CAT Exam 2021, Date, Syllabus, Paper Pattern, Admit Card Download

CAT Exam 2021, Full Form, Date, Eligibility, Age limit, Syllabus, Paper Pattern, Preparation, How to Register, Application Form, Admit Card Download, Selection Procedure, Result, Cut off, Admission Process

CAT or Common Admission Test happens to be the first rung for the entry in a post-graduate management program. CAT includes a computer based test. The score for the CAT exam is valid for a year. If we talk about CAT in 2021,it will jointly be conducted by IIM Ahmedabad and TCS. CAT scores help students to land in prestigious B-Schools and that is how the examination garners a large amount of attention, especially from young minds. So let us go through the article to understand more about the much attended examination in India. Here, we will talk about the crucial aspects of CAT.

CAT Exam 2021

Full Exam Name	Common Admission Test
Short Exam Name	CAT
Conducting Body	Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad ( for 2021)
Frequency of Conduct	Once a year
Exam Level	National Level Exam
Languages	English
Mode of Application	Online
Application Fee (General)	2200 Rs [Online]
Mode of Exam	Online
Mode of Counselling	Online
Participating Colleges	1164(approx)
Exam Duration	120 minutes

What is CAT

CAT or Common Admission Test is the entrance test meant for the admissions into India’s prestigious Business Schools. The score attained in the examination stands valid for a year. CAT catches a lot of attention as it opens the doors to more than a hundred Business Schools. If we talk about the mode of examination, it is online in nature. The test includes three sections related to Logical Reasoning and Quantitative Ability and Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension alongwith Data Interpretation.

Latest Changes in CAT 2021

The CAT pattern this year, would be concomitant with the last year examination. But the number of questions are going to get reduced. 

From last year, aspirants from the PwD category got a total of 53 minutes and 20 seconds whereas candidates from other categories got 40 minutes in each section. 

The total duration for CAT 2021 will be 120 minutes.

CAT Eligibility

• Candidates need to have a graduation degree to write the examination.
• The minimum marks required to be eligible is 50 percent in graduation for categories apart from SC/ST/ PwD. 
• SC/ST/ PwD students need to have a score card of minimum 45 percent in graduation.

CAT Exam Date 

The upcoming examination of CAT would be conducted on 28 November, 2021. Candidates can download their admit cards between 27 October to 28 November.

How to Register for CAT

• The registration process of CAT is an online process. In general the registration process stays live for more than a month. This year the process happened between August 5 to September 22.Let us go through the steps required for the registration:
• We need to open the website.
• Then we should click on New Candidate Registration.
• We need to enter name, email ID, date of birth, phone number and nationality.
• Then we need to generate OTP.
• OTP will be received in the inbox.
• Then we need to verify the account. For this we must fill up the OTP in the required section.
• After verification, we will get a CAT 2021 User ID and password.

CAT Eligibility Criteria 

• The candidates must have secured at least 50 per cent in their graduation degree.
• There is no age limit for CAT.
• There is a relaxation of 5 per cent for candidates in the reserved category.

CAT Admit Card

The admit card for CAT 2021 was released on 27 October,2021. To download the CAT 2021 admit card, we need to visit the official website. With the help of  login ID and password, the admit card can be downloaded. The admit card mentions all the necessary information. We must read them carefully.

CAT Exam Centers

Here we are going to provide the list of exam centres for CAT. It is also to be noted that Kashmir is the newly added centre for CAT.

