CAT (Common Admission Test ) is the gateway to 20 IIMs and over 1200 Business schools in India. It is conducted online by one of the IIMs in the month of November in around 155 cities across India. Mostly it is held in two slots and the exam paper consists of 100 MCQ based aptitude questions. Going in-depth, the paper consists of Data Interpretation (DI), Logical Reasoning (LR), Verbal ability (VA), Reading comprehensions (RC) and Quantitative Aptitude (QA). More than 2 lakhs students take the test every year.
CAT 2020 Exam: Important Events and Dates
The solid schedule for CAT 2020 will be announced in the month of July. The below table is just a tentative one, which is fixed by analysing the previous year CAT schedules.
|
CAT 2020 Events |
CAT 2020 Dates |
Important Features |
|
CAT 200 notification release |
Fourth week of July, 2020 |
IIM to announce CAT 2020 schedule and related details. |
|
Exam registrations start |
First week of August, 2020 |
Online registrations open. No change in the registration process or fees from last year |
|
Registrations end |
Fourth week of September, 2020 |
Registrations close for all candidates |
|
CAT form correction |
Fourth week of September, 2020 |
Candidates can upload new photos and signatures. No other information could be edited. |
|
CAT mock test release |
Second week of October, 2020 |
The official mock test will have 100 questions to be solved in 3 hours. CAT mock test will be available in online mode only. |
|
CAT official tutorial release |
Second week of October, 2020 |
The exam conducting body will release a video to help candidates understand exam day guidelines. |
|
Admit card release |
Third week of October, 2020 |
To be downloaded from CAT 2020 website. |
|
CAT exam 2020 |
Fourth week of November, 2020 |
To be held in 156 cities in two slots – morning and afternoon. |
|
CAT answer key release |
Fourth week of November, 2020 |
To be downloaded from CAT website. Candidates can raise objections (if any). |
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Answer key challenge process begins |
First week of December, 2020 |
Candidates can challenge official responses online by paying Rs 1000 per question. |
|
Last date to challenge answer key |
First week of December, 2020 |
window open up to 5:00 pm only |
|
CAT result 2020 declaration |
First week of January, 2021 |
Release of scorecard on official website by 9 am |
CAT 2020 eligibility criteria
- Candidates having a graduation degree with an aggregate of 50% marks or equivalent CGPA (45% for reserved category) can apply for CAT 2020. (OR)
- Candidates who have completed professional degree (CA/CS/ICWA) with 50% marks or equivalent (45% for reserved category). (OR)
- Candidates in their final year of graduation degree are also eligible to apply for CAT exam.
P.S.: The percentage of marks obtained by a candidate will be calculated based on the formula practised by the institute or university. In case, there is no scheme of converting CGPA into equivalent marks, at the said institute or university, the same would be established by dividing the candidate’s CGPA by the maximum possible CGPA and multiplying the result with 100.
The question paper is divided into three sections
VARC (VA + RC)
DILR (DI + LR) and
QA.
Each section is allotted 60 minutes. The candidates are required to solve both MCQ and Non-MCQ type questions. The questions paper is usually of moderate difficulty level with QA posing more challenges in terms of tough questions.
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CAT question paper pattern and structure |
|
|
Number of exam sessions |
Two (forenoon and afternoon) |
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Number of sections |
Three |
|
Names of the sections |
VARC, DILR and QA |
|
Duration of exam |
60 minutes per section (Total 180 minutes) |
|
Total number of questions |
100 |
|
Section-wise number of questions |
VARC -34, DILR- 32, QA - 34 |
|
Total marks |
300 |
|
Language of question paper |
English |
|
Number of answer choices |
Four |
|
Type of questions |
MCQs and Non-MCQs |
|
Section-wise difficulty level |
VARC - Easy to moderate, DILR- Moderate to difficult, QA - Difficult |
|
Marking Scheme |
3 marks for each right question, Negative marking of 1/3 (-1) for each wrong MCQ, No negative marking for wrong non-MCQ |
