Common Admission Test (CAT) and Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) are both entrance tests accepted by top business schools in India including IIMs. The basic difference between GMAT and CAT is that while CAT is a national level entrance exam, GMAT is a global exam accepted by over 2000+ business schools & 7000 graduate management programs worldwide. GMAT, conducted by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) and is accepted by top institutions.
GMAT & CAT have the same syllabus, both deal with Mathematics and English. Both tests complement each other. Preparing for GMAT helps CAT aspirants in verbal, and CAT preparation helps GMAT aspirants in the Quantitative Section. Most of the sections in both tests are common.
MBA admission is a steep road. It’s important to keep all doors open. It’s good to be confident, but there is a thin line difference between confidence and over-confidence. CAT success rate (% of students getting admission in good colleges) is meager. GMAT, on the other hand, opens doors for almost all the global and Indian business schools.
One more misconception about GMAT is that it’s only for rich. A Business school is not “Global” if it does not keep “Currency Disparity” in their mind. That’s why they offer scholarships to aspirants from lower-valued currency countries. Almost all the Indian students end up getting scholarships to study abroad.
GMAT and CAT comparison:-
Why it is good to prepare for GMAT and CAT both for students:-
- Business schools accepting GMAT scores need at least 2+ Years work experience. But then also it makes more sense to give GMAT with CAT. The first reason is GMAT score is valid for five years.
- Secondly, It’s much better to have a GMAT score before selecting business schools.
- It gives time to aspirants to work on their needed profile. Thirdly, Taking out study time is much easier in student life compared to that in job times. Most of the working applicants find it very difficult to take time out for studies.
- Lastly, CAT success rate is meager compared to GMAT. Till your overall %ile is touching 99, you are not a serious candidate for IIM-A, B & C. And if your %ile is lower than 98%, you have to go for tier-2 B-schools only.