Importance of past academic scores for IIM selection

Last Updated on Oct 22, 2020

An MBA degree has become synonymous with a career rife with opportunities. Business schools around the world try to give their students a competitive advantage over their peers. And, in the words of Jack Welch, ex-Chairman and CEO of General Electric:

IF YOU DON’T HAVE A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE; DON’T COMPETE!

In India, IIMs lead the pack of business schools, hiring few of the best faculty members working with students and training them to be the managers of the future. Every year, thousands of students grapple for a seat with the IIMs. It’s a stiff competition with around 3-4% of applicants making it to one of the top 6 IIMs every year. The Common Admission Test [CAT] is an entrance exam to get a seat with the IIMs. It is not the entry ticket. IIMs looks at many aspects before admitting a student into their institution. Broadly, the entire admission process can be broken down into:

1. Pre-screening or preliminary selection
2. Written Ability Test [WAT]
3. Personal Interview [PI]

There are many elements in the preliminary screening process which vary with each IIM. Broadly, the factors considered are:

• CAT Score
• Academic Scores
• Reservation Category
• Gender Diversity
• Academic Diversity
• Work Experience
• Social Awareness
• Participant in cultural activities [displays team player traits]

Today, we are going to discuss the importance of  Past Academic Scores for IIM Selection.

Importance of past Academic Scores

There are 20 IIMs in the country today. Here is the list:

IIM Ahmedabad (IIMA)	IIM Kozhikode	IIM Ranchi	IIM Udaipur	IIM Amritsar
IIM Bangalore (IIMB)	IIM Indore	IIM Raipur	IIM Nagpur	IIM Sambalpur
IIM Kolkata (IIMC)	IIM Shillong	IIM Trichy	IIM Visakhapatnam	IIM Sirmaur
IIM Lucknow (IIML)	IIM Rohtak	IIM Kashipur	IIM Bodhgaya	IIM Jammu

Each of these institutes has a different weightage for the past academic scores. Here is a quick look at the academic score weightage in the top four IIMs (A, B, C & L):

IIM Ahmedabad (IIMA)

30% weightage is given to the normalised Application Rating Score (10^th, 12th^th and Graduation marks). The Application Rating (AR) score is calculated as follows:
AR = A + B + C … where, A, B and C are scores based on 19^th, 12^th and graduation marks respectively.
You can read more details here.

IIM Bangalore (IIMB)

50% weightage is given to academic scores divided as follows:

• 20% to Class 10th marks
• 10% to Class 12th marks
• 20% to Graduation marks

Among all the IIMs, IIMB awards the highest weightage to academics in their shortlisting process.
You can read more details here.

IIM Calcutta (IIMC)

40% weightage is given to academic scores divided as follows:

• 20% to Class 10th marks (weightage of 10 out of 50)
• 20% to Class 12th marks (weightage of 10 out of 50)

It is important to note that IIMC does not take your graduation marks into consideration for computing the academic scores. However, academic diversity or the stream in which you graduate can fetch you some points.
You can read more details here.

IIM Lucknow (IIML)

20% weightage is given to academic scores divided as follows:

• 10% to Class 12th marks
• 10% to Graduation marks

It is important to note that IIML does not take Class 10th marks into consideration for computing the academic scores.
You can read more details here.
To summarize, most IIMs peg a lot of importance on the past academic scores to shortlist candidates for the second round of selection.

Why do IIMs look for good past Academic Scores?

IIMs endeavour to provide the best management education to students. They know that their course requires candidates who are intelligent, hard-working and persistent along with having a strong sense of society and a broader perspective of existence. Hence, they divide the selection process into different stages.

In the first stage (read CAT), they test applicants for their intelligence and aptitude. CAT is not about memorizing but about displaying the level of understanding on the subjects that you already know. A good CAT score displays your intellect.

Before calling candidates for a written test and/or personal interview, they need to ensure that the candidate is hardworking and persistent. For this, they turn to your past. You academic scores in 10th, 12th and graduation help them understand your persistence levels and the amount of hard work you can put in as a student. In simpler words, good academic scores tell them that you are a finisher.

Is having Average/Low Academic Scores the end of the IIM dream?

No, Most IIMs consider candidates with exceptional CAT performance even if their academic scores are average. This means a CAT score of 99.5+. Difficult, but certainly not impossible. For e.g. IIMA shortlists the top 100 or one percent applicants (whichever is lower) across various academic disciplines.

If you have average to low academics, then you might want to work on other aspects of your profile, like gathering work experience, working for some social causes and scoring a 99.5+ in CAT. This combination can give you an outside chance of making it to one of the IIMs. Here is what an ideal CAT candidate profile looks like:

To be able to score that high in CAT, you might need to enrol with a coaching institute that focuses on the overall development of CAT aspirants. ExamVictor, an online coaching institute spearheaded by me guides students to work on their strengths and create a profile that is welcomed by IIMs. Our Online CAT Course offers:

• Uninterrupted access to over 500 hours of video lectures covering the entire syllabus.
• Content developed with ExamVictor’s NoMug™ approach which helps you learn the fundamentals of each topic contrary to the mugging-up approach followed by many institutes.
• Thousands of practice questions
• Weekly LIVE video conferencing sessions with IIT-IIM faculty
• Unlimited 24 hour doubt sessions
• 10 mock tests on exact pattern of the CAT

Our team is always available to counsel and guide students. Don’t let anything come between you and your aspirations.

We hope you liked our post. You can check our posts related to IIM Indore IPM through the links below.
Everything you need to know about IIM Indore IPM
Life of IIM Students
IIM Indore: IPMAT Syllabus, Pattern & more 

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