What is CAT Exam?

Common Admission Test (CAT) is one of the top national level entrance exams for admission into various postgraduate courses in management from elite colleges like IIMs (Indian Institute of Management) and other reputed business schools in India. It is a computer-based exam conducted by one of the 20 IIMs on a rotational basis. 

Eligibility Criteria for CAT:

• Candidates must hold a bachelor’s degree with at least 50% marks or equivalent CGPA (45% in the case of candidates belonging to the Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST), and Persons with Disability (PwD) categories) from a recognized university.
• Candidates who have completed a professional degree such as CA/CS/ICWA/Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries of India (FIAI)) with the required percentage are also eligible for appearing in the CAT examination.
• Candidates who are in their final year of graduation are also eligible for appearing in CAT.
• There is no age limit for appearing in the CAT exam.

CAT Exam Pattern:

• Duration – 120 Minutes/ 2 hours 
• Question type – MCQ and Non-MCQ type question
• Total number of questions – 66
• Total marks – 198
• Number of sections in the question paper – There are 3 sections in CAT paper:

1. Section-1: Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC)
2. Section-2: Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR)
3. Section-3: Quantitative Ability (QA)

Why is it important to join coaching for CAT?

Getting the right type of guidance at the right time is really very important especially in the case of competitive exams as it definitely improves your chances of success. Though opting for coaching is a choice in a highly competitive examination such as CAT, it is always advised to join coaching. Coaching not only strengthens your content knowledge but also provides you with career counseling, mentoring, and work on your 360° development. Given below are some of the reasons why you should opt for 

• Coachings provides direction to your goals through proper guidance.
• Almost all coaching centers have their study material created by teams of experts.
• CAT coachings also have personality development sessions or classes, which is essential in management fields.
• CAT coachings also prepare you for Group Discussions and Personal interviews.
• By joining a coaching institute you become consistent with your studies.

Pointers to keep in mind while selecting coaching for CAT:

Selecting the right coaching institution becomes very important while you are preparing for CAT. One should first analyze their needs or requirements and then select suitable coaching for themselves. We have made an attempt to select some of the pointers that you should keep in mind before you decide to join a coaching program for  CAT. 

• Experienced faculties
• Date of establishment
• Result of the institution
• Availability of study material and mock tests 
• Mock interviews and personality development sessions
• Batch size