CAT/MBA

CAT - Common Admission Test is one of the toughest and popular MBA entrance exams conducted in India. It is conducted every year in November/December. This is the 1st stage of the selection process consisting of a written examination usually for duration of 2.5 hours. The test is designed and administered by the Indian Institute of Management. It is recognized by all the IIMs and many top B-Schools across India.

Yes. There are many other entrance exams. Mostly, these exams are institute specific and are acceptable only at the participating institutions. Some of most popular exams are: XAT for Xavier Labour Research Institute (XLRI and other Xavier's Institutes), Jamshedpur FMS for Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi IIFT for Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Delhi Joint Management Entrance Test (JMET) for IITs and IISC, Bangalore Common Entrance Test (CET) for Management institutes in Maharashtra SNAP for Symbiosis Institute of Business Management Management Admission Test (MAT) for AIMA registered Institutes (MAT is the only exam that is conducted 4 times in a year)

Graduate from all streams of Graduation are eligible to apply for the CAT and other MBA entrance exams (exception is JMET that requires an Engineering degree). The minimum percentage in Graduation to appear for CAT is 50%. Some Exams requires a lesser percentage. (For details refer to the list of Institutions that is available with our counselors)

Primarily, all the Exams conducted tests the aptitude of the students in 4 key skill areas that are:

• Quantitative Ability
• Data Analysis
• Reading Comprehension
• Verbal Ability

Broadly, CAT is similar to all other MBA entrance exams. But CAT's prerogative in the past shows that there is a greater emphasis on testing the 'Reasoning' ability in all the 4 key skill areas including English. Hence, our experience shows that if a student prepares for CAT, he/she is mostly prepared to attempt the other entrance exams.

Not all institutions have their own entrance exams. Many institutions accept CAT and others have their own entrance exams.

There is no factor that determines the success of either a fresher or a working professional. Both have their own advantages and disadvantages. A fresher is more in touch with the academic requirements and prepared for intense learning mode. Whereas, a working professional brings along the real world knowledge and reasoning that is a key requirement to succeed in the entrance exams.

The cut-off is the minimum required marks that a student needs to score to secure a call for the second round of selection process.

Yes. Every institute releases its own cut-offs for individual sections as well as for the overall test. A student has to clear both the sectional as well as the overall cut-offs set by the Institutes to receive a call for the second round of selection. The cut-offs vary for every institute.

Yes. To maintain the academic as well as the professional environment of learning most institutions have a slight relaxation in cut-offs for Working professionals, women and other reservations. This is done to give the students a multi-level-knowledge and interactive learning environment.

The 'percentile' is relative standing of a student in comparison to the group of students taking the exam. For example, if a student secures 80 percentile - this does not mean the student has attempted 80 percent of the paper. This shows that out of all the students who have taken the exam, 80 percent of students have scored lesser marks than this student.

The recent trend in CAT shows that there is an increasing emphasis on testing the accuracy to logically interpret the given information. Even though the number of questions is limited, the level of difficulty and negative marking makes it prerogative to work on improving the speed. There are many other tests that still require you to solve a lot of questions in a limited time. So balance has to be achieved in both.

The duration and amount of preparation is subject to individual capabilities. We recommend an ideal preparation time of 18 months to a minimum of at least 3 months depending upon the understanding of the exams, the concepts tested, and awareness of one's own strengths and weaknesses.

If you are a student wanting to prepare for CAT and want to know where you stand among the best of the students appearing for the CAT, our expert teaching panel will assist you with this process.

Even though, the statistics shows that higher number of Engineers make to it to the top ranks in entrance exams, it's a myth that Engineers have an advantage in clearing the entrance exams. The concepts in Quantitative Ability tested in these exams are only those that we study up to class X. Our experience shows that, mostly, Engineering students are more familiar with the entrance exams because they have already gone through a competitive entrance by way of IIT-JEE and other entrance exams before their graduation. Also, we find these students to be more inquisitive and prepared to put in more hard work that pays in the end. It is the approach to the exam that makes the difference. So, if you are ready to build the right approach, then your chances of success increases manifold.

Some of the important things that you should look for are -

• Quality of the Faculty who will be teaching you.
• Quality of the Institute for producing results.
• Updated materials.
• Speaking to any former student of the institute as they have already been there and done what you are planning to do.

