All About CAT: A Step Towards Your Favorite B-schools – infohub1on1

Written by Himanshu | Edited by pMehta

CAT - Road to your Dream B-School

This article is divided into the following sections
➧ Introduction
➧ When and by whom the test is conducted
➧ Exam Duration/Question Paper Pattern & Marking Scheme
➧ GD & PI Session
➧ Tips to Convert Your Percentile

*** If you are planning to give CAT you should first clear your doubts about when, why and who can appear? ***

➧ Introduction- CAT

A business faces many unknown and repeated challenges during its working so it becomes important for companies to have a good manager who can handle the challenges and lead the way to their goals. CAT finds out the future managers who have a good calibre.

Always remember “if someone can crack CAT then you too can”

Don’t get distracted by its syllabus, just focus on your goal and be ready to win the world.

Coming back to the topic every year more than 200,000 students take an exam for their dream business school. The common exam which many B-School aspirant give is CAT, XAT, TISSNET, and many others. The most famous among them is the CAT acronym for Common Admission Test. CAT is a gateway to get into various B-schools like IIMs, FMS, MDI, and others.

"CAT is the second most popular entrance exam after UPSC in India."

➧ When and by Whom test is conducted? - CAT

The test is conducted every year by IIMs during the last week of November. The difficulty level of the exam is moderate to difficult. When you are in the final year of your bachelor’s degree you became eligible to appear in the exam. Anyone from any stream can give the exam and there is no upper age limit.

➧ Exam Duration, Question Paper Pattern & Marking Scheme- CAT

CAT is a 3hrs exam divided into 3 different sections each of 60 min:

3 different sections each of 60 min
1. VARC (Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension)
2. DI & LR (Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning)
3. QA (Quantitative Aptitude)

There is negative marking of -1 for each wrong answer, +3 for each correct and 0 for not attempting the question.

➧ GD & PI Session (Group Discussion & Personal Interview)- CAT

Getting admission in B-School is a process. First, you need to give a test (say CAT), then you will have to appear for the GD-PI session (only if cleared the call cut-off). Clearing CAT doesn’t give you a guarantee to have a seat in your favourite B-School. After CAT there is a GD-PI session which every call holder has to give and perform well to confirm your seat in B-School.

GD-PI is a group discussion and personal interview session. GD (Group Discussion) session takes place between aspirants and the aim is to check knowledge and ability to speak on any topics or we can say they test your quick decision-making and managerial skill. Post GD there is a Personal Interview of the candidate, conducted by the faculty members of the institution. 

To ace, the GD-PI session you need to build your CV, read “The Hindu” every day and introspect (why MBA?).

Many CAT aspirants who got 99.99%ile don’t get a call from top b-school but 89%ile get a call because of their profile (CV and academics). You should have a good profile as it plays a crucial role in getting a call from top B-School.

*NOTE: The CV you must have a good job profile, which means you have responsibility for your shoulders. Your marks in 10th and 12th board examination and grade in a college account for academics. Don’t worry, if you don’t have good academics and CV to qualify in your desired B-school, there are many other b-schools out there who focus on your knowledge and percentile rather than Academics.

In short, for getting a call from top B-School also depends on your profile and not only on your percentile score.

➧ Some Tips to Convert your percentile!

• Read EDITORIAL section of The Hindu newspaper and after reading all the articles from that page write the summary of all the articles published on that section in your own word and after that read what you have written and change the vocabulary wherever required.


• Learn at least one new word daily and keep practising that throughout the day


• Prepare a good strategy from the beginning. Making time table and reading accordingly is a good practice.

Example: If you have at least 8-10 months to prepare then daily try to devote at least 2hrs for newspaper reading, writing the summary and learning vocabulary and 2-2-2hrs to VARC, DI & LR and QA.

• To maximize your score, you must work smart right from the beginning of when you have thought of giving CAT. Work smart means focus on limited resource to prepare, don’t get confused in books. Pick one according to your competent and understanding level, ignore what others read. Collect right and sufficient material for preparing.


• You should introspect why you want to give the CAT.


• Like any other entrance exam aspirant, to crack CAT you need to give as many mock tests as you can because by giving mock tests you will be able to devote proper time to each question and you can find your error and you will minimize committing that type of errors in the main exam.

So, I have covered enough about CAT, little about the GD-PI session and the profile part for getting a call. Always follow your own methods of preparing for CAT as everyone is different and have some special skills. 

!!!  Be relax and Have a good day !!!

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