Dear Rahul, these are various programmes offered at various IIMs.

• PGP-FABM is a Post Graduate Programme in Food and Agri Business Management course offered in IIM Ahmedabad. The selection of candidates for admission to PGP-FABM at IIM Ahmedabad is a two-step process. In the first step, candidates will be short-listed for Group Discussion and Personal Interviews from among candidates who have applied for the programme and have a valid CAT score and satisfy the eligibility criteria for the programme.

• PGP stands for Post Graduation Programme in Management

In regards to Selection of IIM Programmes and Cities, you can select any no.of programmes and cities. Make sure you select the same city for Interview across. And for exam centre, you can give 4 options and the authorities will select your exam city for you. So in short, you have to select the programme that you are interesred in that particular IIM.

Dear Vishakha, 7.5 CGPA is nothing less. It approximately converts into 71.25. And then you have above 80% in your 10th and 12th. I would suggest you to atleast score 95% in CAT and you can make it to top B Schools or new IIMs. en there is a rating scale for your score in 10th, 12th and Graduation. Have a look at how the rating scale might look like:

10th Rating:

Percent score           Rating Score

<= 55                                    1

> 55 and <= 60                   2

> 60 and <= 70                   3

> 70 and <= 80                   5

> 80 and <= 90                  8

> 90                                    10


So here you score 8 marks.


12th Rating:

Percent score                Rating Score

<= 55                                         1

> 55 and <= 60                        2

> 60 and <= 70                        3

> 70 and <= 80                        5

> 80 and <= 90                        8

> 90                                         10

Here again you score 8 marks.

Percent score in Bachelor's Degree      Rating Score
<= 55                                                                     1
> 55 and <= 60                                                    2
> 60 and <= 62                                                    3
> 62 and <= 65                                                    5
> 65 and <= 70                                                    8
> 70                                                                      10

This is where you score 10 marks. Few top Schools select top 5% of Candidates in each Category to shortlist for WAT and PI rounds. So to be shortlisted, this is how your CAT percentile should look like:


                                       QA          DLR       VARC       Overall
General:                        70             70           70             80
NC-OBC/Trans:           65             65           65             75
SC:                                 60             60           60             70
ST:                                 50             50           50             60
PwD-UR,OBC,SC:       60             60           60              70
PwD: ST:                      50             50          50               60

If you can make this score, then the CAT composite score will be calculated and that will look like this:

Composite score is calculated as follows:
10th Standard: 36*[Z Candidate-Z min/Z max- Z min]
12th Standard: 40*[Z Candidate-Z min/Z max- Z min]
CAT 2019 score: 20*[Candidate's overall score /Highest CAT score]
Gender Diversity Factor: = 4 for female applicants
=0 for other applicants
Composite score= sum of the above scores
Now coming to the final selection, the computation of final composite score is considered as follows:
10th Standard: 10*[Z Candidate-Z min/Z max- Z min]

12th Standard: 10*[Z Candidate-Z min/Z max- Z min]

CAT 2019 score: 20*[Candidate's overall score /Highest CAT score]

WAT score: 20*[Z Candidate -Z min/ Z max-Z min]

PI score: 40* [Z Candidate-Z min/Z max-Z min]

Dear Rahul, you have to apply for each College separately. Because Selection of Candidates for Institutions accepting CAT scores depends upon the Institution you are interested in. The basic step is to check your CAT score and few Institutions conduct further rounds like Written Ability Test, Group Discussion and Personal Interview. The weightage will be given to both the procedures while selecting a Candidate. Candidates will mostly be shortlisted based on their CAT scores. The 20 IIMS and all the Participating Institutions will announce their Cut offs. The cut off is prepared after checking various factors. MBA aspirants will have to apply separately to all the Colleges that accept CAT scores. While CAT score remains the main criteria for selection, IIMs also consider other factors like previous academic performance, work experience, gender and Academic diversity.

• IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Calcutta and IIM Bangalore conduct their admission process separately.

• The newly established IIMs follow a Common Admission Process which is also called CAP. The shortlisted candidates will have to appear for a Common Written Ability Test and Personal Interview Rounds. A separate Institute wise merit list will be prepared and this merit list will be declared based on individual admission and selection criteria.

