Common Admission Test (CAT) is one of the competitive entrance examinations for pursuing postgraduate programmes in Business Administration.

It is the gateway for admission to 19 Indian Institute of Management (IIMs) and various B-schools located across India. This national level examination is conducted by the IIMs on the rotation basis.

Important Dates 2016

Start Date of Online Application 8th August, 2016
Last date to submit the application form 27th September, 2016 (Extended)
Correction window 1st to 5th October 2016
Admit Card Download Date 24th October, 2016
CAT 2016 Exam Date 4th December, 2016
Result Announcement Date 9th January, 2017

CAT Exam Pattern
• Type: Computer based test (CBT).
• Duration: The duration of the paper CAT 2016 exam will be of 180 minutes.
• No. of Questions: 100 Objective type questions.
• Syllabus Covered: logical reasoning & data interpretation, verbal ability & Reading Comprehension and quantitative ability.
• Marking Scheme: 3 marks for every correct answer.
• Negative Marking: 1 mark will be deducted for every wrong answer.
• Time Limit per Section: Candidates will be allotted exactly 60 minutes for answering questions in each section.

Sections Questions Marks Duration
Quantitative Ability 34 102 60 Min
Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning 32 96 60 Min
Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension 34 102 60 Min
Total 100 300 180 Min

CAT Syllabus

Quantitative Ability or Mathematics: This section consists of 10+2 difficulty level & Fundamental mathematics. The topics are geometry, number system, interest, quadratic & linear equations, probability, trigonometry, time & work, percentages, profit & loss, algebra, LCM & HCF, averages, permutation, ratio & proportions, complex numbers, etc.

Data Interpretation: In this section, student’s ability to solve problems accurately & understanding of the data are tested. Students can study the topic of graphs (line, area), Interpretation and analysis of data based on text, Charts (Column, bar, pie), tables, paragraph, venn diagram, etc.

Verbal Ability & English: This section contains the usage of Standard English grammar & questions on comprehension. The topics are verbal reasoning, antonyms and synonyms, sentence correction, fill in the blanks, critical reasoning, syllogisms, analogies, idioms, etc.

Logical Reasoning: Direction sense, clocks & calendars, puzzles, binary logic, seating arrangement, coding- decoding, blood relations, logical sequence, data structure, assumption, premise, conclusion, linear and matrix arrangement, etc.