CAT Exam is for What Purpose? Check key benefits, why should you opt for CAT

Conducted by one of the top IIMs, CAT exam full form is Common Admission Test. CAT 2023 on November 26, 2023, will provide admission 2024 opportunity in top MBA programmes in India. If we go a little deep into the query to know about ‘CAT exam is for what purpose’ or ‘What is CAT Exam used for in India’ it reveals that the CAT exam purpose is to assess and find out the candidate’s skills and suitability for MBA/PGDM admission in top B-schools with the unique overall and sectional scoring assessment method in CAT exam. Read below in detail What is the CAT exam? What is the use of it, who conducts CAT exam, CAT exam is for what purpose, why should you opt for CAT exam, what are the benefits of appearing in CAT exam, who is eligible to appear for CAT exam 2023, What is CAT exam used for and more:

Table of Contents

1. CAT Exam is for What Purpose? Assessment of Your Skills
2. CAT Exam 2023 Purpose: Admission in Top B-schools, High Placements
3. Why Should You opt for CAT Exam?Check Key Benefits
4. CAT 2023 Exam Schedule
5. FAQs on CAT exam For What Purpose

1. CAT Exam is for What Purpose?
So, what is the purpose or use of the CAT exam..what purpose is served with CAT exam, what is CAT exam used for in India, what are the benefits of CAT Exam - responding to these queries, CAT experts clarify about the common queries with following points:

• CAT Exam Assesses 3 Main Skill Areas: CAT Exam purpose is to assess the candidates' aptitude and skills in three main areas, namely - Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC); Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR); Quantitative ability (QA). These main areas have 5 Sub Areas of Skill Assessment and the next purpose of CAT exam is to assess the skills in 5 Sub areas as below:
• Verbal Ability (VA): Grammar, Coherent Writing, spotting errors, summarising the para, Picking odd sentence etc.
• Reading Comprehension (RC): Getting to the core of passage after reading it and answering the questions based on it
• Data Interpretation (DI): Analysing and comparing Data, Charts, Graphs, Tables, Pie charts and arriving at the correct answer to the given questions
• Logical Reasoning (LR): Arriving at the right conclusion to the given Reasoning problem sets on team formation, seating arrangement, direction sense, blood relations among others by applying logic as it will help in taking decisions in complex problems
• Quantitative Ability (QA): Your Quant aptitude assessment is made through problems on Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry, Modern Math among others
• The overall and sectional skill assessment is based on CAT exam scores. As such the B-schools use CAT overall and sectional scores as basic criteria to shortlist candidates for MBA admission

2. Who Conducts CAT Exam?

• Common Admission Test (CAT) is conducted yearly by one of the top six IIMs by rotation namely IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta, IIM Lucknow, IIM Indore, IIM Kozhikode out of the 20 IIMs
• This year IIM Lucknow is conducting CAT 2023
• So far, none of the other 14 IIMs has been given the responsibility to conduct CAT exam.
• More than two lakh candidates appear in CAT every year. Last year 2.22 lakh candidates appeared in CAT 2022

3. What are the benefits of appearing in CAT Exam 2023?
Before we know the benefits of CAT Exam, let’s explore answers to various queries about What is the CAT exam? What is the use of it…so, if you are planning to pursue MBA/PGDM from top B-schools in India, CAT exam is the answer to your dream. Key benefits of CAT exam and advantages of appearing in CAT exam 2023 are:

• 3.1 Admission Opportunity in IIMs & Other Top MBA Colleges: Lakhs of MBA aspirants who appear in CAT raise the question - What is CAT exam used for in India? So, the broad answer to it is that CAT is the mandatory entrance exam for MBA admission in all the 21 IIMs. Besides the score of CAT exam is used for admission in top MBA colleges in India also like FMS Delhi, SPJIMR Mumbai, MDI Gurgaon, IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Kharagpur, and hundreds of other top B-schools in India. To explore admission opportunity in MBA programmes in any of these B-schools you must appear in CAT exam. Check Top MBA Colleges Accepting CAT Score
• 3.2 Best Competitive Entrance Exam for Skill Development: With more than 2 lakh candidates appearing in CAT exam, you get the opportunity to compete with best calibre candidates and prove your mettle.
• 3.3 Simultaneous Preparation for Other Exams: CAT is considered the mother of all MBA entrance exams. If you prepare and appear in CAT, you are simultaneously preparing for the XAT, SNAP, NMAT and other MBA entrance exams that offer admission opportunity in XLRI, Symbiosis Pune, NMIMS Mumbai and other B-schools.
• 3.4 High Career Growth: A good score in CAT can get you one of the best B-schools that offer you high trajectory of career growth with high placements
• 3.5 Unmatched Learning Experience: Once you get into IIMs or other best MBA college through CAT, the experiential learning from best faculty, industry experts, CEOs, peer learning, real life case studies, industry internship, rural and international immersion, campus experience, will enhance your abilities and skills on critical thinking, decision making, problem-solving and time management
• 3.6 Be a Part of Large Alumni Net Work: Most top B-schools and IIMs are 10 to 60 years old and have an alumni network in the range of 5000 to 50,000 alumni spread across the Globe. You will be a part of this large alumni network
• 3.7 Business and Leadership Skill Enhancement: Now understand core of What is the CAT exam? What is the use of it. When you get admission to one of the top B-schools, your business and leadership skills are enhanced to the level best. You can join Corporate sector as a leader or can be an entrepreneur with all knowledge and understanding of Corporate world.

