Eligibility Criteria for Common Admission Test (CAT) 2021

 Eligibility Criteria for CAT Exam 2021

Eligibility Criteria for CAT Exam 2021

The official eligibility criteria for CAT Exam 2021 will be released with the CAT 2021 Notification, but it is not expected to change too much from the eligibility criteria of CAT Exam 2020 and 2019.

The Eligibility Criteria for CAT Exam 2021 is as follows:-

• There is no upper age limit to take the CAT Exam and no restrictions on the number of attempts you can take the CAT Exam.

• The candidate has to pass at least their Bachelor's degree with at least 50% (for General Category and for candidates from the NC-OBC caste). For SC/ST and Differently Abled (DA) candidates, the percentage required is 45%. The University that has awarded the degree has to be recognized by the MHRD.

• If the University awards grades or CGPA instead of marks, the conversion factor which is given by the University has to be used and if there is no conversion factor specified by the University, the CGPA has to be converted into percentage by direct conversion i.e., divide the CGPA received by the highest CGPA possible and multiply the result by 100.

• Candidates who have completed their professional degrees with over 50% (45% for SC/ST/PwD) are also eligible for CAT.

• The final year students of all Bachelor's degrees can give the CAT Exam with the condition that they will clear their Bachelor's with the required percentage (45% or 50%). For further process, the candidate has to furnish an additional document with the signature of the Principal/Head of Department/ Registrar/ Director of the Institute verifying that the candidate has over 50% marks in the course currently and the candidates will be required to furnish their final certificate from their graduation in order to continue in the institute. If the candidate is unable to clear his or her Bachelor's with the required percentage, their results in the further admission processes will be considered null and void.

• While the current eligibility criteria state that the candidate should have a Bachelor's Degree of at least 3 years, the older Bachelor's degree lasting 2 years will also be eligible as long as the University is recognized by the UGC but the 2 years Bachelor’s degree which is accepted by the CAT Exam Eligibility Criteria is not accepted by the IIMs which require a 3 years Bachelor's degree for their Management Programs.

• For further admission processes in IIMs, the candidate should maintain a unique and valid email ID as well as a phone number for official communications.

Factors that disqualify a candidate to take the CAT Exam 2021 are as follows:-

• If the candidate has not appeared for their bachelor's degree and is in the progress of completing their Professional Degree (CA/CS/ICWA).

• If the candidate is pursuing both their bachelor's degree as well as a professional degree but has yet to complete both of them.

• If the graduation is not recognized by the UGC/AICTE/MHRD.

The PWD include candidates who have the following problems/disabilities:-

• Candidates having hearing impairment

• Candidates with low vision/blindness

• Candidates with a locomotive disability or cerebral palsy

• *There is however a condition that the candidates should have at least 40% of the handicap mentioned above to be eligible. The candidates with disability are also given 20 minutes more per section. For candidates with vision-related issues, a scribe will be provided at the centre along with a wheelchair for candidates who have locomotive disability or blindness.

Reservation of Seats for CAT Exam 2021:-

After the CAT Exam Eligibility and the CAT Exam itself is cleared, the goal of every student is to enter the IIMs. However, the IIMs are government-run institutions which mean that they follow the government policies about reservations for the underprivileged categories.

These reservations are as follows:-

Category Reservation:-

• Scheduled Caste- 15%

• Scheduled Tribe- 7.5%

• Other Backward Classes of NC-OBC- 27%

• The Person With Disability- 5%

This reservation means that a general category candidate has just over 54% (54.5% to be exact) seats available to him/her. The total number of seats available in the various IIMs is around 4000. With the reservation status as it is, the number of seats available to candidates from the general category is just over 1900. With the addition of 20 or so top Institutions, the General Category candidates have approximately 4000 seats to compete upon.

Expected Timeline for the CAT Exam 2021 is given as follows which would be confirmed with the CAT notification in July (as expected):-

• The CAT 2021 Notification is expected to be released on the month of July while the CAT 2021 Registration is expected to begin in the second week of August.

• The CAT Registration Deadline would be near the end of September with around 10 days of correction window post the Deadline for students who have made errors in the CAT Registration. 

• The CAT Exam is expected to be held in the last week of November with the results being declared in the first week of January 2022. 

*Self Typed

*Source- Books, Internet, Self-Analysis