The Common Admission Test (CAT) is an all-India test conducted by the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) as an entrance exam for admission to the management programmes of its seven business schools and other top B-Schools such as SP Jain, MICA, and MDI etc.
The test is an objective type with roughly one-fourth negative-mark penalties for wrong answers, and traditionally comprises three sections that span the domains of arithmetical problem solving, statistics, data interpretation, logical reasoning, geometry, puzzles, and English language skills. It is usually held on the third Sunday of November each year. The test duration was two hours prior to year 2006, but since 2006, it has been extended to two and a half hours. According to recently announcement, CAT exam will be a Computer based test from 2009 onwards. An individual is eligible who has qualified a Bachelor's degree with at least 50% marks or CGPA and 45 % in the case of the candidates belong to Schedule caste (SC) or Schedule tribe (ST) category. The students, who are appearing in the final year graduation exam are also eligible, are also eligible to appear the exam.
The total number of questions has varied from 180 (prior to year 2000) to 150 (from 2001 to 2003) and has gradually decreased to 75 (in 2006 and 2007). However, in 2009 the number of questions increased once again and became 90 (40 in Verbal Ability and 25 each in Quantitative Aptitude and Logical Reasoning and Data Interpretation). This trend has seen the CAT evolve from a speed-based test to an exam that evaluates fundamental abilities of candidates in the aforementioned areas.
The CAT is the first step for seeking admission to the IIMs. After the test, by the second week of January next year, IIMs declare exam scores and notify candidates who are eligible for the next stage of a group discussion and an individual interview. The scores are relative and are calculated on a percentile basis for individual sections as well as for the total. These scores may also be used for final ranking as well. In addition to the performance in CAT, IIMs may use academic performance, relevant work experience and other similar inputs for ranking and shortlisting candidates for group discussions and personal interviews.
On 1 May 2009, it was announced that from 2009 onwards, CAT would be a Computer Based Test. Prometric ETS was selected as the partner in conducting the test. .The test would be conducted in a window of ten days.On 27th November 2009, about 300,000 students are expected to take the test making it the world's most competitive examination.