CAT 2023: Exam Dates announces

Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Lucknow will conduct the CAT 2023 entrance exam for MBA admission. Full Form of CAT is The Common Admission Test (CAT) 2023 will be held tentatively on November 26, 2023, in three sessions at around 300 test centres spread across about 154 cities in India.

CAT (Common Admission Test) is the premier all India level management entrance exam conducted by IIMs (Indian Institute of Management). CAT Entrance exam shortlist applicants for admission in 19 IIM’s located at Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bangalore, Bodh Gaya, Calcutta, Indore, Kashipur, Kozhikode, Lucknow, Nagpur, Raipur, Ranchi, Rohtak, Sambalpur, Shillong, Sirmaur, Tiruchirappalli, Udaipur and Visakhapatnam. Common Admission Test (CAT) is one of the competitive entrance examinations for pursuing postgraduate programmes in Business Administration.

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• Question Papers
• Syllabus

Common Admission Test (CAT)

CAT is the largest MBA entrance test conducted annually in India. The CAT score is also accepted by many Non – IIM institutes for the admission. CAT is a computer based test held in India. The test scores a candidate on the basis of Quantitative Ability (QA),Verbal Ability (VA) and Reading Comprehension (RC), Data Interpretation (DI) and Logical Reasoning (LR). The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) started this exam. It is the gateway for admission to 19 Indian Institute of Management (IIMs) and various B-schools located across the country. This national level examination is conducted by the IIMs on the rotation basis.

Important Dates

CAT 2023 exam schedule

The tentative dates of the CAT MBA entrance exam 2023 can be checked from the table below.

CAT 2023 Notification date	July 31, 2023
CAT 2023 registrations date	August 4, 2023
CAT exam 2023 application form last date	September 13, 2023
CAT form correction date	September 15, 2023
CAT admit card release date	October 26, 2023
CAT mock test, direct link activation date	November 8, 2023
MBA CAT 2023 exam date	November 26, 2023
CAT 2023 answer key out date	November 30, 2023
Last date to rais objection against CAT exam answer key	December 3, 2023
CAT exam 2023 result date	First week of January 2024

Post Graduate Programmes in Management

Institutes	Programmes
IIM Ahmedabad	PGP and PGP-FABM
IIM Amritsar	PGP
IIM Bangalore	PGP, PGPEM and PGPPM
IIM Bodh Gaya	PGP
IIM Calcutta	PGP-PGDM
IIM Indore	PGP and EPGP
IIM Kashipur	PGP and EPGPM
IIM Kozhikode	PGP
IIM Lucknow	PGP, PGP-ABM and PGPSM
IIM Nagpur	PGP
IIM Raipur	PGP and PGPWE
IIM Ranchi	PGDM and PGDHRM
IIM Rohtak	PGP and EPGP
IIM Sambalpur	PGP
RGIIM Shillong	PGP and PGPEX
IIM Sirmaur	PGP
IIM Tiruchirappalli	PGP and PGPBM
IIM Udaipur	PGP
IIM Visakhapatnam	PGP

Fellow Programmes in Management (FPM) Offering Institutes

IIM Ahmedabad	IIM Bangalore	IIM Calcutta
IIM Indore	IIM Kashipur	IIM Kozhikode
IIM Lucknow	IIM Raipur	IIM Ranchi
IIM Rohtak	RGIIM Shillong	IIM Tiruchirappalli
IIM Udaipur	IIM Kashipur	IIM Raipur

Eligibility Criteria

Candidates who passed a 3-year bachelor’s degree from any stream from a UGC-recognized degree are eligible to apply for CAT 2023. A detailed eligibility criteria is given below:

• Candidates should have a bachelor’s degree in any stream from a recognized institution/ university.
• Candidate should secure 50% marks in aggregate (45% for SC/ST/Pwd categories) in the qualifying exam
• Candidates who have done CA/CS/ICWA and have scored the required percentage can also appear for CAT 2023
• Candidates appearing for the final year of Bachelor’s degree/equivalent qualification exam and those who have completed degree requirements and are awaiting results can also apply 
• Bachelor’s degree must be of minimum 3 years
• No upper or lower age limit

Reservation

• As per the legal requirements, 15% of the seats are reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates, 7.5% for Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates, 27% for Other Backward Classes candidates belonging to the “Non-Creamy” layer (NC-OBC), up to 10% for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) candidates and 5% for Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwD).