4. Who is eligible to appear for the CAT Exam 2023?
If you have following academic qualifications, you are eligible to appear for the CAT exam 2023:

• If you have scored minimum 50% marks in graduation, you can appear in the exam
• If you are a final year student in graduation, you can also appear in the exam
• There is No age limit to apply and appear in the CAT exam

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5. Why should you opt for CAT Exam?
You should apply and appear in CAT exam 2023, if …

• You want to pursue MBA from one of the 20 IIMs, FMS Delhi, SPJIMR Mumbai, MDI Gurgaon, IIT Delhi, IIT Bombay, IIT Madras, IIT Kharagpur, MICA, XIMB, IMT, IMI or other top MBA Colleges in India
• You want to have assured and good placement in dream company with your preferred profile in Marketing, Consulting, Operations, HR, Finance etc. as you will be placed in one of the top companies right during the campus placement
• Wish to earn top PG Degree in Management in short duration as MBA/PGDM from top B-schools is only 2 years programme and is recognized globally.
• Wish to choose between the options either to pursue higher studies like Doctoral Programme or join Corporate sector  

6. What is the frequency and mode of the CAT Exam 2023

• CAT is a yearly exam conducted by IIMs
• Mode of CAT exam 2023 is computer based test. It will be conducted at more than 150 test cities and 300 test venues
• Since 2020, the exam duration is reduced to two hours from earlier three hours
• The exam is divided into three sections of Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension; Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning; Quantitative Ability
• Each Section in the exam has to be attempted in a fixed individual time limit.
• Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) will offer admission on the basis of CAT 2023 score only and will not accept any other test score

6.1 CAT 2023 Exam Schedule
CAT 2023 exam schedule is as below:

6.2 CAT Exam Pattern 2023: Revised Structure of Question Paper
The table below shares the sectional order, number and type of questions in each section, questions with and without negative marking for each section for the 2 hours CAT exam 2023 

6.3 CAT Exam 2023: Key Changes

Since 2015, CAT exam has seen many changes and during last three years in terms of time duration, total questions, type of questions and sections as under:

• 120 Minutes Exam: CAT is a computer delivered test of 2 hours duration but it is not an Online Exam
• 66 Questions: Like last year, this year exam will have 66 questions divided in 3 sections of VARC, DILR and Quantitative Ability. Earlier it used to have 100 questions divided in three sections
• 18-20 No Penalty Questions: Out of 66 questions, there will be 18 or more questions which will not have negative marking. The exam is divided into MCQ and Non-MCQ type of questions and the Non-MCQs do not carry negative marking. In case any non-MCQ has negative marking, a few MCQs are changed to no negative marking questions.
• 48-50 Questions with Negative Marking: More than 48 questions in CAT are of MCQ type and will carry penalty of 1/3 negative marking
• Cut off Requirement by IIMs: A Minimum qualifying score between 70 and 90 percentile in CAT exam is required by IIMs in each of the 3 sections to shortlist candidates for final admission round
• IIM Shortlisting Criteria: Apart from High score in each of the 3 sections in the exam, if you have good academic profile with diversity, work experience, you are a preferred candidate to get admission into IIMs.

7. FAQs on CAT exam For What Purpose
Following are the key FAQs on CAT exam for what purpose, what is CAT exam used for MBA, its use by top B-schools, why should you opt for CAT exam, who conducts CAT exam, what are the benefits of CAT exam, what is CAT exam Full Form, CAT exam dates, Eligibility, Exam Structure among others

Read More CAT 2023: Check Exam Date, Pattern, Syllabus, Preparation