The highly anticipated result of CAT 2020 exam is out well ahead of expectations. While the result was expected around 9th of January, CAT conducting body surprised the students and that too a day before XAT, one of the other main MBA entrance exam. This would have definitely put a lot of students at unease.
Around 15 students from the tricity have reportedly scored more than 99 percentile. The results are impressive given that the registrations for CAT this year were below par in the region at approx. 6000 because of COVID-19. Chandigarh Tricity, the educational hub of North India, has always been successful in producing phenomenal results in CAT and the trend continues.
The CAT entrance test, the most prominent entrance exam for MBA admission, took place on November 29, 2020. Approximately 2.30 lakh candidates registered for the CAT 2020 which was slightly lower than 2019. The CAT is the gateway for students to get admission into the prestigious Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and other top B-schools in the country. Salary packages of graduates from the IIMs usually range between INR 16-25 lakhs per annum. CAT is a test conducted jointly by IIMs.
According to Hirdesh Madan Director Bulls eye, “Interestingly there are good number of girls in the topper list this time. Usually the Interview process of B-Schools is conducted in February-March, but this year we are not really sure on timing as well as mode. Some colleges may even decide to conduct the process online.”
According to Sargam Bansal who is studying in PEC and is one of the tricity CAT 2020 topper among girls who scored 99.17 percentile said, “This year CAT was a different ball game altogether with surprises on account of both number of question and timing. So the key was to have faith in your preparation and not to be unnerved by the unknown”.
Among Boy tricity toppers, Kshitiz Garg with 99.61 Percentile, pursuing engineering from PEC, credited her success to building a strong foundation and taking mocks regularly. Another student Himani Garg From GGDSD college with 99.05 Percentile, reflected on her ability to identify doable questions as his mantra for success. Apart from engineers CAT is now becoming popular with commerce and humanities students as most IIMs have different criterion for non-engineers to ensure optimum balance.
Hirdesh Madan, Director Bulls Eye, thinks that 2021 will again see a rise in number of CAT aspirants as the last year’s numbers were adversely affected by Covid-19 which left students confused regarding career prospects. However, the placement news from top MBA colleges would have enthused the aspirants for 2021” There are currently 20 IIMs in India and there are more than 12,000 seats on offer by these IIMs.
There are two IIMs in this region – IIM Amritsar & IIM Sirmaur, which could admit students above a cut-off of 97 percentile. In Chandigarh Tricity the top MBA College is UBS, which is part of Punjab University. UBS accepts CAT score and likely cut-off is around 90 percentile. Now different IIMs will call these students for Interview round. Next stage of admissions includes – the essay writing and interview. Most of the interviews are generally conducted in month of Feb & March. The final results will be declared in the month of April by most IIMs.
