CAT 2020 Eligibility Criteria

This exam makes a candidate eligible for PGDM courses related to MBA. Therefore anyone applying for the exam must have completed a Bachelor’s degree from any recognized college. Framed 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 CAT Exam Eligibility Requirement. 

CAT Eligibility 2020

Before applying for the CAT 2020 candidates should check the eligibility for CAT exam set by the IIMs. All the details of the eligibility criteria are described below. If a person has satisfied all the mentioned criteria then he or she may read the CAT 2020 Syllabus and begin his or her preparation.

Certification Requirements

CAT Exam can be taken by students who possess a certain qualified degree from certain registered universities. All the aspirants who are in the final year of the graduation and are waiting for their results are eligible to apply 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 of the UG degree.

Who is eligible for CAT?

• Students who have completed a Bachelor’s degree with the required percentage of marks as mentioned above.
• Completed a professional degree (CA/CS/ICWA) with the required percentage.
• Should be in the final year of Bachelor’s degree with the required percentage.
• There is no age limit for the CAT exam. So, anyone can appear for CAT.

CAT Eligibility Criteria for Final Year Students

CAT Eligibility criteria are discussed in the table below for the final year students. 

If you are a foreign national and studying in the final year of your graduation or post-graduation, and aspiring to take CAT 2020, you can fill the CAT 2020 form. 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

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

Persons 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 act 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 the benefits or concessions under the pretext of 'Reserved Category' have to fulfill the required criteria as specified. Aspirants can challenge or claim the reservation until the last date of the CAT Registration.

Instructions for SC/ST Candidates

A copy of the caste/ class certificate must be added to obtain the concessions of reservation. If it is not uploaded the registration of the candidate will be cancelled. 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.

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

CGPA calculation: To convert your CGPA  to Percentage, you have to first Divide your CGPA by maximum possible CGPA and then multiply it with 100. This can be used to check CAT 2020 Eligibility in absence of any percentage conversion scheme in the University.

Percentage Conversion: If your university already provides the result of graduation and post-graduation degree in the percentage format then, the percentage must be calculated on the basis of conversion schemes followed by the concerned university/institution.

Final year students: CAT 2020 Applicants in the final year of bachelor’s degree/equivalent qualification are also eligible to fill the CAT Application Form 2020.

CAT 2020 Eligibility for Foreign Nationals

The eligibility that is needed for foreign nationals, PIO’s or NRIs is that they must have a Bachelors 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 Exam Eligibility Key Points

Age: There are no eligibility for age in CAT 2020. An individual of any age can appear for this exam.

Percentile: CAT 2020 percentile or CAT 2020 Score will be used to shortlist the candidates and rank list will be prepared.

CAT 2020 Eligibility for Candidates with Work Experience

It 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 in 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 of a deciding factor.

IIMs have been known to have a mixed batch comprising of both fresh graduates and students with work experience from diverse backgrounds.

CAT 2020 Number of Seats in IIMs

The table below comprises of seats available through CAT percentile in IIMs throughout India.

Table Source: TimesNowNews