CAT 2018 – Common Admission Test or CAT is the major and most popular MBA entrance exam for admission in 20 IIMs and over 100 B-schools across India. Conducted by IIMs on a rotational basis, CAT undergoes major changes or introduction of new elements every year. CAT 2018 is expected to be notified by IIMs in the last Sunday of July 2018. It is likely that CAT 2018 will be held in the last week of November. The CAT 2018 registration process is scheduled to commence from the second week of August 2018. Around two lakh candidates apply and appear for the computer-based test every year. CAT 2018 score card will be valid only for one year until December 31, 2019. Around 4,000 seats are offered through the 20 IIMs. This article of Careers360 brings to you the detailed information on CAT 2018 regarding the notification, important dates, eligibility criteria, registration process, application form, exam pattern, result, cutoff, etc.

For the first time, IIMs released CAT Question Paper and Answer Key approaching one step closer towards transparency. Not just that, IIM Lucknow, the conducting body of CAT also allowed filing challenge against wrong question or answer. However, according to IIM Lucknow, none of the challenges was found valid. In another first, since last year, one international B-school of Singapore, Singapore Management University, has also joined as the CAT participating institute. This is the first time that an international B-School has accepted CAT scores.

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CAT 2018 Quick Facts

CAT 2018 Important Dates

The schedule for CAT 2018 is expected to maintain the similar timeline as that of CAT 2017. The official notification is scheduled to come on the last Sunday of July 2018. Take a look at the tentative CAT important dates 2018 in the below table.

CAT 2018 Important Dates

CAT Eligibility Criteria 2018

As per the eligibility criteria of CAT 2018 charted by IIMs, candidates should fulfil the following parameters:

• Candidates should have a Bachelor’s Degree in any discipline from a recognised University or Institute

• General and OBC-NC category candidates should obtain at least 50 percent marks in aggregate or equivalent CGPA. For reserved category candidates, the minimum percentage to secure is 45

• The duration of the graduation programme should be minimum three years

• Final year graduation students are also eligible to apply for CAT 2018 provided they complete their programme within the stipulated schedule

• There is no age limit for applying or appearing in CAT 2018

CAT Registration 2018

The registration of CAT 2018 is likely to be available from the second week of August 2018. CAT 2018 registration process is completely online wherein the CAT aspirants have to visit the official website of CAT 2018 and click on the Registration tab. After filling up the CAT Registration form with basic details such as name, email address and mobile number, they would receive the CAT 2018 credentials, CAT 2018 User ID and password through email and SMS respectively.

In order to fill up the CAT 2018 application form, applicants have to login through their CAT user ID and password and fill up the application form by entering the correct information. The CAT application form 2018 is divided into following categories or sections:

• Personal Details

• Contact Details

• Academic Details

• Work Experience

• Selecting IIMs to apply for

• Selecting Test Centres and Interview Cities

After filling up information on each page, candidates have to click on Save & Next tab. Applicants have to upload their photograph and signature in the given dimension. The last step is to pay the application fee through Credit/Debit Card or Net Banking.

CAT 2018 Application Fee

• The application fee is Rs. 1800 for General category candidates and Rs. 900 for SC/ST/PWD category candidates.

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

Application Trend in CAT

CAT Exam Pattern 2018

According to the CAT 2018 exam pattern, it is a computer based test of three hours duration carrying 100 objective type multiple choice and non-multiple choice type questions. The areas or sections from which the questions are asked include Quantitative Ability, Verbal and Reading Comprehension and Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning. The table below brings the CAT exam pattern or structure of the exam.

CAT 2018 Exam Pattern

Marking Scheme – Each question carries three marks.For each wrong answer, there is negative marking of one mark. There is no negative marking scheme for non-MCQs or TITA (Type In The Answer) questions.

The order of the sections is pre-decided (as mentioned in the above table), starting from VARC and ending with QA. The weightage of VARC and QA is equal, whereas that of DILR is little lower.

The above CAT exam pattern is that of last year’s. The CAT 2018 exam pattern may undergo changes based on the discretion of the conducting IIM.

CAT 2018 Syllabus

There is no specific syllabus for CAT 2018. The experts have laid out the CAT syllabus 2018 based on the previous years’ exam analysis and the topics covered. While there might be few topics which will be added to the CAT 2018 syllabus and some topics might get omitted, the overall syllabus of CAT 2018 is likely to remain same.

CAT Syllabus

CAT Sample Paper 2018

CAT 2018 aspirants can download the CAT Sample Papers from the Careers360 Sample Paper Store for free. By solving the CAT Sample Paper 2018, test takers will be able to test their preparation status, as well as be familiar with the test taking process.