• IIM Sirmaur, IIM Jammu, IIM Nagpur will release their own merit list according to the CAT score or percentile and profile of the Candidate. There are no further rounds for these Institutions.

• The B schools which do not fall under IIMs will conduct their own selection process. The process of selection such as Group Discussion, Written Ability Test and Personal Interview are conducted at the Institution's discretion.

• IMT Ghaziabad, MICA conduct group activity or group exercise instead of group discussion. Some Institutioms also conduct Written Ability Test and Personal Interviews after Group Discussion.

Dear Rahul, apart from the 20 IIMs more than 1000 Institutes accept CAT score. These Institutes range from the top B schools to normal Colleges. So each and every College will release their specific cut offs for each Category and you have to apply for each College that you are interested in separately. You can check the participating Institutions here at our page: https://bschool.careers360.com/articles/cat-participating-institutes
After being shortlisted on the basis of your CAT score, there will be Written Ability Test and Personal Interview. Those Institutions which do not fall under IIMs but are top B Schools also follow this procedure.

Dear Aditya, CAT exam paper can be Categorised into 3 parts:

Quantitative Ability
Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension
Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning

The Verbal Ability section and Reading Comprehension has 34 Questions, Data interpretation-Logical Reasoning section has 32 MCQ questions and Quantitative Ability has 34 MCQ questions totalling up to 100 questions. Each Question has 3 marks and a wrong answer takes away 1 mark.

Most IIMs give weightage to QA section while FMS Delhi gives importance to VARC section. Now what we need to remember is that CAT has negative marking. So it is not the no.of questions you need to attempt. The emphasis should be on how many questions should you get correct. Based on your Category, your QA score will differ. For someone from General Category, you need atleast 80% from QA section. Most IIMs have the same cut off for QA section. It is 70% for OBC, 60% for SC,ST. The total score is adjusted through a method called Equating. And then the score will be normalised across all sections. QA section has 34 questions and lets say you attempted 17 and  answered 13 correct. Then the Accuracy is calculated as 13/17*100 which is 76%. Going by this, you should atleast answer 20 questions correct. Lets say you attempted 25. Then, 20/25*100 and then the accuracy is 80%. 

Now, we know what to do. Lets also see how to do it:

Quantitative Aptitude covers almost 30% of the CAT question paper. QA can be categorised into Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry and Advanced Mathematics. Practise chapter by chapter and develop mental calculations. Like practise more of basic summation, subtraction, fractions and tables. Numbers, Percentage, Profit and Loss, Simple and Compound Interest, Ratio, Proportionality, Time-Distance, Time-Work, Mixtures, Averages, Partnership, Permutation and Combinations, Probability, Set Theory, Progression and Series, Line, Angles, Triangles, Quadrilaterals, Polygon, Circles, Ares, Volume, Height and Distance, Coordinate Geometry, Basic Trigonometry are few important topics.

Preparation tips:

Because this section involves mathematics and takes most of your time, your focus should be on solving the problems efficiently in the beginning. Even if it takes time, practise upto perfection. Practise as many questions as you can in the conventional way. As and when you get a grip on the subject, you can go for short cuts. Memorise tables, square roots, cube roots, conversion from percent to fraction, etc. Solve sample papers on Mathematics. In the beginning, do not worry about the time it takes. As you practise, you will get the hang of the subject and it will be easier for you.

CAT Books For Quantitative Ability:
1.NCERT mathematics books (from 6th to 10th class) ::
These books are a good way to start if one needs to clear their basics and concepts. NCERT books are best to start your CAT Preparation with only if you have a lot of time before your exam date and need to brush up on concepts before solving advanced problems.

2.How to Prepare for Quantitative Aptitude for the CAT (by Arun Sharma)
(publisher: Tata McGraw Hill)
This is a very popular book among CAT aspirants and really easy and simple to understand. This book also focuses on the basics first and has different levels of difficulties step by step.

