How to register for C-CAT

Admissions to all PG Diploma courses of C-DAC are done through C-DAC's computerized Common Admission Test (C-CAT). Every year, C-CAT is usually conducted in June (for August admissions) and December (for February admissions).

C-CAT has three sections (Section A, Section B, Section C) of one hour duration each. As shown in Table 1, depending on the category of courses selected by the candidate, he/she will have to either appear for just one test paper (Section A) or two test papers (Section A and Section B) or all the three test papers (Section A, Section B and Section C). The medium of C-CAT is English.

Important Note: A candidate can appear only for the specific section(s) in C-CAT as per the category of the courses opted by him/her at the time of filling the online application form.

Every section in C-CAT will have 50 objective-type questions. Each question will have four choices as possible answers of which only one will be correct. There will be +3 (plus three) marks for each correct answer, -1 (minus one) for each wrong answer, and 0 (zero) marks for each un-attempted question. The maximum mark a candidate can obtain in any one section of C-CAT is 150.

Table 1: Categories of PG Diploma courses and the corresponding test paper(s) in C-CAT.

Table 1a: Indicative syllabus of the different sections of test papers in C-CAT.

The list of reference books for the various topics of C-CAT is given in Table 1b. Candidates are, however, advised to read more books than the ones specified in this table.

Table 1b: Reference books for the various topics in C-CAT.

Candidates may note that the C-CAT examination fee once paid is not refundable.

Online: The examination fee can be paid using credit/debit cards through the payment gateway that will be opened upon clicking the 'Online' option of the 'Make Payment' step. Candidates are advised to follow the instructions/steps given on the payment gateway, and also print/keep the transaction details for their records.

On accepting the examination fee at C-DAC, the ‘Make Payment’ step on the main menu of the online application will be tick-marked, and the status of payment will be updated on the ‘Status Check’ menu. The pdf application form obtained by clicking the ‘View/Print Application Form’ on the main menu will now have the transaction details of the payment made.

C-CAT Admit Cards

Candidates can download their admit cards from C-DAC’s website during the dates mentioned under Important Dates. No candidate will be permitted to appear for C-CAT without a valid admit card. The admit card along with a photo identity proof must be presented to the C-CAT officials/invigilators for verification at the time of the test.

The venue, date and time of C-CAT will be communicated to the candidates on the admit cards. Candidates must appear for C-CAT on the specified date and time at the venue mentioned on the admit card. Examination fee will not be refunded to candidates who are absent or coming late for C-CAT.

C-DAC’s PG Diploma admission process has two counselling sessions and three rounds of seat allocations. Counselling means online filling of preferences of courses and training centers by the candidates.

·         There are two rounds of seat allocations based on the first counselling. This means that using the course-center preferences given by the candidates during the first choice filling, two rounds of seat allocations (Round 1 and Round 2) will be done.

Depending on their C-CAT ranks, candidates will be allocated seats strictly based on the order of preferences of courses and centers given by them during the counselling. If some candidates' ranks are not good enough to get them their top preferences in the first round of seat allocations, they may be offered their lower preferred courses/centers depending on their ranks. Such candidates may be allocated their higher-preferred course/center in the second round of seat allocation, depending on their ranks. However, if candidates get their first preference in the first round of seat allocation itself, then that will be their final allocated seat and there will be no change for them in the second round of seat allocations. The seats allocated in the second round are final and there will be no further change in them.

·         Through the second counseling, candidates who have not got/confirmed admission are given one last chance to online fill their preferences of courses and training centres for the vacant seats that arise after the second round of admissions. The second counselling is scheduled after the payment of the first installment fee of the second round of seat allocation. The third round of seat allocation is based on the second counseling.

·         During both the counselling sessions, candidates will be permitted to give preferences for only those courses belonging to the category they had selected in the C-CAT application form. However, a candidate can give as many preferences of training centers and courses belonging to the applied C-CAT category.

Based on the C-CAT ranks, admissions to various courses at different training centres are offered in the order of preferences of courses and centres given by the candidate and the number of seats available for the courses at the particular centres. Therefore candidates must take utmost care while filling the order of preference of the courses and centres. Under any circumstance, a candidate will not be allocated another course/centre which was not given as a preference during the counselling stage.