CAT Selection Procedure 2018

CAT Selection Procedure 2018 - CAT 2018 has been conducted on November 25, 2018, across forenoon and afternoon slots. The selection procedure of CAT 2018 will start after the announcement of result in the second week of January 2019. It’s likely to be a two-step process followed by IIMs and 100 other CAT participating institutes. In the first step, candidates will appear for the exam that is scheduled to be conducted on November 25, 2018, Sunday, by IIM Calcutta in online mode. Based on the performance in the exam, candidates will be shortlisted for the CAT selection procedure 2018. In the second step, shortlisted candidates will be called for Writing Ability Test (WAT), Group Discussion (GD) and Personal Interview (PI). The participating institutes and IIMs will give some weightage to each factor as per their admission process before selecting the students for final admissions. In this article by Careers360, candidates who are planning to write the CAT exam this year can check all the details related to the CAT 2018 selection procedure and other relevant details. The CAT answer key has been released by IIM Calcutta on December 7, 2018.
Latest: CAT 2018 Answer Key is available now

Let’s take a look at the shortlisting process of the participating institutes of CAT 2018. 

How CAT Participating Institutes shortlist candidates 

• Each participating institute has its own CAT cutoff. Whoever meets the criterion of a particular institute will be shortlisted for the selection rounds. 

• MBA aspirants will have to apply separately to the institutes accepting CAT scores within the deadline.

• The admission committee of the institutes assesses the candidates’ eligibility based on their CAT 2018 percentile, past academic records, work experience, etc.

• Qualifying candidates are shortlisted for the next round of CAT selection procedure 2018 – GD, PI and WAT.

Now, we bring to you the CAT selection procedure of B-schools. 

CAT 2018 Selection Procedure at Non-IIM B-schools – Important points

• The non-IIM B-schools conduct a separate selection procedure and there is no system for the common process.

• The selection procedure includes either Group Discussion (GD) or Writing Ability Test (WAT) and Personal Interview.

• There are some institutes such as IMT Ghaziabad and MICA which conduct Group Activity or Group Exercise instead of Group Discussion.

• Some participating institutes conduct both Group Discussion or Group Activity as well as essay writing/writing ability test along with Personal Interview rounds. 

CAT Selection Procedure 2018 at IIMs

• The admission criteria of IIMs get released in advance, right after CAT is announced. The exam notification is expected to be announced in the month of July 2018.

• According to the IIM admission criteria, candidates are shortlisted on the basis of their CAT score/percentile. Each IIM has different CAT cutoff for the shortlisting.

• The shortlisted candidates appear for the selection procedure including WAT and PI rounds.

• The final selection is based on the overall performance in the exam, profile, past academic performance etc.

• The old IIMs such as IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Calcutta, IIM Bangalore, etc. conduct their CAT selection procedure 2018 separately. 

• The new IIMs conduct Common Admission Process (CAP) rounds. In the CAP rounds, participating IIMs announce individual shortlists and the candidates appear for a common WAT and PI rounds where representatives from all IIMs assess their performances. After the process, the IIMs declare separate institute-wise merit lists based on their individual admission and selection criteria.

• The newly established IIMs such as IIM Sirmaur, IIM Jammu and IIM Nagpur will release their merit list on the basis of CAT score/percentile and candidate’s profile and do not conduct GD/WAT-PI rounds for the final selection. 

As per the important dates of CAT 2018, the exam was held on November 25, 2018, and the result of CAT 2018 will be declared in the second week of January 2019. The selection procedure will be conducted from February to April 2018 and the final result will be declared by April-May 2018.

Apart from 20 IIMs, 100+ other B-schools in India will accept the scores of CAT 2018. Around five thousand seats are offered by 20 IIMs and the participating institutes. Around two lakh MBA aspirants appear for CAT exam every year.