CAT Registration 2018 - Management aspirants can start CAT 2018 registration from the second week of August 2018. Candidates who wish to appear for Common Admission Test (CAT) this year would be able to register for CAT 2018 application form online only. However, they would need to register for the exam first and then application filling process begins. The application is usually a three-step process – CAT registration, fill & submit the application form and pay the application fee. Candidates will have to select four exam centres as per their preference while filling up CAT application form 2018. CAT is conducted by Indian Institute of Management (IIMs) on a rotational basis. As many as 2.80 lakh candidates registered for the exam last year out of which 2.31 lakh applied for the exam by paying the application fee. Around 20,000 candidates applied in the extended application window of five days. In this article by Careers360, candidates can check all the information about CAT 2018 registration and application form such as how to register for CAT, application dates, how to fill the application form, application fee, etc.
Important Dates for CAT Registration 2018
Events | Dates |
CAT 2018 registration starts | Second week of August 2018 |
Last date to apply | Fourth week of September 2018 |
CAT application form correction | Fourth week of September 2018 |
CAT 2018 admit card release | Fourth week of October 2018 |
CAT 2018 exam | Fourth week of November 2018 |
However, before starting the CAT registration process, candidates are advised to check whether they are eligible to appear for the exam or not. Here are the eligibility criteria for CAT 2018:
Graduation in any discipline from a recognised institute or university with minimum 50 percent aggregate marks or equivalent CGPA (45 percent for SC, ST and PWD candidates).
Final year Bachelor’s Degree students are also eligible to apply provided they attain the degree with the requisite percentage of the stipulated schedule.
Document required at the time of CAT Registration 2018
Candidates who fulfil the eligibility criteria can start the application process by registration. Before that, there are certain documents to keep handy at the time of filling the CAT application form 2018. Here is the list:
Documents to keep handy before filling CAT 2018 Application Form
Documents to keep handy | Mark sheets of Class X, Class XII, Bachelor’s Degree and or higher education |
Applicable certificates to upload | |
Scanned images of passport size photograph and signatures. The photo should not be more than six months old and should have a white background. | |
List of IIM programmes to apply for |
How to fill CAT Application Form 2018
Now, let’s start the step by step procedure to apply for CAT 2018. The following steps will explain the CAT 2018 registration procedure.
Step 1 – CAT Registration
Step 2 - Login to CAT Website
Step 3 – Filling up CAT Application Form 2018
Step 1 – CAT Registration 2018
Candidates need to register first at the official website in order to generate the login credentials. To register for CAT 2018, you need to perform the following steps.
Go to the official website and click on ‘Register Now’
Enter the asked details including personal details like Name, Date of Birth, Email Address, Mobile Number in the fields provided. Make sure that you enter correct details, especially the contact details so that you do not face any hindrance in receiving information from IIMs regarding the test. To avoid entering erroneous information, follow the given instructions while filling up the fields in CAT 2018 registration form or application form:
Name - The name should be same as in 10th Standard or SSC Certificate. If there is a change of name due to marriage or any other reason, candidates need to submit a valid document like court affidavit or marriage certificate to support the same.
Date of birth – Use the virtual calendar to enter your date of birth to make sure that you enter the correct date.
Email address – The email id should be a valid one. The CAT ID or username will be sent to this email address itself. For overseas candidates, both Username and Password will be sent through email. So, make sure that the information provided is correct.
Mobile number – The mobile number must be a valid one as the password will be sent through SMS at this number itself. The number should be India based and of 10 digits. Other mobile numbers should be prefixed with area code.
After filling the details, enter the captcha or retype the special characters displayed on the screen to verify and authenticate your CAT registration.
Candidates will receive the CAT 2018 login credentials through Email and SMS. The CAT Serial Number or USER ID will be sent to the email address provided by the candidates and the password will be sent through SMS to the registered mobile number. Select the ‘I Agree’ checkbox to ensure successful submission of the CAT registration form.
Step 2 - Login to CAT Website
Now, login to the official website using the system generated User ID & Password to fill CAT application form 2018. In case you forget the password, click on ‘Forgot Password’ tab on the ‘Existing User’ login window and a new password will be sent to your registered email id.
Before start filling the CAT 2018 application form, let’s have a look at some important instructions to be followed during the process.
Instructions to fill CAT Application Form 2018
According to the exam officials, the below-given instructions must be followed in order to apply successfully:
All the fields ‘*’ marked fields are mandatory to fill
Candidates have to fill all the required information and upload scanned copies of requisite documents
Before proceeding to the next section, click on ‘Save & Continue’
Candidates are advised to use Mouse to move to the next field instead of using the ‘Tab’ key
Applicants may complete the application process in multiple sessions by logging in for the next session. All they have to ensure is that they have properly saved the application form fields before logging out during the previous sessions.
After the payment of application fee, candidates would not be allowed to make any changes in the information or documents submitted.
