CAT Eligibility Criteria 2022: Check Qualification, Age Limit, Reservation

CAT Eligibility Criteria 2022: The conducting IIM for Common Admission Test (CAT) will soon release the CAT 2022 eligibility criteria under which the candidates will have to meet certain parameters set up by the conducting body. Detailed IIM CAT eligibility criteria 2022 are explained here for candidates who will appear for the CAT entrance exam.

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In previous years due to pandemics, the conducting IIMs received several queries from CAT aspirants regarding their candidature due to the "promotion/pass" certificate awarded instead of the "marks" certificate in their bachelor's program. Due to this the minimum percentage factor was removed for those who appeared in CAT 2021.

However, as per the basic CAT eligibility criteria 2022, candidates should have secured 50% marks or equivalent CGPA [45% in case candidates belonging to the reserved category and for the PwD category]. Read the article to know in detail about CAT 2022 eligibility details, exam dates, reservation policy, and more.

CAT Eligibility Criteria 2022

According to the CAT eligibility criteria, candidates who have completed any Bachelor’s Degree from a recognized University with 50% of aggregated marks (45% for SC/ ST/ PwD) are eligible to apply. Before starting the CAT preparation, candidates should know the complete eligibility criteria so that they do not face any problems while registering for the CAT exam as well. In this article, we discuss the CAT exam eligibility criteria comprising age limit, academic qualification, category-wise reservation, etc.

In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, the CAT committee made the following exceptions for the CAT exam last year:

• Candidates in the final year- Candidates with "promotion/ pass" instead of award of marks" certificate in any of the last two years of the graduate program could enter the "Promotion or Pass" option in the CAT application form. This will allow the candidate to complete & submit the CAT registration form despite the requirements of minimum eligibility criteria (45% and 50% [or equivalent CGPA] respectively). This CAT eligibility relaxation is also applicable to those final years of graduate students with an "award" of marks.

Note- This exception was available only to those candidates who are completing their graduation in 2021 or are in the final year of the bachelor's program (graduation years - 2021 and 2022)

• Candidates graduated in 2020 and 2021- Due to the implementation of the above point, and considering that there could be different evaluation patterns adopted by the different universities across the country due to the pandemic, the CAT Committee decided to remove the minimum percentage of marks (45% and 50% [or equivalentCGPA] respectively) for appearing in the CAT entrance exam last year.

Note- This exception is made to ensure parity for candidates who have completed their graduation in 2020 and 2021.

CAT Exam Dates 2022

Candidates who are interested in CAT 2022 and fulfill the eligibility criteria must be aware of the CAT 2022 exam dates like application starting, ending, admit card availability, CAT test date, answer key release date, result date, cut off, and so on.

CAT 2022 exam dates

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CAT Eligibility 2022 - Other Key Highlights

Detailed expected eligibility criteria of CAT 2022 is discussed below. There are certain points regarding academic details which form part of the eligibility criteria for CAT. Some of the important points are mentioned below:

• CAT exam eligibility concerning Educational Qualification

• Eligibility for CAT examination for final year graduate students

• CAT eligibility for students with backlogs

• CAT eligibility and reservation details

• CAT mark calculation and who is ineligible for CAT 2022

• Required work experience for CAT Exam 2022

Before going into the eligibility details, it is necessary to know the details about the CAT exam and what this exam is. Below is a brief introduction to the CAT exam. For more information about CAT Eligibility Criteria 2022 see the complete article.

What is CAT?

CAT is normally called a Common Admission Test. CAT is a national-level entrance examination that is conducted annually by IIMs to take admission in management programs in various B-Schools. The CAT exam consists of three sections such Quantitative Aptitude (QA), Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR), and Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC). One should check the latest CAT 2022 exam pattern and CAT syllabus to know the detailed syllabus topics for the exam and prepare accordingly.

CAT 2022 will be held in November and the results will be released in January 2022. Individuals wishing to take the CAT 2022 exam should check the latest IIM CAT exam eligibility criteria before registering for the exam.

Also, Check

• When and How to Start CAT 2022 Preparation?
• CAT Preparation 2022 - How to prepare for CAT without coaching

CAT Eligibility Criteria 2022- Academic Qualification

The conducting IIM will mention the academic qualifications and the marks that the candidates must secure to be able to appear for the CAT exam.

Eligibility Criteria of CAT 2022

MHRD/ AICTE: The University shall be declared annexed by an Act of the Parliament or the State Legislature of India or shall be treated as a university under Section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956.

NOTE: The candidates who appeared in the final year of the degree examination should submit the certificate from the Registrar/ Principal of the respective institution or university. The certificate must state that they have met all the requirements for equivalent qualification on the date the certificate is issued.

