CAT 2018, Start Your Preparation Now For Better Score and Admission

After Graduation2

5 Mar 2018

The Common Admission Test (CAT) is a management entrance test for providing admission to postgraduate management programmes offered by the IIMs and top B-schools of India. CAT is conducted by the Indian Institutes of Management every year on a rotational basis. CAT 2018 will be conducted by one of the IIMs on a Sunday in the month of November or December 2018.

The exact date of the Common Admission Test 2018 will be released by the IIM conducting CAT around the month of July 2018. It is the computer-based test and is a prerequisite for admissions in the IIMs and several other top management or business schools in India. Here, candidates can check get the complete details about CAT 2018.

CAT 2018 Tentative Schedule

The authority would announce the important dates for CAT 2018. Here are a few important tentative schedule dates for the same:

CAT 2018 Official Notification	Last week of July – 1st week of August 2018
CAT 2017 Registration commencement	1st week of August 2018
Last date of application	3rd week of September 2018 at 05:00 PM
Release of Admit Card	3rd week of Oct 2018 01:00 PM
CAT 2018 Entrance Exam	4th week of November 2018
Announcement of CAT 2018 Result	Second week of January 2019

READ Too: How To Crack Management Entrance Exam CAT And Others?

CAT 2018 Eligibility Criteria

Applicants must fulfil the following eligibility criteria to appear for CAT 2018. Given below are the eligibility criteria for CAT Exam.

The candidate must hold a Bachelor’s Degree, with at least 50% marks or equivalent CGPA [45% in case of the candidates belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Persons With Disability (PWD) categories], awarded by any recognized University or educational institution or possess an equivalent qualification recognized by the Ministry of HRD, Government of India.
Completed professional degree (CA/CS/ICWA) with at least 50% marks or equivalent CGPA
Candidates appearing for the final year of Bachelor’s degree/equivalent qualification examination and those who have completed degree requirements and are awaiting results can also apply. However, it may be noted that such candidates, if selected need to submit a certificate stating that they have completed all the requirements for obtaining the Bachelor’s degree/equivalent qualification on the date of the issue of the certificate.
Percentage obtained in the bachelor’s degree would be calculated on the basis of practice followed by the concerned university or institution.

CAT 2018: Computer Based Test

CAT 2018 will be a Computer-based exam of 3 hours duration with 100 questions divided into 3 sections and will be conducted in more than 140 test cities in India on a Sunday in the last week of November or first week of
December 2018.

CAT 2018, as per the past trends will be conducted in two sessions – morning and afternoon. More than 2 lakhs candidates register and apply for CAT each year. In 2017, there were 2.32 lakhs candidates who had applied for CAT. It is expected that CAT 2018 exam is likely to see the participation of the higher number of MBA aspirants.

ALSO READ: Cleared MBA Entrance Exam? Now Prepare WAT And PI For Admission In B-School

CAT 2018 Application Form

CAT 2018 Application Form filling procedure will be online. In order to apply for CAT, candidates
have to visit the official website of CAT 2018 and register themselves.
Following are the steps to guide:

Log onto the official website of Indian Institute of Management https://iimcat.ac.in
Register yourself with a valid Email ID and Phone number.
IIM will send the login credentials to the candidates through SMS and email.
After receiving the login credentials, candidates have to log into the application window and fill up the online application form which is divided into the following areas-
1. Personal Details
2. Contact Details
3. Academic Details
4. Work Experience
5. Selecting IIMs to apply for
6. Selecting Test Centres and Interview Cities
Candidates are advised to review the application form once filled. Upload the necessary documents with the form.
1. Candidates Photograph- jpeg format
2. Candidates signature- jpeg format
3. The photograph should be clear and the signature should be legible enough in order to be eligible.

Application Fee

Candidates have to pay the application fee through online mode after completing the application form:
 Application fee has to be paid by Netbanking/credit card or debit card.
 After completing the application form, click on the PAY option after saving the filled form.

For SC, ST and PwD category candidates – INR 900
For all other categories of candidates – INR 1800.

A candidate needs to pay registration fee only once, irrespective of the number of institutes he/she is applying for. SC, ST and PwD candidates must upload a copy of their SC/ST/PwD certificates at the time of registration. Fee once paid cannot be refunded under any circumstances.

CAT 2018 Exam Pattern

CAT conducting authorities will follow the under mentioned exam pattern for the Common Aptitude Test 2018-

The question paper is divided into 3 parts
1. Quantitative Aptitude

2. Data interpretation and logical reasoning

3. Verbal comprehension and learning.

It is a computer-based test in which Verbal Ability and Logical Reasoning consist of around 34 questions and
Quantitative Aptitude consists of around 32 questions.
Time allotted for each section has to be attempted in 60 minutes.
Candidates cannot choose any section to start with or switch from one section to another. They will have to follow the question paper chronologically, from section 1-3.
For every correct answer, an aspirant will earn 3 marks whereas every incorrect answer one marks will be deducted but for Non-MCQ type questions no marks will be deducted.

Sections	Questions	Time Allotted	Marks Allotted
Section 1-Quantitative Aptitude	34	60 minutes	102
Section 2- Data interpretation and logical reasoning	32	60 minutes	96
Section 3- Verbal comprehension and learning.	34	60 minutes	102
Total	100	180 Minutes	300

Note: It should be noted that there is no negative marking for non-MCQs i.e. TITA questions. Also, there is no penalty for unattempted questions.

CAT 2018 Syllabus

Although there is no pre-defined syllabus for CAT which has been prescribed by the conducting authorities, however, on the basis of previous year trends, we have tabulated below the important topics which must be focused upon while preparing for each given section.

Mathematics or Quantitative Section	Percentages and its applications
	Ratio and its applications
	Algebra
	Numbers and its applications
	Geometry and its applications
English or Verbal Section	Grammar
	Vocabulary
	Critical Reasoning (and its numerous applications)
	Reading Comprehension
Analytical Reasoning Section	Blood Relations
	Direction Sense
	Puzzles
	Arrangements
	Data Structures
	Series
	Coding-Decoding
	Clocks and Calendars
Data Interpretation Section	Table
	Bar
	Pie
	Line graphs etc

CAT Preparation Tips

Follow the below-given preparation tips for better CAT Score –

Prepare a proper study plan.
Try to review all topics which will be asked from four section (QA,VA & DILR).
Select the best study material for preparation.
Try to solve maximum 10 set of sample papers.
Try to manage your time table for study various section accordingly.
Revision.
Stay healthy.

CAT 2018 Counseling

Candidates are shortlisted by Indian Institute of Management and other participating institutes on the basis of CAT Cut off percentile which is held in the last week of January.
Some IIMs also consider past academic performance, work experience etc.
The shortlisted candidates have to appear for Written Ability Test (WAT)/Group Discussion (GD)/Group Activity (GA)/Extempore Activities and Personal Interview rounds.
Final selection is made on the basis of the scores of CAT, WAT/GD and PI rounds.
Other factors like overall candidate profile including past academic records, work experience, extracurricular activities, gender and academic diversity are also considered.
The new IIMs conduct Common Admission Process (CAP) where WAT-PI rounds are conducted by the selection committee of the Indian Institutes of Management.
IIMs declare separate shortlists and final selection list but the selection process is common for all the institutes.

All the very Best to CAT 2018 Aspirants. Here you got the details of CAT 2018 Registration, Exam Pattern, Eligibility Criteria and other details. Please post your Feedback or Comments regarding this article, on our Aftergraduation Forum. Connect with us for more updates on Admission, Placements and other information of Institutes on Linkedin, Facebook, and Twitter also.