CAT 2016: Notification with no changes in exam; Non-MCQs stay in 1 day 2 sessions test

With the release of CAT 2016 exam notification today on July 31, all the queries of aspirants have been answered by IIM Bangalore. CAT 2016 will be held on December 4, 2O16 with no change in the exam pattern or testing window. The exam will be held in a single day and 2 sessions of 3 hours each in morning and afternoon.

Official announcement of CAT 2016 exam is out today in leading news papers as well as on CAT 2016 website which has also been opened for aspirants with key information.

Major points creating confusion in the minds of CAT aspirants due to earlier news items in the media have also been cleared. MBAUniverse.com was the first to announce that CAT 2016 exam notification would be released on Sunday July 31, 2016.

The details and information regarding CAT 2016 which were in air till yesterday have now been authenticated and stamped in the morning today after official notification was out.

Indian Institute of management (IIM) Bangalore, the CAT 2016 convening IIM has released the notification for the largest management entrance exam CAT 2016 with minor changes in the schedule.

It was expected that IIM Bangalore may go for some major changes in CAT 2016 exam pattern and testing window, but nothing of the sort has been done. The structure and content of CAT 2016 remains the same.

No change in testing window CAT 2016 testing window remains unchanged. It will be a single day 2 sessions exam on Sunday, December 4, 2016. Candidates have been requesting the CAT convening IIM Bangalore to provide 2 days testing window, but the request has not been acceded to.

Now there will be 2 sessions on the same day on December 4, 2016 Morning and afternoon.

No change in Exam pattern Each of the 2 sessions in CAT 2016 will be of 3 hours duration. Like last year, there will be individual sectional time constraint of 1 hour for each section. Candidates will have to attempt 1 section in 60 minutes failing which they will automatically be switched to next section.

3 sections in CAT 2016 There will be 3 sections in CAT 2016 Section I: Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension Section II: Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning Section III: Quantitative Ability

Non-MCQs to stay Apart from MCQs, CAT 2016 will contain non-MCQs type of questions also like last year. According to CAT Centre 2016 Some questions in each section may not be of multiple choice type. Instead, direct answers are to be typed on the screen

These Non-MCQs will not carry any negative marking for wrong answer and were present in last year CAT also with a weightage of 28% to the total questions.

Sample test from October 18 onwards According to CAT Centre 2016 Tutorial to understand the format of the examination will be available on the CAT website from 18th October 2016. Candidates are advised to work on the tutorials, available on the website, well in advance

On screen Calculator during exam CAT 2016 exam will provide facility of on screen calculator to help the candidates avoid wastage of time on basic calculations. According to CAT Centre 2016 Also, we will allow use of basic on-screen calculator for computation

20 IIMs with 32 management programmes With the addition of IIM Jammu, now there are 20 IIMs instead of 19. Total number of different management programmes offered by these 20 IIMs is 32. You will need to choose the preferred IIM and preferred programme while finalizing the CAT 2016 registration. So make your wish list now by perusing the different programmes published in notification.

Since candidates will be shortlisted for all the programmes on the basis of CAT 2016 scores. So, before you apply for CAT 2016, you must visit the websites and/or read programme advertisements of the concerned IIM and specific programmes to ensure which programmes you want to apply for, eligibility requirements and admission processes. This will help you to finalise your registration process as you need to choose and fill up the names of IIMs and their programmes in order of preference so that you may be considered by respective IIM as per your choice, if you are shortlisted.

Test cities increased Last year CAT had 136 test cities, now CAT 2016 will be held in 138 test cities across the country. The test venues may go beyond 400. The move will increase accessibility.

The test cities for CAT are on increase since 2014. For the first time in 2014 the exam was held in 99 cities at 354 testing sites as against 40 testing cities with 76 testing centres in earlier CAT years. This number was further increased to 136 test cities and 360 test centres in 2015. Now in CAT 2016 there are 138 test cities and the number of test centres may increase further.

In fact CAT 2016 convener Prof Rajendra K Bandi, faculty IIM Bangalore has planned more test cities to make the one day exam more aspirants friendly and to cope with the high number of CAT 2016 aspirants across the country.

No Change in scoring pattern To keep the academic diversity and more representation of different education domain in IIMs on increasing trend, the scoring pattern of CAT 2016 has been kept on the last year pattern.

CAT 2016: Eligibility Criteria CAT 2016 notification has defined eligibility criteria to appear in the Common Admission Test (CAT) 2016 as follows The candidate must hold a Bachelors Degree, with at least 50% marks or equivalent CGPA [45% in case of the candidates belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Differently Abled (DA), awarded by any of the recognized Universities.

The percentage of marks obtained by the candidate in the bachelors degree would be calculated based on the practice followed by the university/institution from where the candidate has obtained the degree.

Candidates appearing for the final year of bachelors degree/equivalent qualification examination and those who have completed degree requirements and are awaiting results can also apply. If selected, such candidates will be allowed to join the programme provisionally, only if he/she submits a certificate latest by June 30, 2017 from the Principal/Registrar of his/her College/Institute (issued on or before June 30, 2017) stating that the candidate has completed all the requirements for obtaining the bachelors degree/equivalent qualification on the date of the issue of the certificate.

IIM Admission Process According to CAT 2016 notification while the scores of CAT 2016 exam are mandatory for admission to any of the 20 IIMs, each IIM follows its own admission process.

Each IIM shortlists candidates for its second stage of selection independently. It may be different from other IIM. The process may include Written Ability Test (WAT), Group Discussions (GD) and Personal Interviews (PI) or it may have any 2 or all the 3 components.