CAT Exam Eligibility Criteria - Registration with Backlogs

One of the most common questions of students with any academic backlogs in their graduate program is whether they can enroll for the CAT 2022 exam. It should be clarified that CAT aspirants who have academic backlogs during their graduate program can apply and register for CAT without any problem. Any candidate who scores above 50% (45% for the reserved category) in the degree (even in supplementary) can apply for CAT 2022. When completing the CAT 2021 registration form, ask, "Are you in your final year of your bachelor's degree?" Select "Yes" to the question.

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• IIM Fees for MBA 2022
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IIM CAT 2022 Eligibility- Reservation Criteria

IIM offers some reservations for different categories of students applying for any business management program. To know CAT eligibility criteria for OBC, MBC, SC, ST, PwD, and General, see the table below:

Reservation Criteria

This CAT reservation means that a general category candidate has 54% (54.5% accurate seat) seats for her/him. The total number of seats available in the various IIMs is about 4000. Due to the reservation level, the number of seats available to candidates from the general category is over 1900. By adding 20 or more top Institutions, the general category candidates have about 4000 seats to compete.

Also, Check CAT 2022 Cutoff for MBA Admission in top colleges

Reservation Policy for Person with Disability (PwD)

For the PwD category candidates, they must bring a PwD certificate issued by a competent authority. Then only they are able to fulfill the CAT exam eligibility criteria 2022 for the PwD category. Individuals with various types of disabilities accepted under the PwD reservation:

• Low vision/ blind candidates.

• Candidates with hearing impairment.

• Candidates with a locomotive disability or cerebral palsy.

CAT Eligibility Criteria 2022 - Marks Calculation

• The CAT percentage calculation will be based on the fact that the respective institutions or universities where the candidates have passed their degrees will follow their own procedure for calculating the total marks.

• For CGPA and grades, marks will be converted into percentages based on the practice certified by the respective institution or university.

• In another case, if no institution or university offers any plans for change, the percentage will be calculated by dividing the student's CGPA by the maximum CGPA and multiplying the result by 100.

• For example,

• If a candidate has a CGPA of 8.8 and a maximum of 10 CGPA, then 8.8/10 = 0.88 and multiplying the result with 100 = 0.88 X 100 = 88%

Quick Links

• Check CAT Score vs Percentile 2022
• CAT Percentile Predictor 2022

Who is ineligible for CAT 2022?

• If the candidate is in the process of completing their professional degree (CS/ CA/ ICWA) without appearing for their bachelor’s degree.

• The candidate is pursuing both their bachelor’s degree and a professional degree but has not yet completed both.

• If the candidate's score in the degree is less than 50% (45% for SC / ST / PWT candidates), he or she is ineligible to apply for the CAT.

• If the degree is not recognized by MHRD/ AICTE/ UGC, the candidate will be considered ineligible for the CAT examination.

CAT Eligibility Criteria - Work Experience Requirements

• Candidates are not required to have any prior work experience.

• Even if the CAT Application Form 2022 asks for it, there is no necessary condition to fulfill it.

• It should be noted that during the final examination, some weightage may be given by IIMs for this work experience. However, the exact weightage has never been revealed and it will vary from one IIM to another IIM.

Should the COVID vaccine be a criterion for CAT 2022?

India has recently been hit by the covid-19 third wave. The OMICRON variant of the virus has already been detected in a few states in India. Meanwhile, the COVID vaccination program has gained momentum and a large scale of the population has been vaccinated in India. A lot of conversations and discussions are heard about COVID vaccination as a mandatory criterion for traveling, reopening offices, and conducting business activities.

Since it has been proven that a person vaccinated with the COVID vaccine is best protected from the Coronavirus, the vaccine gradually acquires the status of a free pass to go to public places. This leads us to the question of whether entrance exams like the Common Admission Test will also make vaccination a requirement to appear. Since CAT is an MBA entrance exam and the age of the students is 20+, by the day of the CAT exam 2022, for their own's safety it is recommended to get vaccinated.

CAT Registration 2022

The CAT 2022 application form will be released online mode in the first week of August on the official website and candidates will be able to fill it out by September 2022. IIM will also provide a window to make the necessary corrections in the form if required. Also, the candidates will have to choose at least six CAT exam centres 2022 according to their preference.

Once the candidates have provided all the necessary information in the CAT 2022 application form and uploaded the documents, they would have to pay the necessary fees depending upon the category to which they belong. The fess will have to be paid as per the various modes of payment which have been mentioned.

Quick Links

• Know how to fill out CAT Application Form 2022
• Check details of CAT 2022 Application Form Correction Window

IIM Eligibility Vs CAT Eligibility

• When IIMs convene CAT, their eligibility criteria are not the same. There are some minor contradictions that every candidate who wants to study in IIMs should be aware of.

• Although there is no age limit for both the CAT exam qualification and the IIM qualification, the two-year bachelor’s degree accepted by the CAT exam qualification criteria is not accepted by IIMs and their management programs require a three-year bachelor’s degree.

• Other than that, there are no discrepancies between the CAT exam qualification and the IIM qualification.

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