CAT 2017 registrations fall marginally by 0.6%

After a six per cent rise last year, total registrations for the Common Admission Test (CAT) - the entrance test for top B-schools led by Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) - have fallen again marginally by 0.59 per cent.

As against total registrations of 232,436, CAT 2017, which will be conducted on November 26, has seen registrations being closed at 231,067. The total registrations, according to IIM Lucknow, which is convening the test this year, is after the extension of the deadline by five days which saw an additional 20,000 registrations.

Gender-wise female applicants have, however, risen marginally by 1.16 per cent. At 78,009, share of female applicants in total CAT 2017 registrations stands at 33.76 per cent as against 32.60 per cent in CAT 2016.

Commenting on the reasons for the change in registrations, Neeraj Dwivedi, convenor, CAT 2017 of IIM Lucknow told Business Standard, "Management education competes with other educational and career options available to the candidates. Changes in external economic and social environment have an influence on the choices made by candidates. However, I am not aware of any study done to establish the reasons for these fluctuations and hence, would not be appropriate to give reasons."

Last year, while CAT registrations stood at 232,436, final test takers ended up at 195,680, due to absentees.

Registrations for the entrance test into IIMs and over 110 non-IIM B-schools who use CAT scores, opened on August 9, 2017. On Sunday, November 26, CAT will be conducted in centres spread across roughly 140 cities, as against 138 test cities last year.

IIMs will offer candidates the option to select four test cities in order of their preference, with test cities and centres being assigned to candidates only after the last date for CAT 2017 registration.

"Hence, candidates need not rush to block slots and cities in the initial days of registration. We will try our best to assign candidates to their first preferred city. In case it is not possible, they will be assigned a city following their given order of preference. In the rare case that a candidate is not allotted any of the preferred cities, he/she will be allotted to an alternate city. However, candidates will not be able to select the session because it will be assigned randomly," Dwivedi had stated earlier.

The test will be divided into three sections, including Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC), Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR) and Quantitative Ability (QA).

The duration of 180 minutes will be divided into three, with candidates being allotted 60 minutes for answering questions in each section which cannot be switched to another while answering questions in a particular section.

Last year, total registrations for CAT 2016 had risen by six per cent over 2015, which had seen registrations close at 218,664. However, 83.6 per cent of total registrations finally took CAT 2016, which was marginally up from 82 per cent for CAT 2015.