All those aspiring to take the Common Admission Test (CAT) this year and joining one of the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) need to be prepared for some major changes. In the second and concluding part of our series on surprises in CAT 2015, we look at some of the IIMs, including IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Lucknow, and the changes in the admission policy.

Elaborating on IIM Lucknow’s admission details, Sai Kumar Swamy, director, Triumphant Institute of Management Education, Delhi, says: “IIM Lucknow’s selection criteria is a two-stage process. In stage 1, the merit list is generated for the Written Ability Test (WAT) and personal interview. The components used for generating this merit list are the CAT score, Class 12 marks, graduation marks, work experience, and other factors such as academic and gender diversity. Of these, the highest weightage is accorded to the CAT score – 38 marks out of 50 marks of this stage. The other components have weightage between two and three marks.

“The minimum CAT cut-offs for the sections has been set at 85 percentile and 90 percentile overall. The obvious implication for this is the massive weightage given to the CAT score at stage 1 for a shortlist for the second stage. The other factors are variables that cannot be influenced and aspirants should focus on the CAT and stop worrying about the other components. The second stage involves two components viz. WAT and personal interview which have a weightage of 10 marks and 40 marks, respectively. IIM Lucknow has done away with their group discussion component which is good news for all aspirants. The final shortlist will be based on the cumulative marks obtained in both the stages,” says Swamy.

With the group discussion being removed from the selection process, candidates would be wondering if it is a good move. According to Satya Narayanan, chairman and founder, CL Educate Ltd, “It is a positive move. This is in line with the general belief of almost all the IIMs that a group discussion may not be the best way to determine the managerial aptitude of a person. IIM Ahmedabad was the first IIM to do away with the GD. In the subsequent years, IIM Bangalore followed by the six other IIMs replaced it with essay writing. Usually, the more aggressive participants tend to dominate the discussion leaving no space for anyone else to make their point.

Thus, it does not necessarily mean that the person who wasn’t heard didn’t have any thoughts on the topic. The weightage for personal interview has also been increased from 30 to 40 marks. Till last year, the weightage for the PI was 30 marks and 20 marks were equally divided between GD and WAT. With the discontinuation of the GD, the weightage for the personal interview becomes 40 marks. PI is certainly a better way to judge a candidate’s attitude and to know his opinions in various things.”

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