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Last Updated on October 8, 2023
If you’re planning to apply to MBA programs, you may be wondering which entrance exam you should take. In this article, we’ll explore two commonly used entrance exams for business schools, the Common Admission Test (CAT) and the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT), and discuss the key differences between the two.
First, let’s discuss what each test is.
- What Is the CAT Exam?
- What Is the GMAT?
- GMAT vs. CAT: Which Do Schools Accept?
- GMAT vs. CAT: Eligibility, Attempts, and Score Validity
- What Makes the GMAT Unique?
- GMAT vs. CAT: Exam Patterns
- An Overview of the GMAT vs. CAT Syllabus
- GMAT vs. CAT: Quick Reference
What Is the CAT Exam?
The CAT exam is an entrance exam administered by the Indian Institute of Management and used for admission to MBA and Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) programs at Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and most other Indian B-schools.
The CAT is administered by computer, in English, and is offered once per year as an in-person test only, at one of the 6 oldest IIMs (IIM Calcutta, IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Lucknow, IIM Kozhikode, and IIM Indore. The IIMs rotate which institute conducts the exam each year, and an announcement about the exam location is made several months in advance of the test administration. For example, in May 2021, it was announced that IIM Ahmedabad would conduct the CAT 2021, which will be administered on November 28, 2021. India is the only country that offers the CAT exam.
KEY FACT:
The CAT exam is offered once per year as an in-person test in India only, with a different one of the 6 oldest Indian Institutes of Management conducting the exam each year.
What Is the GMAT?
The GMAT is a computer-adaptive test designed and administered by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) and used for admissions to business schools worldwide. In fact, the GMAT is the most widely accepted entrance exam for MBA programs and other graduate business programs, such as Master of Finance and EMBA programs.
The GMAT is currently available year-round as either an in-person exam taken at a designated test center or an online exam taken at home. GMAT test centers are located in 114 countries around the world, and the GMAT Online is currently available to test-takers in all countries except Mainland China, North Korea, Iran, Sudan, and Cuba. You can learn about how the at-home and in-person GMAT compare in this article. Regardless of where you take the GMAT, the exam will be in English.
KEY FACT:
The GMAT is administered year-round as either an in-person exam taken at designated test centers worldwide or an online exam taken at home.
Now that we know the basics of what each test is, let’s take a closer look at which schools accept each test.
GMAT vs. CAT: Which Do Schools Accept?
One of the main differences between the CAT exam and the GMAT is that the CAT is offered in India and accepted by Indian B-schools only, whereas the GMAT is offered and accepted globally.
According to GMAC, more than 2,300+ schools and 7,000 MBA and master’s programs around the world accept GMAT scores, and an average of 200,000 test-takers sit for the GMAT each year.
Although schools outside of India do not accept CAT scores, many top B-schools in India accept both CAT and GMAT scores. In fact, more than 100 Indian B-schools accept GMAT scores (including the 6 oldest IIMs I mentioned earlier).
So, if you are an MBA hopeful who wants to attend business school in a country other than India, you will not be able to submit a CAT score for admission. However, if you plan to attend business school in India, you may be able to submit either a CAT score or a GMAT score. Of course, you should always check the websites of the individual programs to which you’re applying in order to determine whether they accept the CAT, the GMAT, or both.
KEY FACT:
Only schools in India accept CAT scores. However, many Indian B-schools also accept GMAT scores.
So, we’ve seen that there are some differences in when and where you can take the CAT and the GMAT. But what about who can take each exam, how many times you can take each exam, and how long your score lasts? Let’s explore.
GMAT vs. CAT: Eligibility, Attempts, and Score Validity
There are some significant differences between the GMAT and the CAT exam when it comes to who is eligible to sit for each exam, how many times people can sit for each exam, and how long exam scores are valid.
Let’s start with who is eligible to take each exam.
Who Can Take the GMAT vs. CAT Exam?
Anyone age 13 or older can sit for the GMAT exam, although test-takers between 13 and 17 years of age need parental consent to do so. And of course, anyone who sits for the GMAT must pay the $275 registration fee ($300 for the online exam), although a limited number of fee waivers are available for test-takers who demonstrate financial need.
CAT eligibility is a bit more restrictive. CAT test-takers must have a bachelor’s degree or be in their final year of an undergraduate program. Test-takers also must have at least 50% aggregate marks upon graduation (45% for Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, or Persons with Disability candidates). The degree requirements are not tied to any age limits, however; people of any age can take the CAT exam, as long as they meet the academic requirements and pay the exam fee of Rs 2,000.
