CAT began in 1984 and after 25 years of pen and paper mode, it moved to a computer-based test in 2009.
The Indian Institutes of Management in Calcutta and Ahmedabad were established in 1961.
At that time, each business school started conducting their admission process on the basis of their own entrance examination.
After IIM-Bangalore came up in 1973 and IIM-Lucknow in 1983, the management institutes decided to conduct a common entrance test.
CAT was first conducted in 1984 in pen and paper mode.
CAT 1984-2008
- CAT was conducted in pen and paper mode.
- Students used to mark their answers on the OMR sheet.
- There was no sectional time limit.
CAT 1995-1998
- 120 minutes for 185 questions.
CAT 1999-2000
- 120 minutes for 165 questions.
CAT 2001-2003
- 120 minutes for 150 questions.
CAT 2004
- 120 minutes for 123 questions.
- Different questions in different sections had different marking scheme. Imagine that!!
CAT 2005 to 2007
- 75 questions in 150 minutes.
CAT 2008
- Three sections in the form of VARC, DILR and QA. There was no sectional time limit applied to the different sections in this type of paper. 90 questions in total. 150 minutes to attempt the test.
- + 4 Marks for every correct answer and -1 for every incorrect answer.
CAT 2009 to 2013
- Held over 20 days and in 40 different slots.
CAT 2009, 2010
- First computer-based test was conducted in 2009 by IIM-Ahmedabad.
- Faced a lot of glitches. Hence, a re-examination was conducted in January 2010.
- For CAT 2009 and 2010, there were three sections in the form of VARC, DILR and QA.
- No sectional time limit
- 60 questions in total. 150 minutes to attempt the test.
- + 4 Marks for every correct answer and -1 for every incorrect answer.
CAT 2011
- Reduced to two sections from three, namely QA + DILR and VA.
- Total number of questions remained 60 (30 in each section).
- 150 minutes to attempt the test.
- + 3 Marks for every correct answer and -1 for every incorrect answer.
CAT 2014
- IIM-Indore conducted CAT with two sections with 50 questions each.
- Total time limit was 170 minutes. There was no sectional time limit in this paper.
- In 2014, CAT was conducted over a period of two days in four different slots.
CAT 2015-2019
- IIM-Ahmadabad conducted the exam with 100 questions (34 in two sections, and 32 in other).
- TITA/Non MCQ type variety was introduced.
- Onscreen calculator was introduced.
- From 2015 to 2019, the examination was held in a single day in two different slots of 3 hours each
- 100 questions (34 in two sections, and 32 in other).
CAT 2020
- Conducted by IIM-Indore in three slots of two hours each. Each section had a time limit of 40 minutes. Total number of questions were 72.
CAT 2021
- Conducted by IIM-Ahmedabad in three slots of two hours each. Each section had a time limit of 40 minutes. Total number of questions were 66.
CAT 2022
- Conducted by IIM-Bangalore in three slots of two hours each. Each section had a time limit of 40 minutes. Total number of questions were still 66.
CAT 2023
- Being conducted by IIM Lucknow. Exact details to be verified post the notification.
Fun fact: CAT 2003 was the (only) year in which the paper was leaked.
Aashish Sood is an IIM-Lucknow alumnus who has been teaching Maths and Quantitative aptitude to MBA aspirants for over a decade.
He also mentors management student hopefuls for the group discussion and personal interview rounds that follow competitive examinations.
He has appeared for CAT seven times since 2016 and scored in the 99.9X percentile.
Feature Presentation: Rajesh Alva/Rediff.com
