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COMMON ADMISSION TEST 2011 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS GENERAL

FORMAT OF CAT

Ans. The format of the test is more or less the same except that a candidate reads a question on a computer terminal and clicks on the correct answer, instead of reading on a paper booklet and using a pencil to darken the ovals on an answer sheet.

Ans. No. A candidate will have to test on a pre-assigned workstation and will not have a choice to choose his or her workstation, in the testing venue chosen by him/her during the time of registration.

Ans. A CAT practice test is available on the website www.catiim.in for candidates to get familiarised with the functionality and navigation of the actual test.

Ans. There will be two separately timed sections in the test. The sections are (a) Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation (b) Verbal Ability & Logical Reasoning.

Ans. There will be 30 questions in each section.

Ans. No, each section will be timed separately. Once a section ends, candidates can no longer go back to it.

Ans. No, candidates will be presented with the section on Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation first, followed by Verbal Ability & Logical Reasoning.

Ans. There will be an on-screen timer counting down from 1 hour 10 mins (i.e. 70 minutes) once a section begins. When the time is up, that section will end and you will not be able to go back to it. The second section will then begin and the on-screen timer will start counting down from 1 hour 10 minutes again. Once the second section ends, the test will end.

Ans. No, you will not have the ability to end the first section before the first 70 minutes are up. However, you will be given an option to end the second section, and therefore your test, before the second 70 minutes are up. If you choose to end your test before the full duration is up, you will be required to wait at your testing station until everyone is dismissed by the test administrator.

Ans. Each of the sections will be 1 hour and 10 minutes (i.e. 70 minutes). Including a 15-minute tutorial before the start of the test which candidates are advised to go through, the total duration of the test will be 2 hours and 35 minutes.

Ans. The tutorial provides a series of screens that will orient you to the computer-based CAT. This will give you an opportunity to try the various features, including how to navigate between questions in a section, review questions, etc. The tutorial has a total duration of 15 minutes and candidates are advised to go through it entirely before starting the actual exam sections. For a similar preview, candidates can take a tour of the CAT 2011 Practice Test which will be available on www.catiim.in from 17 August 2011.

Ans. The candidate must hold a Bachelor’s Degree, with at least 50% marks or equivalent CGPA [45% in case of the candidates belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Differently Abled (DA) categories], awarded by any of the Universities incorporated by an act of the central or state legislature in India or other educational institutions established by an act of Parliament or declared to be deemed as a University under Section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956, or possess an equivalent qualification recognized by the Ministry of HRD, Government of India. The percentage of marks obtained by the candidate in the bachelor’s degree would be calculated based on the practice followed by the university/ institution from where the candidate has obtained the degree. In case the candidates are awarded grades/CGPA instead of marks, the conversion of grades/CGPA to percentage of marks would be based on the procedure certified by the university/ institution from where they have obtained the bachelor’s degree. In case the university/ institution does not have any scheme for converting CGPA into equivalent marks, the equivalence would be established by dividing the candidate’s CGPA by the maximum possible CGPA and multiplying the result with 100. Candidates appearing for the final year of bachelor’s degree/equivalent qualification examination and those who have completed degree requirements and are awaiting results can also apply. IIMs may verify eligibility at various stages of the selection process, the details of which are provided at the website www.catiim.in.

Prospective candidates must have the following throughout the selection process.
1. CAT 2011 Voucher
2. Pay-in Slip
3. Valid and unique Email ID

Ans. No.

Ans. No, there is no age restriction for appearing in CAT.

Ans. The fee is Rs.1600. If you belong to the SC/ST category then you can pay a discounted fee of Rs.800.

Ans. Candidates are required to purchase a CAT voucher at selected Axis Bank branches from 17 August – 1 October 2011. You can visit www.catiim.in for the list of Axis Bank branches.

Ans. Sale of vouchers starts on Wednesday, 17 August 2011 at selected Axis Bank branches and ends on Saturday, 1 October 2011.

Ans. You are required to fill a pay-in-slip at the selected Axis Bank branches to obtain the voucher. There will be two copies of the pay-in-slip. The bank will retain one copy of the filled pay-in-slip and the other will be stamped and given back to you. Please retain your copy of the pay-in-slip with you during the entire selection process.

Note: The name on the pay-in-slip must match the name appearing on the school-leaving certificate.

Ans. Online registration for CAT 2011 will begin on Wednesday, 17 August 2011 and end on Tuesday, 4 October 2011. Additional instructions for the online application and registration process are also available on the website www.catiim.in.

Ans. You can find the voucher number under the scratch-off area of the voucher you purchase at an Axis Bank branch. Please use a coin to scratch off gently so the voucher number does not become illegible. Vouchers will not be refunded under any circumstances.

