CAT Exam Eligibility Criteria 2021: Age Limit, Qualification, Eligibility for Final Year Students

Candidates take up the CAT Exam in order to avail the opportunity to pursue MBA/PGDM courses in the most reputed institutions of the country. Candidates applying for the exam must make sure that they satisfy all the necessary CAT eligibility criteria. They must have completed a Bachelor’s degree from any recognized college. The CAT eligibility criteria does not specify any age limit for the applicant. Work experience has points in the interview post the exam but is not a basic eligibility requirement. Candidates must maintain the same email id and contact number that they have provided at the time of registration, until the completion of the selection process. The same contact details will be used to communicate all important updates related to the process.

During the selection process at IIM's through CAT scores, the concerned authorities will verify the CAT eligibility 2021 of the candidate at various stages. An important point that the candidates must keep in mind is that meeting the minimum CAT exam eligibility criteria will not guarantee a seat in the IIMs.

CAT Eligibility Criteria 2021 Highlights

Before applying for the CAT 2021, candidates should check the eligibility criteria set by the IIMs. All the specifications of the CAT 2021 eligibility criteria are described below in detail. If a person has satisfied all the mentioned eligibility criteria, then he or she may read the CAT 2021 Syllabus and begin his or her preparation.

CAT 2021 Eligibility Criteria

Criteria	Description
Number of Attempts	No Limit
Minimum Qualification	Graduation with 50% - General/ OBC-NC/EWS
	Graduation with 45% - SC/ST/ PWD
Equivalent	CA/CS/ICWA Degree with 50% - General/ OBC-NCCA/CS/ICWA Degree with 45% - SC/ST/ PWD
CAT Eligibility for Final Year Students	Will be Admitted on a Provisional Basis if Qualified.
CAT Age Limit	No Limit

CAT 2021 Eligibility Requirements

CAT exam can be taken by students who satisfy all the form eligibility criteria. Candidates who possess a certain qualified degree from certain registered universities are eligible to apply. All the aspirants who are in the final year of graduation and are waiting for their results can check the CAT form eligibility criteria before applying for the test.

However, those candidates will be provisionally admitted into the course only if the candidate produces a certificate from the principal/ the registrar of the institution or university stating that the student has completed all requirements stated under the CAT form eligibility for the UG degree.

CAT Form Eligibility 2021

CAT Eligibility Criteria	Percentage Required
Basic Bachelor's Degree (Certificate is given by an institution or university recognized by an Act of Parliament or State legislature in India 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	50% - General/EWS/OBC-NC 45% - SC/ ST/ PWD

Eligibility Criteria for CAT IIM 2021

Many aspirants will have confusion about the CAT IIM eligibility criteria. Candidates who have graduated from the old two-year graduation programs are eligible to take CAT but such candidates cannot pursue the desired management course from IIM. According to the CAT 2021 eligibility criteria in order to pursue the desired management course from the IIM's candidates must have completed their graduation from contemporary three-year graduation programs. The CAT 2021 eligibility criteria does not specify any age limit to appear for the exam and the IIMs also does not restrict aspiring candidates on the basis of age.

Who is eligible for CAT Exam 2021?

Many MBA aspirants have one question on the mind and that is "Who is Eligible for the CAT Exam?". We have the answer to that question. We have listed a few pointers to help them understand the CAT Form Eligibility Criteria.

• According to the CAT Form Eligibility, students who have completed a Bachelor’s degree with the stated exam qualification, i.e., the required percentage of marks as mentioned above are eligible to apply.
• CAT Exam Qualification specifies that the candidates who have completed a professional degree (CA/CS/ICWA) with the required percentage, as stated in the CAT form eligibility section are eligible to apply.
• CAT Eligibility for Final Year Students: Candidates who are in the final year of Bachelor’s degree with the required percentage mentioned in the CAT form eligibility are eligible to apply.
• CAT Age Limit: There is no maximum age limit mentioned in the CAT form eligibility section. So, anyone can appear for the exam.
• CAT Eligibility 12th Marks: Many aspiring candidates wonder about the 12th marks criteria. They wonder if the performance of the candidate in 12th affects the selection process. The academic performance of the candidates in 10th, 12th, Graduation are taken into account during the admission process but that does not necessarily require the high score in the 12th board exam.

Note: Candidates must note that if the graduation degree is not recognized by MHRD/UGC/AICTE of the Government of India then they do not satisfy the CAT Eligibility to apply for the Exam.

