CAT-2011 from today

HYDERABAD: The Common Admission Test (CAT), the qualifying examination for admissions to the 13 Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), will be held over a 28-day period between October 22 and November 18.The examination will start at 10 am (first section) and another at 3.15 pm (second section).There were two examination centres in Andhra Pradesh— MLR Institute of Technology, Dundigal and Prometric Testing Private Limited, Banjara Hills— both in Hyderabad. Students need to report at the test centre 90 minutes before the commencement of the examination to avoid last-minute stress.According to information, the expected number of candidates this year is 2.05 lakh for about 3,000 seats in 13 IIMs.This year’s CAT will have two sections as against three last year. The candidates will have 70 minutes’ time in each section to answer 30 questions in each.The examination will have an on-screen countdown timer. Once the time ends for the first section, the candidate will have to move to the second section and cannot to go back. The first section will focus on Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation, and the second on Verbal Ability and Logical Reasoning.A 15-minute tutorial will be provided before the start of the test, and candidates are advised to go through it carefully before attempting the main examination.The total duration will be two hours and 35 minutes including the tutorial.Three new cities _ Bhilai, Jammu and Dehradun _ have been added to the previous 33 centres across the country.Prometric India is conducting the examination on behalf of the IIMs.Speaking to Express, Ramnath K, course director of Triumphant Institute of Management Education (TIME), said since CAT was replacing JMET, an admission test to pursue MBA at IITs, the aspirants need not take JMET separately as all the six IITs which are offering the MBA course decided to consider CAT score as eligibility. The prestigious University of Delhi, which used to conduct FMS (Faculty of Management Studies) examination to take admissions to all its management courses, had also decided to consider CAT score as eligibility, he said.