Ans. No, you need to have a valid and unique email address.

Ans. Yes, you need to limit each address line to 30 characters including spaces. Special characters are acceptable.

Ans. CAT will be held during the period Saturday, 22 October 2011 – Friday, 18 November 2011. Yes, you can choose a test date, test time, and venue across 36 cities all over India, subject to availability.

Ans. A list of test centres will be available on the website www.catiim.in.

Ans. a.) Soon after you fill-in, review, and submit your personal information during the online application, an automated confirmation email, which will contain your Application Summary, will be sent to the email address provided by you.
b.) After submitting your personal information, you are expected to continue registration by scheduling your test date, test time, and venue. Once you have submitted this scheduling information, a 2nd automated confirmation email, which will contain your CAT 2011 Admit Card, will be sent to the email address provided by you. Only at this stage is your CAT 2011 registration complete.

Ans. The admit card will contain the name of the candidate, test date, time, venue, confirmation number, CAT Registration Number / Testing ID and instructions for the candidate.

Ans. No. The admit card will be sent to the email address provided by you, only after you have filled in your online application and scheduled your test. It is therefore, mandatory for you to have a valid email account throughout the selection process.

Note: Admit Card is a mandatory requirement in order to test. You must bring a print out of your Admit Card to the test centre.

Ans. Yes. Please refer to the FAQs for DA Candidates for more details.

Ans. A typical testing day for CAT will have 2 exam sessions. Candidates are allowed to schedule for any one of the sessions, subject to availability. Session timings are as follows:

a. Session 1: Testing will begin at 10 AM. Candidates are required to arrive at the test centre no later than 8:30 AM for security checks, identity verification, and checking in.
b. Session 2: Testing will begin at 3:15 PM. Candidates are required to arrive at the test centre no later than 1:45 PM for security checks, identity verification, and checking in.

Ans. No. You can appear for CAT 2011 only once. It will be deemed a fraudulent activity if one attempts to appear for CAT 2011 more than once. Admit Cards and picture IDs of the candidates will be checked, and candidate pictures and biometric information will also be captured at the test centre.

Ans. If you make mistakes while entering the application data, you may login to www.catiim.in or https://iim.prometric.com and select “Edit Profile” to make changes to your personal details such as address or “Edit Application” to make changes to your application data such as educational information or interview location. For security reasons, editing of candidate’s full name and username will not be allowed. To reschedule your appointment, select “Reschedule an Appointment” to choose a different test centre, date and time of your test, of course, subject to availability. The ability to edit application profile and registration details will be available until the registration window is closed i.e. til 11:59 PM on 4 October 2011, IST.
Note: If you make changes to your profile or reschedule, you must carry the most recent admit card and attend the most recent test session.

Ans. The FAQs, IVRS and online instructions are designed to enable self-service. You are requested to use these tools which can guide you through the entire process and help answer most of your queries. In case you are still facing issues, then CAT Candidate Care Support is available by phone and email.
Phone: 1-800-103-7383
Webmail:Contact Us

Phone support availability:
Registration Phase: 17 August – 4 October 2011 2011, 9:00AM to 6:00PM from Mondays to Saturdays.
Pre-testing window: 5 October – 21 October 2011, 9:00AM to 6:00PM from Mondays to Saturdays.
Testing window: 22 October – 18 November 2011, 8:00AM to 7:00PM daily.
Post-testing window: 19 November 2011 – 31 January 2012, 9:00AM to 6:00PM Mondays to Fridays .

CAT Candidate Care will be closed on the following national public holidays:
* Monday, 22 August 2011 – Janamastami
* Wednesday, 31 August 2011 – Idu’l Fitr
* Thursday, 6 October 2011 – Dussehra
* Wednesday, 26 October 2011 - Diwali
* Monday, 26 December 2011 – Christmas
* Monday, 2 January 2012 – New Year’s Day
* Thursday, 26 January 2012 – Republic Day

Webmail support availability:

Ans. You can reschedule the location, date and time of your test within the registration window (17 August – 4 October 2011). No reschedules are permitted once the registration window has closed.

Ans. No.

Ans. No. Under no circumstances will a cancellation/refund be allowed.

Ans. No. Your fees will not be refunded in case you do not appear for your test as per your scheduled location, date and time.

Ans. One and a half (1.5) hours prior to the test time. If the test begins at 10 AM, you must reach the test centre no later than 8:30 AM. If the test begins at 3:15 PM, you must reach the test centre no later than 1:45 PM.

Ans. Candidates will need to bring the following identification documents on the test day:
a. CAT 2011 Admit Card
c. A valid document as proof of SC/ST eligibility (if applicable).

