Full Form of CAT :
Common Admission Test
CAT Full Form is Common Admission Test. CAT is a computer-based examination for admitting students to various post-graduate programs and fellow programs in business administration and management. This exam is organized by the Indian Institutes of Management.
CAT basically tests the reading comprehension, verbal ability, data interpretation, quantitative skills and logical reasoning of a student. This exam helps students to seek admission in various management institutes throughout India including IIMs and Non-IIMs.
Till 2009, CAT exam was a paper-based exam. The duration of the test, the pattern of questions, and the length of the test had been changing over the past years. It was in 2009 CAT was announced to be a computer based exam. Some of the parameters for candidates to seek admission in institutions include CAT score, group discussion, work experience, interview and written assessments. A good CGPA score is also required for admission.
CAT Full Form – Additional Information
A computer-based test is conducted in India once every year in order to sort eligible candidates for the management programs like MBA in numerous prestigious management colleges and universities, including the IIMs. This test is known as the CAT or Common Admission Test. This exam is conducted jointly by all IIMs. The skills of the candidates tested in the exam include logical reasoning, verbal ability, data interpretation, analytical reasoning, reading comprehension, data sufficiency, and quantitative aptitude.
The score obtained in it is valid for one year only. It is usually held in the month of November. The exam is held over three hundred centres in more than ninety towns and cities throughout India. This is among the most popular entrance exams in this country. The exam fee for the candidates of general category is twenty-four dollars or rupees sixteen hundred. The same for ST and SC categories is twelve dollars or eight hundred rupees.
Eligibility criteria f or CAT Exam
For a candidate to be eligible for appearing in the prestigious CAT exam, he or she must fulfil certain criteria. The candidate must be graduated from a college or university which is recognized and authentic. He or she must have a minimum of fifty percent marks as the aggregate percentage.
The students who are still in their final year of graduation can also apply. This comes with the condition that the student must complete his or her graduation within the applicable time period and obtain the graduation percentage. The age limit for this exam is nil. There are certain prestigious B-schools that give preference to candidates that have prior experience of working. But this does not come under the candidate’s eligibility criteria.
CAT Exam Registration Process
The CAT’s official website provides the facility of registering to the aspirants of the CAT exam
In the registration process, the aspirant needs to visit the CAT’s official website. The details like name, email address, date of birth and mobile number must be entered correctly. The aspirant will not be able to change the information once entered. After the registration process gets completed, the candidate will then receive their login details on their mail addresses. Additionally, the password will be sent to them as an SMS.
CAT Exam Pattern and Duration
There are 3 sections into which the CAT exam is divided. The first section is dedicated to QA or Quantitative Aptitude, which consists of thirty-four questions. The second section deals with the logical reasoning and data interpretation and consists of thirty-two questions. The final section is dedicated to VRC or verbal and reading comprehension. It has thirty-four questions.
The time allotted to the candidates for finishing the exam is one hundred and eighty minutes. The total number of questions they need to attempt is one hundred. In the recent years, the facility of switching between different sections is discontinued. The online calculator was allowed for the candidates to use for the 1st time last year, that is, 2015. The questions of the TITA or type in the answer type questions were asked last year. In this, the answers needed to be typed by the candidate in the boxes provided on the screen.
Raw Score
One of the scores used in this popular management exam is referred to as the raw score. The calculation of the raw score is done for every section. The basis of this score lies on the number of questions that were not attempted, and the questions answered incorrectly and correctly. The candidate gets three points for every correct answer. One mark is deducted for every incorrect solution. For the unanswered questions, no points are taken. A process referred to as equating is used for adjusting the raw scores. The placement of these scores is then done on a metric scale for ensuring that the scores are interpreted appropriately. This procedure is usually referred to as scaling.
Scaled Score
Another important type of score involved in the CAT exam is the Scaled Score. For every candidate, four scores of this type are presented. Out of these four, one is an overall score of this type, and the left over three are for every section of the exam. Now, it is well known that every section helps in evaluating different skills as well as knowledge sets. The scores obtained across different sections do not correlate with each other. One thing that must be clearly understood by all aspirants of the CAT exam is that if one section has a high score, it is not a guarantee of obtaining a high score in other sections as well.