The world is said to be divided into 2 financial groups – ‘Haves’ and ‘Have-Nots’ and those pursuing MBA education in India or dream to pursue MBA from one of the top IIMs can also conveniently be divided into ‘CAT takers with high scores’ and ‘No CAT takers’, who remain out of IIMs. The high scorers in CAT 2016 will get one of their dream IIMs or other preferred top B-school, no scorers or low scorers in CAT will neither get any IIM or other top B-school and will therefore have to settle for lower rung management institute which may be a wastage of money, energy, 2 years of life without any good career prospects.
CAT 2016 is a Mecca for the candidates as winning the fierce competition among the 2 lakh IIM aspirants is a challenge in itself. CAT is the largest and most popular among all the MBA entrance tests especially for the MBA aspirants who wish to pursue the course from one of the top B-schools in India.
No CAT-No IIM
Dream of pursuing MBA from top B-school will get shattered, if you do not plan, prepare and appear in CAT 2016. Without appearing in Common Admission Test (CAT) 2016 you cannot think of getting admission to MBA 2017-19 in any of the 20 IIMs, FMS, MDI, NITIE, IMI, IMT, Management departments of IITs and many other top B-schools.
The next is your high score that you need to get in CAT 2016. It is not only overall high score but also the sectional high score which need to get in CAT 2016 to become eligible and considered for next stage of admission process by one of the top management institutes.
Why CAT 2016? Why not other National tests
You are right! In fact, Honourable Supreme Court of India had already passed a judgment saying that admissions to management programme in India can be done through any of the five national tests viz. CAT, XAT, CMAT, MAT and ATMA.
But, we have a problem there! India’s top business schools - Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) established by the Act of parliament do not accept scores of any exam other than Common Admission Test (CAT) which they convene every year for admission to forthcoming 2 year management courses. Following them are also other top B-schools who also accept either only CAT scores or award maximum weightage to CAT scores despite accepting other exam scores. The popularity of the exam can be understood by the fact that more than 2 lakhs MBA aspirants registered for CAT last year.
The scores of XAT are prominently accepted by XLRI Jamshedpur and other member institutes who also accept CAT scores with the exception that XLRI is the only B-school that does not accept CAT score.
The scores of other national exams like CMAT/MAT/ATMA are accepted either by the second tier B-schools or for the admission to other than flagship MBA/PGDM courses by upper ranked B-schools. But to explore admission opportunity in the top 25 MBA/PGDM programmes in India, you will have to appear in CAT 2016 or will need to compromise on other than top B-schools.
50% marks award 90 percentile
Out of 300 maximum marks awarded in CAT if you are able to score 50% marks in each of the 3 sections, you may get a percentile above 90. It all depends upon your preparation plan and the weightage you award to each of the 3 CAT sections while devising your preparation strategy.
If you go on preparing the Verbal or Quant only and leave behind DILR, even your high score in both the sections cannot help you, in case you score low in DILR section. So make sure that you prepare with an aim to score high sectional balanced percentile.
Options, CAT 2016 offer
No other course as compact and short as 2 years MBA from top B-school can make you ready to earn millions immediately after completion of the course. MBA or PGDM with MBA equivalence is a short Post Graduate programme with high career prospects which no other programme offers. The opportunity is equally available for the toppers or good scorers in the bachelor degree exam.
CAT offers you the opportunity to study in highly ranked, middle ranked or newer IIMs offering great career opportunity. You do not have to pay any application fee for admission to an IIM, once you have paid the CAT 2016 registration fee of Rs.1600/-
High score in CAT also makes you eligible to be shortlisted by FMS Delhi, IMI Delhi, IMT Ghaziabad, MDI Gurgaon, NITIE Mumbai among others.
20 IIMs & top B-schools to accept CAT score
Following are the top B-schools and their minimum CAT 2016 score requirement to offer admission to MBA/PGDM 2017-19 programme
IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta, IIM Lucknow,FMS Delhi, IIM Indore, IIM Kozhikode,IMI Delhi, IMT Ghaziabad, MDI Gurgaon, NITIE, Mumbai, IIM Kashipur, IIM Raipur, IIM Ranchi, IIM Rohtak, IIM Trichy, IIM Udaipur, JBIMS Mumbai, SPJIMR, Mumbai, SJMSoM- IIT Mumbai , DMS-IIT Delhi , DMS-IIT Madras, TAPMI Manipal, XIMB Bhubaneshwar, IIM, Amritsar, IIM BodhGaya, IIM Nagpur, IIM Sambalpur, IIM Sirmaur, IIM Visakhapatnam, IIM Jammu
CAT 2016 to be convened by IIM Bangalore is the largest national level management entrance test in 2016. The exam is to consist of 100 questions divided in 3 sections of Quantitative Aptitude; Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension and Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning. All the sections are proposed to carry equal weightage in next stage shortlisting at IIMs, based on CAT 2016 scores.
Your preparation journey, if not yet started may get a set back at the eleventh hour. According to CAT 2016 preparation expert Prof S K Agarwal you should not delay to begin your preparation at top speed with an aim to score high in each of the 3 sections of CAT 2016. There are still more than 4 months left and you can prepare well for the exam which is proposed to be held in November 2016.
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Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more updates on CAT 2016
