This is a run on management exams – and will help aspirants know the nature of tests like CAT, XAT, FMS Entrance Test, SNAP, JMET, Academe-based exams etc, and do better. Now that you have chose to get an MBA qualification, get ready to ace the first hurdle – the all-valuable written entrance test. A excellent score in written test goes a long way in ensuring that you get a seat in a excellent institution, say experts. Key entrance exams include Common Admission Test (CAT), XLRI Admission test (XAT), Joint Management Entrance Test (JMET), Management Aptitude Test (MAT), Common Entrance Test (CET). Besides these exams, universities and some institutes have their own entrance tests. Academe-based entrances include Gujarat Common Entrance Test (GCET), Orissa Management Admission Test (OMAT), UPMCAT (U.P. Management & MCA Combined Admission Test), Common Aptitude Test Karnataka and so on. There are some institute-specific exams like IIFT Admission Test (IIFT), FMS Admission Test (FMS), Symbiosis National Aptitude Test (SNAP), ICFAI Business School Admission Test (IBSAT), Amity Common Admission Test (AMCAT), etc. Let’s focus first on CAT. Common Aptitude Test (CAT) Among all the management exams CAT is considered to be the toughest nut to crack. Excellent performance is CAT ensures excellent chances in the seven IIMs and over a hundred additional institutes. CAT held every year on the third Sunday of November. What is CAT? Common Admission Test (CAT) is the gateway to gain admission into India’s leading B-school brand IIM. CAT is an entrance test conducted jointly by the seven IIMs: IIM Ahmedbad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta, IIM Lucknow, IIM Indore, IIM Kozhikode and IIM Shillong. Historically, CAT has been a multiple-choice written exam designed to test a candidate’s ability and aptitude, surrounded by a time frame. Its unique figure was its unpredictability. It had 4 distinctive sections — Quantitative Aptitude (QA), Data Interpretation (DI), Reading Comprehension (RC) & Verbal Ability (VA) – but the actual paper need not have any preset pattern. The pattern changes every year. One year, you may be tested on three sections; additional times, it could be four. In 2006, for instance, the CAT question paper comprised of 75 questions with 5 choices in each question; the time limit was 150 summary. It was divided into three sections: Quantitative Ability, Data Interpretation and Reasoning, and Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension. In a broader significance, CAT tests your skills on five broad areas: verbal ability and reasoning, reading comprehension, quantitative skills, data interpretation, and analytical and logical reasoning. “A committee instituted by the IIMs prepares CAT. The objective of CAT is to select a candidate who has potential to become a administrator and the success of the IIMs depends on the feature of the managers that they make,” informs Mr. Gejo Srinivasan, MBA Product Head of IMS, one of the leading test-prep companies. Besides the seven IIMs there are more than a hundred additional B-schools which look at CAT scores: institutes like Management Development Institute (MDI), Gurgaon; International Management Institute (IMI), Delhi; S P Jain institute of Management and Research, Mumbai; Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad (MICA); Welingkar Institute of Management Development & Research, Mumbai; T. A. Pai Management Institute, Manipal, etc. Here are the highlights from CAT 2008: CAT 08 was more reasoning and breakdown oriented: Even in the quantitative or verbal ability questions, students had to reckon and use their reasoning ability – rather than just applying mathematical formula or grammar The test was marginally tougher than the last CAT: While there were no huge surprises, the 35-page paper was lengthy and the questions were trickier. The reading comprehension passages were lengthier than last year’s CAT. More accent on language skills: Clearly CAT 2008 will be remembered for its added accent on hard language skills of future managers. There were 40 questions on language skills that included 20 questions on grammar and English usage and 20 questions on reading comprehension. Students reported that quantitative section was “tough” to which CAT experts responded that “for CAT preparation is the key.” IMS Learning voice said, “Quant was more hard in 2008 than 2007. It was the toughest section as it had less questions on arithmetic and more on higher maths-like gathering.” According to the experts of Career Launcher, “Even with the best of preparations it would be really tough to score more than 120 in this paper. An ideal time allocation strategy of 40-44-60 summary in QA-DI-VA sections could have enhanced the possibility of maximizing the score.” PT Education felt that overall CAT 2008 can be classified as MODERATE to TOUGH. For a detailed breakdown of CAT 2008, please refer to the link below: http://www.mbauniverse.com/admission_2009_coverage.php?id=1582 CAT 2009 – A Computer Based Test The Common Admission Test (CAT) of the seven Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) is going to