This year, the Common Admission Test (CAT) 2021 will be conducted on November 28. The format for the CAT exam was changed last year in lieu of Covid-19. After the change, many candidates complained about lack of time to complete the exam. In consideration of the students' grievances, IIM Ahmedabad has planned to decrease the number of questions asked in the B-school entrance test.
As per news reports, "Last year’s CAT format changes were necessitated due to Covid-19 pandemic. Since we are seeing the same pandemic issue this year, the CAT 2021 exam format and pattern will remain the same. However, considering that there could have been time pressure to complete the CAT exam last year on account of changes made, for CAT 2021 the CAT Committee is making an attempt in reducing the number of questions across all three sections - QA, DILR and VARC."
The format of the test will remain the same as last year. It will contain questions from three sections i.e, verbal ability and reading comprehension (VARC), quantitative ability (QA), and data interpretation and logical reasoning (DILR). To reduce the pressure of completing the exam on time, the authorities will decrease the number of questions this year.
Mock tests and tutorials will be released on the official website - iimcat.ac.in, in the last week of October to familiarise students with the format of the exam. The exam will be held in a computer-based test (CBT) mode. For every correct answer, the candidate will be awarded with three marks, while for every wrong answer, candidates will lose one mark for each incorrect answer.