CAT easier to tame in new, smart look

Sabrina Shroff, who appeared for CAT at Thakur Polytechnic, Kandivali said: “The exam was especially easier for me because I am good at English and there were maximum Verbal Analysis questions. But, this also means that the cut-offs will be higher.” Shroff aspires to take up Human Resources as specialisation in any of the top ten Master of Business Administration (MBA) colleges apart from the Indian Institutes of Management (IIM).

Kartik Poddar, who works at a start-up firm and aims to get into one of the IIMs, said: “English was simpler than other sections. I expect to get calls from around four Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs).”

Nandkumar Bhujbal, head marketing, Career Launcher coaching class, Mumbai, who has been giving CAT for more than ten years said: “Increase in emphasis on English clearly shows that the premiere management institutions are looking for not just academically good students but also for those having good reasoning ability and good decision-making skills that is important in management jobs.”

Approximately 22,000 students appeared for CAT across 22 centres in Mumbai. Bhujbal added that most CAT applicants preferred working for a year or so before appearing for CAT. “Many students find it difficult to prepare for CAT in their last year of college. So they prefer gaining work experience for a year and simultaneously preparing for CAT.”

According to Career Launcher, the expected cut-offs may be 30-32 for Quantitative Ability, 46-48 for Verbal Analysis and 28-30 for Data Interpretation.

Admission to the elite IIMs will be tougher this year with an increase of 26 per cent applications for CAT. The number of applications this year is 2.9 lakh for 1,750 seats in all the IIMs including the new IIM Shillong, as compared to 2.3 last year and 1.9 lakh in 2006. There are 312 seats in IIM Ahmedabad, 220 in IIM Bangalore, 300 in IIM Kolkata, 320 in IIM Lucknow, 240 in IIM Indore, 268 in IIM Kozhikode and 60 in IIM Shillong.

Apart from the IIMs, 118 institutions will accept admissions based on CAT scores.

In Mumbai, the non-IIM institutions using CAT scores include Institute of Technology and Management (ITM) at Kharghar, K J Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research, at Vidyavihar, S P Jain Institute of Management and research and Welingkar Institute at Matunga. There are approximately 1,500 seats in Mumbai.

According to Professor Neeraj Dwivedi, chairman of admissions at IIM Indore, “The institute has received approximately 27,000 applications for 240 seats. We receive applications from students who choose Indore, Noida, Bhopal and Gurgaon as their test centres.” CAT results will be available on its website from January 9.