CAT 2017

CAT 2017 - Cracking the Common Admission Test or CAT 2017 is the first and foremost priority for an MBA aspirants. CAT is conducted by the Indian Institutes of Managements (IIMs) on a rotational basis. This year CAT will be conducted by Indian Institute of Management Lucknow. CAT 2017 notification will be released on the last Sunday of July 2017. CAT 2017 is likely to be conducted in the first week of December 2017. In terms of exam pattern, it is one of the most dynamic tests which changes almost every year depending on the discretion of the exam conducting authorities. CAT 2017 scores will not only be accepted by the 20 IIMs in India but over 100 B-schools across the country. Around 4,000 seats are offered through the 20 IIMs. CAT is the biggest national level MBA entrance test is taken by more than two lakh candidates every year. This article of Careers360 brings to you complete details of CAT 2017 such as eligibility criteria, registration, application procedure, important dates, exam pattern, admit card, result, cut off, participating institutes, etc.

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CAT Conducting Body 2017

This year the test will be conducted by another BLACKIS member, IIM Lucknow (Indian Institute of Management Lucknow). The announcement regarding conducting the CAT 2017 has been uploaded on the IIM Lucknow official website, inviting bids for CAT advertising services. The notification states, " IIM L, the CAT centre for 2017, invites bid for providing advertising services for CAT 2017 from June 23 till August 7, 2017..." Last year, IIM Bangalore had conducted CAT preceded by IIM Ahmedabad in 2015. The name of the CAT 2017 Convenor has been announced by IIM Lucknow. Professor Neeraj Dwivedi, IIM Lucknow PGP Admission Chairperson, will be the CAT 2017 convener. 

CAT 2017 Overview

CAT Important Dates 2017

The timeline for CAT generally remains similar every year. Although till 2015 CAT was conducted in November, CAT 2016 was held in a single day window on December 4. The following table brings to you the important dates for CAT 2017 based on the tentative timeline.

CAT 2017 Important Dates

CAT Eligibility Criteria 2017

The eligibility criteria of CAT has remained constant over the years.

• Aspirants should have passed and obtained Bachelor’s Degree in any discipline from a recognised university or institute.

• The minimum percentage of aggregate marks or equivalent CGPA to be obtained or secured by the applicants is 50 for General category candidates and 45 for reserved category candidates.

• Final year graduation students are also eligible to appear for the exam provided they fulfill the Bachelor’s degree cutoff and other factors within the stipulated schedule given by IIMs and other participating institutes.

IIMs and other Government institutes follow the reservation criteria of candidates. The following table brings to you the category wise seat reservation percentage.

Category wise seat reservation

CAT Application Form 2017

The CAT 2017 application form filling procedure is completely online. The application process is expected to commence from the first week of August. In order to apply for CAT, candidates have to visit the official website of CAT 2017 and register. Once the CAT registration process gets over, the IIM will send the login credentials to the candidates via SMS and email. After receiving the login credentials, the candidates have to log into the application window and fill up the online application form of CAT 2017 which is divided into the following areas:

• Personal Details

• Contact Details

• Academic Details

• Work Experience

• Selecting IIMs to apply for

• Selecting Test Centres and Interview Cities

Candidates are instructed to check the information provided by them in each and every category and once the CAT application form 2017 is submitted, there will hardly be any chance to rectify it unless IIMs decide to give candidates the option to correct the wrong information.

Applicants have to also upload their photograph and signature in .jpeg format. The files should not exceed the stated file size. The photograph should be clear and the signature should be legible enough in order to be eligible.

CAT 2017 Application Form Fee

• The application fee is Rs. 1700 for General category candidates and Rs. 850 for reserved category candidates.

• The mode of application fee payment is through Credit/Debit Card or Net Banking.

Last year, the number of CAT applications was 2,32,434, which was highest in past six years. The actual number of test takers was around 1,95,000.

Past Application Trend in CAT

CAT Exam Centres 2017

It is expected that CAT 2017 will be conducted in around 140 cities across India. Last year, the test was conducted in 136 cities. Each year, IIMs or the CAT conducting authorities add a number of cities where CAT is conducted to make it more convenient for test takers across India. During the application process, candidates have to select four test cities in the order of priority.

CAT Exam Pattern 2017

The exam pattern of CAT 2017 is expected to be on the similar lines as that of last year. However, there are high chances that the CAT 2017 exam pattern will change based on the discretion of the CAT 2017 convenor and CAT committee. As per the last year’s pattern, CAT is a computer based test of three hours duration carrying 100 objective type questions which were mixed with multiple choice and non-multiple choice questions.

