HYDERABAD: Despite the instability in placements for management graduates in the past few years, the popularity of the prestigious Indian Institutes of Management (IIM) remains intact among students. In fact, the competition for admission to IIMs has registered an unexpected growth this year.
With more than 2 lakh aspirants competing for admission to the IIMs and other business schools, the Common Admission Test (CAT)-2015 is going to be the most-competed test in the past six years. This year’s CAT received 2,18,664 applications. The last date for registration ended on September 25. The number of applications has registered a near 15.6 pc growth over that of CAT-2014 for 1,89,000 applications had been received, according to a data released by CAT convener. This year’s is also the highest number of applications in the past six years.
Analysing this sudden rise in the number of applications, Ramakrishna, a faculty member at a coaching centre in Hyderabad, said, “This year, CAT officials gave five days of extension to applicants to register for the online test. This additional time may have led to the rise in the number.”
Further, he said, recent changes in the examination pattern could also be the factor for more number of candidates applying. This year’s CAT will be held with two major changes. Unlike two sections in the previous model, this year’s test will have three sections. This change will enable candidates to offset their poor show in any section by scoring more in other sections.
For the first time, this year candidates will be supplied with an online calculator to do simple calculations. Besides, the duration of the test will be increased from 170 minutes to 180 minutes. Thus, lasting for three hours, CAT-2015 will be the longest test so far. CAT-2015 will be conducted at 650 centres in 136 cities on November 29.
Ramakrishna said these changes might have prompted more students from non-mathematics background to take the test. Apart from IIMs, several other popular business schools including the Faculty of Business Management (FMS), Delhi and the management departments of several IITs give admission based on the CAT score.