Cracking CAT: Tips & Strategies for Top B-School Admissions

Cracking CAT: Tips and Strategies for Top B-School Admissions

All About CAT

Common Admission Test, commonly known as CAT is a Management Based Entrance Exam, conducted by the Indian Institute of Management each year, to get an admit in the Management Programs from top B-Schools in India. The test is designed by the prestigious IIMs on a rotational basis each year. It is considered to be one of the most competitive entrance examinations in India, where over 2 Lakh students appear for the test each year.

Students use the score to be eligible for an admit into premiere Colleges and Universities in India, like the Prestigious IIMs, Indian Institute of Technology, Faculty of Management Studies (FMS New Delhi), MDI Gurgaon, JBIMS, SPJIMR, TAPMI, KJ Somaiya, Welingkar, Jaipuria Institute of Management, IMT Ghaziabad, IMI New Delhi, BIMTECH, FORE Business School and many more.

CAT Test Pattern

CAT is a Computer Based Aptitude Test. The test contains questions of two types- MCQs and Non-MCQs.

As per CAT 2022, the format of the test is as follows-

Mode- Computer-Based Test, Online
Test Fee- INR 1200/- for SC, ST, PWD and INR 2400/- for Other Students
Each year, one IIM is nominated to Conduct the entire Application and Testing Process
Total Questions- 66
Question Format- MCQ (70%-75%) and Non-MCQ (25-30%) or TITA (Type in The Answer) Questions
Total Duration- 120 Minutes (40 Minutes Per Each Section)
Sections-

Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension- 24 Questions, 40 Minutes

Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning- 20 Questions, 40 Minutes

Quantitative Ability- 22 Questions, 40 Minutes

Marking Scheme– (+3) For Correct Answer, (-1) for Incorrect Answer. Negative Marking is applicable only on MCQ Based Questions. Non-MCQ or TITA Questions do not carry any negative marking.
The score is released in Percentile (%ile) and not marks. Percentile is basically a rank. Percentile states how many students are below oneself. For Example- If I score a 90%ile, it means that there are 90% of students below me on the test, or out of 100, my rank was 10, meaning I am above 90 students.

Application Invited for PGDM 2024 at Jaipuria Institute of Management through CAT – Apply Now

PREPARATION STRATEGY

Common Aptitude Test consists of 3 Sections-

Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension
Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning
Quantitative Ability

Since CAT is considered to be one of the most competitive Entrance Examinations in India, the competition to get through this test is cut-throat, and hence the test requires the students to be able to plan and manage the preparation as well. The CAT pattern has varied over the years, but the difficulty level has remained more or less similar in comparison to its previous editions. To get through CAT successfully, being able to Manage preparation properly also matters a lot.

This is not a test where solving each and every question is important, rather, it is more important to understand and attempt questions that we are sure of. One of the most basic and the most important strategy to get through CAT is to maintain high ACCURACY. Attempting questions incorrectly invites negative markings. So, for a correct question, you are awarded (+3) Marks and for any incorrect question, you have a negative marking of (-1). So instead of scoring a 0 on any questions, you end up losing an extra 1 mark by attempting it incorrectly.

Although the exam is competitive, one cannot actually say that it is difficult. It is crucial to decide when to start preparing for the exam. The ideal time required to prepare for the test, with ease can be between 6 to 8 Months, depending upon the student’s aptitude performance. The preparation timeline will vary from student to student, but the preparation strategy will more or less be the same, i.e. starting from the basics and then gradually moving on to higher difficulty levels.

With the correct preparation strategy, CAT can become a cakewalk for any student. The preparation for each of the 3 sections will be divided into 3 Phases- Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced.

Some useful resources that will help you during your preparation are- Word Power Made Easy, Brush Up Your English, NCERT Math Textbook from Class 6^th to 10^th, Newspaper, Wikipedia, Easy Written Novels, Study Material Specific to CAT Syllabus, Test Series, Magazines related to topics of your interests to help practice and Resources to improve your General Knowledge (Required at a later stage) as well.

CAT 2024 Exam Dates & Schedule

Take a look at the table below for the complete schedule of CAT 2024 exam:

Dates	Upcoming Exam Dates
27 Sep ’24 – 30 Sep ’24	CAT 2024 form correction process
01 Aug ’24 – 20 Sep ’24	CAT 2024 Registration
05 Nov ’24 – 24 Nov ’24	CAT 2024 admit card download
24 Nov ’24	CAT 2024 exam
Dec ’24	CAT 2024 answer key challenge (TENTATIVE)
Dec ’24	CAT 2024 result announcement (TENTATIVE)