State	Test Cities
Andaman & Nicobar Islands	Port Blair
Andhra Pradesh	Guntur; Kakinada; Kurnool; Nellore; Rajahmundry; Tirupathi; Vijayawada; Visakhapatnam
Arunachal Pradesh	Itanagar
Assam	Dibrugarh; Guwahati; Silchar
Bihar	Aurangabad; Muzaffarpur; Patna; Purnea
Chandigarh	Chandigarh
Chhattisgarh	Bhilai; Raipur
Delhi	Delhi; New Delhi
Goa	Madgaon; Panaji
Gujarat	Ahmedabad; Anand; Gandhinagar; Rajkot; Surat; Vadodara
Haryana	Ambala; Bahadurgarh; Faridabad; Gurgaon; Hisar; Palwal; Panipath; Rohtak; Sonipat
Himachal Pradesh	Simla; Waknaghat
Jammu & Kashmir	Jammu; Samba, Kashmir
Jharkhand	Bokaro; Dhanbad; Jamshedpur; Ranchi
Karnataka	Banglore; Belagavi (Belgaum); Dharwad; Gulbarga; Hubli; Mangalore; Mysore; Udupi
Kerala	Ernakulam; Kasaragod; Kollam; Kozhikode; Malappuram; Thrissur; Trivandrum
Madhya Pradesh	Bhopal; Gwalior; Indore; Jabalpur; Sagar
Maharashtra	Ahmednagar; Amravati; Aurangabad; Jalgaon; Kolhapur; Mumbai, Navi Mumbai; Nagpur; Nanded; Nashik; Pune; Raigad; Satara; Solapur; Thane; Ulhasnagar
Meghalaya	Shillong
Odisha	Balasore; Berhampur; Bhubaneswar; Cuttack; Dhenkanal; Sambalpur; Rourkela
Puducherry	Puducherry
Punjab	Bhatinda; Chandigarh; Fatehgarh Sahib; Jalandhar; Ludhiana; Mohali; Pathankot; Patiala; Ropar; Sangrur
Rajasthan	Ajmer; Alwar; Jaipur; Jodhpur; Kota; Sikar; Udaipur
Tamilnadu	Chennai; Coimbatore; Madurai; Namakkal; Thanjavur; Tiruchirappalli; Tirunelvelli
Telangana	Hyderabad; Karim Nagar; Warangal
Uttar Pradesh	Agra; Allahabad; Barabanki; Bareilly; Ghaziabad; Gorakhpur; Greater Noida; Kanpur; Lucknow; Mathura; Meerut; Muzaffarnagar; Noida; Varanasi
Uttarakhand	Dehradun, Rourkee
West Bengal	Asansol; Bankura; Burdwan; Durgapur; Hooghly; Howrah; Kalyani; Kolkata; Siliguri

CAT Exam Pattern and Structure

We have mentioned sections and their number of questions along with the features. It will help candidates to understand the nature of the exam and its pattern.

Sections	Number of questions	Multiple Choice Questions	Type in the answer questions	Features
VARC	26	18	8	Four RC Passages with 18 multiple choice questions. Basic topics were para jumbles, para summary and odd one out.
DILR	24	18	6	Data Interpretation – 14 questions
				Logical Reasoning- 10 questions.
				(Sets of 4 and 6 questions)
QA	26	18	8	Focused on number systems and arithmetic. Other topics covered were logarithms geometry, roots and algebra
Total	76	54	22

CAT Exam Syllabus

Below is the syllabus for the upcoming CAT examination. Candidates are supposed to brush up and practice the below-mentioned topics.

CAT VARC Syllabus	Reading Comprehension, Parajumbles, Parasummary
CAT DILR Syllabus	Data Interpretation, Logical Reasoning
CAT QA Syllabus	Arithmetic, Algebra,Numbers, Geometry

CAT Exam Day Guidelines 

• Candidates must read the instructions provided on the admit card carefully.
• They must reach the centre on time so that authorities get time to check the documents and temperature.
• Crowding must be avoided.
• Social distancing norms should be kept in mind.
• Candidates must keep their admit cards and Photo ID proofs properly.

CAT Exam Day Documents 

• CAT admit card
• Photo ID Card. It may include PAN Card, Aadhaar Card, Voter ID, Passport, Driving License, College/ University ID Card.
• Self-declaration form attached with CAT admit card, mentioning that the candidate is not suffering from the symptoms of COVID.
• Name Change Certificate, if the candidate has changed the name after filling up the form.

CAT Exam Preparation Tips

• Comprehend the syllabus properly.
• Focus on sectional strategy too.
• Try to improve the basics related to mathematics.
• Practice a large number of mock tests.
• Go through various newspapers, blogs, journals, etc to improve reading skills.
• Keep a check on last year’s papers and practice them.
• Focus on time management.
• Analyze the topics and sub-topics.

CAT Results and Cut Off

CAT 2021 results are going to be announced in the month of January. In order to get the scorecard, candidates can use their login ID and username. The scorecard is very crucial for a candidate. It contains name, registration number, photo, sectional score, overall score, sectional and overall percentiles. The result comes through the online mode only. The cut off keeps changing every year in accordance with the nature of questions.

CAT Selection Process 

• CAT examination is conducted online for the entrance in IIMs and MBA colleges.
• After CAT results are out, the colleges conduct the selection process.
• The selection process may include Group Discussion, Written Ability Test and Personal Interview.
• The selection process is carried out within a span of 3-4 months.

CAT Admission Process

• The very first process is appearing for the CAT examination.
• After clearing the exam, candidates are supposed to appear for Group Discussion, Written Test and Personal Interview.
• For the final offer of admission, details like gender, work experience, and so on are taken into account.

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