IIM Bangalore appears to be in mood of doing some serious business on CAT 2016 as the first CAT 2016 group meeting to finalize the modilities to convene Common Admission Test (CAT) 2016 under the convenership of Prof Rajendra K Bandi, faculty IIM Bangalore and CAT 2016 convener is going to be held this week. Pandora’s Box may open after CAT 2016 Group meeting. The CAT group meeting will decide on the modalities, issue of notification, dates of CAT 2016 exam, its notification date among other key points to convene CAT 2016.
Aspirants request 2 days test window
However, hundreds of serious CAT 2016 aspirants, working as well as non-working have approached MBAUniverse.com to convey their request to IIM Bangalore to convene the exam in at least 2 days test window instead of summing it up in one day as happened last year.
The valid reason shared by them is that there is not sufficient gap between their other exam like NMAT by GMAC; IIFT and CAT. They have to go for rescheduling the other exam and have to incur higher expenses and re-plan their journey. It may be noted that registration for NMAT by GMAC and IIFT would begin much earlier than CAT 2016. It is very much possible that the test dates for longer duration exam may clash with CAT 2016. Besides, there are limited test centres for IIFT entrance exam. As such candidates find it difficult to rush from one city to other overnight.
Accordingly, if IIM Bangalore accedes to their request for convening the CAT 2016 on 2 consecutive weekends, it could probably solve their problem to a large extent.
The first CAT Group meeting
After the fact known to all that Prof Rajendra K Bandi, faculty and admission chair at IIM Bangalore has been appointed Convener for CAT 2016, this is going to be the first meeting of CAT 2016 group comprising all stake holders.
IIM Bangalore is conducting CAT 2016 and Prof Rajendra K Bandi is the convener for CAT 2016 while testing partner agency is Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).
Common Admission Test (CAT) is the mandatory and most prestigious entrance test for admission to PGP/MBA/PGDM programmes in 19 IIMs, FMS, JBIMS, SPJIMR, MDI, IMI, IMT, BIMTECH, TAPMI and other top rated B schools in the country. CAT is a computer based test (CBT) with not even a part of the exam paper-pencil based.
High scores in CAT 2016 will enable about 40000 candidates to get admission in high ROI top tier MBA programmes of highly ranked B schools apart from IIMs in 2017. Besides, even low scorers in CAT 2016 may also get very good B schools according to their scores and academic profile.
Expect more changes and surprises in CAT 2016
CAT 2016 as shared by Prof S K Agarwal expert on Verbal Ability and mentor on CAT 2016 preparation, is going to be more user friendly given the reputation of IIM Bangalore. The test is expected to be conducted in 1 day 2 sessions testing window in the month of November 2016 preferably on weekend or Sunday as was held in 2015. However, it appears IIM Bangalore may like to extend the testing window from 1 day to 2 days, if all goes well.
Notification in last week of July
The notification for CAT 2016 is expected to be out by the last week of July 2016 and the registration process for CAT 2016 would remain open for more than 45 days beginning from the first week of August 2016.
Expected changes
In accordance with the legacy of CAT throwing a few surprises every year, it is anticipated that CAT 2016 will again bring about more changes.
The prestigious MBA entrance exam CAT 2016 is expected to be further glorified with a little higher and different standard of testing in CAT 2016 clubbed with more innovations in the exam that may be incorporated by IIM Bangalore.
The computer based CAT 2016 exam is not expected to offer any facility of Off- line application process and all the registration activity will have to completed on-line only.
Expect CAT 2016 in November
You should not expect CAT 2016 to be conducted before November 2016. TCS the testing partner of CAT has conducted the exam in 2014 and 2015. In both the years, despite shortening the testing window the exam was conducted in the month of November only. It appears same trend might follow this year also.
In view of Prof S K Agarwal, Verbal Ability expert and mentor on CAT 2016 preparation, there is no point going on waiting for the IIM Bangalore to announce the registration and testing schedule for CAT 2016.
One month late CAT means that the preparation period for the exam has been increased by a month. Those who are trying to be lazy in preparation are advised to get refreshed and gear up making a proper preparation schedule for next 6 months. Any laxity may cost you a precious year of your life.
CAT 2016 may bring a bit tricky Quant and Verbal Ability questions. IIM Bangalore, going by its reputation may bring more twists in DI-LR section. The question pattern may also change in CAT 2016.
Since there is no fixed syllabus for CAT and when IIM Bangalore convenes it, the institute believes to throw more surprises before the CAT aspirants. When you prepare for CAT 2016 please do not think that the questions that remained absent in CAT 2015 would again remain absent. CAT has the history of placing surprises across the sessions. What didn’t appear in CAT 2015 or 2014 can be present in CAT 2016.
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Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more updates on CAT 2016
