CAT

CAT - Common admission test is required to gain access to a number of Management institutes in India especially the prestigious IIM ( Indian Institute of Management). It is conducted once every year by one of the IIM's based on a policy of rotation policy. As of 2011, CAT scores are used by approximately 145 institutes in India. The test score is valid for admission to the forthcoming academic year only.

Before 2009, CAT was a paper based test conducted on a single day for all candidates. The pattern, number of questions and duration have seen considerable variations over the years.On 1 May 2009, it was announced that CAT would be a computer based test starting from CAT 2009.CAT 2011 pattern consisted of 2 sections instead of the regular 3.

The first section was Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation and the second section Verbal Ability & Logical Reasoning. These two sections were implemented sequentially with separate time limits which were not present in the previous years . Also once the time ends for the first section, they will move to the second section and will no longer be able to go back. The duration of the examination was 140 minutes.