CAT 2014 last opportunity to appear; shed the confusion & get ready for registration on Oct 10

CAT 2014 aspirants with 2 years, 3years or 4 years of graduation degree are eligible to apply for registration on October 10, 2014 as clarified by the CAT 2014 conducting IIM Indore. This will be the last and only opportunity to register and apply to appear in CAT 2014 exam to be held on November 16 and November 22, 2014 in 99 test cities in India across 354 test centres.

The reopening of CAT 2014 registration for one day on October 10, 2014 is another windfall for those who missed the registration and got deprived of the opportunity to appear in CAT 2014.

The newly added FAQs on Registration process on CAT 2014 site have cleared all the fog of confusion which was clogged earlier due to non explanation on various points in the minds of CAT 2014 aspirants.

Guidelines on CAT 2014 site

There is a clear pop-up message on the home page of CAT 2014 site inviting all the CAT 2014 aspirants to avail the opportunity of registration for CAT 2014 on October 10, 2014.

Important Notice: CAT Centre 2014 has considered requests to allow application submissions for one more day. Fresh on-line registration for CAT 2014 will be allowed on Friday, 10th October 2014 from 00:00 hours to 23:59 hours.

No change in Registration process

The registration process will remain the same and it is being re-opened for one day. The reason behind this generosity is, according to Dr Rohit Kapoor, CAT 2014 convener We have been given to understand that few candidates faced difficulties during the last day of submission of CAT 2014 application, i.e., on 30th September 2014 owing to failures in internet connection, net banking transactions etc.

There is no change whatsoever in the registration process and the candidates have to follow the process as advised on CAT 2014 site. They have to register first with their mail id and then go to existing user login icon to proceed with the registration process.

Clarity on Academics

Graduation with backlog

The candidates who have completed Bachelors degree in May-June 2014 but have back log are eligible to apply for CAT 2014. All the Candidates who are completing their degree by May 2015 are eligible.

However, while moving on with the registration process on October 10, 2014, the candidate should select Yes to the question Are you in the final year of Bachelor Degree.

Integrated course

In case a candidate has done 5 years integrated course of B.Tech and MBA and as per the university norms first 3.5 years is considered to be B.tech and remaining 1.5 years is considered to be MBA, the candidate will enter the aggregate percentage of first 3.5 years under Bachelors Degree and remaining 1.5 years under Masters degree (if desired).

Duration of bachelors Degree

If a candidate has done 10+2+2 degree or 10+1+1+2 degree he/she is eligible to apply for CAT 2014. The declaration came when CAT 2014 registration site reopened on September 29, 2014 after 15 hours of suspension which didnt allow any registration during this period.

Such candidates can now enter the bachelor degree marks, under bachelor degree field with the duration as 3 years and select year of commencement and completion accordingly. It means despite your 2 years bachelor degree course, if duly recognised by UGC, AIU or equivalent bodies for eligibility to CAT 2014, completion year should be entered after 3 years from completing the +2 course. The 10th /SSC and 12th /HSC marks should however be entered in the respective fields as there is no change

All this will have to be remembered by the CAT 2014 aspirants while completing their registration process on October 10, 2014.

When no percentage is awarded

Number of institutes/universities award grades although they specify the range of percentage of marks in award of grades. For example A and A+ may have percentage range 75 to 90 and 90 to 100 respectively. Now the problem is what to write 75 or 90; 90 or 100. A difficulty unresolved by CAT 2014 as well.

But solution to every problem exists. CAT 2014 suggests If any Board/Institute/University awards only letter grades without providing an equivalent percentage of marks on the grade sheet, the candidate should obtain a certificate from the Board/Institute/University specifying the equivalent marks which should be used for filling the online CAT application form. The original equivalence certificate needs to be submitted at the time of interview, if shortlisted for the same. So even if you are given the range in percentage without exact equivalent percentage, nothing to lose write the same. It can be anywhere between the specified range.

First part of registration; check and proceed

CAT 2014 aspirants are facing the problems even in the first part of registration process i.e. creating the profile, although the first part of CAT 2014 Registration process is free and short.

Process is simple

On the CAT 2014 site there is a simple icon Register. When you login to register click on this icon and rest assured it wont take you more than 5 minutes to complete this process. When you complete it, please check and then click on submit as later on you wont be able to make modifications in your name and date of birth.

After submission, you will receive the necessary id and password for CAT 2014 registration immediately after a few minutes on your mobile number as well as on your mail id. So it shouldnt be a problem to complete the first part of registration process for CAT 2014 as a new user.