CAT 2021 Eligibility Criteria for Final Year Students 

The CAT 2021 eligibility criteria for post graduate programs offered by the IIMs and for the Final Interview are discussed in the table below. The table has detailed information about the CAT Eligibility for final year students. Candidates can refer to the table and make sure that they satisfy all the necessary requirements before applying for the exam.

CAT 2021 Eligibility for final year students

College	CAT Eligibility Criteria
CAT Eligibility For Post-Graduation Programmes in IIMs	Shortlisted CAT 2021 candidates will be able to take part in CAT 2021 admission process on a provisional basis only if they submit a certificate, stating they have completed all the requirements (the results may, however, be awaited) for obtaining the bachelor’s degree/ equivalent qualification on the date of issue of the certificate.
	CAT 2021 admission for Post-Graduation Programmes in IIMs will be confirmed only after the original mark sheet and degree certificate of having passed the bachelor’s degree/equivalent qualification referred to in the certificate issued by the Principal/Registrar of their college/institute is submitted. (The last date is December 31, 2021)
	Must have obtained at least 50% marks or equivalent to be eligible for CAT 2021. They must submit a photocopy of the mark sheets and degree certificate.
CAT Eligibility For Interview	CAT 2021 Candidates should show an original certificate from the Principal/Head of the Department/Registrar/Director of the University/Institution certifying that they have obtained 50% marks or equivalent (45% in case of reserved category) based on the latest available grades/marks.
	Candidates should submit a set of photocopy of the original certificates at the time of the CAT 2021 Interview.

• If such candidates who are in the final year satisfy the CAT 2021 eligibility and get selected through the exam, then they will get a provisional admission into the institutions. They will be allowed to join the post graduate program only when they submit all the certificates from the previous institution stating that the candidate has met all the requirements to obtain the Bachelor's degree as on the date of issue of the certificate.
• If you are a foreign national and studying in the final year of your graduation or post-graduation, and aspiring to take CAT 2021, you can fill the form after making sure that you satisfy all the necessary eligibility criteria. If one satisfies all the above-mentioned final year of UG or PG eligibility criteria they are eligible to apply for the exam.

CAT Exam Reservation Scheme 2021

The following table provides the percentage share in the total number of seats for the CAT aspirants who satisfy the eligibility to apply for reservation. NC in the table stands for Non-Creamy (NC) Layer.

CAT Exam Reservation

Category	Percentage of Seat Reserved
Scheduled Caste (SC)	15% of the total seats.
Scheduled Tribes (ST)	7.5% of the total seats.
Physically Disabled	5% of the total seats.
Economically Weaker Sections (EWS)	upto 10 % of seats
NC-OBC	27% of the total seats.

CAT 2021 Eligibility Criteria for Person with Disability

As per the 'Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 (RPwD Act 2016), a disabled person is someone who does not have a disability which is not less than 40 % (for a specified disability) as certified by a competent authority. The same act is taken as a reference while framing the CAT eligibility criteria for candidates who belong to the PwD category.

The CAT eligibility 2021 clearly specifies the following as 'the specified disability',

• Blindness and low vision,
• Deaf and hard of hearing,
• Locomotor disability including cerebral palsy, leprosy cured, dwarfism, acid attack victims
  and muscular dystrophy,
• Autism, intellectual disability, specific learning disability, and mental illness, and
• Multiple disabilities from amongst persons under clauses (a) to (d)
• Other 'specified disabilities' mentioned in 'The Schedule' of the RPwD Act 2016.

Note: Candidates to avail of the benefits or concessions under the pretext of 'Reserved Category' have to fulfill the required CAT 2021 eligibility criteria as specified. Aspirants can challenge or claim the reservation until the last date of the CAT Registration.

Instructions for SC/ST Candidates

After making sure that the CAT 2021 eligibility criteria is met, candidates must make sure that they have a copy of the caste/ class certificate to obtain the concessions of reservation. If it is not uploaded the registration of the candidate will be canceled. Moreover, the SC/ST candidate belonging to a certain tribe or caste is eligible for reservation only if the name of the tribe or caste is mentioned on the Government Schedule List.

After satisfying the CAT eligibility 2021, the community certificate that the candidate produces during the IIM Admission must clearly mention the following details.

