The IIMCAT website had announced on 15 September 2020 that there are changes to the CAT 2020 slot timings. The notification gave details about the examination duration and the number of slots, but stopped short of giving much details away. That was five days ago. “The relevant sections of the CAT website will be updated by September 20, 2020 (Sunday) to reflect changes as per the above announcements and the candidates are advised to check it regularly for further details”, the notification had stated.
As mentioned, the timings of the three slots have been announced by IIMCAT. Let’s get the air cleared on what has been stated and what is yet to come!
First, a quick recap on the 15 September announcement
The announcement on the IIMCAT website had stated two important things:
- Extension of CAT 2020 registration deadline by a week to 23 September 2020.
- Change in CAT 2020 examination duration and slots.
In a normal year, it should have been just the deadline extension, but this is, by no means, a normal year.
Just to be clear, CAT 2020 is going to be held across three slots of two hours each, as opposed to its predecessors that spanned two slots of three hours each.
| Year | Number of slots | Examination duration |
| 2019 | 2 | 3 hours |
| 2020 | 3 | 2 hours |
CAT 2020 slot timings – what has been announced now?
The timings for three slots are as follows:
| Slot | From | To |
| 1 | 8.30 am | 10.30 am |
| 2 | 12.30 pm | 2.30 pm |
| 3 | 4.30 pm | 6.30 pm |
Why the change?
Although the reason has not been explicitly stated, we can obviously conclude that this is a precautionary measure in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Spreading smaller number of candidates across different time slots is going to be helpful in maintaining the social distancing norms.
What does not change after the CAT 2020 slot timings announcement?
The changes to the CAT 2020 slot timings does not change the following things about CAT 2020.
The date
The examination is going to be held as per schedule on 29 November 2020; there is no change to the date. So, the calendar stays the same. The watch does not.
The three sections
In all probability, CAT 2020 examination could be a scaled down version – in Rajesh’s words, “a T20 cricket match” – but the sections are not going to change. We are not expecting one section to go away, or a new section to be introduced. The three sections are going to remain the same.
The preparation rigour
Most importantly, your preparation should not get affected by the changes to CAT 2020 slot timings. For all practical purposes, practicing as many Quant questions, DILR sets and VARC passages (and by extension, reading as many books, articles and novels) are not going to change at all. Keep at it. If you want to know how to adapt your preparation to the changed timings, check out this article by Rajesh.
What is yet to come?
The most important deal – the number of questions per section, and eventually the total number of questions – has not been announced yet.
Stay tuned for more updates on CAT 2020 slot timings, pattern changes and preparation strategies. But more importantly, keep preparing. There is nothing to lose by putting in enough and more efforts, and everything to gain.
Source: IIMCAT Announcement
Stay safe, and best wishes for CAT 2020!
Written by Giridharan Raghuraman
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