CAT (Common Admission Test)
2012 notification has come out yesterday, ending months of wait for those of you CAT 2012 aspirants. As per the notification, sale of CAT 2012 Vouchers as well as online registration for CAT 2012 would commence from 30th July, 2012. While the last date of sale of voucher is 17th September, 2012, you can submit the CAT 2012 online form till 19th September, 2012.
CAT 2012 would be held in the test window period from 11th October to 6th November 2012.
This blog article is aimed to help you know about CAT and apply for the same with important information on CAT eligibilities and where to find the form and how to apply for CAT 2012.
CAT 2012 is being coordinated by IIM-Kozhikode. Prometric shall again conduct this years CAT exam (on behalf of IIM's).
For those uninitiated in to CAT, let us start with a small write up on what is CAT.
What is CAT:
CAT (Common Admission Test) is the most competitive management entrance exam in India and is one of the toughest in the whole world. You might already be knowing this, but let me tell you again that CAT enables you to get admission to not only thirteen famed IIMs (Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Indore, Kashipur, Kozhikode, Lucknow, Raipur, Ranchi, Rohtak, Shillong, Tiruchirappalli, Udaipur), but more than 130 top-rung management institutes in India. In addition to these institutes which has registered for using the CAT scores, there are a lot of other good management institutes, which uses the CAT scores in their admission process.
For the fresh CAT examinees, let me tell you that CAT is only the first step for admissions to these management institutes. CAT scores are used to shortlist the candidates for further selection processes (like GD & Interview), the admission process of each management institutes varying from one another.
CAT is supposed to be a very competitive exam but than, there is a good news for you - although number of IIMs have increased (nine in CAT 2010, thirteen in CAT 2011), resulting in increased number of IIM seats (1800 in CAT 2008, 1950 in CAT 2009, almost 2600 in CAT 2010), number of candidates appearing in CAT is reducing from last 3 years (2.5 lakh in CAT 2008, 2.15 lakh in CAT 2009, 1.86 lakh in CAT 2010), although in CAT 2011 it marginally increased to 2.05 lakhs. So you have fewer number of competitor, is not that a good news?
CAT 2012 list of management institutes:
Not all the candidates who appear in CAT gets a seat in IIMs. So which are the other registered non-IIM management institutes which used CAT-2012 scores for admissions? You can find the list of CAT 2012 list of non-IIM management institutes later
this webpage.
CAT 2012 Test centres:
At this moment, test-sites of CAT 2012 has not been declared and the same shall be available from 30th July, 2012 (registration date) on wards.
However, just for your information, CAT 2011 was held in test location in following 36 cities/towns:
Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhilai, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Cochin, Coimbatore, Dehradun, Durgapur, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Greater Noida, Gurgaon, Guwahati, Hyderabad , Indore , Jaipur, Jammu, Jamshedpur, Kolkata, Kozhikode, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, Navi Mumbai, New Delhi, Noida, Patna, Pune, Ranchi, Shillong, Siliguri, Varanasi, Vishakhapatnam.
CAT 2012 Eligibility:
Eligibility for appearing in CAT is very simple: Minimum 50% marks (45% in case SC/ST/DA (Differently abled) categories) or equivalent CGPA in your Bachelor's Degree from a recognized university.
Final year students can also apply, provided only if he/she submits a certificate latest by June 30, 2013 from the Principal/Registrar of his/her College/Institute (issued on or before June 30, 2013) stating that the candidate has completed all the requirements for obtaining the bachelor's degree/equivalent qualification on the date of the issue of the certificate.
CAT 2012 Application Form/ CAT 2012 Vouchers:
You can apply for CAT 2012 only online.
But before you go on to register online for CAT 2012, you have to purchase the CAT 2012 Vouchers from one of the designated Axis bank. The price of the voucher (i.e. CAT 2012 exam application fee) is Rs. 1600/= for Open category candidates and Rs. 800/= for Reserved category candidates.
CAT 2012 Important dates:
Date of Sale of CAT 2012 Vouchers: 30th July to 17th September, 2012
Dates for CAT 2012 Registration: 30th July to 19th September, 2012
CAT 2012 Test Dates : 11th October to 6th November 2012.
CAT 2012 Result Date: 9th January, 2013..
Hope this information enables you to apply for CAT 2012 confidently. Although the information posted here is for CAT 2012 examinees, even the future CAT aspirants can use this information to know about the exam, say for CAT 2013 notification.
I would post more information on CAT 2012 Exam Pattern as well as study materials for CAT 2012. So please do visit this blog again!