7,500 appear for CAT

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 24

The Common Admission Test (CAT), which is a gateway to IIMs and other top MBA colleges, was conducted here today.

From the Chandigarh region, 7,500 students appeared for the test at 12 centres. The test was conducted in morning and afternoon slots.

Approximately 2.44 lakh candidates had registered for the test from across the country. As many as 3,000 more students appeared for the test this year than the last year. The result for the test is expected to be declared in the second week of January. In the second phase, after the result of the written test is declared, students go through an essay and interview stage for final selection.

What’s CAT

CAT tests students on mathematics, English and their reasoning ability. The level of difficulty was almost similar to the last year’s exam. According to experts, a score between 145 and 150 will fit the 99 per cent bracket, with which a student can be eligible for top IIMs. As per Hirdesh Madan, co-founder of Bulls Eye, for the past two or three years, non-engineering students have been qualifying for IIMs. He said: “It suggests that the quality of students in graduate colleges has improved over a period of time.”

Region’s best, students’ quest

In the region, IIM-Sirmaur and IIM-Amritsar top the charts of most-coveted colleges accepting CAT scores. The University Business School (UBS) of Panjab University is also one of the sought-after colleges and its CAT cut-off is a minimum of 90 per cent.

Astha, a BCA student of Government College, Panchkula, said: “I am satisfied with my performance, thanks to almost a year of hard work”. Another student Divija Khanna, doing Civil Engineering from Punjab Engineering College (PEC), Chandigarh, said: “The maths part was slightly lengthy, but the paper was on predicted pattern.”