Common Aptitude Test (CAT) is a computer based competitive exam for admission into all graduate management programs. The CAT score is accepted by almost all B-Schools in India for MBA. It is conducted by the IIMs every year in the last week of november.

In order to be eligible for CAT exam a candidate must fulfill the below mentioned criteria:

• Hold a bachelor's degree (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bachelor%27s_degree) in any stream, with more than or equal to 50% or equivalent CGPA  (The criteria is 45% for Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Persons with Disability (PWD)/Differently Able (DA) classification)
• The bachelor's degree should be granted by any of the universities which are  recognized by the Ministry of HRD, Government of India.
• Students appearing for the final year of bachelor's degree/equivalent qualification examination and  those who have completed their final year and are waiting for results can also apply for the exam. If such candidates are selected, they will be permitted to join the MBA program temporarily and will be provided time till the joining date to provide a certificate or a letter from the principal/registrar of their college/institute expressing that the candidate has finished the degree and is awaiting the receipt of the provisional degree certificate or final degree certificate.

Once the candidate has appeared for CAT exam, the score of the exam is taken as the primary shortlisting criteria. Different colleges have different eligibility criteria for selecting candidates. A few common one's are:

• A candidate must hold a bachelors' degree or must be in final year awaiting results by time of joining
• The CAT percentile of the candidate must pass a minimum threshold set by the institute.
• The sectional cut-offs must also cross the thresholds that the college has set
• Some colleges even look for 10th, 12th and graduation percentages in order to shortlist the candidate. Generally anything above 80% is considered best to be considered for the shortlist. Most colleges may not have this cut-off.
• The overall profile of the candidate and the SOP is also considered while shortlisting the candidate.

Post shortlisting an interview call is sent and the aggregate score of - CAT percentile, WAT, GD, PI, Group Activity, Candidate profile, Academic scores (10th/12th,Graduation) - all or subset of these components is taken. The final admission offer is made to the candidate basis the aggregate score and the ranking thereon.

Hi Aspirant,

For CAT Exam you need to score 50% marks or equivalent GPA (40% in case of SC,ST,PWD candidates).Those who are in the final year are also eligible for the exam.It is one of the top competitive exams and you need to prepare well before appearing for the examination.

Hope it helps!!