More Working Professionals applied for CAT 2011

A recent survey suggests that there has been a subsequent increase in the number of working professionals who has applied for CAT 2011. A banking student has taken a break from his job at a bank to take the Common Admission Test (CAT). He is amongst the growing number of candidates who have working experience, and it is the entrance criterion to the prestigious Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and 150 other B-schools.

The percentage of candidates who have applied for CAT 2011 with working experience has gone up subsequently, from 27.35% in 2010 to 32%. Out of these, 13% have worked for a year to two years and 12.5% have worked for more than two years. The rest have worked for six months to a year.

The convenor of CAT 2011, Janakiraman Moorthy said that the majority of the students are fresh graduates and working professionals felt the need of a post graduate degree in management for their career progression. This year has also seen a spurt in applications from engineers: 64% of the candidates are engineers compared to 60.39% last year. It was expected as the B-schools of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) has also subscribed to the CAT for the first time this year. Usually, several IITians would opt for the JMAT (the IIT's management entrance test that was scrapped this year) for B-schools on their campuses.

The CAT pattern has also changed this year. The first section will focus on quantitative ability & data interpretation and the second on verbal ability and logical reasoning. Candidates will get 70 minutes to answer questions in each section. Once the 70 minutes lapses, they cannot return to the section.

Source: Richha Bhatnagar (Shiksha Team)