Is GMAT easier than CAT? This can be understood by comparing the syllabus, exam pattern, top colleges that accept these exams, etc. Finding which entrance exam is best for students to enter into one of the top business schools by knowing the pros and cons of both exams.
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Is GMAT easier than CAT? CAT is Common Admission Test conducted by the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) and GMAT is Graduate Management Admission Test which is conducted by Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC).
Both CAT and GMAT are the two most popular exams that B-school aspirants appear for in huge numbers and although both are similar in a lot of aspects, certain differences determine which makes either one of them suitable for a student and their career path to a B-school.
Is GMAT Easier than CAT?
Although both the exams are conducted to test a candidate's ability and the prospect of joining an MBA program in a reputed business school, there are quite a few differences in the structure, pattern, topics covered and other aspects of both.
GMAT
The Graduate Management Admission Test or GMAT is a computer-adaptive test that assesses a candidate's knowledge and ability in analytical writing, quantitative skills, verbal and writing skills in standard English. It is conducted by the Graduate Management Admission Council or GMAC and is considered by students who wish to expand their choices of MBA programs and business schools to a global extent.
CAT
The Common Admission Test or CAT is a computer-based exam that assesses a candidate’s verbal, reading and comprehension ability in English, quantitative ability, logical reasoning and knowledge of data interpretation. It is administered by the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and is a national-level exam that helps students pursue admission primarily in the IIMs and business schools in India.
Points of Difference
The points of difference in the key areas of both the exams are very crucial for an aspirant to keep in mind before deciding on which exam they should opt for. The differences between GMAT and CAT are mentioned in the table below.
| Particulars | GMAT | CAT |
| Number of Questions | 80 questions in total, divided into 4 sections | 100 questions in total, divided into 3 sections |
| Duration of Test | 3 hours | 2 hours |
| Sections | Quantitative Reasoning (QR), Verbal Reasoning (VR), Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA), Integrated Reasoning (IR) | Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC), Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR), Quantitative Ability (QA) |
| Qualifications Required | No minimum academic qualifications required | A bachelor's degree from a recognized university or equivalent qualification |
| Age Limit | The candidate should be at least 13 years old (in which case written consent from parents/guardians is required), there is no upper age limit. | No lower or upper age limit |
| Number of Attempts | A total of 8 attempts overall and 5 attempts in a single academic year is considered valid | No limit is placed on the number of attempts |
| Frequency | All-year (Can be taken any time of the year with a 16-day gap between each attempt) | Conducted only once a year (End of November or beginning of December) |
| Adaptiveness | Question-Adaptive | Non-adaptive |
| Negative Marking | Not present | Present |
| Marking Scheme | 0-6 for Analytical Writing Assessment | 3 marks are awarded for each correct answer |
| 1-8 for Integrated Reasoning | 1 mark is deducted for each incorrect answer | |
| 0-60 for Verbal Reasoning | - | |
| 0-60 for Quantitative Reasoning | ||
| Score Validity | 5 years (Global) | 1 year (India only) |
| Score Format | Both absolute score (out of 800) and percentile score reported | Only percentile score reported |
| Acceptance | Accepted for B-school admissions globally | Accepted for B-school admissions only in India |
| Test Fee | $250 (approx 17,000 INR) | INR 2,000 |
GMAT vs CAT: Exam Pattern
The basic assessment of candidates that both GMAT and CAT aim to make is essentially the same but the routes and technique of assessment is the major difference between these two exams. The GMAT has a very well-defined range of topics and subject areas based on which candidates are examined, whereas in the case of CAT the syllabus is not as well-defined as the GMAT.
This makes the preparation time that students take for both the exams very different, where students manage to score a 700+ out of 800 in GMAT with just an average of 121 hours of study time, whereas students prepare for months on end to fetch a similar score in CAT.