How Many Times Can I Take the GMAT vs. CAT?
While the GMAT has fewer restrictions than the CAT exam has on who can take the exam, it has more restrictions on how many times a test-taker can sit for the exam.
The total number of attempts a GMAT test-taker is permitted is 8. That is a lifetime total, so even if you take the GMAT today, and then take it again 10 years from now, your test attempt today still counts toward your limit. Furthermore, test-takers can sit for the GMAT no more than 5 times within any 12-month period and must wait at least 16 days between each test attempt. Note that only 2 of your total number of GMAT attempts can be GMAT Online attempts. If you’re interested, this article has more info on how many times you can take the GMAT.
For test-takers sitting for the CAT exam, there is no limit on the number of attempts allowed over the course of a lifetime. Of course, since the exam is administered only once per year, you can’t sit for the CAT more often than that. But if you wanted to take the CAT every year for the rest of your life, technically, you could.
How Long Are GMAT vs. CAT Scores Valid?
A GMAT score is valid for 5 years from your test date, whereas a CAT score is valid for only 1 year. So, in order to make sure your score doesn’t expire before you can use it, you should not sit for the CAT unless you plan to apply to business schools in India in the next admissions cycle.
For example, let’s say you’re planning to apply to IIMs during the 2022 admissions cycle. You would sit for the CAT in November 2021 and use your score to apply to schools in the summer and fall of 2022 (depending on which round you’re applying in). However, if you do not plan to apply to schools until 2023, then it does not make sense to sit for the CAT in November 2021; you should wait until the 2022 exam.
KEY FACT:
A GMAT score is valid for 5 years from your test date, whereas a CAT score is valid for only 1 year.
Now that we understand who is eligible to take each exam, how often each exam can be taken, and how long the test scores are valid, it’s important to understand some unique features of the GMAT format before we dive into a comparison of the GMAT and CAT exam patterns.
What Makes the GMAT Unique?
There are a couple of features of the GMAT that make it a unique exam. For one, although both the GMAT and CAT are administered by computer, the GMAT is an adaptive exam, while the CAT is not. So, let’s look at what “adaptive” means.
The GMAT adapts to a test-taker’s performance level on a question-by-question basis in the Quantitative and Verbal Reasoning sections, meaning that the exam questions get more or less difficult depending on whether the test-taker answers a question correctly or incorrectly.
The computer-adaptive nature of the GMAT is important to understand because as the level of difficulty of the questions you see increases or decreases, your potential to maximize your GMAT score increases or decreases. You can read more about the computer-adaptive nature of the GMAT in this article on how the GMAT is scored.
Another important feature that makes the GMAT unique is that it allows test-takers to choose the order of the sections on the exam. The CAT does not give test-takers this option. On the CAT, the Verbal section appears first, the Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning section appears second, and the Quantitative section appears last.
KEY FACT:
The GMAT allows test-takers to choose the order in which they complete the test sections and adapts to each test-taker’s performance on a question-by-question basis.
Now, let’s take a closer look at how the exam patterns of the CAT exam and the GMAT compare.
GMAT vs. CAT: Exam Patterns
One major difference between the exam patterns of the GMAT and CAT is that the CAT exam is now significantly shorter than the GMAT. As of 2020, the CAT is a 2-hour exam divided into 3 sections featuring a total of 76 questions. Those questions are mostly multiple-choice but include a smaller proportion of questions for which you type in an answer. Test-takers have 40 minutes to complete each of the exam sections.
Note that in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the CAT exam pattern was revised from its previous 3-hour/100-question format. As of the writing of this blog, the new, shorter exam pattern remains in effect, but if you plan to take the CAT on or after November 2021, you should check for updates as your test date approaches.
The GMAT, on the other hand, takes just over 3 hours to complete and is divided into 4 sections featuring a total of 79 multiple choice questions and 1 essay question. Test-takers have varying amounts of time to complete each section.
You can compare the exam patterns of the two exams in the table below.
One of the most obvious differences between the exam patterns of the two tests is that the GMAT includes an Analytical Writing Assessment, or essay task.
Another key difference is that the CAT exam gives a maximum score of 228, while the GMAT is scored on a scale of 200 to 800. The GMAT also gives separate section scores on a scale of 6 to 51 for the Quant and Verbal sections, 1 to 8 for the Integrated Reasoning section, and 0 to 6 for the Analytical Writing Assessment.
