Common Admission Test (CAT) is national-level management entrance examination conducted by the Indian Institutes of Management (IIM). Apart from 20 IIMs, CAT scores are used for admission to various management institutes across the country. CAT 2017 was conducted sucessfully on November 26, 2017 (Sunday). The exam was conducted by IIM Lucknow. 

CAT or Common Admission Test is the most popular national level management entrance exam conducted by Indian Institute of Management for admission to 20 IIMs and more than 100 B-schools across India. Around 2 lakh MBA aspirants appear for the test every year.

IIM Calcutta has formulated the CAT 2018 eligibility criteria. As per the official eligibility criteria of CAT 2018, a candidate should meet the following parameters-

• Obtain a Bachelor’s Degree in any discipline with minimum 50 per cent marks or equivalent CGPA from a recognised university or educational institute.
• The reserved category candidates, such as Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Persons with Disability (PWD), should secure minimum 45 percentage in Bachelor’s Degree in any discipline from a recognised university or educational institute.
• The final year students of Bachelor’s degree/equivalent qualification exam and those who have completed degree course and are awaiting results can apply for CAT 2018 as well.
• Aspirants with any professional degree with requisite percentage of marks will be eligible to appear for the exam.
• Age Limit: There is no limit pertaining to age for appearing in CAT.

Section-1

Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC) : Common Admission Test (CAT) exam Syllabus for VARC section in CAT 2018 is divided into 2 parts. The 1^st part of CAT 2018 syllabus covers questions based on Reading Comprehension passages and the 2^nd part of CAT 2018 exam syllabus on VARC is based on questions on different topics on Verbal Ability.

Section-2

Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR) : CAT Syllabus 2018 for Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR) has been revamped. As a separate section in CAT exam, DILR was re-originated after keeping the section in abeyance for 4 years. During this period the DILR questions were clubbed to Quant and Verbal Ability sections respectively. CAT exam Syllabus for DILR section in CAT 2018 is divided in 2 parts – Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning. The 1^st part of CAT 2018 syllabus covers questions based on Data Interpretation (DI) and the 2^nd part of CAT 2018 exam syllabus on DILR is based on questions on different topics on Logical Reasoning.

Section-3

Quantitative Ability (QA) : CAT exam syllabus 2018 for Quant section is very wide. Quantitative Aptitude (Quant) is the 3^rd and last section in the revamped CAT exam pattern.  CAT syllabus 2018 for Quant is vast and covers everything in Mathematics that you may or may not expect. CAT exam syllabus 2018 on Quant is based on questions on different topics on Arithmetic, Algebra, Modern Math, Geometry, Mensuration, Trignometry among others. 

The selection procedure of CAT 2018 will start after the announcement of result in the second week of January 2019. It’s likely to be a two-step process followed by IIMs and 100 other CAT participating institutes.

First Step

In the first step, candidates will appear for the exam that is scheduled to be conducted on November 25, 2018( Sunday) by IIM Calcutta in online mode. Based on the performance in the exam, candidates will be shortlisted for the CAT selection procedure 2018.

Second Step

In the second step, shortlisted candidates will be called for Writing Ability Test (WAT), Group Discussion (GD) and Personal Interview (PI).

The participating institutes and IIMs will give some weightage to each factor as per their admission process before selecting the students for final admissions. 

IIM Calcutta has begun the online application process of CAT 2018 on August 8. The last date of CAT 2018 registration was September 26 (11:59 PM).

The application is a three-step process, CAT registration, filling the application form, and paying the application fee.

Post registration, candidates will receive the User ID and Password on their registered email and mobile number which would be in turn used for filling the CAT application form 2018. Candidates need to select four exam centres as per their convenience.

CAT 2018 Application Fee

The application fee can be paid through Net Banking, Debit Card, Credit Card, BillDesk, PayU and PaytM.