Common Admission Test (CAT)
In today’s hyper-competitive world, management skills are an integral part of every profession. To grow in one’s career, these skills are a must-have. For this reason, millions of candidates every year seek admission to management institutes the world over. In India, the candidates aspiring to get admission into the premier management institutes need to appear for the qualifying exams. The biggest exam for admission to a management course in India is the Common Admission Test (CAT).
The CAT Exam is conducted once every year by the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) for admission to their Post Graduate and Fellowship Programmes. It is a computer-based test (CBT) where the aspirants are tested on basic skills like Verbal Ability, Reading Comprehension, Quantitative Aptitude, and Data Interpretation. Each of these is a must-have in any manager’s repertoire and, hence, the CAT Exam is designed to also assess the candidate’s aptitude in these.
CAT 2021 Exam
The CAT exam is conducted by one of the IIMs every year. CAT 2021 is being conducted by IIM Ahmedabad. Candidates must keep in mind that qualifying CAT does not automatically confirm their admission to any institute. Each institute, including the IIMs, has its own set of other admission procedures, including Group Discussions, Personal Interviews etc., before finalizing the admission offers. However, the CAT exam is a qualifying exam prior to these procedures.
The score of the CAT exam is considered by many prestigious institutes apart from the IIMs as well. However, the applications for these institutes need to be filled up separately by the candidates from their websites.
The registration forms for CAT 2021 were opened for candidates from 4th August 2021. The candidates can fill up the forms up to 15th September 2021, 5:00 pm. It is advised to fill up the form carefully to avoid making any mistakes that can disqualify you from appearing for the CAT 2021 exam.
Course Structure
The management institutes in India follow a common structure in terms of their curriculum. The full-time Postgraduate programs, where CAT Exam is a qualifying criterion, entails a 2-year course. Generally, these courses are residential and divided into 3 terms per year. The course also includes a 2-month internship in between the first and second year. Thus, the admissions to every course take place annually.
This is the primary reason the CAT exam is conducted only once a year. This methodology is seamlessly integrated with the daily operations at the institutes as well as the curriculum. Other institutes that consider the CAT exam score also have similar academic calendars. Thus, even from their perspective, the once-a-year CAT exam is favorable.
Another point to be kept in mind is the year mentioned after the CAT refers to the year in which the exam is being conducted. This is for the academic session of the next year. Thus, CAT 2021 refers to the fact that the exam is being conducted in 2021. The CAT exam for 2021 will take place on 28th November 2021 as per the official notification released by the organizing institute.
Once the CAT 2021 exam is completed, the results will be out in the month of January. Following the announcement of the results, the institutes will conduct their admission processes to finalize the admission offers. The admission process, once completed after CAT 2021, will allow the students to attend the academic session beginning in mid-2022, somewhere in the month of June. After this, the admission cycle for the next year will begin. Thus, the CAT exam is conducted only once a year. Check latest CAT 2021 dates such as result dates, application dates, admit card dates for CAT Exam at https://www.shiksha.com/mba/cat-exam-dates