To Download CAT Sample Paper – Click here

CAT 2018 Mock Test

IIMs will release the official CAT 2018 mock test in the last week of October. The CAT mock test 2018 will enable CAT takers to practice and get familiar with the online test format and navigation process of the test. Candidates can also check the usage of the online calculator and timer. However,  aspirants must note that the CAT 2018 mock test is meant for practice purpose only and the questions should not be treated as sample questions as there is hardly and qualitative similarity in the questions.

CAT Admit Card 2018

The admit card of CAT 2018 is expected to be released in the third week of October. The procedure to download the admit card is completely online. IIMs would not send the CAT 2018 admit card by post, hence candidates must ensure that they download the admit card before exam date, by logging in with their credentials. CAT admit card 2018 is one of the most important documents which must be carried on the exam date, and preserved till the admission process is over.

CAT 2018 Exam Centres

The exam centres of CAT 2018 will be located in over 140 cities across India. It is expected that IIMs will increase the number of CAT 2018 exam centres to accommodate and offer convenience to test takers across India. Last year, the number of exam cities was 140 whereas in the previous year it was 136. While filling the CAT 2018 registration form, candidates have to select three CAT exam centres city in the order of preference. The CAT exam centre 2018 will be allotted by IIMs and the final centre can be seen on the CAT admit card.

CAT Question Paper 2018

In a first, IIMs had released the official CAT question paper for 2017. It is expected CAT question paper for 2018 will also be declared by IIMs in the first week of December. Candidates aspiring to appear for CAT 2018 must download the CAT question paper in order to know the types of questions and topics to expect. To Download CAT 2017 question paper - Click here

CAT Answer Key 2018

Along with the question paper, IIMs also released CAT answer key last year. Hence, following the last year’s trend, it is expected that the CAT 2018 answer key will also be released by the conducting IIM. With the help of the CAT answer key, candidates can check the correct answer and calculate their estimated scores. Moreover, IIMs also provided the option to challenge answer keys or questions by paying Rs. 1000 per challenge within the stipulated deadline. Based on the validity of the challenge, IIMs would take appropriate action and refund the challenge application fee.

CAT Result 2018

The result of CAT 2018 is expected to be declared in the second week of January 2019. The CAT 2018 result will be declared in the form of score card to be downloaded online by entering the CAT ID and password. The CAT result or score card will carry information like sectional and overall scaled scores and percentiles. The CAT 2018 result will be available only in online mode and IIMs won’t send it to the test takers by post. Candidates must take print out of the CAT score card and preserve it till the admission process is over.

CAT Normalization Procedure 2018

CAT 2018 is conducted in multiple slots across single day window, it is necessary to normalize the scores of test takers from both slots. IIMs normalize the CAT scores using a formula similar to that of GATE. At the time of result, scaled scores for each section along with percentiles will be announced. The practice is followed in order to equate the scores and to ensure that none of the candidates from either slot be in an advantaged or disadvantaged position.

CAT Cutoff 2018

The cutoff of CAT refers to the minimum percentile to secure in order to get shortlisted by the CAT participating institutes. The CAT cutoff varies from institute to institute. While the top rung B-schools have the higher range of CAT cutoff and vice versa. CAT cutoff generally depends on the factors like difficulty level of the exam, number of test takers, number of seats among others. The following table brings to you the CAT cutoff of IIMs for the previous year (CAT 2017, admission year 2018).

CAT Cutoff for IIMs

CAT Selection Procedure 2018

According to the selection procedure of CAT 2018, each participating institute conducts its admission process separately. They shortlist candidates based on CAT cutoff. The shortlisted candidates have to then appear for the selection rounds including Group Discussion (GD) or Writing Ability Test (WAT) or both and Personal Interview (PI) rounds. The new IIMs conduct Common Admission Process (CAP) where the shortlisted candidates from all participating IIMs have to appear for WAT and PI rounds. Followed by the CAT selection procedure, each IIM release their separate merit list. The final selection process of B-schools or the CAT selection procedure of participating B-schools is based on multiple criteria such as performance in CAT and GD/WAT and PI rounds and past academic records and or work experience. The criteria or parameters vary from institute to institute. IIMs release their detailed admission criteria after the CAT notification every year.

CAT 2018 Reservation Criteria

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 2018 Participating Institutes

A total of 115 B-schools accepted CAT scores last year out of which 114 are in India and one is in Singapore. In a first, there is an international CAT participating institute. It is expected that more than 100 B-schools in India and abroad will register for being the CAT 2018 participating institutes. Out of the total number of CAT participating institutes, 20 are IIMs. Apart from that, CAT participating institutes include public and private institutes. Among the former, noted ones are IITs, NITs, FMS Delhi, MANAGE Hyderabad, IISc Bangalore to name a few. The top private CAT participating institutes include MDI Gurgaon, SPJIMR Mumbai, IMT Ghaziabad to name a few.

IIMs Seats and Fee