If you are a Differently Abled candidate and have requested for support during the test, please carry the copy of the authorisation of the support mailed to you by Prometric

Important: Admit Card and one photo identification, mentioned above, are mandatory in order to test.

Note: You will have to store all other personal items at the test centre at your own risk. Please do not bring any other items to the test centre, as they are not permitted into the testing centre.

Ans. Your name needs to be exactly identical to the name on your school-leaving certificate.

Note: - If the name has been changed due to events such as marriage, you must show the relevant document mentioned below and submit a photocopy at the time of the test, interview and at the time of joining a programme.

• Marriage Certificate, Divorce Decree, Legal Name Change Document

Ans. None. You will not be permitted to bring any personal items to the test centre, including but not limited to wrist-watch, pen, cellphones, calculators, etc.

Ans. The total duration is 2 hours 35 minutes including a 15-minute tutorial. CAT is a multiple choice test, delivered in 2 sections, 70 minutes per section. The actual test will contain 60 questions, 30 questions per section. For further details, refer to Test Duration & Pattern.

Ans. No, you will not be given any breaks during the test.

Ans. At the test centre, each candidate will be seated at a desk with a computer terminal and he/she will be provided with a pencil, eraser and scratch paper for calculations. Rough work cannot be done on any other paper/sheet, as nothing will be allowed inside the testing room. On completion of the test, candidates will have to hand back all the scratch paper and stationery to the Administrator.

Ans. Your raw scores will be calculated for each section based on the number of questions you answered correctly, incorrectly, or omitted. You will be given +3 points for each correct answer and -1 point for each incorrect answer. There will be no points for questions that are not answered. This scoring methodology ensures that candidates are only awarded points for what they know.

Ans. The CAT, like virtually all large-scale exams, will utilise multiple forms, or versions, of the test. While all forms are carefully assembled to ensure that the content is comparable, the difficulty of each form may vary slightly. Such minor differences in the overall difficulty level cannot be accurately measured until after all of the forms have been administered and the results analysed. To facilitate this comparison, each form will contain equating blocks comprising a pre-defined number of statistically profiled questions selected from a large item bank. By comparing candidate responses to these equating blocks across multiple forms, the ability level of the individuals can be evaluated and the precise difficulty of the forms calculated. The raw scores are then adjusted, as necessary, through a process called equating. Equating assures fairness for all candidates by allowing accurate comparisons to be made of performance across all of the test forms. Equated raw scores are then placed on a common scale or metric to ensure appropriate interpretation of the scores. This process is called scaling.

Ans. Three scaled scores will be presented for each candidate: an overall scaled score and two separate scaled scores for each section. As the two sections evaluate distinct sets of knowledge and skills, scores do not correlate across sections. A high score in one section does not guarantee a high score in another section. Percentile rankings are provided for each individual section as well as for the overall exam score.

Ans. No.

Ans. CAT 2011 results are expected to be declared on 11 January 2012 on the website www.catiim.in.

Ans. More information will be shared by the IIMs after the CAT 2011 results are declared on 11 January 2012.

Ans. No. You can only schedule the appointment within the registration window: 17 August – 4 October 2011. No exceptions will be permitted.

Ans. No. Vouchers once sold cannot be refunded.

Ans. You need to login on the website www.catiim.in or https://iim.prometric.com using your username & password and select “Resend Admit Card”. The Admit Card will be emailed on the email address provided during registration. There is also an option for you to print you Admit Card directly from the website.

Ans. If the registration website is not accessible for any reason, please close your Internet browser and try again. You can register for and schedule your test anytime between 17 August and 4 October 2011.

Ans. Please contact the CAT Candidate Care on 1-800-103-7383..

Ans. Voucher once sold cannot be refunded under any circumstances including but not limited to loss of voucher, inability to read voucher number due to mishandling of the voucher by candidate, candidate being ineligible for taking CAT, CAT not being a prerequisite for a programme, and rejection of candidate registration due to incomplete and/or incorrect information.

Ans. Yes, you may login to www.catiim.in or https://iim.prometric.com and select “Edit Profile” to make changes to your personal details such as address. Note that no changes may be made after 4 October 2011.

Process	Date	Other information
IVRS Available	17 August 2011	1-800-103-7383
Advertisement Date	7 August 2011	Published in selected National Dailies
Voucher Sale	17 August – 1 October 2011	Fees payment & voucher (fee receipt) from AXIS Bank branches
Registration Window	17 August – 4 October 2011	Register by logging into www.catiim.in
Test Dates & Centre	22 October – 18 November 2011	Test Centre information available on registration portal or www.catiim.in
Exam Results	11 January 2011	www.catiim.in