be a Computer Based Test (CBT) from year 2009. According to information shared by IIM Bangalore, on behalf of all IIMs, the test will be conducted in a window of about ten days sometime at the end of the calendar year (2009). IIMs have selected Prometric ETS, a US-based hard companionship, after an elaborate search process to be their partner in delivering the computer-helped CAT. Says IIM Bangalore, “CBT CAT will be a candidate-friendly test in terms of flexibility in the selection of test date, ease of registration process, better physical environment and test experience, and enhanced security in terms of biometric identification of candidates and video monitoring.” CAT Preparation: Where to start? CAT is considered the toughest exam for B-school aspirants. Preparation is the key – but it depends on how you want to prepare: by yourself or by enrolling in a coaching center. In coaching centers you will find options like regular classes, crash courses, test run and correspondence courses. These centers don’t give you the guarantee of selection in CAT but they certainly help you. National level coaching institutes are: Mumbai based IMS Learning Center); Hyderabad based Triumphant Institute of Management Education (T.I.M.E.); New Delhi based Career Launcher; PT Education; Pune based Career Forum. There are also additional regional or city level coaching institutes. Now the question is which is the best coaching institute in your city? To answer this, MBAUniverse.com has conducted India’s first MBA Test-Prep Institutes Ranking 09 in March. With the announcement of this comprehensive survey results, MBA aspirants across the country will now be guided by credible data and ranking which will help them to choose best institute at national level and city level. Here is the test prep institute ranking: Rank Coaching Institutes 1 T.I.M.E. (www.time4education.com) & PT Education ( www.pteducation.com) 3 Career Launcher (www.careerlauncher.com) 4 IMS Learning (www.imsindia.com) 5 Cerebral Heights (www.ch-india.com) 6 Bulls Eye (www.hitbullseye.com) 7 Endeavor (www.endeavorcareers.com ) 8 Takshzilla (www.takshzila.com) 9 Alchemist (www. alchemistindia.com) To know the city wise test prep ranking, logon to MBAUniverse.com (www.mbauniverse.com). How to prepare for CAT’s new avatar – CBT-CAT MBA aspirants are asking the question how should I prepare for CAT 2009 which will be a computer-based-test? MBAUniverse.com spoke to test prep experts of four leading MBA coaching institutes on how should MBA aspirants prepare for online CAT. Read below to know what the experts have to say: Mr. Jaideep Singh Chowdhary, Official Voice of T.I.M.E, Hyderabad told MBAUniverse.com, “The announcement should make nearly no difference to the actual preparation of a serious CAT aspirant. The basic curriculum will not require any significant change since the basic inputs required to clear the exam are unlikely to change. Remember – the change is in form, not in substance and offering.” Talking about the changes to CAT as a result of this go, Mr. Nilesh Sarawate, Director, IMS Learning said: “The core purpose of the CAT cannot change which is to test the candidate’s verbal, logical, quantitative and data interpretative abilities. The only change that has happened is the mode of conduct.” When questioned how CAT aspirants should prepare for CAT 2009, Mr. Sarawate said: “The new reality is a simple reality – just the mode of the test has altered. If you can answer a question on paper, you can answer a question online. All that the student needs to do is to get acclimatized to the new test condition. Practicing a few tests online will help the students handle this. Also, since it is a relative test, if there is a problem it is a problem for all. So don’t worry.” Mr. R Shiva Kumar, Director of Academics and R&D, Career Launcher advised, “There is enough time to learn, the minimal that is required to take a test on the computer. It is not a challenge to learn how to operate the computer. It is a non issue. What would be challenging is to practice, reading and thinking while working on the computer. They certainly are different when compared to doing it on the paper.” Mr. Gautam Puri, Vice Chairman of Career Launcher said, “We feel that the quantitative aptitude part of the CAT will remain the same but the comprehension passages, in the reading part, will become shorter. Also, the data interpretation section will become less vital. We advise the students to have a look at the GMAT papers of the last few years to have a feel of the online test.” “As basic skill sets with quantitative & language area remain same, a student would be required to prepare in the same manner as students have been doing till now. The more familiarity with the CBT a student has more would be the comfort level on the final day. But subdue the preparations would have to be based on thorough understanding of basics and their applications,” said Mr. Manish Saraf, COO, PT Education. Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for comprehensive coverage of CAT 2009. To know more about MBA admissions log on to: http://admissions.mbauniverse.com/