CAT 2018 notification released: Application process begins on 8 August; here's all you need to know about schedule, exam pattern
The application process for CAT 2018 is scheduled to begin on 8 August and will continue till 19 September; the national level exam will be held on 25 November, 2018, in two slots
The Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIM-C) has released the notification for the Common Admission Test or CAT 2018 on 29 July. The national level exam will be held on 25 November, 2018 in two slots. The application process is scheduled to begin on 8 August and continue until 19 September (5 pm).
IIM-Calcutta is the conducting body for CAT 2018 on behalf of all the 20 IIMs with Professor Sumanta Basu as the Convener. The exam pattern for CAT 2018 is unchanged, thus making it easier for MBA aspirants to prepare on the basis of a familiar pattern.
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What’s new in CAT 2018
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This year, a total of five new cities have been added to the list of cities where the entrance examination will be conducted. Basu said that the test centres would be spread across 147 cities this year. The registration fee for CAT 2018 has also increased from last year, which is now Rs 1,900 for General and NC-OBC candidates and Rs 950 for SC, ST and PWD category candidates.
Who is taking part in CAT 2018?
CAT is one of the most competitive management entrance exams which opens doors for 20 IIMs and more than 100 other top Business schools that include FMS Delhi, MDI Gurgaon, JBIMS Mumbai, DMS IIT Delhi and SPJIMR Mumbai, among others. Since last year, one international business school of Singapore — Singapore Management University — has also started shortlisting candidates on the basis of CAT scores. CAT applicants are filtered for the next stage of admission process in different business schools depending on the cut-off set by the respective institutes.
About CAT 2018
The CAT 2018 exam will be conducted in computer-based mode. Around two lakh candidates are expected to appear for approximately 5,000 coveted seats in the IIMs alone, besides the management programmes run by many other business schools in India.
The registration for CAT will commence on 8 August and conclude on 19 September. The application process is completely online with online fee submission along with application. The application fee is Rs 1,900 for general category candidates and Rs 950 for SC/ST/PWD category candidates. Additionally, there is no age limit for appearing in CAT.
The result of CAT 2018 is expected to be declared in the second week of January 2019 in the form of a scorecard. The shortlisted candidates will then have to appear for the selection rounds after which a final merit list will be prepared.
CAT exam pattern
The notification has brought with it a relief for those appearing for the exam as no new changes have been introduced in the CAT 2018 exam pattern. The computer-based test will carry 100 objective-type multiple choice (MC) and non-multiple-choice (non-MC) questions which have to be answered in three hours. The exam covers three sections as listed in the table below.
| Section | No. of MCQs | No. of non-MCQs | Questions from each section | Total Marks | Time allotted to each section (minutes) |
| Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC) | 24 | 10 | 34 | 102 | 60 |
| Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DI & LR) | 24 | 8 | 32 | 96 | 60 |
| Quantitative Ability (QA) | 27 | 7 | 34 | 102 | 60 |
| Total | 75 | 25 | 100 | 300 | 180 |
Marking Scheme: Each question will carry three marks. For each wrong answer, there is negative marking of one mark. However, there is no negative marking scheme for non-MCQs or Type in the Answer (TITA) questions.
Non-MCQs: Subjective questions were introduced by the IIMs for the first time in 2015. In these questions, candidates have to type the answers in the space provided with the help of a virtual keypad. These questions do not have options.
CAT 2018 Mock Test
After the release of the CAT notification, IIMs will provide online CAT mock test prior to the actual test to make the candidates familiar with the overall exam pattern and navigation. The mock test will be available on 17 October, 2018 on the official website.
What is the admission procedure through CAT?
After the declaration of CAT 2018 result, IIMs and other business schools will shortlist candidates and conduct process of group discussions (GDs), a written ability test, and personal interview (PI) to further evaluate the shortlisted candidates for final admissions. Some institutes such as IMT Ghaziabad and MICA conduct group activity or group exercise instead of group discussion. For the non-IIMs which accept CAT scores, MBA aspirants will have to apply separately. Generally, the admission committee of the B-schools assesses the candidates’ eligibility based on the CAT 2018 percentile, past academic records and work experience, etc.
The other exams that MBA aspirants can take for admission into business schools include XAT, CMAT, NMAT by GMAC, and SNAP, etc.
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