GMAT tends to focus on the verbal ability and English proficiency of the candidates which proves to be a challenge for candidates who are non-native English speakers like Indians, whereas CAT focuses more on a candidate’s logical and quantitative abilities. This also can be concluded from the fact that GMAT has an extra section named Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA) as opposed to CAT.
Another major difference between the structure of the two exams is that GMAT is an adaptive test i.e., the difficulty of the questions is dependent on how well an examinee is performing. If a student answers a question correctly, the next question will be of a slightly higher difficulty in GMAT. In the case of CAT, the exam is very straightforward where the questions are selected randomly from a question bank and presented to an examinee and they have the option to attempt the question or not. Thus, we can understand that GMAT focuses more on the ability of the candidate whereas CAT focuses more on accuracy.
| CAT Exam Pattern 2023 | CAT Exam Pattern 2023 |
GMAT and CAT: Syllabus
The topics covered by both these exams might be similar in essence but each exam has its agenda for including a certain topic or excluding one. The topics included in the verbal, quantitative section of both the exams are given below:
| GMAT | CAT | ||
| Verbal | Quantitative | Verbal | Quantitative |
| Verb tense | Number properties | Fill in the blanks | Geometry |
| Pronoun | Multiples and factors | Grammar | Trigonometry |
| Subject-verb agreement | Fractions | Para Completion and inference | Mensuration |
| Modifiers | Decimals | Reading Comprehension | Ratios and Proportion |
| Idioms | Percentages | Verbal Logic | Number system |
| Parallelism | Averages | Para jumbles | Work and time |
| Comparison | Powers and roots | Verbal Reasoning | HCF & LCM |
| Inference | Profit and loss | Syllogisms | Algebra |
| Assumption | Simple and compound interest | Contextual usage | Profit & Loss |
| Evaluate | Speed, time, and distance | Analogies | In-equations Quadratic and linear equations |
| Strengthen and weaken | Pipes, cisterns, and work time | Different usage of the same word | Geometric Progression |
| Boldface | Ratio and proportion | Antonyms | Percentages |
| Paradox | Mixtures and alligations | Sentence completion | Averages |
| - | Descriptive statistics | Jumbled paragraphs | Partnership (Accounts) |
| Set theory | Foreign language words used in English | Time-Speed-Distance | |
| Probability | Sentence correction | Surds and Indices | |
| Permutation and combination | Idioms | Inequalities | |
| Monomials, polynomials | One word substitution | Logarithms | |
| Algebraic expressions and equations | - | - | |
| Functions | |||
| Exponents | |||
| Arithmetic and geometric progression | |||
| Quadratic equations | |||
| Inequalities and basic statistics | |||
| Lines and angles | |||
| Triangles | |||
| Quadrilaterals | |||
| Circles | |||
| Rectangular solids and cylinders | |||
| Coordinate geometry | |||
| GMAT Syllabus 2023 | CAT Syllabus 2023 |
Scope after Qualifying GMAT and CAT
Both GMAT and CAT are entrance exams for seeking admission in some of the top MBA colleges, but the scope of either one of the two is vastly different. A student’s aims and ambitions regarding where they want to pursue their MBA from and which courses are best suited for them is what divides students into CAT candidates and GMAT candidates.