Primarily, it has to be the section that you are confident about. But, this can sometimes be misleading if you are not able to diagnose the difficulty level of the section. Our Faculty experts will advise you from time to time on the recommended strategies to use while attempting the test through Analysis and Feedback sessions.

There are two ways of looking at this question - One: if you are already enrolled at an institute and want to add on to the preparation by self-study, then, you would have to decide depending on the content provided to you by the institute.

Two: studying completely through self-study. Yes, this is possible. We have the correspondence course 'Guru Disha' that provides the same content and on line analysis and feedback that should help you in improving your performance. But, you would be missing the competitive classroom environment and doubt clearing sessions, which plays a vital role in a students' success. But, if you are not able to give so much time for a full fledged class room preparation, a planned approach and focus with our Guru Disha module would be a great guide.

Most of the MBA/PGDM programs offer the following specializations - Finance, Marketing, Operations, Human Resource Management, and Systems. There are few others who offer International Business or Strategy/ Project Management as well. Some Institutes offer dual specialization. Mostly, the first year of the course is general because students from varied background such as Medicine, Engineering, Commerce, and Arts pursue this course. The second year consists of the elective units that one wants to specialize.

A student must choose the specialization based on the interests and abilities. Our faculty and mentors will assist you in this process, as ideally you should be choosing the specialization before you start the course. But, you can choose mid way through your first year of study. Our prospectus gives information on the recommended abilities to pursue these specializations.

An MBA is a general qualification that develops overall understanding of business side of any organization. It offers a wide range of professional / career options. From Manufacturing to Services all industries requires Management professionals at all levels starting from Management trainees, Floor / Departmental / Branch Head, Senior Managers to Vice President and so on. Depending on the undergraduate qualification acquired, the students can choose to specialize in a specific field of study within the MBA and acquire skills that complement the previous qualification or acquire a general management program that is more popular abroad. For example: An IT professional can decide to specialize in Operations or Project Management; A Doctor or a Dentist can specialize in Health Management; To start an own venture, a person can specialize in Entrepreneurial Development program and so on.

This is subject to the current level of Knowledge. More than the number of hours it is the planned study that will make a difference. A better understanding of strong / weak areas will help build speed and accuracy.

For Rooters, we recommend that proper utilization of the classroom sessions (6 hours a week), regular reference to assignments and worksheets and taking the tests as an ideal preparation.

Most entrance exams test your Math skills (Quantitative Analysis) on concepts that are taught up to Class X only. More than the formulas and the rules, it is the application of the concept that is tested. So if you are able to brush your basic Math and develop the logical approach to attempting the questions then, there should not be much of a hurdle in clearing this section of the test.

The B-Schools rankings are conducted by different organizations. Most of them rank these institutions on the basis of the Faculty, Research undertaken, Placement records, Quality or updated course contents, infrastructure facilities, and Industry interface. The weight age given to individual parameters differ with organizations. So use the Rankings as only a guide.

The uniqueness of most MBA programs is their flexibility to take graduates from varied fields of study and provide them with an insight and understanding of the general Management principles that govern the working of an organization.

An MBA has a special place abroad in a way that most top B-schools require students to possess a minimum of 2 years supervisory or managerial work experience as the delivery of the course is not academic in nature. But in India there is a fine balance achieved in providing an academic and professional learning environment, where classroom lectures are enhanced through Case studies, corporate internships, management development programs, seminars and project work.

Usually, other academic programs like M.Tech, M.Com, or M.S. requires students to have undergraduate degree in the same field and increases the knowledge base in a narrow specialized area of study.

In India there isn't specific requirement on having experience to apply for most MBA programs. Also, it is found that 85% of undergraduates in India are found not capable of taking management responsibilities and are trained on the job for most jobs. So an MBA as a qualification for a fresher adds a lot of weight age and increases chances of having a head start to career.

An advantage of doing an MBA after gaining experience is that you are able to relate more to the practical application of the concepts being taught by virtue of first hand understanding of the corporate world.

Yes. If you have just started your career then you will have to pursue a good MBA through either distance learning or those institutes that accept fresh graduates for their part time course. Most other institutes offering part time or Executive MBA require students to have at least 2 years experience.