Application Process

• Candidates can register for Common Admission Test (CAT) through online mode only
• CAT application forms at iimcat.ac.in 2023
• Indian Institute of Management (IIM) will release the CAT 2023 application forms. 
• CAT 2023 application forms release at iimcat.ac.in.
• The CAT registration involves three simple steps:
• Step-1: Registration
• Step-2: Fill Application Form and Upload Images of required documents, photograph, signature etc.
• Step-3: Make Payment
• The details will be available in the registration guide on the website www.iimcat.ac.in.

Registration Fee

• For SC/ST/PWD Category Candidates: Rs. 1150/-
• For Other Category Candidates: Rs. 2300/-
• Mode of Payment : Online through using Debit Card / Credit Card / Net Banking

Selection Process

• Every B-school along with IIMs has its own selection criteria and cut-off list
• The first stage for selection includes admission test, academic performance & relevant work experience,
• On the basis of candidate’s performance in the admission test, academic performance & relevant work experience, the candidates will be shortlisted for the second stage of selection process
• The second stage of selection includes – Written Ability Test (WAT), Group Discussions (GD) and Personal Interviews (PI).
• Written Test- Candidate has to write on one or more topics a brief essay in the time duration of 15-45 minutes.
• Group Discussion– A round is held where 8-10 candidates are given a particular topic and they have to discuss on it. This is to check the candidate’s group dynamics.
• Personal Interview– In this round candidate has to present himself/herself before the panel of 4-8 interviewers. This is a final round and is held to check the candidate’s educational qualification, hobbies, interests and work experience
• Students will be selected for admission on the basis of Entrance test, WAT, GD and PI.

Exam Pattern

• CAT is a computer- based objective type test with a mix of multiple choice of questions (MCQs) as well as some non-MCQs
• The CAT 2023 will comprise of three sections, i.e. Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension, Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning & Quantitative Ability
• The exam duration will be 180 minutes (3 hours) – 60 minutes will be given for each section.
• Total Number of Questions: 100

• Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension: 34 questions
• Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning: 32 questions
• Quantitative Ability: 34 questions
• Marking Scheme

• +3 for right answer
• -1 for wrong answer
• No negative marking for non-MSQs

Test Centers

• CAT will be conducted in centers spread across around 150 test cities. Test cities will be mentioned in the CAT website and the name of the test centre will be indicated in the Admit Card.
• IIMs reserve the right to change or cancel any test centre/city and/or change the test time and date at their discretion.

Score

• Candidates’ CAT 2023 scorecards will be made accessible on the CAT website.
•  Candidates may also be intimated individually by SMS.
• The CAT results are likely to be declared by the First week of January 2024.
• The CAT 2023 score is valid only till December 31, 2024 and will accordingly be accessible on the website.
• Thereafter, no queries related to the issuance of CAT 2023 scorecards will be entertained.

Syllabus

CAT question paper comprises three sections namely- Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC), Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR), and Quantitative Aptitude (QA). Download CAT syllabus PDF section-wise. The VARC section is the first section of the CAT question paper and has a sectional time limit of 40 minutes. CAT VARC section is divided into two sub-parts, Verbal Ability, and Reading Comprehension.

CAT VARC Syllabus 2023: Key points

• In the CAT exam, there will be around 8 Verbal Ability questions
• CAT VARC section will have both MCQs and Non-MCQs questions which means for Non-MCQ questions, candidates will have to type the answers.
• There will be no negative marking for non-MCQ questions

Types of questions in CAT VARC includes: Para-Jumble, reading comprehension, basic vocabulary, odd one out, analogies, verbal reasoning and error correction in a paragraph.

