Over 7,000 students from Chandigarh region appeared in the Common Admission Test (CAT) , one of the most prestigious entrance examinations to get into India’s top management institutes-IIMs and other MBA colleges.
The exam was conducted under strict Covid protocols. CAT is a popular exam with engineers and other graduates who are seeking career in the corporate world and start-ups across business functions. IIM Ahmedabad conducted the exam after 6 years with TCS continuing as delivery partner. This year the CAT sprang a surprise for students by further reducing the questions from 76 last year to 66.
From the Chandigarh region, about 7,000 students appeared for the test. There was one test centre in Chandigarh with four centres in Mohali and seven more centres within 60 kms range. For CAT 2021, more than 2 lakh students appeared for the test across the country. The actual test takers this year were considerably higher given that last year Covid played a discouraging role for many students who opted not to take the test at the last minute. The test was conducted in three different time slots in morning, afternoon and evening. The CAT exam tests students on Mathematics, English and Reasoning ability. The level of difficulty of sections and overall exam this year was on similar lines as in the past Verbal easy to moderate, DILR the most difficult and Quant moderately difficult. Anything around a score of 100 is likely to secure a 99%ile which may be good enough to fetch a call from top IIMs.
According to Hirdesh Madan, Co-Founder Hitbullseye, “The exam was smartly conducted in 3 slots with uniformity in style, subject areas and level of difficulty. This will reduce the pain of disparity in result declaration” The Indian economy is coming to life after Covid brought the activities to a standstill in 2020. The economic revival has surprised even the most optimistic pandits and has brought a hiring wave, especially in the IT sector. Globally there is a boon in the IT sector which has resulted in universal manpower shortage. This is evident from the record placements across colleges and higher average Salaries for students from Top Management Institutes. According to top industry experts, this trend is likely to continue for next few years as we see a strong growth revival. 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 expected to be around 90 percentile. Diksim Gulati of Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh (PEC) said “The paper was on expected lines in terms of difficulty. My habit of taking mocks regularly and assuming different scenarios helped me cope with the changes and varied difficulty level”. Another student, Nikhil Gupta of DAV college, said, “I felt the overall exam was a bit lengthy even with less number of questions. I did well in the Verbal section and I am hoping for higher accuracy in the other two to secure a good score”.
The result for the test is expected to be declared in the second week of January. In the second phase, after the written test results are declared, students go through an essay and interview stage for final selection. Each IIM has its own criteria but over the years past academic record, work experience and graduation stream is gaining significance in the overall process.
