Unless you know well about CAT 2016, its proposed structure, content, time duration necessary do’s and don’ts, how do you suppose to win the race to get into dream IIM in 2017. While CAT 2016 would be the largest MBA entrance test for admission to 19 Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), the exam has earned the reputation of throwing surprises every year.
It is of utmost importance that you must know the key facts about CAT 2016 to avoid any misleading information while preparing with right stuff for the exam. In the first instance, while in your final year of bachelor’s degree, you are not even aware what are the major constinuents of CAT, how to prepare, what to study, Can there be any well defined syllabus, where to begin and number of FAQs hover your mind. Sometimes you do not even find anyone to answer your queries. When you begin your self-study, it appears that you have entered an unorganized thick and large forest where it is difficult to locate which way to go.
This is the juncture wherefrom you get a crying need for help. In case you continue beating about the bush, you may end up without scoring required percentile prescribed by different IIMs to get shortlisted for final admission round.
CAT: Admission test for IIMs & top B-schools
CAT is a yearly examination conducted by Indian Institutes of Management. CAT 2016 will also be conducted for admission to PGDM/MBA programme in 19 IIMs and other top management institutes in India like FMS Delhi, IMI Delhi, IMT Ghaziabad, JBIMS Mumbai, MDI Gurgaon, NITIE Mumbai, Management departments of IITs, SPJIMR Mumbai, TAPMI Manipal and other more than 100 B-schools.
CAT 2016: To be convened by IIM Bangalore
The responsibility to convene Common Admission Test (CAT) every-year is assigned to one of the Old IIMs namely IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta, IIM Lucknow, IIM Indore, IIM Kozhikode.
This is the first time that IIM Bangalore has been awarded the responsibility to convene CAT 2016 since CAT has become a computer based test in 2009. All the other old IIMs have convened CAT once or twice since 2009.
When and how to apply for CAT 2016?
Notification for CAT 2016 is proposed to be published in all the leading news papers in the last week of July 2016 preferably between July 25 to July 30, 2016.
The registration/application process for CAT 2016 will begin in the first week of August, 2016. It will be online process where the candidate will be able to register from the official website www.iimcat.ac.in The registration and application fee for CAT 2016 is proposed to be Rs.1600/-
Who can apply for CAT 2016?
A graduate in any discipline with minimum 50% marks with or without work experience can apply for CAT 2016. Those who are in their final year of bachelor’s degree can also apply for CAT 2016. There is no age bar to appear in CAT exam.
Key components of CAT 2016 exam
The changes and surprises which CAT exam brings with it every year are more than in any other exam. But despite all the structural and content level changes brought about last year, following 4 will remain the key components of CAT 2016
-- Section-1: Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension - 34 questions
-- Section-2-Part-1: Data Interpretation - 16 questions
-- Section-2- Part-2: Logical Reasoning - 16 questions
-- Section-3: Quantitative Aptitude - 34 questions
Format of questions in CAT 2016
Prior to last year, CAT used to consist of only objective type Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs), but with effect from 2015, CAT has started including Non-MCQs also in each section without imposing any penalty for wrong answer. The ratio of MCQs and non-MCQs in each section remained as under-
|
Section Name |
No. of MCQs |
No. of Non-MCQs |
Total questions |
Sectional Time limit in minutes |
|
Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC) |
24 |
10 |
34 |
60 |
|
Data Interpretation & Logical reasoning |
24 |
8 |
32 |
60 |
|
Quantitative Aptitude |
24 |
10 |
34 |
60 |
|
Total |
72 |
28 |
100 |
180 |
Source: CAT 2015 exam
Scoring pattern in CAT 2016
CAT 2016 as in earlier years is supposed to award 3 marks for each correct answer. A penalty of 1 mark for each wrong answer for an MCQs is imposed in the exam.
There is no penalty of negative marking to wrong answers for non-MCQs. As such the candidates can get double benefit if they attempt all the Non-MCQs. If the answer is correct for Non-MCQ you will get full 3 marks and in case the answer is wrong, no penalty of negative marking will be imposed on you.
These scores are then converted to percentile score following equated scoring pattern.
How much score needed for IIMs?
All the 19 IIMs need a balanced high sectional percentile between 80 to 99 in CAT to shortlist the candidates for next stage of admission round. It implies if you have scored 99 in VARC, 99 in Quant but 70 in DILR in CAT 2016, you will not be shortlisted by IIM Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Lucknow, Indore, Kozhikode, Shillong and even any of the 12 new and newest IIMs.
The reason is that the above score might award you a percentile score as high as 98 or 99 but you need to qualify on the minimum sectional score prescribed by the respective IIMs in each of the 3 sections.
Accordingly, in spite of scoring a high overall percentile in CAT 2016, there are no chances to get shortlisted by any IIM whereas a candidate with uniformly high balanced sectional percentile score of 90-94 can expect to be shortlisted by many IIMs. So when you begin your preparation do not think that high score in 2 sections will compensate for low score in remaining 1 section. Your aim should be to maximise your scores in each section if you wish to pursue Post Graduate Programme (PGP) in Management in 2017-19 batch at an IIM.
CAT 2016 is supposed to have 1 day testing window divided in 2 sessions. The exam date may fall in the last week of November 2016. The test structure and content in CAT 2016 could again be changed as compared to CAT 2015. Although it is expected that overall number of questions in CAT 2016 would be 100 divided in 3 sections, it is premature to anticipate the distribution of questions in each section.
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Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more updates on CAT 2016
