It’s time to bell the CAT. About 2.3 lakh students will appear for the toughest entrance test on Sunday. The candidates will be writing the exam for 1,500 seats in all the Indian Institute of Managements (IIMs)-- Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Indore, Kozhikode and Lucknow. More than 100 non-IIMs across the country will use CAT scores for the admission. The test is held from 10 am to 1 pm.  Over 24,000 students from Bangalore are expected to appear for the CAT in 17 centres.

Since CAT is unpredictable, one can expect surprises this year too. Last year, CAT had 75 questions from three sections  - data interpretation, verbal ability and quantitative ability. And, the duration of the test was two and half hours.

The candidates who take CAT 2007 will receive score cards in mid-January 2008 by mail from the IIM, to which they had sent the CAT application forms. The scorecard will be valid for one year. Though CAT is conducted jointly by six IIMs, each IIM will admit students independently.

For the first time, IIMB has made the admission process public. Candidates are shortlisted for the interview on the basis of their performance in the CAT, scholastic record and relevant work experience. IIMB will conduct interviews at Bangalore, Kolkata, Mumbai, and New Delhi in February-March 2008. Final selection will be based on parameters such as performance in CAT, academic performance, work experience, and performance in the group discussion, summary of group discussion and personal interview. Weightage is given to each parameter, which varies across IIMs.

IIMB admission process

For the first time, the IIM-B, has revealed the details of admission process on its official website. The details include parameters used for the selection process and it would be done in two phases.

IIMB uses multiple parameters such as academic performance till graduation besides Group Discussion (GD), Group Discussion Summary (GDS), Personal Interview (PI) and work experience for selection of the candidates. For Class 10 and 12 the weightage is 25 per cent and bachelor's degree is 15 per cent. The weightage given to GD, GDS and PI is 35 per cent and five per cent for work experience.

Weightage given for work experience has become a concern to some IIM aspirants. Most candidates appearing for CAT are still pursuing their studies and have no work experience. As a result, the candidates are planning to work hard on those parameters, which have maximum weightage. And, for candidates with work experience, this comes as an added advantage.

“I'm yet to complete my course and have no work experience. It would have definitely been an advantage for me if I had some work experience. Now, I will have to compensate the five per cent in other areas, which means I will have to perform well in group discussion and personal interview,” said Vinod Kumar, an engineering student from BMS College of Engineering.

Sohail Ahmed, an engineering student, agrees: “Candidates with work experience have an advantage. But, it would have been better if IIMB had given preference to the candidates with over one year experience instead of considering a few months experience. However, right now my focus is to perform well in CAT.”

Weightage given to work experience do not come as surprise to many as they are aware that most B-schools in India and abroad prefer candidates with work experience. “Even before the admission process was posted on the website, I knew that weightage is given to work experience. Last year, a few of my friends got calls from all IIMs except  IIMB and one reason could be that they had no work experience,” said Ravi Kanth, an employee in a private firm, who will be appearing for the CAT this year.

However, Rajeev Kumar, a software developer in TCS Company, who is also appearing for the CAT this year, said five per cent allotted for work experience do not make much of a difference. “There are other areas which carry more weightage compared to weightage for work experience. The candidates can score well in these areas and make it to IIMs,” he added.

Brijesh Singh, City Head, Career Launcher said that in IIMs, there has always been combination of candidates with work experience and freshers. According to him, one of the reasons for the IIMs to select candidates with work experience is that they would have fair knowledge about the functioning of the industry.

"When these candidates gain admission to the IIMs, the knowledge in the industry is widened as they are given more hindsight about the industry,” he said, adding that for freshers they will gain more knowledge about the industry.

Further, he said that it's better to "wait and watch" as it is too early to comment on selection process.

TIPS TO FOLLOW

* Reach the centre by 9.45 am 
* Candidates are not permitted inside the examination hall after 10 am.
* Be calm. 
* Do not carry any electronic gadgets inside the examination hall, carry only admit cards, pencil, eraser for the test.

Test Centres

Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Gurgaon, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Jamshedpur, Kolkata, Kozhikode, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagapur, Noida, Patna, Pune and Varanasi.