Step 3 – Fill and submit CAT Application Form 2018
After logging in, candidates can start filling the application form of CAT 2018. The CAT application form 2018 is divided into five sections:
Personal Details
Academics
Work Experience
Programmes
Payment
Personal Details
Father’s/Husband’s/Guardian’s Name and Mother’s Name and Gender
Select Category – Candidates who do not belong to the General category have to select the applicable category among Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST), Serial Number, State or Union Territory and Name of Caste and Tribe.
Select Nationality
Click on Yes or No for Person With Disability (PWD) field. In order to apply under the PWD category, the Disability Percentage should be equal to or more than 40 percent.
Communication address - Enter full postal address along with alternate email and mobile number which will be used for further communication by IIMs.
Documents to be Uploaded
Candidates would need to upload the following documents in support of the information provided.
Passport size photograph and signature: Applicants have to upload scanned image of passport size photograph whose dimension should not be more than that stated by exam authorities. Refer to the below table for photograph and signature dimensions. The photograph and signature should be clearly visible and legible.
Dimensions for Photo and Signature for CAT 2018 Application Form
Image | File size | Dimensions | File Format | Image Resolution |
Photograph | Not more than 80 KB | 30 mm (width) x 45 mm (height) | JPEG/JPG | 150 px/inch (min) |
Signature | 80 mm (width) x 35 mm (height) |
NC-OBC/SC/ST Certificate: Applicants belonging to reserved categories have to download the category certificates from the CAT website and enter the required information and get them attested by appropriate authorities, self-attest, scan and upload.
Academic details
Applicants have to enter their past academic records in this section:
Class X/SSC/Equivalent Exam Scores
Class XII/HSC/Equivalent Exam Scores
Bachelor’s Degree Details
Master’s Degree Details
Professional Course Details
Under each section, candidates have to enter the Board, Subjects, Aggregate marks or CGPA.
Work Experience
The CAT application form also provides the option to fill the work experience. If the applicants have prior work experience or are working professionals, they have to enter the work experience in the number of months completed as on July 31, 2018. Candidates have to also enter the industry type. Only full-time work experience pursued after the completion of Graduation will be applicable. Internship, part-time job, article ship, pre-graduation experience should not be entered.
Choose Programmes
Candidates have to select the IIMs and the full-time management programmes where they want to apply for. They have to also select the interview city from the drop-down menu provided under this section. Candidates applying to IIM Indore will also be considered for the Mumbai campus of IIM. However, the final selection will depend on the admission criteria of the institute.
Candidates applying for PGP or PGDM programmes at the below given IIMs are requested to choose the same interview city for all the selections:
IIM Udaipur
IIM Tiruchirappalli
IIM Raipur
IIM Ranchi
IIM Rohtak
IIM Kashipur
Exam Centre City
Candidates will be allowed to select any four cities where CAT 2018 will be conducted from the drop-down menu. After the completion of the CAT 2018 application process, candidates will be allotted test centre in one of the four preferred cities. Applicants will not be allowed to select the same city more than once.
Pay the application fee
After completing the CAT application form 2018, submit it along with the application fee. You can pay the same via net banking, credit card, and debit card. The application fee for different categories is given below:
CAT 2018 Application fee
Category | Application Fee |
General and NC-OBC | Rs. 1800 |
SC, ST and PWD | Rs. 900 |
Along with the above-mentioned application fee, candidates have to also pay the online transaction charges, which will vary according to the mode of payment.
Transaction Fee for CAT 2018 Application form
Mode of Payment | Transaction Charges |
Net Banking | Rs. 20 per transaction |
Credit Card (Visa/Master) | 1.20 percent of the transaction amount and subject to minimum of Rs. 5 |
Credit Card (American Express) | 2.85 percent of the transaction amount and subject to minimum of Rs. 5 |
Debit Card (Visa/Master) | 0.75 percent of the Transaction amount for value up to Rs. 2000 and subject to minimum of Rs. 5 |
1.00% of Transaction amount for value |
Before proceeding towards payment, candidates must preview the entire application form and the information provided and cross check with official documents in order to avoid erroneous application which may not be rectified later.
Application Confirmation Email
After payment of application fee, candidates would receive an application confirmation email at the registered email id. The email contains information about communication and CAT admit card 2018 details.
After the submission of the CAT application form 2018, the authorities may introduce limited window to correct your application form on select fields like percentage of marks, work experience and programmes selected. Information like personal details, academic details (apart from a percentage of marks), exam city preference etc. cannot be edited.
CAT Application Trend - Past 10 Years
Year | No. of Application |
2017 | 2,31,000 |
2016 | 2,32,292 |
2015 | 2,18,664 |
2014 | 1,96,988 |
2013 | 1,94,516 |
2012 | 2,14,000 |
2011 | 2,05,000 |
2010 | 2,04,000 |
2009 | 2,41,000 |
2008 | 2,90,000 |
CAT 2018 is expected to be conducted in the fourth week of November 2018. The score of CAT is accepted by 20 IIMs and more than 100 B-schools in India. Around 4,000 seats are offered through CAT exam.