There is no prescribed syllabus for CAT but seeing the question pattern a detailed syllabus has been mentioned below:

The CAT syllabus 2023 includes three sections namely verbal ability and reading comprehension (VARC), data interpretation and logical reasoning (DILR), and quantitative aptitude (QA). Based on the previous year CAT questions the syllabus of CAT 2023 can be taken from the points below. The VARC section of the CAT exam syllabus covers various topics of Verbal Reasoning, Reading Comprehension, English Grammar, etc. The CAT DILR syllabus includes topics that require analytical interpretation of data presented in the form of Pie Charts, Puzzles, Bar Graphs, and Tables. The QA section of CAT syllabus includes topics of Mathematics from classes 9 and 10 such as Algebra, Arithmetic, Trigonometry, Algebra, and Mensuration.

Click here to go through the complete CAT Syllabus

CAT Exam centers

State/Union Territories	Exam Cities for CAT
West Bengal	Asansol, Burdwan, Bishnupur,Durgapur, Howrah, Kalyani, Hooghly,Kolkata, Siliguri
Uttarakhand	Dehradun, Roorkee
Uttar Pradesh	Agra, Ghaziabad, Gorakhpur, Allahabad, Bareilly, Greater Noida, Kanpur, Mathura, Meerut, Lucknow, Varanasi
Telangana	Hyderabad, Karim Nagar, Khammam
Tamil Nadu	Chennai, Thanjavur, Tiruchirappalli, Tirunelvelli, Coimbatore, Madurai, Namakkal
Rajasthan	Ajmer, Alwar, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kota, Sikar, Udaipur
Punjab	Fatehgarh Sahib, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Mohali, Pathankot, Patiala, Ropar, Sangrur
Puducherry	Puducherry
Odisha	Balasore, Berhampur, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Rourkela, Sambalpur
Meghalaya	Shillong
Maharashtra	Ahmednagar, Amravati, Aurangabad, Jalgaon, Kolhapur, Mumbai, Nagpur, Nanded, Nashik, Navi Mumbai, Pune, Ratnagiri, Satara, Solapur, Thane
Madhya Pradesh	Bhopal, Gwalior, Indore, Jabalpur, Sagar
Kerala	Kasaragod, Kochi, Kollam, Kozhikode, Malappuram, Thrissur, Trivandrum
Karnataka	Kolar, Mandya, Mangalore, Mysore, Ramnagara, Shimoga, Tumkur, Udupi, Belgaum, Bengaluru, Bidar, Chikballapur, Davanagere, Hasan
Jharkhand	Dhanbad, Jamshedpur, Ranchi
Jammu & Kashmir	Jammu
Himachal Pradesh	Simla
Haryana	Gurgaon, Palwal, Panipath, Rohtak, Sonipath, Ambala, Bahadurgarh, Faridabad
Gujarat	Ahmedabad, Anand, Gandhinagar, Rajkot, Surat, Vadodara
Goa	Madgaon, Verna
Delhi	New Delhi
Chattisgarh	Raipur, Bhillai
Chandigarh	Chandigarh
Bihar	Aurangabad, Gaya, Muzaffarpur, Patna, Purnea
Assam	Dibrugarh, Guwahati
Arunachal Pradesh	Itanagar
Andhra Pradesh	Chittoor, Kurnool, Nellore, Tirupati, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam
Andaman & Nicobar Islands	Port Blair

When should I apply for CAT 2023?

The Indian Institute of Management (IIM) is expected to officially issue the CAT 2023 notification this weekend, most likely tomorrow, July 29. The official CAT 2023 website is likely to be activated after the notification is released. The eligible candidates are expected to fill up CAT application form 2023 from August 4, 2023 as notification is expected by tomorrow, July 2023.

Admit Card

Admit Card download will be available from July 2023 till Exam day. Students are requested to check the CAT website: https://iimcat.ac.in and stay updated.

Result

Candidates can expect CAT 2023 result in the month of December/January. They have to keep themselves updated by checking the CAT website.

CAT Score Card

Scorecard of candidates will be available at the official website of CAT: www.iimcat.ac.in and candidates will be made aware regarding the same. The Scorecard will be possibly available at its official website in the month of January 2023.

For more details and to apply online, please visit the official website

Contact Details

CAT Centre
C/o. Admissions Office,
Indian Institute of Management Bangalore,
Bannerghatta Road, Bengaluru – 560 076, Karnataka, India.

Phone.: +91-080-26993388 / 3017 / 3013

Email: [email protected]

FAQs