GMAT
GMAT scores are accepted by business schools around the world and Indian business schools as well, making the range of options for a student much wider. Not only does the choice of B-schools increase for a student after taking GMAT, but courses other than MBA, like Masters in Management, Masters in Finance, M.Sc. in Marketing and various other related management courses also accept and require GMAT scores from applicants as a part of the admission process and eligibility criteria. Some premier institutes that accept GMAT scores are:
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Massachusetts
- Stanford University
- The University of California, Berkeley (UCB)
- Harvard University, Massachusetts
- The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
- The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
- The University of British Columbia, Vancouver
- The University of Western Ontario, Ontario
- University of Toronto
- National University of Singapore, Singapore
- Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU)
- London Business School, London
- University of Oxford, England
- The University of Melbourne, Melbourne
- The University of Sydney, Sydney
- The University of New South Wales,(UNSW)
- Wharton, University of Pennsylvania
- McGill University
- HEC Paris
- ESMT Berlin
- Shanghai Jiao Tong University: Antai
- University of Oxford: Saïd
- University of St Gallen
- Warwick Business School
- University College Dublin: Smurfit
- University of Georgia: Terry
- IMD Business School
- University of Connecticut School of Business
- Renmin University of China Business School (RMBS)
- SDA Bocconi School of Management
- University of Texas, Dallas: Jindal
- National University of Singapore Business School
- WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management
CAT
If a student is inclined towards pursuing a management course from an Indian institute/university, in that case, CAT has the obvious advantage over GMAT. Conducted by the IIMs, CAT scores are accepted in nearly 1000 B-schools across India. A good CAT percentile will provide an edge to the candidate who wishes to pursue courses like a Post Graduate Program (PGP) in Management, Post Graduate Diploma in Management and other related courses. Some top institutes in India other than the IIMs that offer admission based on CAT scores are:
- Faculty of Management Studies (FMS) New Delhi
- SPJIMR, Mumbai
- Management Development Institute (MDI) Gurgaon
- SJMSOM
- IMI Delhi
- TAPMI
- BIM Trichy
- MICA
- SPJIMR
- IMT Ghaziabad
- MDI Gurgaon
- DMS IIT Delhi
- Goa Institute of Management
- BITS Pilani
- Jagdish Sheth School of Management
- XIM University Bhubaneswar
- Welingkar Mumbai
- IIM Indore
- IIM Ahmedabad
- IIM Calcutta
- IIM Kozhikode
- IIM Bangalore
- IIM Lucknow
GMAT vs CAT: Choice of Examination
The decision of which exam to consider is dependent on various major factors. Evaluating every aspect and weighing every alternative will help a student come to a conclusion regarding which exam should be undertaken. Factors that influence this decision are:
- Career Goals - If a student aims to pursue higher studies abroad and gain international experience and exposure, then taking the GMAT is the best option. If the career goal of a student is to study and pursue a career in India, then going for CAT is the logical choice.
- Location Preferences - Location preferences of a student are based on various factors like quality of student life, future career prospects, the proximity of employers in the target industry, etc. Based on these factors a student can shortlist their target colleges and appear for either GMAT or CAT whichever is best suited.
- Course Preferences - The choice of courses to pursue, For Example: whether a student wants to pursue a 2-year full-time MBA from IIM for which a CAT score will be required or a Masters in Management for which the duration will be less than or equal to 1 year and for which a GMAT score is preferred, will determine which exam the student will appear for.
- Financial Outlook - A postgraduate degree in Management is an expensive investment that might not be affordable for many students dependent on their financial situation. The fees for an MBA or MiM course from an international institute ranges anywhere from INR 25 lakhs to beyond INR 1 crore, which in most cases excludes living and accommodation expenses. The application fee for GMAT itself is $250 (INR 17,000) which is quite costly. For many students, such an investment might not be feasible, making the option of an MBA program from an Indian institute the only choice left.
Can I Prepare for CAT and GMAT Simaltaneously?
In conclusion, the answers to questions like “Is GMAT tougher than CAT?” or “Which is better, GMAT or CAT?” can be multi-layered. Although the level of difficulty and preparation time required for GMAT is comparatively less than CAT, in terms of exam structure and assessment aspects like time management, tackling the question-adaptiveness of the exam and maintaining consistency of quality of answers in the verbal and analytical writing part of the examination,
GMAT tends to be a bit more complicated. In the end, both exams need rigorous and dedicated preparation and both exams are quite tough to crack, it depends on the student’s abilities and knowledge in certain areas and subjects which provide an edge to some students in GMAT and some students in CAT.
Additionally, it is also possible to prepare for GMAT and CAT together to save time, as there are not many differences that can be made to the preparation process of any student.
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