CAT 2019 for IIMs to be held on Nov 24; registration starts Aug 7

Entrance test for top management schools to be conducted across 157 cities.

IIM Ahmadabad, IIM Bill, Indian Institute of Management, IIMs — CAT selects students for the Indian Institutes of Management, the country's top business schools. This picture is of the IIM Ahmedabad campus.

2 min read Last Updated : Oct 10 2019 | 7:25 PM IST

Common Admission Test (CAT) 2019, which selects students for the 20 premier Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and 110 other business schools, will be held on November 24.

CAT 2019--convened by IIM Kozhikode (IIM-K) this year--will be held in 156 cities in two sessions. Registration will open on August 7 and close on September 18.

According to Shubhasis Dey, convener of CAT 2019, candidates will be given the option to select four test cities in order of preference. Cities and centres will be assigned to the candidates only after the last date for CAT 2019 registration and hence candidates need not rush to block slots and cities in the initial days of registration.

"The concerned authorities will try their best to assign candidates to their first preferred city. In case this is not possible, they will be assigned a city following their given order of preference. In the rare case that a candidate is not allotted any of the preferred cities, he/she will be allotted an alternate city. However, candidates will not be able to select the session because it will be assigned randomly," said Dey.

The computer-based test will last 180 minutes and it will be divided into three sections: Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC), Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR) and Quantitative Ability (QA).

Candidates will get 60 minutes for writing each of the three sections. They cannot switch sections while answering questions. According to experts, the restriction could help non-engineering candidates as it provides them a level-playing field with candidates of engineering background.

The CAT website, which will go live on July 28, will contain a section on Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) that addresses some of the commonly asked queries regarding CAT 2019. However, tutorials to understand the format of the test will be available on the CAT website from October 16, 2019.

Candidates will have to pay the registration fee through online payment mode, which includes credit cards, debit cards and net banking. They can download examination admit cards from October 23 till the date of the test.