Common Admission Test 2025 ( CAT )
Exam On - 30 Nov '25
CAT cut offs for General, OBC, ST, ST categories are different. While the CAT cut off percentiles for General and NC-OBC candidates are higher, for SC and ST categories, it is low. Check here CAT 2023 cut off for General, OBC, ST, ST categories.
CAT 2023 cut offs
CAT 2024 aspirants must prepare and perform keeping in mind the previous years’ IIM cut offs for MBA admission. The CAT cut offs are minimum percentile required to be selected for the Personal Interview (PI) and Written Ability Test (WAT) round of the IIMs. The institutes release, CAT cut offs for PI shortlisting, every year. The CAT 2024 cut offs will be released after the CAT 2024 result announcement. Aspirants can check here CAT 2023 cut off for General, OBC, ST, ST categories to know the expected percentile for the upcoming admission season.
Sectional cut-off in the CAT exam refers to the section-wise percentiles required by the candidate to make it to the Personal Interview round of the IIMs or other top MBA colleges. The sectional cut-offs are lower than the overall cut-offs of any institute. To understand better, check the table below for sectional CAT cut-offs for IIM Ahmedabad:
Category | VARC percentile | DILR percentile | QA percentile | Overall percentile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
General | 70 | 70 | 70 | 80 |
NC-OBC-Transgender | 65 | 65 | 65 | 75 |
SC | 60 | 60 | 60 | 70 |
ST | 50 | 50 | 50 | 60 |
PwD (General, NC-OBC-cum-transgender, SC) | 60 | 60 | 60 | 70 |
PwD (ST) | 50 | 50 | 50 | 60 |
For sectional cut-offs of all IIMs, check this article – IIM shortlist and selection criteria
CAT cut-offs are not announced along with the CAT result. The cut-offs are also not released publicly. They are known after a few days of the result announcement when the IIMs and other colleges start their shortlisting process. The IIMs will open the shortlist 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.
Check below the table for category wise CAT 2023 cut offs for IIMs. These are qualifying CAT cut offs for PI shortlisting. The final CAT 2023 cut offs were higher.
| Category wise CAT 2023 Cut Offs (Qualifying) |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IIM |
General |
NC-OBC |
SC |
(ST |
PwD |
| 80 |
75 |
70 |
60 |
60 |
|
| 85 |
75 |
70 |
65 |
60 |
|
| 85 |
75 |
70 |
65 |
55 |
|
| 90 |
82 |
65 |
60 |
60 |
|
| 90 |
80 |
80 |
45 |
45 |
|
| 85 |
75 |
65 |
55 |
55 |
|
| 90 |
80 |
55 |
40 |
40 |
|
| 94 |
77 |
60 |
40 |
40 |
|
| 94 |
77 |
60 |
40 |
40 |
|
| 94 |
77 |
60 |
40 |
40 |
|
| 94 |
77 |
60 |
40 |
40 |
|
| 92 |
74 |
54 |
40 |
40 |
|
| 94 |
77 |
60 |
40 |
40 |
|
| 82 |
72 |
50 |
40 |
40 |
|
| 94 |
77 |
60 |
40 |
40 |
|
| 94 |
77 |
60 |
40 |
40 |
|
| 75 |
75 |
60 |
50 |
50 |
|
| 94 |
77 |
60 |
40 |
40 |
|
| 95 |
78 |
55 |
30 |
30 |
|
| 94 |
77 |
60 |
40 |
40 |
|
| 85 |
75 |
70 |
65 |
55 |
|
MBA aspirants must know that the IIMs and other B-Schools consider CAT percentile for shortlisting candidates. They do not look at the CAT raw or scaled score. The CAT result is also prepared in percentile. However, the marking is done in terms of scores. So, to arrive at CAT cut offs, the CAT scores are converted into CAT percentile.
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Check below the table for CAT 2023 cut off percentiles, derived from calculation of CAT scaled score.
| CAT Percentile
|
CAT Scaled Score |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VARC |
DILR |
QA |
Overall |
|
| 100 |
61 |
50 |
50 |
143 |
| 99.99 |
58 |
42 |
44 |
120 |
| 99.50 |
44 |
31 |
29 |
85 |
| 99.00 |
40 |
28 |
26 |
77 |
| 97.00 |
33 |
22 |
23 |
63 |
| 95.00 |
29 |
19 |
18 |
55 |
| 90.00 |
24 |
16 |
14 |
46 |
| 85.00 |
21 |
14 |
12 |
34 |
| 80.00 |
18 |
12 |
10 |
40 |
| 70.00 |
13 |
8 |
7 |
32 |
CAT percentile is a candidate's performance against all the test takers. The CAT scorecard has sectional and overall percentiles mentioned on it. This is how, CAT percentile is calculated, which is then used to determine CAT cut offs for MBA admission.
P = (R/N) × 100
where,
P= Percentile score
R= Rank of the candidate arrived at on the basis of scaled CAT score or the total number of test takers ranking below a particular candidate.
N= Number of candidates who appeared in CAT exam (all three sessions)
Yes, it is possible to score 99.99 percentile in CAT in first attempt. Many toppers of previous years' are such candidates. One must study in a focussed manner and do a lot of mock test practice. Exam day strategy is also crucial for better performance.
On an average, about 10-15 CAT aspirants score 100 percentile. Given below is the data of CAT 100 percentilers of last 3 years:
Exam year | CAT 100 percentilers | State wise numbers |
|---|---|---|
CAT 2024 | 14 | 1- Andhra Pradesh |
CAT 2023 | 14 | 1 – Andhra Pradesh |
CAT 2022 | 11 | 2 - Delhi 1 - Gujarat 1 - Haryana 1 - Kerala 1 - Madhya Pradesh 2 - Maharashtra 2 - Telangana 1 - Uttar Pradesh |
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Anything you would want to ask experts?Answered 2 days ago
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Application Procedure Step 1: Access the Admissions Portal
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14 candidates have scored 100 percentile in CAT 2024, out of a total of 2.93 Lacs candidates. Out of 14 toppers, 1 is a woman candidate. Check below CAT 2024 result data:
Check the below table for data and statistics of CAT 2024 test takers and toppers.
Discipline
percentiles 14 - Nos
Male - 13
Engg – 13
Non-Engg – 1
Delhi 2
Haryana 1
Kerala 1
Maharashtra 5
Odisha 1
Rajasthan 1
Telangana 2
percentiles 29 -Nos.
Male - 27
Engg – 25
Non-Engg - 4
Delhi 4
Gujarat 2
Haryana 1
Karnataka 3
Kerala 1
Madhya Pradesh 1
Maharashtra 5
Odisha 1
Punjab 1
Rajasthan 3
Tamil Nadu 1
Telangana 1
Uttar Pradesh1
Uttarakhand 1
West Bengal 2
percentiles 30-Nos
Male - 29
Engg – 20
Non-Engg -10
Delhi 2
Gujarat 2
Haryana 4
Karnataka 4
Madhya Pradesh 3
Maharashtra 3
Tamil Nadu 2
Telangana 3
Uttar Pradesh 2
West Bengal 4