CAT 2017-18: Registration Ends On September 20. Apply Now.

The last date to register for CAT 2017 is September 20, (Wednesday), up to 5 pm. At the time of registration, the candidates have to select any four Test Cities as per their preference from the drop down menu. After the last date of registration, candidates will be allotted one among the 4 preferred cities and either of the two sessions. In the rare case that a candidate is not allotted any of the preferred cities, he/she will be allotted a nearby city. The candidates can download the admit cards from 18th October, 2017 till 26th November, 2017.

For those preparing for Common Admission Test (CAT) need to know that the CAT 2017 will be organized by the IIM –L. The IIMs will organize the computer-based exam 140 test centres across the country in two sessions. The duration of the Exam will be 180 minutes. The CAT entrance examination is conducted for admission to these 20 IIMs and more than 100 institutes across India. The elite IIMs are at Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bangalore, Bodh Gaya, Calcutta, Indore, Jammu, Kashipur, Kozhikode, Lucknow, Nagpur, Raipur, Ranchi, Rohtak, Sambalpur, Shillong, Sirmaur, Tiruchirappalli, Udaipur and Visakhapatnam. The IIMs will also release a tutorial to understand the format of the test on October 18. Candidates must work on the tutorials available on the website well in advance.

Exam Pattern: There will be three sections; Verbal Reasoning & Reading Comprehension (one), Quantitative Aptitude (two) and Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (three). The first section will have 34 questions with 1 mark for each question. The second section will follow the same and the third section will have 32 questions with 1 mark for each. The Exam is for 100 marks and the duration is 60 minutes. Don’t be alarmed or tensed with this. The exam will go through two sessions. Two different test forms shall be given in two test sessions. The scores shall be based on the process of Normalization that will adjust for location and scale differences of score distributions across different forms. Later on, the scores shall be further normalized across different sections. Check out the official website of IIM CAT for further details. 

Steps To Apply: Candidates are required to send the online application on and before September 20 (Wednesday). Before the registration process, all the candidates must see the eligibility criteria given here.

• Go to the official website www.iimcat.ac.in and read the CAT Exam Notification 2017 carefully.
• Search for the Apply Online link’ and click on the same.
• As the application form opens, fill out your personal details and at the end, a unique registration number and password will be generated.
• Login to the CAT Online Application by using the registration number and password.
• Fill in the sections like personal details, academic background, work experience, payment of the fee and the like.
• Next is uploading the recent photograph and signature with the specified dimensions.
• Lastly, pay the application fee either from credit cards or debit cards.
• Print your application form out for future use.

Note that the Registration fee is to be paid only once even if the applicant is applying for more than one institute. The CAT 2017 scores can be used by non-IIM member institutions. You can check out the list at iimcat.ac.in. The most important consideration is the validity of the CAT score card which is till 31 December 2018.

Results and shortlisting
Information related to CAT 2017 results will be tentatively available starting second week of January 2018 on this website. The list of candidates shortlisted for the next level of selection will be made available on the website of the respective IIMs. Each IIM will send interview letters to the shortlisted candidates directly. The criteria for shortlisting vary from IIM to IIM.

Admission Process:
Please note that each IIM is independent to mandate their own eligibility criteria (including academic cut-offs and relative weights) and follow different selection processes. The process may include Written Ability Test (WAT), Group Discussion (GD) and Personal Interviews (PI). Performance in CAT 2017 examination is an important component for consideration in the selection process. IIMs may also use previous academic performance of the candidates, relevant work experience and other similar inputs in short-listing of candidates at various stages of the selection process. For more information, candidates must refer to the respective websites of the IlMs. (Source: IIM)