Alerts and Updates for CDAC C-CAT (Common Admission Test)

C-CAT at a glance

Section A covers English, quantitative aptitude, reasoning, computer fundamentals and programming concepts. Section B covers C programming, data structures, object-oriented programming in C++, operating systems, networking and the basics of big data and artificial intelligence. Section C covers computer architecture, digital electronics and microprocessors. The courses are described by C-DAC as full-time programmes of about 24 weeks and 1,200 hours, including 300 hours of self-study.

Dates and windows

Everything below the August 2026 batch line is a projection. Exam Cheat Sheets states plainly that C-DAC has not officially announced the February 2027 admission schedule and that its dates are expected timelines based on previous cycles. The authoritative document is the admission booklet C-DAC publishes on its PG Diploma admission page at the start of each cycle.

What this means for your preparation

The decision that shapes a C-CAT result is made at payment, not in the exam hall. Paying Rs 1,550 buys Sections A and B; paying Rs 1,750 buys Sections A, B and C. That choice fixes which diploma courses you can be considered for during seat allocation, and it cannot be revised after the window closes. Candidates who pick the cheaper option and then find their preferred course needs Section C have removed it from their own list.

Negative marking changes the guessing arithmetic

On the reported scheme each correct answer is worth plus 3, each wrong answer minus 1, and an unattempted question zero. A blind guess among four options therefore has an expected value of zero: one correct at plus 3 against three wrong at minus 1. Guessing only pays once you can eliminate at least one option, at which point the expected value turns positive. With 50 questions per section and one hour per section, that is about seventy seconds per question, which is enough time to eliminate on most items but not enough to derive from first principles. The discipline that raises scores is recognising within twenty seconds whether an item is eliminable, and abandoning it cleanly if it is not.

Section A is the common denominator

Every candidate sits Section A, which covers English, quantitative aptitude, reasoning, computer fundamentals and programming concepts. Because it is common to all categories, it is also where the rank distribution is tightest and where a few marks move you past a large number of people. It is the cheapest section to improve, since aptitude and English respond to timed practice rather than to new subject knowledge. Candidates from a computer science background routinely under-prepare it, assuming their technical sections will carry them, and then lose places to candidates who treated Section A as a scoring opportunity rather than a warm-up.

Section C decides the hardware courses

Section C covers computer architecture, digital electronics and microprocessors, and it is the section that opens C-DAC's embedded and hardware-leaning diplomas rather than the pure software ones. Candidates from electronics, telecommunications, electrical and instrumentation backgrounds are usually better placed here than computer science graduates, and paying the extra two hundred rupees widens their option list considerably at almost no cost. The reverse also holds: a computer science graduate with no digital electronics since second year should be honest about whether adding Section C improves the outcome or simply adds a third hour in which marks can be lost.

The cycle is short and unforgiving

In the August 2026 cycle, registration opened on 26 May, closed on 23 June, the exam ran on 4 and 5 July and the batch started on 24 August. That is under three months from the opening of applications to the first day of class, with roughly a fortnight between the exam and the result. There is no second chance inside a cycle. If you miss the registration close you wait roughly five months for the next window. Anyone targeting a specific batch should have eligibility documents and degree percentages verified before the window opens, because the window itself is about four weeks.

Seat allocation is a separate exercise

Clearing C-CAT produces a rank card, not a seat. Preferences for course and training centre are submitted through C-DAC's counselling and seat allocation login after results, and allocation runs on rank against declared capacity at each centre. The practical implication is that course choice and centre choice interact: a moderate rank may secure a popular course at a less-subscribed centre, or a less-subscribed course at a preferred centre, but rarely both. Decide in advance which of the two matters more to you, and order preferences accordingly, rather than filling the list by reputation alone on the day.

Common questions

Is C-CAT registration open right now?

No. The August 2026 cycle closed on 23 June 2026, that exam was held on 4 and 5 July 2026 and the batch began on 24 August 2026. C-DAC had not announced the February 2027 admission schedule as of 22 September 2026. Exam Cheat Sheets projects registration opening in late November 2026 with the exam in the second weekend of January 2027, and labels those as expected dates based on previous cycles rather than announced ones. Watch C-DAC's PG Diploma admission page for the booklet.

How many times a year is C-CAT held?

Twice. The two cycles feed C-DAC's February and August postgraduate diploma batches. In the most recent pair, the exam for the February 2026 batch was held on 10 and 11 January 2026 following registration from 27 November to 29 December 2025, and the exam for the August 2026 batch was held on 4 and 5 July 2026 following registration from 26 May to 23 June 2026. The batches themselves began on 25 February 2026 and 24 August 2026.

What is the C-CAT exam pattern and marking scheme?

As reported by Aglasem, C-CAT is a computer-based test with three sections, A, B and C, each containing 50 multiple-choice questions and running for one hour. Category II candidates attempt Sections A and B; Category III candidates attempt all three. Scoring is plus 3 for each correct answer, minus 1 for each wrong answer and zero for an unattempted question. Because a blind four-way guess has an expected value of zero, guessing only pays after eliminating at least one option.

How much does C-CAT cost and what does the fee buy?

Rs 1,550 covers Sections A and B and Rs 1,750 covers Sections A, B and C, the same figures reported for both the February 2026 and August 2026 cycles. The choice is not really about cost. The sections you sit determine which diploma courses you can be considered for at seat allocation, and the hardware-leaning programmes depend on Section C, which covers computer architecture, digital electronics and microprocessors. The two hundred rupee difference buys a materially wider option list.

Who is eligible for C-DAC's PG diploma courses?

Careers360 reports the requirement as a bachelor's degree in engineering or technology in information technology, computer science, electronics, telecommunications, electrical or instrumentation with a minimum of 55 per cent aggregate marks, and states that there is no age restriction. C-DAC describes the postgraduate programmes as full-time courses of about 24 weeks totalling 1,200 hours, of which 300 hours are self-study. Confirm the exact eligibility wording in the admission booklet for your cycle, since branch lists have varied between cycles in the past.

Which courses does C-CAT lead to?

Admission is to C-DAC's own postgraduate diploma programmes delivered at its training centres across India. Aglasem lists PG-DAC, PG-DBDA, PG-DITISS, PG-DESD, PG-DVLSI, PG-DIoT, PG-DAI and PG-DCSF. Allocation of both course and centre is handled after the result through C-DAC's counselling and seat allocation login, on the basis of rank and the preferences you submit. A rank card by itself does not carry a seat, and preference order interacts with centre capacity, so it is worth planning before the counselling window opens.