CAT Exam 2021: The Indian Institutes of Management invites Online Applications from intending eligible candidates for the computer-based Common Admission Test 2021 (CAT 2021) on Sunday, November 28, 2021, in three sessions. CAT 2021 will be conducted by IIMs as a prerequisite for admission to various management programmes of IIMs.
About Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs)
IIMs are considered India’s premier national institutes providing quality management education and research. IIMs primarily offer postgraduate, doctoral, and executive education programmes. The flagship programme of IIMs is the two-year post-graduate programme. These two-year programmes are residential in nature. The Fellow / Doctorate Programme in Management (FPM) is a full-time doctoral-level programme in management, leading to the award of a Ph.D. The Executive Post Graduate programmes are targeted at working professionals.
Admission to the two-year post-graduate programmes in IIMs is based on merit and involves a rigorous selection process comprising of a Personal Interview, Written Ability Test/Group Discussions, and scores in the Common Admission Test which is commonly known as CAT. CAT is a management aptitude test conducted by the IIMs primarily to evaluate and shortlist candidates for the post-graduate programme. It is a computer-based exam and a candidate has to follow the due process of registering in order to appear for this exam conducted once a year.
Name of the Examination: Common Admission Test 2021 (CAT 2021)
Name of the Institution: Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs)
List of IIMs Institution located in different areas: Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bangalore, Bodh Gaya, Calcutta, Indore, Jammu, Kashipur, Kozhikode, Lucknow, Nagpur, Raipur, Ranchi, Rohtak, Sambalpur, Shillong, Sirmaur, Tiruchirappalli, Udaipur, Visakhapatnam
Eligibility for CAT Exam 2021:
- The candidate must hold a Bachelor’s Degree, with at least 50% marks or equivalent CGPA [45% in the case of candidates belonging to the Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST), and Persons with Disability (PwD) categories], awarded by any University or educational institution as incorporated by an Act of Parliament or State legislature in India or declared to be deemed as a University under Section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956, or possess an equivalent qualification recognized by the Ministry of HRD, Government of India.
- Candidates appearing for the final year of the Bachelor’s degree/equivalent qualification examination and those who have completed degree requirements and are awaiting results can also apply. However, it may be noted that such candidates, if selected, will be allowed to join the programme provisionally, only if they submit a certificate from the Principal/Registrar of their University/Institution (issued on or before the date as stipulated by the respective IIM) stating that they have completed all the requirements for obtaining the Bachelor’s degree/equivalent qualification on the date of issue of the certificate.
- Candidates applying for CAT 2021 should fulfill any one of the following conditions:
- Completed Bachelor’s degree with the required percentage of marks.
- Completed professional degree (CA/CS/ICWA/Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries of India (FIAI)) with required percentage.
- Should be in the final year of Bachelor’s degree with required percentage*. *SC/ST/PwD candidates should have a minimum of 45%. For General, EWS, and NC-OBC candidates, the minimum is 50%.
For complete details: Click here
RESERVATION:
As per the legal requirements, 15% of the seats are reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates, 7.5% for Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates, 27% for Other Backward Classes candidates belonging to the “Non-Creamy” layer (NC-OBC), up to 10% for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) candidates and 5% for Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwD).
As defined in The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 (RPwD Act 2016), “Person with Benchmark Disability” means a person with not less than forty percent (40%) of a specified disability where t h e specified disability has not been defined in measurable terms and includes a person with disability where the specified disability has been defined in measurable terms, as certified by the certifying authority. “Specified disability” means the disabilities as specified in the Schedule of the RPwD Act 2016
ADMISSION PROCESS:
Please note that IIMs shortlist candidates for the interview stage based on their own criteria, which may be independent of each other. The process may include Written Ability Test (WAT), Group Discussion (GD), and Personal Interviews (PI). Performance in the CAT 2021 examination is an important component of the admission process. IIMs may additionally use other factors such as the previous academic performance of the candidates, relevant work experience, gender, and academic diversity, and other similar inputs in shortlisting and ranking of candidates at various stages of the admission process. The processes, academic cut-offs, and the weights allocated to the evaluation parameters may vary across IIMs. For more information, refer to the admissions policies of individual IIMs on their respective websites.
Examination Centre for CAT Exam 2021:
CAT will be conducted in centre spread across around 158 test cities. Test cities will be mentioned on the CAT website (click “Exam Cities” in the top right corner of the official website) and the name of the test centre will be indicated in the Admit Card. IIMs reserve the right to change or cancel any test centre/city and/or change the test time and date at their discretion.
Application Fees for CAT Exam 2021:
- SC, ST & PwD candidates: Rs.1,100
- All other candidates: Rs.2,200
How to Apply:
The CAT 2021 registration window opens on August 4, 2021, and will close at 5:00 p.m. on September 15, 2021. The details will be available in the registration guide. At the time of registration, the candidates have to select any six test cities, as per their preference, from a drop-down menu. After the last date of registration, candidates will be allotted one among the six preferred cities subject to availability. In the rare case that a candidate is not allotted any of the preferred cities, he/she will be allotted a nearby city. The candidates can download the admit cards from October 27, 2021, until November 28, 2021.
Important Schedule (Tentative):
- Registration opens: August 04, 2021 (10:00 am)
- Registration closes: September 15, 2021 (5:00 pm)
- Admit card download: October 27 – November 28, 2021
- Examination date: November 28, 2021
- Result declaration: Second week of January 2022
Important Link for CAT Exam 2021:
| Description | Link |
|---|---|
| IIMs Official Website | Click here |
| Detailed Advertisement | Click here |
| Information Bulletin | Click here |
| Media Release | Click here |
| Eligibility criteria | Click here |
| Selection Process | Click here |
| Disclaimers | Click here |