THE COMMON ADMISSION TEST

Common Admission Test (CAT), is the common entrance exam that you have to take to get admission to the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), at Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Lucknow, Indore, and Kozhikode. Many other institutes like, MICA, Nirma Institute of Management, S.P. Jain Institute, also draw out their candidates based on the performance in CAT. 

The exam itself consists of four parts which are Verbal Ability, Reading Comprehension, Problem Solving and Data Interpretation. All the questions are multiple choice and you should shade your choice of answer (only with a HB pencil) in the computer coded answer sheet.

The exam is conducted once a year on the Third Sunday of November. In order to sit for the exam, you must be a graduate or studying in the final year. The notifications for the exam start appearing in the national dailies as early as August 23rd.

The most important factor is  time  in these exam, and the merit list is on a percentile basis. After the written exam, the candidates are ranked and then are called by the IIMs. The other institutes also start sending call letters. The candidate also has to buy the application forms of these other institutes and apply to them individually. 

After the exam, the selected candidates have to undergo a group discussion and an interview. This will be more like a stress interview where the candidates are posed with real problems, for which they have to discuss and arrive at an amicable solution. Often these group interviews, turn into mega shouting matches filled with chaos as everybody talks at the same time. Then comes the interview that is equally detailed in nature.

SECTIONS IN THE CAT

The four sections in the CAT examination are

Comprehension - This section requires examinees to read passages (about 700 words in length), following which they answer three to four questions relating to the passage.  Answering questions from the passage is even tougher, as they are hidden somewhere deep in the throes. Speed and concentration are extremely necessary here.

Mathematics - This section has questions that deal with the basics of algebra, geometry and trigonometry. Each question in this section looks simple and straightforward, but on closer inspection, there was a smart trick cleavaged behind each query. One has to keep their eyes open to identify such stratagem."

Verbal - In today's corporate world, having good language skills are extremely important, especially in English. The "Verbal" section tests the grammatical and verbal skills of an applicant to check their understanding of the English language. Included amongst the questions are small passages (of which the examinees are expected to draw inferences), analogies, antonyms and synonyms, fill in the blanks, correcting sentences, arranging sentences in order.

Data Interpretation - Popularly known as "DI", this section tests the analytical and logical skills of examinees by seeing how well they interpret data, which is in form of graphs, charts and tables. Examinees are required to answer questions based on the data available in graphs and tables. Analyzing the tables takes some time, but once you've got the hang of it, it becomes a breeze."