Furthermore, while the GMAT uses a complex and well-guarded scoring algorithm to determine GMAT scores, CAT exam scoring is fairly straightforward. Three points are given for each correct answer in any section, one point is deducted for each incorrect answer in any section, and the total score is calculated by summing the points across all sections. There are no points deducted for unanswered questions and incorrectly answered non-multiple choice questions.
TTP PRO TIP:
If you plan to take the CAT, be sure to check for changes to the exam pattern for the year in which you’ll sit for the exam.
Now that we understand how the GMAT and CAT exams are structured and scored, let’s dig a little deeper into what types of subjects are tested on each exam.
An Overview of the GMAT vs. CAT Syllabus
The GMAT and CAT sections are comparable to each other in many ways.
The Quantitative Reasoning section of the GMAT tests many of the same subjects that the Quantitative Ability section of the CAT tests, such as arithmetic, algebra, and geometry. Although not all of the Quant skills tested on the exams are the same, on both exams, you’ll encounter questions on topics such as roots, linear and quadratic equations, inequalities, percentages, profit and loss, ratios and proportions, permutations and combinations, probability, rates, compound interest, and more. One major difference between the Quant subjects tested on the exams is that the CAT tests trigonometry, which the GMAT does not test.
The Verbal sections of the GMAT and CAT both test grammar, reading comprehension, and reasoning skills. So, on both exams, you will need to know rules governing subject-verb agreement, pronoun usage, modifiers, idioms, and other aspects of English grammar and be able to perform tasks such as identifying inferences, locating main ideas in passages, and correctly completing sentences.
However, Verbal questions on the CAT also involve topics that are not tested on the GMAT, such as synonyms and antonyms, analogies, and foreign-language words used in English. And there are some skills you are required to have for the Verbal section of the CAT that are not required for GMAT Verbal. For instance, the Verbal section of the CAT features a question type involving a jumbled paragraph. The question features a series of related sentences that are presented out of order. Your job is to arrange the sentences in a logical order that results in a coherent paragraph. Paragraph jumbles are not a question type you will see on the GMAT. You also may be asked on the CAT to fill in a blank with the correct vocabulary word, a task you will not be asked to perform on the GMAT.
As for the Integrated Reasoning (IR) section of the GMAT and the Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR) section of the CAT, both test your ability to analyze and compare data in charts, graphs, tables, and other formats. So, for either test, you will need to be able to employ your quant and logic skills and quickly process and interpret data presented in a variety of ways.
There are, however, notable differences between the two sections. For one, GMAT IR incorporates some Verbal elements (for instance, you might be asked to interpret information presented in the form of an email). On the other hand, DILR includes various logic-based puzzles, which may involve figuring out seating arrangements, team formations, and family trees, for instance.
Additionally, some of the questions that appear in the Logical Reasoning portion of the DILR section test skills that are tested in other sections of the GMAT. For instance, the DILR section may include Assumptions questions, which on the GMAT are tested as Critical Reasoning questions in the Verbal section. Or, you may see Data Sufficiency questions in the DILR section, whereas on the GMAT, Data Sufficiency questions appear in the Quant section.
Lastly, as we already noted, the CAT does not feature an essay task, whereas the GMAT does. The Analytical Writing Assessment on the GMAT presents you with a written argument that you must critique in an essay that can be any length. Your job is to analyze the argument’s reasoning, point out flaws and assumptions in the argument, and assess how evidence is used to support the argument’s conclusion, all while logically organizing and clearly communicating your ideas.
It’s important to note that, in general, there are significant differences between the question formats on the GMAT and those on the CAT, and the CAT exam features a larger variety of question types overall.
Of course, whichever exam you intend to take, you’ll want to prepare using materials tailored to that specific exam, so that you can be sure to study all of the relevant topics and practice all of the question types that may appear on that exam.
KEY FACT:
There are significant differences between the question formats on the GMAT and those on the CAT, and the CAT exam features a larger variety of question types overall.
So, now you know the major differences between the GMAT and the CAT exam! At this point, you should have a pretty good idea of which exam is right for you. If you’re still deciding, you can use the table below as a quick reference to assess the differences between the two exams.
You also may be interested in learning what the differences are between the GMAT and the GRE.
GMAT vs. CAT: Quick Reference
