CAT 2018 Exam Date Announced; Notification to Release in July

The Indian Institute of Management (IIMs) has announced the exam date for CAT 2018. The examination will be held on the fourth Sunday of November, i.e. 25 November 2018. The prestigious B-Schools revealed the exam date online, on the official website iimcat.ac.in. Aspirants preparing for CAT 2018 should gear up now. This is the beginning of MBA admissions session 2019-2020.

Other than the exam date, it has also been announced that the official notification will release in the month of July or August. Even as per past years trends, Common Admission Test notification is released by the end of July. The notification on the official website runs as follows:

It is expected that the registration for CAT 2018 will begin by August 08, 2018. The candidates will be able to register from the official website by entering thier personal, educational, communication, and other details. It is also expected that the amount of registration fee will be around Rs. 1900 (Rs. 950 for the candidates belonging to SC / ST / PwD category).

According to the sources, the registration will end near Septemeber 24, 2018. After which, the admit card will be issued. IIMs will only provide admit card to those candidates who will submit the form and the fee in the prescribed format. The expected date for the release of the CAT admit card is October 20, 2018.

The big question hovering around is ‘Who will conduct CAT 2018?‘ The official announced confirming the conducting body is yet to be made by the IIMs. There is a high probability that IIM Bangalore, IIM Kozhikode or IIM Calcutta will conduct the exam. Experts are of the view that Bangalore conducted the exam in 2016. Hence, it can also be eliminated from the list. Among Kozhikode and Calcutta, IIM-C is much older and has not conducted the exam since 2011. So, it can be the conducting body this year. Despite all the assumption, only the official notice will reveal the actual CAT 2018 conducting body.

The score of CAT 2018 will be accepted by 20 IIMs and more than 200 B-Schools. It is anticipated that more than 2 lakh candidates will apply for CAT 2018. Now that it is revealed that the exam will be held on November 25, candidates only have approximately 6 months left for the preperation. The competition in the exam is quite stiff and best colleges call those for GD/PI who secure more than 97 to 98 percentile.

To prepare for CAT in less than 300 days, the candidates need to plan the preperation strategy. First of all, instead of referring to various books the candidates should just stick to one book. For QA section, students can refer to How to Prepare for Quantitative Ability For CA by Arun Sharma, Quantitative Aptitude For CAT And Other MBA Entrance Exams by Trishna Knowledge Systems, etc.

For Reading Comprehension The Pearson Guide to Verbal Ability and Logical Reasoning by Nishit Sinha and How to Prepare for the Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension for the CAT by Arun Sharma and Meenakshi Upadhyay are preferred by numerous students.

For Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning, students can refer to How to Prepare for Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning for CAT by Arun Sharma and Meenakshi Upadhyay and Verbal Ability And Logical Reasoning For The CAT And Other MBA Examinations by Trishna.

There are numerous other books in the market for CAT preperation but candidates need to find the best for themselves. Other than this, the students are advised to practice as many mock tests as they can. It will not only deepen the understanding of subjects but will also increase the speed and efficiency of the candidates. All the best to all the CAT 2018 aspirants. If you have any other question or query, you can comment below. Also, you can use #askaglasem on twitter and tell your questions there.