Any MBA aspirant often finds himself at the cusp of a choice – what’s better, CAT or GMAT? Comparing notes on CAT vs GMAT is an oft done exercise. While both are good options to get into top B-Schools, but a lot depends on the when and what of your aspiration. We examine this very choice in this article.
The Right Time
The time frame when you take CAT and when you take GMAT has very little merger between the two. CAT is an exam one can write in their final year of graduation and/or up untill 3-4 years after graduation. On the other hand, GMAT can be taken after you’re past 3-4 years of your career after graduation.
So, CAT remains relevant from the second or third year of graduation for the next 3-4 years thereafter, while GMAT is an option to be sought when you’ve had a couple of years of work experience post your graduation.
The Right Course
While CAT seeks to get you admission into top B-School of the country like IIMs, SP Jain, and the likes, GMAT gets you into Indian B-schools with executive programs, and international B school across the world.
When you’re seeking an executive MBA program, GMAT would be your best choice to be sought post some work experience has been gathered. For a regular MBA program, CAT would be the best bet.
If you work for 7-8 yrs and do an Executive MBA you will have 20 odd years left as a professional, on an average, and the impact you make will be likely lesser than an IIM graduate. So the decision is really about what is the kind of work life and course you are seeking.
The Easier Choice
Both exams are equally tough or easy to approach based on your preparation. It is a myth to consider GMAT as easy in math and much tougher in English. If you hit the top band of scores, math can get tougher. GMAT is an adaptive test, which means if you do 7-8 questions correctly which might simple to you, the 9th question will be tougher than the kind you’re likely to face in CAT.
So the choice of CAT vs GMAT is entirely dependent on the kind of program and career path you seek for yourself.
About Mr. Arun Sharma
Arun Sharma is a name that every CAT aspirant surely knows of. He is the well-known author of two of the most sought after books on CAT preparation, namely, ‘How to prepare for Quantitative Aptitude for the CAT’ and ‘How to prepare for Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning for the CAT’. Arun has prepared thousands of students for several exams, who have gone on to crack them. He has himself not been able to give up the CAT ‘keeda’ and is a serial-CAT-taker, who has been cracking the exam for the past 14 years. He has over 10 titles to his name, and over 1.5 million copies of his books have been sold till date.
About his Company:
Mindworkzz is one of India’s leading brands in Aptitude training and testing. We are involved in training aspirants for the CAT over the past 2 decades and have trained over 10000 IIM Graduates. Besides we are also involved in conducting classes for UPSC (CSAT) and CRT (campus recruitment training). Our key partners include companies like McGraw Hill Education, Hungama, Airtel etc.