3.Quantitative Aptitude for Competitive Examinations (by Abhijit Guha)
This book is quite comprehensive for various competitive exams, for both MBA aspirants and for those seeking jobs who need to prepare for the aptitude tests.
4.Quantitative Aptitude Quantum CAT by Sarvesh Verma
It is an extensive book for students aspiring to go to IIMs. It has a very simple, lucid and tailor made content revolving around CAT.

5.Quantitative Aptitude for CAT (by Nishit Sinha)
This book by Pearson focuses on in depth understanding of core topics for basic and advanced applications.

Dear Aryan, XLRI conducts admission to its Post Graduate programmes through XAT score.

There are 20 IIMs in India.And all the 20 IIMs have their own Selection Criteria based on your CAT score.Now your 10th, 12th and Graduation marks carry a weightage of 5-7.5% depending on the IIM you are interested in. Few IIMs like IIM Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Indore, Lucknow, etc conduct Written Ability Test, Personal Interview and then the Final Selection Process follows. The basic eligibility criteria remains the same but off late IIMs have been giving Sectional weightage to CAT composite score. For example;

IIM Ahmedabad:
                                 QA        DLR       VARC       Overall
General:                   70          70           70             80
NC-OBC/Trans:      65          65           65             75
SC:                             60         60           60             70
ST:                            50           50          50             60
PwD-UR,OBC,SC:   60          60          60             70
PwD: ST:                  50          50          50             60


IIM Bangalore:
                                QA           DLR         VARC     Overall
General:                 80                80            85           90
NC-OBC:                70               70            75            80
SC:                          65               65             70           75
ST:                         60                60             60           70
PwD:                      50               50              50            50


IIM Calcutta:
                                  QA            DLR         VRC    Over All
OPEN :                      75              80             80         85
NC-OBC:                   65             65              70         75
EWS:                         65              65             70          75
SC:                            60               60             65         70
ST:                             55               55            55          65
PWD:                        55               55             55          65


IIM Indore:
                                        QA        DLR         VARC      Overall
General                          80           80               80           90
NC-OBC                         70            70              70            80
SC                                   55            55              55            60
ST                                   45            45               45            50
PwD                                45            45              45             50


IIM Lucknow:


                                        QA         DLR         VARC       Overall
General                           85           85              85             90
NC-OBC                          77           77              77             82
SC                                    55           55              55             70
ST                                     50           50              50             65
PwD                                 50           50              50             65


Method of scoring can be found on the official website of the IIMs you are interested in. Those candidates who are eligible after these 2 rounds are called for Written Ability and Personal Interview Test. The final score is calculated based on this scale for IIM Lucknow:


Common Admission Test: 30
Academic Performance (12th + Graduation): 5+5
Diversity Factor (DF academics +DF gender): 5
Work Experience: 5
Writing Ability Test: 10
Personal Interview: 40
Final Score: 100

Because CAT exam will be held at different slots, CAT scores will be normalised to ensure equivalence in the difficulty levels of the exams for both slots. IIM Kozikhode will normalise the CAT scores using percentile equivalence. Adjustment of location and scale differences of score distributions across different norms and then scores will be normalised. These scores will be then converted into percentiles for shortlisting and selection purposes. So to be honest wih you, if you can manage a 99 percentile score in CAT, you will be able to pull off a feat and manage to get a call from any of the IIMs. Having said that, I alsp want to bring to your attention, the selection process of the IIMs so that your preparation can be target based:
IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Calcutta and IIM Bangalore conduct their admission process separately having their own weightage for Academic section, Work experience, Diversity factor, etc.
You can check their selection criteria in detail at:
www.careers360.com/question-i-got-98-in-10th-8983-in-12th-87-cgpa-in-graduation-if-i-get-above-99-percentile-in-cat-can-i-get-a-call-from-iim-abc

The newly established IIMs follow a Common Admission Process which is also called CAP. The shortlisted candidates will have to appear for a Common Written Ability Test and Personal Interview Rounds. A separate Institute wise merit list will be prepared and this merit list will be declared based on individual admission and selection criteria.

IIM Sirmaur, IIM Jammu, IIM Nagpur will release their own merit list according to the CAT score or percentile and profile of the Candidate. There are no further rounds for these Institutions

But other Top B Schools and Other Participating Institutions release their cut offs post the declaration of CAT scores.