What does the AICTE Announcement mean for CAT 2020 Aspirants?

5 min Read 

AICTE announcement says XYZ”, “I read ABC in some website”, “Will CAT 2020 be cancelled?”, “What does this mean to aspirants like us who are on our last lap of preparation?” – These are only a fraction of the questions and doubts so many of our students and the CAT prep fraternity in general seem to be worried about. Hence, we thought it would be a great idea to clear the haze and get the details straight.

What does the AICTE announcement say?The AICTE has issued a circular detailing alternate measures to be taken for PGDM/MBA admissions for the academic year 2020-21. The circular starts by stating the following:

“All India Tests i.e CAT, XAT, CMAT, ATMA, MAT, GMAT along with the 7th option of Common Entrance Test of the respective State are the qualifying tests for admission into PGDM course. In many of the States, some of the above entrance tests could not be conducted due to fear of spread of Corona Virus and there is no indication as to whether these tests are postponed or likely to be held or cancelled etc.”

What does this mean?There are more details in the later passages of the circular, but even before that, there is an important catch here. “… some of the above entrance tests COULD NOT BE CONDUCTED (emphasis added)…” This clearly implies that this is a circular intended for those examinations which were planned prior to this circular, but could not be conducted.Which academic year does the AICTE Announcement directed at?The news articles from the various websites (like this and this) only seem to complicate things by not giving the details that the CAT 2020 aspirants need.It is only applicable to the academic year 2020-21The official circular clearly gives enough and more details to help us understand that this is only meant for THIS ongoing academic year (2020-21), and not beyond.

“Therefore, in the current scenario, the PGDM / MBA institutions are allowed
to admit the students on the basis of marks obtained in qualifying
examination by preparing a merit list in a transparent manner.”

Does this mean that the aspirants who wrote their examinations in 2019 or earlier this year should panic?Not at all. The circular itself has reasons to substantiate how nobody will be deprived of the entrance examination marks and percentages/percentiles they had scored.

“However, first preference will be given to those candidates who have appeared in any of the entrance tests mentioned in the APH 2020-21 and qualified irrespective of their marks secured in degree as long as minimum marks as per APH 2020-21 are secured.”

From this, it can be seen that people who wrote the examinations earlier are not at any disadvantage. On the contrary, they have an edge, if any, in the admission process.So, what is the panic all about?The panic this AICTE announcement has triggered is all about what happens to CAT 2020. However, there is no room for any confusion, as the circular itself makes it clear.

It may be noted that this relaxation to the PGDM / MBA Institutions shall be applicable only for the AY 2020-21, this cannot be taken as a precedent for the future academic years.

This hits the nail in the coffin. “… applicable only for the AY 2020-21” is all one needs to understand that CAT 2020 will happen as scheduled.Bottom-line1) Does this AICTE notification change anything with respect to CAT 2020?No, it does not. This has got nothing to do with CAT 2020 at all.

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