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THE CAT - The Common Admission Test

Business management is a top notch career attracting the best and the brightest.Admission to the top business schools means a certain job.

The Common Admission Test (CAT), is the common entrance exam for admission to to the Indian Institutes of Management (IIM's), at Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Lucknow, Indore, and Kozhikode. Many other B - schools like, MICA, Nirma Institute of Management, S.P. Jain Institute, also select the candidates based on their performance in CAT.

The test consists of four parts namely Verbal Ability, Reading Comprehension, Problem Solving and Data Interpretation. All questions are multiple choice. For every correct answer, one mark is awarded and for every wrong answer, 1/4th of a mark is deducted.

The test is conducted once a year on the second Sunday of December. The minimum educational qualification is a degree or studying in the final year. The advertisements for the test appearin the national dailies as early as August . The test is conducted in a number of centres all over the country.

The most important factor in this test is time management, and there are no ranks as such. Out of the 185 questions, if you attempt 100, and out of the hundred if you get 90 correct, then your chances are better than a person who has attempted all the 185 but only cleared 160 questions. After the written exam, the candidates are ranked and then only the very best are called by the IIMs.

After the exam, the selected candidates have to undergo a group interview. This will be more like a stress interview where the candidates are posed with real problems, for which they have to discuss and arrive at an amicable solution. Often these group interviews, turn into mega shouting matches filled with chaos as everybody talks at the same time. Then comes the interview that is equally detailed in nature.