Non-engineers, women among toppers, 20 score 100 percentile
INITIATIVE ‘Change in content’ of question paper helped women, nonengineering candidates to make to top 20 list
LUCKNOW: Women and non-engineers figured among the toppers of the Common Admission Test (CAT) – the gateway to the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) – the result of which was declared on Monday.
Like last year, 20 candidates have scored overall 100 percentile in CAT 2017. This year’s list of top 20 candidates includes two women and three non-engineers. In CAT 2016, all the top 20 candidates were male and engineers.
Among the 100 percentile scorers is Delhi’s Chhavi Gupta, a business analyst at an IT company. “Thankfully, I had a family that supported me a 100%,” she told Hindustan Times.
“Candidates may download their scorecard by logging on to the official website of CAT (www.iimcat.ac.in). Individual SMS messages have been sent to candidates informing them about their overall percentile,” said examination convener Prof Neeraj Dwivedi of IIM (L).
CAT was conducted in two shifts on November 26. A total of 1,99,632 candidates – the highest in last three years – had appeared for the examination which was conducted at various centres across 140 cities. Various IIMs will soon release the details of subsequent process and other criteria. The number of women candidates registered for CAT-2017 went up by 1.16% as compared to last year. Against the total of 2,31,067 applicants, 78,009 women candidates took the examination this year. Last year, 76,000 women had appeared for the examination. The number of male candidates this year was 1,53,027.
India has 20 IIMs that admit nearly 4,000 students to their flagship two-year management programmes. Apart from the IIMs, 100 institutes use CAT scores for admissions. IIM-L will call candidates for interviews in February-April.
LUCKNOW: The fact that two women candidates and three nonengineers made it to the top 20 in the Common Admission Test (CAT) for Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) is ample illustration that IIMs are making initiatives to improve academic diversity.
Unlike CAT 2016, in which all the top 20 candidates were males and engineers, this year things have changed a bit, largely because of “change in content” of question paper that helped women and non engineer candidates to make it to the top 20 list.
According to experts, there has been a constant effort to improve overall and gender diversity while setting the exam pattern for CAT which has undergone major changes in the past seven years.
“IIMs have been changing the pattern gradually over the past few years to make it more diverse. At the same time, as more women students are getting into IIMs, it has led to more women students applying for CAT too. We have been consciously trying to keep the test pattern gender neutral and diverse so that it caters to all,” said Neeraj Dwivedi, CAT convenor, IIM lucknow.
The CAT exam has three components: Verbal ability and reading comprehension, data interpretation and logical reasoning and quantitative ability. Earlier, students had the freedom to move between the three sections but in 2015 no freedom to move between sections was introduced and a one hour time limit was given for three sections. This continued in 2017 too. “This created a levelplaying field for all candidates and has helped in promoting diversity too,” said the official.
Prof Dwivedi told HT, “We made a little change in content. But beyond this I cannot share any information unless I have all details on my table.” Sources said CAT 2017 made certain tweaks to make the examination fair for female and non engineering candidates. This was done to bring diversity in IIMs which are usually dominated by males and students with engineering background. Another factor that may have contributed was that this year, the number of women candidates registered for CAT-2017 had increased by 1.16% against the previous year. Against the total applicants of 231,067, this year 78,009 women candidates were registered for the examination. Last year, 76,000 women candidates had written the exam. The number of male candidate this year was 153,027.
At IIM Lucknow, the batch of 2014-16 had a good number of women students. A total of 210 women students were inducted, 46% in post graduate programme (187) and 52.27% (23) in PGP agri business management. The total batch size was 453.
The IIML batch of 2013-15 had 38% women candidates.