CAT 2016: exam notification, Delayed - expect release on July 31; may impact the test window

CAT 2016 exam notification is delayed by a week or so as it was expected to be released on July 24. Now it is likely to be released on July 31, 2016 by the convening IIM Bangalore. The last year CAT exam notification was released on July 26 which led IIM Ahmedabad to convene CAT on November 29. This year it may not be possible for IIM Bangalore to convene CAT 2016 on the last Sunday of November as IIFT entrance exam is scheduled for November 27, 2016. Accordingly, CAT 2016 will have to be conducted prior to that and most likely it would be held on November 21 or earlier.

Although IIM Bangalore is tight lipped and has not yet officially announced the date on which CAT 2016 exam notification is to be released, sources have confirmed that the CAT 2016 notification would be released on Sunday July 31, 2016 in all the leading news papers. It will be better to keep a watch on CAT 2016 exam notification release date as it may bring number of changes with it.

Late Notification may delay Registration process Registration window for CAT 2016 may not open simultaneously with the release of exam notification. Last year CAT registration could begin 10 days after the release of notification. If it happens, you should expect the CAT 2016 registration to begin not earlier than August 10. The last date for registration may also go beyond September 2016.

Impact on CAT 2016 test window For the past 2 years CAT is being held in second half of November. Since CAT 2016 has to go through number of process after the registration process is over like establishing the number of test venues in accordance with number of registered candidates; issuing their admit cards on time; checking and rectifying the mistakes if any; increasing or decreasing the number of testing labs and making due arrangements of computer systems to accommodate the required number of candidates, the decision on test dates has to be based on well though process.

Expect more than 1 day testing window Since it will not be feasible to conduct CAT 2016 after November, it is very much possible that the 2014 CAT testing window pattern is followed by IIM Bangalore. If it happens, instead of conducting CAT 2016 in a single day and 2 sessions, as happened last year, IIMB may conduct CAT 2016 on 2 different dates preferably on week-ends.

Candidates have already been requesting for 2 days testing window and probably it will also be convenient for CAT 2016 convener, the exam may be held on November 15 and 21. This is also possible that the testing window is reduced to 1 day 1 session depending upon the availability of time the testing agency TCS and CAT 2016 convening IIMB deem fit to close the exam. However, since CAT 2016 notification is to be released on July 31, 2016, the date of exam may not find a slot much earlier like in the month of October.

How would CAT 2016 notification look like? CAT 2016 exam notification will have following print style and information. You must get a feel of the notification before it is published for this year exam as it will help you understand what information would be available in the notification and how your should use it further in the registration process.

IIM Bangalore the CAT 2016 convener has fully geared up to convene CAT 2016 on time without delay. CAT Centre 2016 at IIM Bangalore has already sent the necessary documents to non-IIMs to register quickly in the list of CAT 2016 score accepting B-schools. Last year many Non-IIMs requested for extension of last date to submit the required MoU to CAT Centre as the list of Non-IIMs accepting CAT scores did not reflect their names and they were added very late, during half way of completion of registration process.

Common Admission test (CAT) 2016 is the mandatory entrance exam for admission to PGP/MBA 2017-19 programmed offered by 20 IIMs and other top B-schools like FMS, IMI, MDI, SPJIMR among others.

The exam is divided in 3 sections with 5 components- Verbal Ability; Reading Comprehension; data Interpretation; Logical Reasoning; Quantitative Aptitude. While Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension; Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning parts form 2 separate sections, Quantitative Aptitude forms an individual section. A CAT 2016 test taker needs to qualify in each of the 3 sections with minimum percentile score to get shortlisted by any of the 20 IIMs. Otherwise, even after scoring 99 percentile, the candidate runs the risk of not being shortlisted by any IIM if he/she does not clear the minimum sectional percentile score required by the IIM in CAT 2016.