CAT stands for Common Admission Test is conducted on the last Sunday of November or the first Sunday of December 2020. The exam is the gateway to top Indian MBA institutes like IIMs and other thousand plus business schools. The CAT convening institute for the year 2020 will be announced in the month of May. In this article you would get to know about the complete process of CAT 2020 examination including the eligibility criteria, important dates, examination fees, syllabus, pattern of the exam, final result and cutoff.
Eligibility Criteria for CAT 2020
In order to appear for CAT 2020 the candidate must have
A graduation degree with 50% aggregate marks (45% aggregate for reserved category candidate) can apply for the CAT 2020 examination.
Also, candidates who are in the final year of their graduation degree are also eligible for the examination and can apply for it.
Important dates for the CAT 2020 Examination
| CAT 2020 Exam Events | CAT 2020 Exam Dates |
| Notification release | Last week of July 2020 |
| Registration process begins | First week of August 2020 |
| Registration process ends | Last week of September 2020 |
| Admit Card Releasing date | Third week of October 2020 |
| Main examination date of CAT 2020 | Last Sunday of November month or the first Sunday of December 2020 |
| Answer Key | Expected one week after the exam |
| Result declaration | First week of the year 2021 |
Registration Process: How to apply for the CAT 2020?
The process of registration usually begins at the first week of August every year, so it is expected to start within the first week of the August month 2020. The candidates are required to pay a requisite fee to register for the examination. The application form will be available on the website of IIMCAT (CAT 2020). You can read the mentioned steps in order to complete the registration process.
Open CAT 2020 website on your system
- Click on the “New Registration” Option which you would find on your screen
- Enter all your personal details like first and last name, date of birth, email ID etc.
- An OTP would be sent to the email ID which you have mentioned in the application form
- After you have authenticated your phone number as well as email ID, follow further instructions provided on the website.
- Upload your image and signature in the prescribed dimensions as mentioned on the website. The last step is fee payment, and then the registration process is completed for the exam.
CAT 2020 Registration Fees
The fees for the exam is different for general category and reserved category. The details of the fees is been provided below:
| Category | Fees |
| General/ NC-OBC | Rs. 1900 only |
| SC/ ST/ PWD/ EWS | Rs. 950 only |
Exam Pattern for CAT 2020 Examination
The exam pattern for the year 2020 is expected to be same as of CAT 2019. Given below is the basic exam pattern:
| CAT exam pattern: Highlights of the Exam | |
| Exam Timing | Slot 1: 9am to 12pmSlot 2: 2pm to 5pm |
| Number of sections in the exam | Three |
| Name of the sections in the exam | Verbal Ability & Reading ComprehensionQuantitative AptitudeData Interpretation and Logical Reasoning |
| Duration of the exam | 180 minutes (60 minutes per section) |
| Number of questions (section wise) | Verbal: 34Data interpretation: 32Quantitative: 34 |
| Types of Questions | MCQ and non MCQ |
| Total Marks | 300 |
| Marking Scheme for the exam | 3 Marks for the right answerNegative Marking for 1/3 for each of wrong answerNo negative marking for non MCQ type of questions |
CAT 2020: Section wise Syllabus
CAT syllabus as a whole is designed by IIMCAT and remains the same every year with just a slight difference in number of questions coming from each of the topics. The exam has 3 sections:
- Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC in short)
- Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR in short)
- Quantitative Ability (QA in short)
The Key to success in this exam is to completely understand the pattern of the examination as well as its syllabus.
Topics under section 1: Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC in short)
This is the first section which is to be attempted at first and is divided into two sub parts which are VA| and RC. Some of the important topics which includes in this section are been given in the table below:
| Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension | ||
| Fill in the blanks | Sentence Completion | Grammar |
| Verbal Reasoning | Jumbled Paragraphs | Paragraph Completion |
| Contextual Usage | Foreign Language words | Reading Comprehension |
| Sentence Correction | Analogies | Verbal Completion |
| Idioms | One word substitution | Parajumbles |
Topics under Section 2: Logical Reasoning and Data Interpretation
LRDI is the second part of the exam and is to be completed just after the VARC section of the examination. This section is too divided in to further 2 subsections which are LR and DI. Some of the important topics that are covered under this section are been given in the table below:
| Logical Reasoning and Data Interpretation | ||
| Blood Relations | Direction Sense | Series |
| Coding and Decoding | Assumptions | Clocks and calendar |
| Data Arrangement | Puzzles | Statements |
| Family Tree | Binary Logic | Seating Arrangement |
| Venn Diagram | Sets | Pie Charts |
| Tables | Data Sufficiency | Bars |
| Line Graphs | Syllogism | Caselets |
Topics under section 3: Quantitative Ability (QA in short)
QA is the last section of the examination and is to be completed in the last hour of the exam. Take a look of some of the important topics under this section:
| Quantitative Ability | ||
| Geometry | HCF and LCM | Trigonometry |
| Algebra | Averages | Partnerships |
| Profit and Loss | Mensuration | Time, Speed and Distance |
| Ratio and Proportion | Surds and Indicates | Linear & Quadratic equations |
| Number system | Geometric Progressions | Inequalities |
| Percentages | Work and time | Logarithms |
CAT 2020 Admit Card
The admit card for the examination is issued only to the candidates who have successfully registered on the website. Candidate can download the admit card through the official website of the exam and the steps to download the admit card is been provided below:
- Open the link where the admit card is to be downloaded
- Click on the login button from where you would switch into your account
- Go on the tab where you would find admit card
- Click on the download button to save your admit card in your system
Candidate must bring a printed form of admit card to the exam hall as this is the mandatory document for the examination. Along with the admit card, student must carry a photo ID along with them which is been issued by Government of India.
CAT 2020 Result and Final Cutoff
The result of the CAT is always announced in the first week of the next year. So it is expected that the result for the CAT 2020 is to be announced in the first week of January 2021. The candidate can view the result online by visiting the official website of the examination and logging in their accounts.
Cutoff: IIM admission through the CAT examination includes three stages: screening of candidates on the basis of their CAT score, Group discussion, and personal interview and final selection. Under the IIM admission process, all the qualifying candidates will be required to appear in GD and PI which are conducted by IIMs. It should be noted that all those candidates will be called who will meet the cutoff for admission. The cutoff percentile of the top 10 business schools is been provided below:
| IIM | Expected cutoff for year 2020 |
| IIM Ahmedabad | 99 |
| IIM Bangalore | 99 |
| IIM Calcutta | 99 |
| IIM Lucknow | 97-98 |
| IIM Indore | 97-98 |
| IIM Khozhikode | 97-98 |
| IIM Amritsar | 95-96 |
| IIM Nagpur | 95-96 |
| IIM Sambalpur | 95-96 |
| IIM Trichy | 95-96 |
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