thrissur
Jalandhar
Mohali
Trivandrum
Sangrur
Chandigarh
Bhopal
Ajmer
Bhilai Nagar
Jabalpur
Jaipur
Bilaspur
Ujjain
Sikar
Raipur
Gwalior
Alwar
Delhi
Sagar
Jodhpur
Faridabad
Indore
Udaipur
Gurugram
Satna
Bikaner
Ghaziabad
Bhopal
Kota
New Delhi
Jabalpur
Madurai
Greater Noida
Ujjain
Chennai
Noida
Gwalior
Salem
Meerut
Sagar
Trichy
Panaji
Indore
Coimbatore
Ahmedabad
Satna
Vellore
Mehsana
Amravati
Tirunelveli
Vadodara
Jalgaon
Hyderabad
Anand
Nagpur
Karimnagar
Rajkot
Pune
Warangal
Gandhinagar
Solapur
Allahabad
Surat
Navi Mumbai
Bareilly
Ambala
Ahmednagar
Kanpur
Hisar
Kolhapur
Muzaffarnagar
Karnal
Nanded
Agra
Kurushetra
Raigad
Gorakhpur
Panipat
Thane
Lucknow
Rohtak
Vasai
Varanasi
Shimla
Aurangabad
Aligarh
Jhansi
Moradabad
Dehradun
Haldwani
Roorkee
Asansol
Durgapur
Bankura
Burdwan
Kolkata
Hooghly
Kalyani
Siliguri
CAT 2021 Score
- Candidates' CAT 2021 scorecards will be made accessible on the CAT website. Candidates may also be intimated individually by SMS. The CAT results are likely to be declared by the second week of January, 2022.
- The CAT 2021 score is valid only till December 31, 2022 and will accordingly be accessible on the website. Thereafter, no queries related to the issuance of CAT 2021 scorecards will be entertained
Results & Shortlisting
- Information related to the CAT 2021 results will be tentatively available starting from the second week of January 2022 on this website
- The list of candidates shortlisted for the next level of selection will be made available on the website of the respective IIMs
Also, see - CAT Result Declared, Check now
CAT 2021 Admit Card
- Admit cards for CAT 2021 will be available in the 4th week of October 2021. Exact dates will be available after the release of official notification.
- Admit Card contains Personal Details, Test Venue, Exam Session, etc. Candidates need to carry a valid photo ID issued by the Government of India along with an Admit Card.
Also, see - CAT Admit Card
CAT 2021 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:
Check out - CAT 2021 Syllabus, Latest CAT Exam Syllabus
CAT Quantitative Aptitude
The syllabus for CAT quantitative aptitude mainly includes topics from class 8-10 like geometry, algebra, number system, etc.
CAT Logical Reasoning & Data Interpretation
The logical reasoning section is very generic and a wide variety of questions based on seating arrangement, direction sense test, etc. are included. The data interpretation section includes questions mostly based on data caselets and graphs.
CAT Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension
In this section, comprehension passages are given followed by a few questions. Apart from that, few of the grammar-based questions like sentence completion, jumbled sentences, etc. are asked.
To know the detailed syllabus for all these sections, visit CAT syllabus where the section wise important topics are also given along with PDF.
For more details and to apply online, please visit the official website
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