City students get ready for CAT-2008

In the rat race to bell the CAT, Bangalore has elbowed out Mumbai by fielding a record 26,500 candidates.
City students get ready for CAT-2008

BANGALORE: The stage is set for the biggest CAT fight ever. In the rat race to bell the CAT, Bangalore has elbowed out Mumbai by fielding a record 26,500 candidates on Sunday.

Delhi is fielding the highest number of candidates for the Common Admission Test (CAT) to be conducted on November 16.

Of the 2,75,873 candidates scheduled to take the test this year, a whopping 41,763 of them will appear for the two-and-a-half hour exam in Delhi.

In Bangalore, about 26,500 candidates --5,000 more than last year--will take the test to be held across 24 centres. Mumbai will see 24,988 candidates taking the CAT this year. CAT 2008 will be held across 23 cities. Varanasi will have the least number (less than 2,000) of CAT takers.

IIM-Bangalore, which is responsible for conducting the test in three cities -- Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune -- has seen the number of CAT applicants surge by 12,000. Compared to 48,540 candidates expected to take the test last year, the numbers have swelled to 60,443 this year.

“One of reasons for Bangalore being a big drawer is because of the large number of undergraduate colleges. More than 50 per cent of Karnataka’s engineering colleges are in Bangalore and BE graduates form a chunk of the CAT takers. This apart, there are a number of coaching centres here which draw students from other cities,” IIM-B officials explained.

The IIM-B has also rejected close to 2,000 applications this year. “We have even received applications where candidates left the form unsigned. Despite giving specific instructions on filling the form in the CAT bulletin, many applicants do not adhere to them,” Subhashish Gupta, chairperson (admission), IIM-B said.

In Pune, 18,379 candidates are expected to take the test across 28 centres, while in Hyderabad about 15,540 candidates will bell the CAT across 15 centres. The number of CAT takers in Chennai will be 14,000 this year.

With the Indian Institutes of Managements planning to introduce online CAT from 2009 this could the last paper-pencil CAT.

m mathang@epmltd.com .

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