The Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad gave the yearning aspirants a jolt when it released its new eligibility criteria for the 2016-18 batch. In the new eligibility criteria, the cutoffs have been set for the class 10th, 12th and Graduation percentages. The various streams of graduation have been divided into seven groups AC1 to AC7. Each group has a different cutoff percentage. A candidate needs to be up and above all these cutoff percentages in order to be eligible for an IIM Ahmedabad call.
A sample of the implications of this change in criteria is:
However, sanity seems to have prevailed and IIMA has released a revised Eligibility criteria. In these criteria they have done away with cutoffs for Graduation (it still persists for the exceptional performers across disciplines). The cut-offs for average marks of X and XII are still present.
The minimum average score required in X and XII for different streams and categories is tabulated below:
Stream in XIIth |
General |
NC-OBC |
SC |
ST |
DA |
Science |
80 |
75 |
70 |
65 |
70 |
Commerce |
77 |
72 |
67 |
62 |
67 |
Arts & Humanities |
75 |
70 |
64 |
59 |
64 |
Changes over the Years and Plausibility
It would only be fair to have a few lines acknowledging the consistency with which IIM-A has been playing around with its eligibility criteria. Over the last 8-9 years, IIM-A has adhered to around 5-6 different eligibility criteria for its PGP programme.
This time around, IIM Ahmedabad seems to have completely ignored the context of the education system in India. The undoing of the criteria is the varied difficulty level of the boards and university examinations across the country.
Let’s look at the marks obtained by the students who are at the 80th percentile of their respective boards. (X and XII)
Name of Board |
Marks Obtained |
Total Marks |
Percentage |
Meghalaya Board of Secondary Education |
291 |
500 |
58.2% |
West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education |
308 |
500 |
61.6% |
U P Board of High School and Intermediate Education |
396 |
500 |
79.2% |
Karnataka Board of Pre University Education |
453 |
500 |
90.6% |
Council for Indian school Certificate Examinations (ICSE) |
425 |
500 |
85% |
Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) |
416 |
500 |
83.2% |
Tamil Nadu Board of Higher Secondary Education |
917 |
100 |
91.7% |
Note: I have just used a few figures here. This is not the complete list.
As can be seen, the varied difficulty levels of the boards have a direct impact on the marks. In the tougher West Bengal Board, it is difficult to score marks as compared to the Tamil Nadu Board or ICSE.
Effectively, more than eliminating a particular section of students from the race, IIM Ahmedabad’s new eligibility criteria is set to wipe out the students of some specific states where the marking scheme is tougher as compared to that of the other states.
Whose loss is it anyway?
To start with, CAT 2016 aspirants shouldn’t be bothered at all. IIM-A seems to have developed a habit of changing its criteria in two back-to-back years. Conforming to this trend, IIM-A will most probably come-up with another masterpiece of a criteria for CAT 2016 and considering the rant that’s coming their way this time, the next criteria would hopefully be a better one.
To the aspirants of CAT 2015 who are already out of the race for IIM-A, the only thing that could be said it’s better to stay away from all these external factors. Keep up the hard work and aim for the other top B-schools. Exclusion of an ambitious and hardworking candidate is always the B-school’s loss for passion and hard work always pay off where ever you are.
For those few candidates who’ve made the cut, congratulations! As the competition would be considerably less, best use of this chance should be made.
Author: Gautam Bawa, IIM C Alumni & MBA Head, Career Launcher
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