CAT 2026 - Eligibility, Format, Application fee, Reservations

CAT 2026 is an online test directed by one of the top 6 IIMs consistently to waitlist the possibility for IIMs. Numerous different schools additionally are offering significance to the CAT score. Along these lines, the CAT score turns out to be significant. Consistently numerous understudies are endeavoring this test to get an Admission in Management. It increases a great deal of prevalence among graduates. 

In this article, we attempted to respond to most significant inquiries regarding CAT like Exam Date, Registration, Exam Pattern, Exam Eligibility, schedule and much of the time posed inquiries. 

Exam conducting body

IIMs are viewed as India's chief national establishments giving quality administration instruction and research. IIMs fundamentally offer postgraduate, doctoral and official instruction programs. The lead program of IIMs is the two-year post-graduate program. These two-year programs are private in nature. The Fellow Program in Management (FPM) is a fulltime doctoral-level program in the board and is identical to a Ph.D. program. The Executive Post Graduate projects are focused on working experts. 

Admission to the two-year post-graduate projects in IIMs depends on merit and includes a thorough determination process containing a Personal Interview, Written Ability Test/Group Discussions, and scores in the Common Admission Test which is ordinarily known as CAT. CAT is an administration bent test directed by the IIMs essentially to assess and waitlist the possibility for the postgraduate program. It is a PC based test and an applicant needs to pursue the fair treatment of enlisting so as to show up for this test directed once every year. 

CAT 2026 Key Highlights

CAT 2026 Exam Date

Common Admission Test (CAT) 2026 will be held in the long stretch of November. Official notification will be discharged in August 2026 and enrollments will begin after that.

CAT Eligibility 2026

The candidate must hold a Bachelor's Degree, with at least 50% marks or proportionate CGPA [45% on account of competitors having a place with the Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Persons with Disability (PwD) categories], granted by any University or instructive foundation as fused by an Act of Parliament or State lawmaking body in India or announced to be considered as a University under Section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956, or have an identical capability perceived by the Ministry of HRD, Government of India. 

Applicants showing up for the final year of Bachelor's a certificate/proportionate capability assessment and the individuals who have Completed degree prerequisites and are anticipating results can likewise apply. In any case, it might be noticed that such candidates, whenever chose, will be permitted to join the program temporarily, just on the off chance that they present a declaration from the Principal/Registrar of their University/Institution (gave at the very latest the date as stipulated by the particular IIM) expressing that they have Completed every one of the prerequisites for acquiring the Bachelor's certificate/equal capability on the date of issue of the endorsement. 

Candidates applying for CAT 2026 should fulfill any one of the following conditions:

• Completed Bachelor's qualification with the necessary level of marks*. 
• Completed proficient degree (CA/CS/ICWA) with required percentage*. 
• Ought to be in the last year of Bachelor's qualification with the required rate 
• SC/ST/PWD competitors ought to have at least 45%. For General, EWS and NC-OBC applicants, the base is half.

CAT 2026 Reservations

• 15% of seats are reserved for SC candidates
• 7.5% seats are reserved for ST candidates
• 27% of seats are reserved for NC-OBC candidates
• 10% of seats are reserved for EWS candidates. 
• 5% of seats are also reserved for Persons with Benchmark Disabilities.

CAT 2026 Exam Pattern

CAT is a computer-based test. In a computer-based test, competitors have doled out computers at their test focuses. At that point, the test starts on the computer and the competitor needs to check answers on-screen or enter answers as required.

• Section I: Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC): 34 questions
• Section II: Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR): 32 questions
• Section III: Quantitative Ability (QA): 34 questions

Click Here for Mock Test for CAT 

CAT 2020 Syllabus

There is no fixed syllabus for the exam as per IIMs. However, years of looking into Common Admission Test papers has resulted in a set of topics, or types of questions, which are relevant as syllabus.

CAT 2026 Registration 

At the time of registration, the competitors need to choose any four test cities, according to their inclination, from a drop-down menu. After the last date of registration, up-and-comers will be designated one among the four favored urban communities subject to accessibility. In the uncommon case that an applicant isn't distributed any of the favored urban areas, he/she will be assigned a close-by city. The applicants can download the concede cards from https://iimcat.ac.in. 

• Register to generate one of a kind User ID and password. 
• Sign in with the generated User ID and Password to fill in the Application form. 
• Submit Application form subsequent to entering subtleties and making on the web installment to finish the enlistment and application process. 
• When the installment is made and the Application form is submitted, candidates won't be permitted to roll out any improvements. You can just view and print the Application form in the wake of presenting the Application form. 

Registration Fee

• Rs. 950 for SC, ST and PwD category candidates.
• Rs. 1900 for all other categories of candidates.

Please note that a candidate needs to pay the registration fees only once, irrespective of the number of institutes he/she is applying for. Fees once paid cannot be refunded under any circumstances.

Step By Step Registration for CAT 2026

Stage 1: Registration for User ID and Password 

The sections on this form can't be changed once submitted, subsequently, if it's not too much trouble guarantee that you enter the necessary data effectively.

• Name of Candidate
• Date of Birth
• Email Address
• Mobile Number
• OTP

Step 2: Log in to CAT Website

After login to the website, you will be redirected to the Applicant Details page. The Applicant’s personal details will be displayed on this page. Next to Personal Details, a link “Go to Application Form” is available. Click this link to go to the application page.

Step 3: Fill Application Form

The Application Form is categorized into the following six sections:

• Personal Details
• Academic Qualifications
• Work Experience
• Programmes
• Test City
• Payment

CAT 2026 Admission Process 

Please note that IIMs waitlist contender for the meeting stage dependent on their own criteria, which might be free of one another. The procedure may incorporate Written Ability Test (WAT), Group Discussion (GD) and Personal Interviews (PI). Execution in the CAT 2026 assessment is a significant segment in the affirmation procedure. IIMs may moreover utilize different factors, for example, the past scholarly presentation of the applicants, important work understanding, sexual orientation, and scholastic decent variety and other comparative contributions to shortlisting and positioning of competitors at different phases of the affirmation procedure. 

The procedures, scholarly shorts and the loads designated to the assessment parameters may fluctuate crosswise over IIMs. For more data, allude to the confirmation arrangements of individual IIMs on their particular sites. 

The rundown of candidates shortlisted for the following degree of choice will be made accessible on the site of the particular IIMs. Each IIM will send talks with letters to the shortlisted up-and-comers legitimately. The criteria for shortlisting fluctuate crosswise over IIMs. 

A competitor must show all the mark sheets and submit verified duplicates to demonstrate his/her qualification at the hour of the meeting. Further, if a competitor is chosen for a program, the first-degree declaration and mark sheets, all things considered,/years alongside their bore witness to duplicates must be submitted for confirmation at the hour of joining the program. 

Whenever shortlisted for a meeting, applicants showing up for the final bachelor's degree or identical capability assessment must show a unique declaration from the Principal/Registrar/Director of the University/Institution affirming that the competitor has gotten half stamps or proportional (45% in the event of up-and-comers having a place with the SC, ST and PwD class) in light of the most recent accessible evaluations/marks. He/she should present a verified duplicate of the first authentication at the hour of the meeting.