48,000 students register for Cusat CAT 2026

Kochi: A total of 48,000 students registered for Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat) entrance examination Common Admission Test (CAT) 2026, for securing admissions in the next academic year for various undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) courses at the university. The CAT exam is scheduled to be held from May 10 to 11.According to university officials, among the 48,000 registered candidates, nearly 10,000 students have registered at the portal. "We are nearing last year's tally of 50,000. Although general registration for CAT is complete, registration for courses such as MTech are ongoing, which we hope will increase the tally similar to last year," said James Varghese, director of admissions at the university. Varghese said among the total candidates around 2,000 students are from outside the state. This year, the university decided to increase the intake by 10% by increasing the number of seats in eight programmes, including law, engineering and science streams. Significant changes have been introduced to CAT 2026, with a revised marking scheme awarding four marks for each correct answer and deducting one mark for every wrong response. Candidates are now required to attempt at least one question, failing which they will be disqualified and excluded from the rank list. The Test Code 101 pattern for BTech admissions has also been modified. Applicants must secure a minimum combined normalised score of 10 in mathematics, physics and chemistry, replacing the earlier requirement of separate qualifying marks for each subject. For MBA admissions, the group discussion component has been removed from the rank list preparation, and marks obtained in Plus Two examination will now be taken into consideration.