CAT Exam 2026: Dates, Notification (Soon), Question Papers

There is no age limit to appear for CAT. Any graduate or working professional can appear in the exam.

IM selection criteria includes Written Ability Test (WAT) and Personal Interview (PI). Academic record and work experience are also taken into consideration for final selection.

No, the students who don't make it to the IIM shortlist of a particular year, they will not be considered for admission. Such candidates can appear for CAT again the next year and try for admission. If a candidate doesn't make it to the first shortlist, they can wait for the second shortlist to release in which they might be selected.

CAT question papers are released within a week of the exam in the form of a PDF as a response sheet and answer key. Response sheet hosts CAT exam questions and answers.

Yes, six months are enough to prepare for CAT exam, if you can dedicate 8-10 hours to it daily. In the first three months complete the syllabus. In the last three months practice mock tests and do revision.

IIM shortlist is prepared on the basis of CAT cut off, class 10 score, class 12 score, graduation score, work experience (if any). To encourage diversity in the classroom the IIMs award extra points to female and transgender candidates at the time of shortlisting as well as final selection.

IIM CAP is a common selection process for newer Iims. Under the CAP candidates eligible for admission to the nine new Iims - IIM Bodhgaya, IIM Kashipur, IIM Sambalpur, IIM Sirmaur, IIM Jammu, IIM Ranchi, IIM Trichy and IIM Udaipur are shortlisted for What-PI round by a single IIM, the one who is given the responsibility to conduct the CAP round in a particular academic year. CAT cut offs, admission parameters and their weightage are same for all CAP Iims. The participating Iims send the list of candidates shortlisted by them for the What-PI process to the institute conducting CAP. The CAP conducting IIM conducts the What-PI round for all the participating Iims. The IIM CAP conducting institute then share the What-PI scores and results of the candidates with the participating institutes. Those institutes then prepare the final shortlist for admission. Those who are selected for admission are informed by the Iims via email. The offer of admission is sent to selected candidates which they have to accept within the given time limit. For more details of IIM CAP, read this article: https://www.shiksha.com/mba/articles/what-is-iim-cap-know-admission-process-selection-criteria-and-participating-institutes-blogId-51225.

To get 99 percentile and above, candidates must attempt 40-45 out of 68 questions in CAT, with maximum accuracy.  

Yes, the CAT accepting MBA colleges conduct either GD/PI or WAT/PI. Since MBA is a professional course about business and team management, personality assessment round is essential to ensure that the aspirant has the flair for management which can be polished during the programme. Communication skills, problem solving ability, management and leadership are essential qualities for MBA thus, every B-School conducts GD/PI or WAT/PI.

CAT score is a national level test and is not accepted by B-Schools outside India. For pursuing MBA in foreign countries GMAT score is accepted. Indian B-Schools accept GMAT score for admitting foreign/NRI/PIO students.

CAT is also accepted for Executive MBA, PhD, FPM and other such management programmes in top colleges in India. Similarly, GMAT is also accepted for admission to domestic students in to Executive MBA and such programmes.

CAT has 68 questions. Each question carries three marks. There is negative marking of minus one for incorrect attempts. There is no deduction of marks for unanswered questions. Total marks in 204.

Generally, the official mock tests are available on the official website of CAT which is https./iimcat.ac.in. The examination is conducted by Indian Institutes of Management. Check out the below steps to know how get official CAT mock tests online:

• Aspirants are requested to visit the official website of CAT (https./iimcat.ac.in)
• Login in through the CAT credentials.
• Click on the "mock test" button on the left side of screen. 
• Official CAT mock test is available for practise to candidates who have registered for exam.
• After that, the screen will display the instructions.
• After reading the instructions carefully, click on 'I am ready to begin' tab and start writing the exam.

Please keep checking the official website of CAT to have up-to-date information. 

There are over 170 cities where CAT exam is held. These 170 cities are spread across India consist of metropolitan cities, capital cities, Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. Candidate can select up to five cities for allotment of test centre. The process of test city selection is a part of CAT application process. In the CAT application form, there is a field in which candidates have to select the cities. They need to select the city of preference in order of 1 to 5. The examination authorities will try to allot the test centre in the city of first preference. Thus, candidates must fill all the five cities carefully. They must choose their home city of city of current residence as the first preference. The test city option can only be changed during the form correction window. After that, the request for change of the city will not be accepted by the exam authorities.

The candidates can check their admission status in IIM shortlist of each institute on their respective websites. The IIMs releases their shortlist on different days in the month of January. Once the shortlist is announced, candidates can check their status on the institute's website by using their CAT login ID. Such candidates can fill the PI form for participating in the WAT-PI round. If shortlisted, they are invited by the institute via email.

CAT cutoffs are usually not announced with the CAT result. The CAT cutoffs are also not released to the public.

They are published after a few days of the result announcement when the IIMs and other colleges start their shortlisting process. The IIMs opens their shortlisting window based on the CAT cut-offs two to three days after the result announcement. The CAT percentile of candidates shortlisted for the Written Ability Test (WAT), Group Discussion (GD), and Personal Interview (PI) can be considered the cut-off for that IIM. For example, if a candidate with a CAT percentile of 99 belonging to the General category is selected for the WAT/GD-PI of IIM Calcutta, then the CAT cut-off for IIM Calcutta is 99 percentile. Only those candidates who make it to the WAT/GD-PI round of IIMs will get to know the cut-offs.

The CAT examination body allows candidates to challenge the official answer key. In case a candidate feels any answer shared by the examination body is incorrect, they can challenge it by filling an objection form which is released on the same day as release of the CAT answer key and candidate response sheet. The candidates can fill the objection form by using their CAT login ID and password. Check below: 1. Visit the official website of CAT exam 2. Click on 'Login' 3. Enter CAT login ID and password to sign in 4. Go to 'Objection' tab 5. Click on plus sign to add an objection 6. Check the question number from the PDF of the question paper 7. Enter relevant details 8. Upload supporting document 9. Pay objection fee through credit/debit card or net banking The objection fee is INR 1,200 per objection. Candidates can raise any number of objections. The CAT answer key objection fee will be refunded to only those candidates whose objections will be accepted. Objections that have been submitted once cannot be edited.

In the last month of CAT preparation, focus on revision with sample papers, previous years' question papers and practice sessions.