CAT is considered among the toughest exams presently in our country, but only a select few know everything about CAT exam. Testfunda has compiled the information on everything that you need to know about the CAT exam before you apply for it.

• Common Admission Test, more popularly known as CAT is an MBA entrance exam which helps the students to get into IIMs, IITs and even IISc. Though till 2011, CAT score was eligible only for IIMs, but recently IITs and IISc have also started using CAT scores as an eligibility criteria.
• CAT exam was a paper based exam till 2009. Later, it was turned into a Computer Based Examination and since then the number of students appearing for the exam has increased significantly.
• MBA (Masters in Business Administration) is a prestigious degree, which is presently the most sought-after post-graduate course. Every year lacs of students appear for CAT exam, but only a select few actually make it to the IIMs.
• The eligibility criteria for CAT exams is a Bachelor’s Degree with fifty percent marks or an equivalent CGPA. Undergraduate students who are in their final year are also eligible. For SC/ST/PWD candidates require 45% marks in their Bachelor’s Degree.
• CAT exam is conducted once a year and you can appear for it as many times as you wish. For general candidates, the application fees is Rs.1700, whereas for SC/ST/PWD candidates it is Rs.850
• There are various alternative exams to get into other management colleges, these exams are CMAT, XAT, MAT and GMAT.
• The exam tests the skills of the candidate in Quantitative Ability, Data Interpretation, Logical Reasoning and Verbal Ability. The score card for CAT exam remains valid for a year.

Though there are a lot of institutes which help you prepare for CAT entrance exam, the biggest disadvantage of these institutes is that, they have a lot of students enrolled and they can’t really teach as per a student’s speed and grasping level, they must progress ahead with a moderate speed to complete the course. While doing so, many of the students don’t understand the key concepts, thus as a result aren’t able to score well.

When a person opts for Online Coaching for CAT, it is self-paced and based on a student’s ability to completely understand a topic before moving on to the next topic. Other than this, the advantage of CAT Online Coaching is that the student has access help any time of the day along with unlimited access to exhaustive study material.

There are some alternative exams to CAT for getting into other good management colleges. These exams are XAT, IIFT, NMAT, CMAT, MHCET, GMAT and MAT.