CAT Likely to be Held Twice from Next Year.

Common Admission Test, popularly known as CAT, conducted by the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) for selecting eligible candidates for admission into various post graduate level management programmes, might be held twice in a year. The scores of CAT is used as part of the selection procedure for short-listing candidates desiring to pursue business administration programmes in the IIMs, Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), Indian Institute of Science (IISc), and numerous other top B-schools in India and abroad.

As per sources, the organizers of the reputed computerized test are on talks about making the test available biannually for the convenience of the working class aspirants, who are left with no choice but to wait for an entire year for appearing in the exam and wait for the declaration of the results. The organizers are planning to implement the twice-a-year pattern from next year.

With the increase in the number of institutes taking CAT scores in consideration as part of the screening procedure, the number of students sitting for the test is also increasing drastically. According to an IIM official, the number of working class candidates desiring to take the CAT is considerable, but the routine professional life urges them to drop back.

Confirming the news, Prof Jankiraman Moorthy, Convenor for CAT 2012, said that the decision to make CAT biannual will benefit the candidates, from the working class, willing to appear for the test. However, the plan is only in its initial stage and no final decision has been made so far, added Moorthy. Details on the testing pattern, timing of the second testing session, etc. will be settled with only after the ongoing discussions come to an end.

With the establishment of CAT biannually, working professionals would certainly take this news as a positive step. They would be able to apply and sit for the CAT as per their convenience, depending upon the semester in which they wish to take admission – Fall or Spring, not just in institutes in India, but across universities and colleges on foreign lands.