For the first time ever the minimum percentage of marks (45 per cent and 50 per cent) eligibility for appearing for the CAT exam has been removed as an exception.

Students with “promotion/pass” instead of “award of marks” certificates in any of the last two years of the bachelor’s program can enter the “Promotion or Pass” option in the application form of CAT 2021 this year and sit for the CAT Exam.

IIM Ahmedabad, which is managing the CAT exam this year, has changed the eligibility criteria for the CAT Exam 2021.

This will allow more candidates to sit for the CAT 2021 exam and the number of applications would also be higher.

This exception is available only to applicants who are completing the bachelor’s degree this year or are in the final year bachelor’s programme (graduation years – 2021 and 2022). This eligibility relaxation is also applicable to those final year students with an “award” of marks.

According to IIM Ahmedabad, in the past two years, universities and colleges have altered the assessment criteria to evaluate the students due to the ongoing pandemic. As exams were not conducted and students were promoted, universities issued “promotion/pass” certificates instead of the “marks” certificates. Considering different evaluation patterns adopted by different universities across the country due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the CAT Committee has also removed the minimum percentage of marks (45 per cent and 50 per cent) for appearing for the CAT 2021 exam.

The best part of course is it would be a great opportunity for students who did not have 50% (or 45%) in graduation and could not attempt the CAT exam to pursue their MBA dream.