Queries & problems related to the first part of Registration

Name not correctly given in the prescribed certificate

Some of the candidates have their surnames appearing before their first names in their 12th standard certificates. They are confused whether to write their names in the order as given in the certificate or should begin with their first name.

According to the instructions for CAT 2014 Registration process name of a candidate should be the same as on your 12th/Diploma/Degree certificates. So you are supposed to write your name as it appears on the prescribed document.

The silver lining is that if you have a changed name, you may enter your changed name but you have to produce supporting documents for change of name at the time of examination, interview and admission.

In case of difference in writing the name with no supporting documents, you stand the risk of not being allowed to appear in CAT 2014. Date of Birth not correct in Registration form

While filling up the date of birth, a few candidates found that after submission of this form, it got changed and as per the registration instructions for CAT 2014, no amendment is possible in Date of Birth after making the payment for registration and clicking the submit button.

Please note that format for filling up the date of birth is DD/MM/YYYY in CAT 2014 registration. Besides no candidate has to write it since the calendar icon has to be used to select the correct date. You can change it till you do not click on the submit button. So be careful. Getting to the helpline and writing mail might help to some extent. CAT 2014 aspirants are supposed to thoroughly check each and every item of information, they have filled before clicking on submit button.

Next part is Application form

To login to next part of registration, please go to Existing user login and use your CAT 2014 id and password received by you from CAT site.

The page that opens before you contains following more pages in which you have to enter the required information
1. Personal Details
2.Academics
3. Work Experience
4. Programmes
5. Payment

You should be happy that CAT 2014 is not asking for money before completion of registration. You will have to shell out the requisite fee only after completion of CAT 2014 registration form with all the details.

Personal Details

This part of application form will get satisfied with your parents name, gender, category, address. The only tricky area is uploading the photograph and signature of required size.

Uploading the category documents; Difficulty in getting it signed from Authorities

The required category certificates are available on the site. Download the Certificate from the CAT Website, fill, and get signatures of appropriate authorities, self-attest and scan as PDF document to upload. This is the prescribed process. Number of clarifications have been given on CAT 2014 site regarding the way out to upload the requisite certificates.

If you already have a certificate that fulfils the following prescribed criteria, you may upload the same. Please cross check the details given in your certificate and the certificate on CAT 2014 site

a) The certificate should have been issued by competent authority.

b) The name of the caste and caste number should appear in the certificate

c) The Ministry's resolution/order number should be available

d) The certificate should be in Hindi or English only Photograph & Signature

A few of the CAT 2014 aspirants are facing problems in uploading their photograph and signature; a few are fighting with Captcha issue as it is not clear how and what to enter or they find it difficult to understand the Captcha image and every time new image comes up; some of the aspirants face the problem while filling in their academic details; some while incorporating work experience and some while making payment.

Now it appears that filling up all the pages of CAT 2014 application form has become difficult and one or other issue is coming up. After making an analysis to these problems to great extent, the pack of following solutions is shared to get rid of registration process difficulties. It will help the CAT 2014 aspirants to complete the registration and application process smoothly on October 10, 2014.

Unable to upload the photograph

If you have the scanned digital photograph of larger than required size, it will be difficult to upload the same. Hence first of all please check that photo resolution is of minimum 150px. Your photograph should be the recent one, not more than 3 months old. Please also note that the ambiguous uploaded digital images will be rejected

Size of Photograph

You are supposed to upload your recent passport size photograph not larger than 80KB. Please also note that only JPEG,JPG formats can be uploaded. The photograph should have dimension of 35mm X 45mm.

If your photo size is larger than the prescribed size, please get it reduced to the required size. In case there is any issue in uploading the digital photograph, please check whether all above has been complied with.

Unable to upload the signature

The scanned image of your signature should be with the dimensions of 1000mm X 35 mm. Again the documents file format should be .jpg or .jpeg and the file size should not be more than 80KB.

The best way is to put your signature on a plain white piece of paper in black ink. Scan the signature part only and get to the required size and then upload. It shouldnt be a difficulty.

Keep all the details & documents updated

Go through the CAT 2014 registration guidelines and various articles already published on MBAUniverse.com regarding steps of registration process. This will help you to gather all the related material and keep it ready to complete the registration process. Please remember no further opportunity is going to knock at your door for CAT 2014 registration after October 10, 2014.

Staytuned to MBAUniverse.com for more updates on CAT 2014 Registration