CAT 2019 Exam Date, Pattern, Syllabus and Eligibility
CAT, Common Admission Test is a national level qualifying exam for MBA, PGDM and other postgraduate management courses admission in India. This MBA Entrance Exam is conducted annually by one of the IIMs on a rotational basis. The CAT examination is held in 2 sessions at around 140 exam centers. This year, CAT 2019 exam will be conducted by IIM Kozhikode.
The difficulty of the paper ranges from moderate to difficult. Check out the complete article to know more CAT 2019 such as eligibility criteria, important dates, application fees, expected cut off, etc.
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CAT 2019 Keypoints
| Mode of examination | Online based |
| Official website | www.iimcat.ac.in |
| Eligibility | Graduation degree with 50% aggregate |
| CAT 2019 Participating Institutes | IIMs, IITs, FMS and other Business Schools |
| Official Notification | July 2019 |
| Examination | November 2019 |
| Duration of test | 3 hours (180 minutes) |
| Test Sections | 3 sections namely: Quantitative Ability, Verbal and Reading Comprehension, and Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning. |
| Sessions | The test is conducted in 2 sessions: Session 1: 9:00 am to 12:00 pm; Session 2: 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm |
READ Too: Top Entrance Exams For MBA Admission In 2020
CAT 2019 Important Dates
Below is the table regarding the important dates related to CAT 2019 examination, such as official notification, u date of application form etc.
| Events | Dates (tentative) |
| Official Notification for CAT 2019 | July 29, 2019 |
| Application Form | August 8, 2019 |
| Form Correction Window | September 27- September 30, 2019 |
| Release of Admit Card | October 24 – November 24, 2019 |
| Exam Date of CAT 2019 | November 24, 2019 |
| Result Date of CAT 2019 | Second Week of January 2020 |
CAT 2019 Eligibility Criteria
Just like previous years, CAT examination has some eligibility criteria that need to be taken care of, in order to appear for the test.
Age Criteria: There is no age restriction.
Criteria for Qualification:
- Qualifying Exam: The Candidates appearing for the test should have a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent degree. Final year candidates can also apply.
- Minimum Marks: The candidates of General Category must at least have at least 50% marks or equivalent CGPA in their Graduate Degree. For SC/ST/PwD categories, the minimum CGPA is 45%.
CAT 2019 Application Fee
| Category | Fees |
| NC- OBC | INR 1900 |
| SC/ ST | INR 900 |
| PwD | INR 900 |
READ ALSO: 13 Top National MBA Entrance Exams In the Year 2019-20
CAT Syllabus
There are certain topics where the questions are being asked. Below are some topics which are considered important by the examination point of view.
Verbal and Reading Comprehension
Analogies and reverse analogies, antonyms and synonyms, fill in the blanks, sentence correction, facts inference judgments, critical reasoning, syllogism, summary questions, passage-based questions.
Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning
Line and Pie Charts, Column and Bar graphs, Area graph, Venn diagram, Caselets and Tables.
Binary Logic, Coding-decoding, Number and letter series, Syllogism, Clocks, calendars and cubes, Directions, Blood relations, Logical sequence, Matrix and linear arrangement
Quantitative Aptitude
Ratio & Proportion, Logarithm, Time & Work, Number system, Geometry, Algebra, Permutation and Combination, Mixtures and Alligations, Functions, Trigonometry, Coordinate Geometry and Mensuration
CAT Exam Pattern
- The examination will be held online with a total of 100 questions. There are two types of questions asked in the examination – MCQ and Subjective type of Question. The total time duration of the exam is of 3 hours.
- For each correct answer, 3 marks would be awarded to the candidate and One mark will be deducted for the wrongly attempted in MCQ type questions.
- Note: for subjective type questions, there will be no negative marks.
| Type of section | Duration | Number of questions (Tentative) | Total marks | |
| Section I | Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC) | 1 hour | 34 | 102 |
| Section II | Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR) | 1 hour | 32 | 96 |
| Section III | Quantitative Ability (QA) | 1 hour | 34 | 102 |
ALSO READ: 10 Top Executive MBA Programs: QS EMBA Rankings 2019
CAT Cut Off Score
Considering the factors like the number of applicants, the difficulty level of exam, seats available and previous years’ cut off decide the cut-off. Both the sectional and overall cut off must be cleared to be eligible for the subsequent rounds.
Below is the expected CAT Cut off for top management institutes :
| Institute | Expected cut off percentile |
| IIM, Ahmedabad | 99.6 |
| IIM, Bangalore | 99.5 |
| IIM, Calcutta | 99.5 |
| IIM, Lucknow | 99.5 |
| IIM, Shillong | 98.5 |
| FMS, Delhi | 99 |
| JBIMS | 99 |
| IIT, Bombay | 98.5 |
| IIM, Kozhikode | 96.3 |
| IIM, Indore | 94.7 |
CAT Selection Procedure
The different IIMS have their own selection procedure. Nevertheless, rounds such as Group Discussion (GD), Written Ability Test (WAT) and Personal Interview (PI) rounds are some of the rounds conducted by IIMs and other top B-School as a selection procedure.
- Written Ability Test: The topic from areas such as socio-political issues, current affairs or some idea is given and an essay has to be written within 30 minutes.
- GD round: After the division of candidates into groups of 8-10 members discussion on the given topic is done.
- PI round: This is the final round where an interview is taken by a panel of 4-8 judges. The profile of individuals is assessed to see if he is fit for the programme.
READ MORE: 10 Top MBA Colleges In India: NIRF Ranking 2019
All the very Best to CAT 2019 Aspirants. Here you got the details of CAT 2019 Eligibility Criteria, Registration, Exam Pattern, and other details. Please post your Feedback or Comments regarding this article, on our Aftergraduation Forum.
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