The number of questions in Verbal and Reading Comprehension and Quantitative Ability sections is same, i.e. 34, whereas the number of questions in Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning section is 32.

Each section is time bound for one hour. The total duration of the exam is three hours. Take a look at the overall structure of the test.

CAT Structure

The order of the section is same as given in the above table.

Marking Scheme: Each question carries three marks. For each wrong answer, there is a negative marking of 1 mark. There is no negative marking for non-MCQs or unattempted questions.

Read the preparation tips and must read books for preparation CAT from below link:

• How to prepare for CAT 2017 - 10 tips to crack CAT exam

• CAT 2017: When and how to start preparations

• CAT 2017 - Must read books for preparation

CAT Syllabus 2017

Although there is no specific syllabus for CAT 2017 by IIMs, based on the past years’ pattern and analysis, we can assess the CAT 2017 syllabus. Although IIMs mention that the level of the questions is similar to that of Class VIII-Class X. However, the experts mention that some of the questions are of Class XII to graduation level. The syllabus of CAT is divided into 3 sections:

• Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning

• Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension

• Quantitative Ability

CAT Syllabus

CAT Admit Card 2017

The admit card of CAT 2017 is expected to be available for download from the last week of September 2017. CAT 2017 admit card is available only in online mode which the candidates have to download by visiting the CAT 2017 official website and logging in with the given credentials. The CAT admit card 2017 will contain important information such as:

• Candidate name

• Exam date

• Exam venue

• Important Instructions for exam day

The admit card will be an important document for CAT 2017, without which the test takers will not be allowed to enter the exam hall. Along with the CAT 2017 admit card, candidates have to carry a photo identity card.

CAT Result 2017

The result of CAT 2017 will be declared in the first week of January 2018. Test takers can download their CAT 2017 score cards online by logging in to the official website through the CAT ID/Sr No. and password. The score card will bear test takers’ section-wise and overall scaled scores and percentiles. The CAT 2017 result will be available only in online mode and IIMs will not send the hard copy of the scorecards at the candidates’ address.

CAT Cutoff 2017

The cutoff for CAT 2017 will depend on various factors such as:

• Difficulty level of exam

• Number of test takers

• Number of seats

The CAT 2017 cutoff will be higher if the difficulty level of the test is low and vice versa. In other words, the higher the level of competition, lower would be the cutoff percentiles. While IIMs declare their admission criteria including the screening cutoff for final selection rounds, a majority of the institutes do not declare the exact CAT cutoff in advance or after the result. The CAT 2017 cutoff for top 25 B-schools would be 90+ percentile. The cutoff of CAT 2017 for the old IIMs, namely IIM Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Lucknow, Indore and Kozhikode will be over 95 percentile. According to the research by Careers360, there is a huge gap between the screening CAT cutoff and the actual call cutoff of CAT. The following table brings to you the category wise expected CAT 2017 cutoff of IIMs.

CAT Cutoff of IIMs for 2016

CAT 2017 Selection Procedure

The selection procedure for CAT varies from institute to institute. A majority of the institutes shortlist candidates based on their CAT cutoff and the shortlisted candidates have to appear for the Writing Ability Test (WAT) or Group Discussion (GD) and Personal Interview (PI) rounds. The old IIMs conduct their CAT selection procedure separately. Some of the new IIMs conduct a Common Admission Process round where the shortlisted candidates have to appear for WAT and PI conducted by all new IIMs. Following which each participating IIM will release their own separate merit list. For non-IIM B-schools, the admission committees conduct either GD or WAT or at times both along with PI rounds. Some institutes also conduct Group Exercises along with PI. The parameters and weightages assigned to them are decided by the admission committee of B-schools. Majority of the B-schools consider candidate profile including past academic records, work experience etc. while generating the final merit list.

CAT 2017 Participating Institutes

As many as 20 IIMs and over 100 B-schools across India accept the scores of CAT. For CAT 2017, the number of participating institutes will be similar or more. The following table brings to you the list of 20 IIMs and their intake and tuition fee.

IIMs Seats and Fee

Note: The above-mentioned seats and fee are based on previous year’s information. The intake and fee may change for the admission to 2018-20 batches.

Stay tuned to bschool.careers360.com for more news and updates on CAT 2017