After it has been made clear that official CAT 2015 notification is going to be out on July 26, 2015 by IIM Ahmedabad, the clock of speculation on the dates of the exam has started ticking the minds of CAT 2015 aspirants. Candidates can expect number of changes in the examination scheduling, dates, scoring pattern in CAT 2015 going to be conducted by IIM Ahmedabad in partnership with CAT 2015 testing agency Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).
While CAT 2015 convener and faculty at IIM Ahmedabad Prof Tathagata Bandyopadhyay has confirmed that that the official CAT 2015 notification will be released on 26th July, 2015, he has not divulged anymore details saying “At this point I can share just the notification date”.
Common Admission Test (CAT) is the largest entrance examination for MBA/PGDM programmes in India. Not only 20 Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) but also other top B schools will accept CAT 2015 scores as the basic eligibility criterion to shortlist the candidates for final admission round. It is expected that about 2 lakhs candidates will write CAT 2015 given the fact that MBA job market has begun looking up and placement packages in B-schools have gone up substantially in the placement season 2015.
Anticipate the unexpected
Common Admission Test (CAT) 2015 is the mandatory exam for admission to top rated IIMs in 2016. Following could be anticipated in CAT 2015 as the exam can take a different shape in 2015 with the top B school of India, IIM Ahmedabad at the helm of affairs in conducting CAT 2015.
Early CAT 2015
Going back to claim the pristine glory during the paper-pencil era of CAT, when it was conducted in the third quarter of the year, it appears CAT 2015 would also be conducted in the month of October 2015.
With TCS fully geared up and IIM Ahmedabad at the helm of affairs, CAT 2015 is expected to be conducted earlier than CAT 2014. CAT had the history of being conducted prominently in the month of October every year till 2013, in 2014 it got delayed by one month and was conducted in the month of November 2014. This year CAT 2015 is again expected in October 2015
Expect one day CAT 2015
After the computerized CAT in 2009, CAT 2014 was the first exam conducted in a 2 day testing window on November 16 & November 22, 2014 in 4 sessions of morning and afternoon instead of 21 days and 42 sessions testing window that took place in CAT 2013.
It is very much expected that in order to further strengthen the process of conducting CAT, IIM Ahmedabad and TCS might conduct CAT 2015 in a single day by increasing the number of test centres managing them more efficiently. This would not only accelerate the collation of CAT 2015 data but also would smoothen the process of score normalization
Off-line vouchers purchase scrapped
IIM Ahmedabad wouldn’t allow the facility of purchasing the off-line vouchers for CAT 2015. All the CAT 2015 aspirants shall have to register themselves on line by paying requisite registration fee on-line only.
Expect different CAT 2015 exam
With IIM Ahmedabad in command, CAT 2015 aspirants might expect a bit higher Level of Difficulty in the exam. While the number of questions and time allotted is expected to remain the same as of CAT 2014, the difficulty level might go up. CAT 2015 aspirants would need good preparation strategy and planning for CAT 2015.
Expect Different scoring pattern
To improve gender diversity and more representation of different education domain in IIMs, it is expected that weightage to questions in different sections in CAT 2015 may vary and a different scoring pattern might emerge to achieve this goal.
Expect early declaration of CAT 2015 result
In case CAT 2015 is conducted earlier and in a shorter testing window, it is expected that CAT 2015 result might be declared in the month of November 2015 or in the first week of December 2015. This will also facilitate the completion of admission process and beginning of academic session 2016 at IIMs and other top B schools who accept CAT scores much earlier than in the months of June/July 2016.
Advisory
Prof S K Agarwal expert on Verbal Ability and mentor CAT 2015 preparation suggests the CAT 2015 aspirants to devise the well planned preparation schedule and overcome their weaknesses as not more than 150 days may be available to them for CAT 2015 preparation. Besides, the aspirants should keep in mind that it is not the high overall percentile only but the high sectional percentile in CAT 2015 would also be needed to get shortlisted by IIMs for second phase of admission round to convert the call. So, aim for not less than 95 percentile in each section and your overall percentile will automatically go up.
Related Article
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Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more updates on CAT 2015
