MICAT (MICA Admission Test) is a qualifying examination for admission to the PGP programs offered by MICA Ahmedabad. The exam is conducted biannually and administered by MICA (Mudra Institute of Communication), Ahmadabad. MICAT 1 is held in the month of December and MICAT 2 is held in the month of January or February. The candidate can appear for both the exams. The better score is considered at the next stage of the selection process. The MICAT Notification for 2021-2023 batch is expected to be released in the month of October.
MICAT is quite different from other MBA Entrance Exams. It will have three different sections with their own time limits.
Part 1: Psychometric test
Part 2: Verbal Ability, Quantitative Ability, General Awareness, and Divergent-Convergent Thinking
Part 3: Descriptive Test
While the aptitude section is something that MICAT has in common with other MBA Entrance Exams, the other sections firmly place it in a different category.
The Psychometric test is something that some institutes implement but most of the colleges hold this test during their Personal Interview rounds rather than the MBA Entrance Exam itself making MICAT different from other exams.
In addition to this, there is a descriptive test in MICAT which is not the norm with most MBA Entrance Exams. The closest example of this is the XAT Essay writing section which was discontinued last year.
The exact pattern of MICAT is not available currently as the MICAT 2021 - 2023 Notification has not been released. The pattern for MICAT has remained relatively stable and no major changes are anticipated. Some of the highlights of the MICAT Exam as derived from last year are:
The total duration of the test is 165 minutes with each section having time limits as mentioned below.
Each section has individual time limits as follows:
Part 1: 30 minutes
Part 2: 105 minutes
Part 3: 30 minutes
Rather than calling candidates based on the total score (which most other MBA Entrance Exams do), MICAT requires the candidates to clear each and every section in order to get a call from MICA Ahmedabad. Thus every section in MICAT is an elimination round.
MICA Ahmedabad holds the MICAT Exam twice in a year before releasing a shortlist of candidates for the Group Exercise and Personal Interview process. The first MICAT Exam (dubbed MICAT 1) will be held in December while the second MICAT Exam (dubbed MICAT 2) will be held in January/February. Candidates can attempt both MICAT Exams and the higher score will be considered for the cut-off.
MICAT is held for selecting candidates for admission in MICA Ahmedabad. The flagship course that accepts the MICAT Score is the PGDM-C course or the diploma course in Communication.
The PDGM-C focuses on developing strategic marketing professionals. MICA Ahmedabad is acknowledged to be one of the best colleges in the field of marketing and the PGDM-C focuses on grooming business leaders who focus on creative thinking, consumer-centricity, communication, and community outreach according to MICA's Program Summary of PGDM-C.
MICAT is held specifically for MICA Ahmedabad’s selection processes. This increases the difficulty level of the exam since the only candidates that appear are serious aspirants for MICA Ahmedabad.
The MICAT official Notification contains some of the essential details such as the timeline of the selection process for the 2021-2023 batch including the registration window and the exam date. Some details about the MICAT Exam Pattern and the MICAT Selection Procedures are available on the official MICA website. The MICAT Notification announces the important dates of MICAT 1 as well as MICAT 2.
For more details, please go to this page.
The Eligibility Criteria for MICAT is quite similar to other MBA Entrance Exams with one significant difference. Candidates applying through MICAT are expected to give one of CAT/XAT/GMAT as well in order to be eligible for further processes. The major eligibility criteria for candidates to be eligible for MICAT are:
Bachelor's degree in any discipline or equivalent qualification from a recognized university
Final year students can also apply
A valid CAT/XAT/GMAT score
The MICAT Registration is expected to start from the second week of October 2020 for MICAT 1 and normally closes by the third week of November 2020. The application and registration for MICAT is completely online and the candidates need to provide the following details:
Name
Phone Number
Academic Details
Work Experience Details
Scanned Copies of Photograph and Signature
Scanned copies of all relevant certificates and documents
With these details, the candidate will be able to complete the MICAT Registration after paying the application fee.
The test fees for MICAT is 1985/- for each attempt. The application fee for the MICAT Exam must be paid online with an option of offline payment. The online options for payment of the application fee of MICAT 2021 are expected to be:
Debit Card/ Credit Card
Net Banking
IMPS
The offline options available for payment of the MICAT 2021 Application fee are expected to be:
Demand Draft
Cash (only in SBI Banks)
If the candidate wishes to pay by cash, they need to click on the “Payment through SBI” button in the payment options and printout the Challan generated. The Challan has 3 parts with one part to be kept with the candidate, one part to be submitted at MICA Ahmedabad and one part that will be taken by the bank when the payment is made.
Given that MICA Ahmedabad has not released the MICAT 2021-2023 Notification yet so we have to study the exam pattern of last year’s MICAT Exam. The overall pattern is not expected to change too much from the norm which is shown in the table given below:
| Section | No of Questions | |
| Part 1 | Psychometric Test | 36 |
| Part 2 | Verbal Ability | 25 |
| Quantitative Ability | 25 | |
| General Awareness | 25 | |
| Divergent-Convergent Thinking | 30 | |
| Part 3 | Descriptive Test | 4 |
MICAT has a combination of subjective and objective questions. There is also no negative marking in any section except Section 2 due to the nature of the sections themselves. Section 2 is quite similar to the aptitude section of other MBA Entrance Exams.
The MICAT Exam has 3 sections as mentioned above. The section-wise MICAT Syllabus is discussed below:
Psychometric Test - MICAT Syllabus
The Psychometric test is entirely subjective and there is no fixed syllabus as it asks questions to find out about the candidate personality.
Aptitude Section - MICAT Syllabus
This is a section that is somewhat similar to other MBA Entrance Exams. While it does not have a clearly defined syllabus, the major topics can be achieved quite easily. The Verbal Ability section contains three main topics:
Reading Comprehension
Vocabulary
Grammar
The Quantitative Aptitude and Data Interpretation section in MICAT contains:
Algebra
Geometry
Arithmetic
Data Interpretation
Trigonometry
Numbers
The General Awareness section is extremely vast and can contain the questions on both Static GK and Current Affairs.
The Convergent and Divergent Thinking section is a combination of logical reasoning and verbal reasoning. Some of the major topics in this section of MICAT are:
Visual Reasoning
Sequence and Series
Data Sufficiency
Word Association
The difference between MICAT and other MBA Entrance Exams emphasizes that preparation for MICAT is somewhat tricky. The first thing that each candidate needs to do is to understand exactly what is tested in the MICAT Exam. The major pain points for the candidates during MICAT Preparation could be the Descriptive section as it is completely different from any of the sections in other MBA Entrance Exams.
The best mode of preparation for this section would be to go through previous MICAT papers and the sample papers that MICA Ahmedabad has uploaded on their website. This will give the candidate an idea of the kind of questions that could be asked in the MICAT Exam. Apart from this, attempting as many MICAT Mocks would also be helpful in your MICAT Preparation.