Will you miss an IIM call?

As scorecards were displayed on the IIM-Khozikode website late in the evening of January 2, students who wrote the Common Admission Test 2006 could finally heave a sigh of relief.

Earlier in the day, there was some confusion about when the results would be announced, what with every television channel predicting something different and IIM-Lucknow announcing they were going to delay the results till January 6.

We shed light on the current situation.

Percentage scores

Every year, the percentage scores used to be calculated as a percentage of the marks of the highest scorer in that section.

This year, the percentage score has been calculated as a percentage of the highest marks possible in the section.

Percentile score

This takes into account the percentage of people who have scored less than you. First, the percentage scores are calculated; then, depending on this ranking, the percentiles are given.

IIM-A cut-offs

IIM-Ahmedabad has clearly stated that the minimum sectional score should be more than 25 per cent (percentage score). The same translates to, approximately, 95.33 percentile for the Verbal section for example.

On its website, IIM-A has said they are going to consider 95.33 percentile as the cut-off for each section and 98.3 percentile (120 net score) as the overall cut-off.

What to expect from other IIMs

Except for IIM-Lucknow, all the other IIMs are expected to release their shortlist of candidates on January 2 or January 3. The criteria for selection have not been mentioned by any other IIM, but it is expected that they too may offer explanations with their shortlists.

One good thing that is happening after CAT 2006 is the transparency in the way the IIMs are shortlisting students for the next stage of selection.

However, the Verbal Section in the paper left many students with a sense of loss. Many leading training institutes too have made errors in the key (solution) in that area (while getting the other two sections bang on).

A thorough analysis of the percentage scores, percentiles, cut-offs and the criteria of selection will be put up as soon as possible on the Rediff web site. So, watch this space.

Preliminary analysis

Students with overall percentiles of 97 or less can still hope to get calls from one or more of the IIMs if their percentiles in the individual sections are more than 90. This also means that, as predicted in this space after CAT, there is a possibility that those of you who have scored at least 105 may get calls from the IIMs.

Also, the score at which IIM-A is taking its cut-off is 120. This also means students with a higher score can hope to receive more than one call. Those with good sectional percentiles (over 96) can get all six calls too.

ARKS Srinivas is the director of T.I.M.E, Mumbai, a CAT training institute, and an alumnus of IIM-Calcutta.

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