CAT 2024: Important points of CAT Exam 2024

CAT 2024 exam is expected to be conducted on 24th November 2024, and CAT 2024 may be conducted by IIM Calcutta. This post covers all the important information for CAT 2024 aspirants. Common Admission Test Cat 2024 exam will be held on 24 November 2024 in three slots. It will be a computer-based test in more than 170 cities. In India, the CAT score is valid for admissions to 21 IIMs and other MBA colleges and business schools. The exam is held every year by one of the top six IIMs on a rotational basis. The CAT Exam 2024 will be held by IIM Calcutta in India. The official notification for the CAT Exam was released on 28 July 2024. The registration process for CAT 2024 started on 1 August 2024 at iimcat.ac.in and ends on 13 September 2024. This year too the fee of the CAT exam has been increased. CAT 2024 Exam Dates

Important Dates 

• CAT 2024 Notification Release: July 30, 2024
• CAT 2024 Registration: August 3, 2024 (10:00 AM) to September 15, 2024 (5:00 PM)
• Form Correction: Last week of September 2024
• Admit Card Release: October 25, 2024
• CAT 2024 Exam Date: November 24, 2024
• Answer Key Release: 1st week of December 2024
• Result Declaration: Last week of December month 2024 or 1st week of January  month 2025

CAT 2024 Exam Highlights

Topics	Event
CAT Full Form	Common Admission Test (CAT)
Conducting Institute for 2024	IIM Calcutta
Exam Level	National
Exam Frequency	Once a year
CAT 2024 Exam Date	November 24, 2024
CAT Exam Timings	Session 1: 8:30 AM to 10:30 AMSession 2: 12:30 PM to 2:30 PMSession 3: 4:30 PM to 6:30 PM
CAT Exam Fees	INR 2,500 for (General category) and INR 1,25 for (Reserved category)
Number of Test Takers	3.30 lakh (in 2023)
CAT exam mode	(CBT)Computer Based Test  with MCQs and non-MCQs
No. of test cities	170

Important Dates and Event 

EVENT	DATE
CAT 2024 notification release	28-July-2024
CAT exam 2024 registration dates	01-Aug-2024 (10:00 AM) to  13-Sep-2024 (5:00 PM)
CAT form correction	Last week of September 2024
CAT admit card 2024	05-Nov-2024
CAT exam 2024 date	24-Nov-2024
CAT answer key release	First week of December 2024
Answer key challenge process	First week of December 2024
Declaration of CAT 2024 result	Last week of Dec 2024 or 1st week of Jan 2025

Eligibility Criteria

• The candidate must fulfill the following criteria to appear in CAT 2024.
• Have a bachelor’s degree with at least 50% aggregate or equivalent CGPA (45% for SC, ST and PWD/DA category) from a known university.
• Final year students of the bachelor’s degree or awaiting results.
• Proficiency within the degree: CA/CS/ICWA/FCAI or whatever may be the case, with the required percentile.

Syllabus

The syllabus of CAT encompasses:

• Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC): Reading Comprehension, Para Jumbles, Para Summary, Odd Sentence Out
• Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR): Set Theory, Puzzles, Coding-Decoding, Series
• Quantitative Aptitude: Number System, Algebra, Arithmetic, Geometry, Mensuration

CAT Question Papers

The CAT question paper is unique & different for every session but the sectional weightage is the same. However, overall, the difficulty level of the CAT question paper is moderate to high, every year.

Topics	Questions	Level
Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC)	24	Moderate to High
Logical Reasoning & Data Interpretation (LRDI)	20	Easy to Moderate
Quantitative Aptitude (QA)	22	Moderate to High
Total	66	Moderate

 Here are a few tips to score well in your CAT 2024 preparation:

Start early: at least nine months’ time.

Join any coaching institute or start preparing yourself through self-study.

Prepare the study schedule according to your strengths and weaknesses.

Plan a Study Strategy: Split the syllabus into smaller sections and phases of time that you have available to prepare. Allocate daily time for your CAT preparations and stick to it. You should make sure that every section of the paper is getting its due time.

Set a baseline: Identify the areas where you are weak or find relatively more challenging. Try to assign time to various topics of each section and set a baseline of your understanding at the beginning of the CAT preparations.

Choose the Mode of Preparation: You can opt to take coaching for the preparation of CAT 2024, can take help from self-prep programs, or you can directly join any of the CAT coaching programs. A coaching program would take care of all the preparation parts. But if you choose to prepare yourself, you need to ensure that you have ample study materials along with the best books for CAT preparation.

Mock Tests: Regular practice with the help of mock tests to get accustomed to the pattern of the exam and manage time more effectively.

CAT Exam Pattern

There is no change in CAT 2024 pattern. CAT exam is an MCQ-based test in 120 minutes or two hours. In the exam, candidates  solve 66 questions from VARC, DILR and QA. Some of the key highlights of CAT 2024 exam pattern.

• The CAT exam 2024 will be held in 3 sessions
• Each session will be of 120 minutes
• There will be time limit in each section i.e 40 minutes per section
• The CAT exam will divided into three sections – VARC, DILR and QA
• +3 marks will be given for correct answer
• -1 mark will be deducted for  incorrect answer
• There will be no negative marking for both non-MCQs and skipping questions
• Total number of questions will be 66
• Total marks will be 198
• It is not mandatory to attempt all the questions

Result: 

• Last week of December 2024 or first week of January 2025
• CAT Result 2024
• The result of CAT 2024 shall be declared at the IIM CAT website within 20-30 days of the test. 
• The CAT scorecard will carry sectional and overall marks as percentiles. 
• Here is the process that one can use for downloading the CAT 2024 result:
•  Log in to the CAT website, iimcat.ac.in. 
• Click on the tab for ‘CAT 2024 result/scorecard’.
•  Enter the application number for CAT and the password.
•  Click the scorecard section.
•  Click on the link for Download & Save the PDF of CAT 2024 Scorecard