1. Name of the caste/tribe.
2. Whether the candidate belongs to Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe.
3. District and State or Union Territory of the candidate’s original residence and
4. The appropriate Government of India schedule under which the candidate’s caste/tribe is approved by it as Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe

CAT Exam CGPA-Percentage Conversion 2021

The CAT Eligibility Criteria specifies minimum percentage of marks to be scored by candidates. We have mentioned the methods to convert the CGPA obtained by candidates into percentage and candidates can refer to the same while doing the conversions.

CGPA calculation: According to the CAT eligibility 2021, in order to convert the CGPA obtained by the candidate into Percentage, candidates have to first Divide the CGPA by the maximum possible CGPA and then multiply it by 100. This can be used to check CAT 2021 eligibility in absence of any percentage conversion scheme in the University.

Percentage Conversion: If the university in which the candidates studied already provides the result of graduation/post-graduation in the percentage format then, the percentage must be calculated on the basis of conversion schemes followed by the concerned university/institution. Candidate can verify the percentage obtained with the minimum marks specified in the CAT 2021 eligibility before applying to the exam.

Final year students: The CAT Eligibility Criteria mentioned that the CAT 2021 Applicants in the final year of Bachelor’s degree/equivalent qualification are also eligible to fill the CAT Application Form 2021.

CAT 2021 Eligibility Criteria for Foreign Nationals

The CAT eligibility criteria that is needed for foreign nationals, PIO’s or NRIs is that they must have a Bachelors's degree with a minimum of 50% (candidates of the SC/ST, PWD categories must have a minimum of 45%). The certification must be from any of the Universities that are accredited by the Ministry of HRD, Government of India. Candidates who will be writing the final exam are also qualified to appear for the CAT exam. Those who have finished their studies and are expecting their results can submit an application for the exam too.

CAT 2021 Eligibility Criteria CGPA related factors 2021

• The candidate's percentage will be calculated based on the practise followed by the Institution/University.
• Marks obtained will be converted to the CGPA or Grading system on the basis of the procedure certified by the respected Institution/University.
• If the Institution has no standard procedure for the conversion of marks then the CGPA obtained by the candidate will be divided by the maximum CGPA and multiplying the result obtained with 100 in order to get the percentage of marks obtained the candidates.
• Candidates who do not have a graduate degree but in the final year of a professional course should know that they do not satisfy the CAT eligibility 2021 to apply for the CAT 2021 Exam.

CAT Eligibility Criteria for Candidates with Work Experience

According to the CAT eligibility 2021, is not mandatory for candidates to hold any prior work experience. It must be noted that at the time of final selection, this work experience may be given some weightage by some IIMs. However, the exact weightage is only revealed on the official website and it varies from one IIM to another.

The bottom line is that work experience does not come into play till the last stage of final selection and even then it does not play the role in the CAT eligibility 2021 or in the admissions. IIMs have been known to have a mixed batch comprising of both fresh graduates and students with work experience from diverse backgrounds.

CAT 2021 Number of Seats in IIMs

Meeting the CAT eligibility criteria will not assure a seat in the IIMs. Candidates will have to perform well to get into their desired institute. Admission process will be based on the CAT Cut Off and the number of seats available in those institutes. The table provided below comprises of the number of seats available in various IIMs through the CAT percentile throughout India along with the official websites of those Institutes. Candidates can get the brochure/prospectus of each institute from its official website.

CAT Exam Seats Available

IIMs	Total Seats Offered	Official Website
IIM, Ahmedabad	385	iima.ac.in
IIM, Amritsar	60	iimamritsar.ac.in
IIM, Bangalore	412	iimb.ac.in
IIM, Bodh Gaya	60	iimbg.ac.in
IIM, Calcutta	462	iimcal.ac.in
IIM, Indore	550	iimidr.ac.in
IIM, Kashipur	210	iimkashipur.ac.in
IIM, Kozhikode	353	iimk.ac.in
IIM, Lucknow	436	iiml.ac.in
IIM, Nagpur	60	iimnagpur.ac.in
IIM, Raipur	210	iimraipur.ac.in
IIM, Ranchi	155	iimranchi.ac.in
IIM, Rohtak	170	iimrohtak.ac.in
IIM, Shillong	120	iimshillong.ac.in
IIM, Trichy	120	iimtrichy.ac.in
IIM, Udaipur	180	iimu.ac.in
IIM, Visakhapatnam	60	iimv.ac.in
IIM, Jammu	45	iimj.ac.in
IIM, Sambalpur	140	iimsambalpur.ac.in
IIM, Sirmaur	60	iimsirmaur.ac.in