On April 14, IIM Lucknow released an official statement in wake of the held up admissions for 2020-22 announcing to remove WAT for the final selection of PGP, PGP-ABM, & PGP-SM candidates.

IIM Lucknow was to conduct WAT-PI online post April 15. This move has been taken due to the extension of nationwide lockdown amid COVID-19. Thus, reducing the admission selection process on the basis of CAT 2019 score, previous exam performance and work experience of 2 years which is an additional eligibility criteria along with personal interview (PI).

Students will now be evaluated on the basis of CAT 2019 score in different sections of the exam, cut off for which have been tabulated below, category-wise:

Category PGP PGP-ABM & PGP-SM
VARC DILR QA Total VARC DILR QA Total
General  85 85 85 90 80 80 80 85
EWS 77 77 77 82 72 72 72 77
NC-OBC 77 77 77 82 72 72 72 77
SC 55 55 55 70 55 55 55 65
ST 50 50 50 65 50 50 50 60
PWD 50 50 50 65 50 50 50 60
  • VARC: Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension
  • DILR: Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning
  • QA: Quantitative Aptitude

Students must ensure that they submit their WAT-PI forms through the Google Doc link as sent by IILM Admission Team. Only those who qualify for PI and score according to the minimum CAT cut-off as released by the institution, would make it to the final selection list.

For pre-final admission selection, candidates must have scored at least 12 out of 40 in PI (passing marks) to make it to the final selection merit list. The weightage for final score calculation is equally distributed among the following sections:

Factors  Weightage 
PGP PGP-ABM & PGP-SM
Common Admission Test (CAT) 2019 35 30
Academic Performance 5+5 5+5
Diversity  5 5
Work Experience N/A 5
Personal Interview 40 40
Total Scores 90 90
  • The academic performance includes marks of Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and marks of Graduation.
  • Whereas, diversity factor includes:
    • Academic Disciplines (DFa): Calculated based on subjects mentioned in the mark sheet submitted by the candidate.
    • Gender (DFb): To encourage gender diversity and have equal number of males and females in the batch.
  • Since WAT has been scrapped, the total scores record a fall of 10 percentile for admissions. Otherwise the total score would have been 100 each for admission.

Students of the 2020-22 batch of IIM Lucknow is the only batch to witness this slight alteration for management programs admission, for the first time in history. This step seems to be beneficial seeing the current state of affairs of the country amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Continuous delay in completion of admission process and further deferring the commencement of classes, is probably a major reason for causing anxiety among students. But being able to maintain social distance and successfully conducting PI online, IIM Lucknow seems to have found the appropriate solution for its aspiring Management students.