CAT Score vs Percentile 2025 (Expected): Overall & Section-wise Analysis
Common Admission Test 2026 ( CAT )
Registration - To be notified
What is the difference between CAT score and Percentile? How much CAT score will fetch you 99 percentile? Why do B-Schools consider CAT percentile for candidate shortlisting? As you prepare for MBA admission through CAT 2025 exam, read below all about CAT Score vs Percentile.
Check Detailed score vs percentile analysis for CAT exam
CAT Score vs Percentile 2025 - CAT result 2025 will be released in percentile and selection for admission will also be based on the same. Thus, it is very natural to ask "what is CAT percentile?", "what is the difference between CAT score and CAT percentile?" and "which of the two is more important? "The answer: CAT score is the total marks obtained by a candidate in the exam and CAT percentile is a relative score/rank.
CAT score and CAT percentile are equally important as they both are directly responsible for a candidate's selection for MBA admission. CAT exam percentile matters a lot in the screening of candidates for the first round of IIM admission, i.e. Written Ability Test and Personal Interview (WAT-PI). And the basis of CAT percentile calculation is the CAT score. Candidates can calculate their score with the help of CAT 2025 answer key. Once the CAT 2025 result will be declared they will finally know the actual score. Read this blog to understand what is the difference between CAT score and CAT percentile.
Latest: CAT 2025 result date and final answer key soon- live updates
- CAT 2025 Score vs Percentile Calculation
- What is CAT Percentile?
- What is CAT Scaled Score?
- CAT Score vs Percentile 2025 (Expected)
- What is Normalisation of CAT score?
- How is Overall CAT Percentile Calculated?
- CAT Score vs Percentile 2025: CAT Composite Score Calculation
- CAT 2024 Score Vs Percentile (Overall)
- CAT score vs percentile 2023 (Overall)
CAT 2025 Score vs Percentile Calculation
As mentioned earlier, CAT percentile is a measure of obtaining relative score by categorizing a candidate on the basis of their performance compared to other candidates. This relative score is arrived at by analyzing marks scored by them in the CAT exam along with a few other parameters. CAT result cum scorecard contains candidate's score as well as percentile.
So, how to calculate the CAT score and CAT percentile? In order to clear the CAT marks vs percentile 2025 confusion, let’s understand it in detail with the example of CAT 2025:
- The CAT 2025 question paper had 68 questions from Quantitative Ability (22), Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (24) and Logical Reasoning and Data Interpretation (22).
- The total marks of CAT exam was 204. Every question carried 3 marks for correct attempt and every MCQ carried -1 mark for incorrect attempt.
- There was no negative marking for unanswered questions and non-MCQs.
- The sectional scores are summed up and sorted to arrive at the total CAT score.
Watch video to understand CAT Marks 2025 vs Percentile
What is CAT Percentile?
The CAT percentile is referred to as the total percentage of candidates who scored less than or equal to a particular candidate in the exam. For example, if a candidate’s CAT percentile is 99, it means his/her performance was better than 99 per cent of the total CAT test takers that year. Or one can say, candidates scoring above 90 percentile would be the top 10 per cent of the students that year.
Let's understand CAT percentile calculation with an example: Suppose,1,000 people take an exam and you bag the top rank, which means 999 candidates scored less than you. Then your CAT percentile will be 999/1000*100 = 99.9.
Therefore, CAT percentile does not refer to the actual performance in the CAT exam. It refers to a particular candidate’s performance in comparison to all the test takers.
Check and calculate CAT marks vs percentile 2025 by formula shared in this article below.
What is CAT Scaled Score?
CAT exam is held in three sessions. The question papers of all CAT sessions are slightly different from each other and to ensure fairness and equity in comparison of performances, a scaled score is calculated through normalization process. A formula is applied for CAT score normalization. This scaled CAT score might be more or less than the raw score. CAT 2025 will also follow the same pattern of the three slots with different test forms.
Also Read:
- How Scaled CAT Score will be Calculated for Three Slots?
- 100 percentile in CAT? What does it mean
- CAT 2025 exam analysis and expected score
CAT Score vs Percentile 2025 (Expected)
CAT 2025 was conducted by IIM Kozhikode and the paper was easier than last year. Shared below is an estimation of CAT marks vs percentile 2025.
| Percentile |
VARC Score |
DILR Score |
QA Score |
Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 99.9 |
51 |
46 |
48 |
122 |
| 99.5 |
44 |
39 |
40 |
103 |
| 99 |
40 |
34 |
33 |
90 |
| 98 |
34 |
31 |
30 |
81 |
| 95 |
30 |
26 |
25 |
70 |
| 90 |
23 |
19 |
18 |
53 |
| 85 |
19 |
15 |
16 |
45 |
| 80 |
17 |
13 |
14 |
40 |
| 75 |
15 |
11 |
12 |
34 |
What is Normalisation of CAT score?
CAT normalisation process is based on GATE scoring, where the normalisation is based on the assumption that distribution of abilities of candidates is the same across all the sessions. The calculations are based on statistic equations. GATE normalisation takes into account all the variations in the difficulty levels of the question papers across different session.
Also Read:
Understanding CAT normalisation process
100 percentile in CAT: Know what it means
How CAT scaled score will be calculated for three slots
How is Overall CAT Percentile Calculated?
The CAT percentile is mapped against scaled score of each of the three sections and overall scaled score. All these six measurements are taken into account for reporting purpose, i.e. each candidate’s CAT result-cum-scorecard will contain section wise and overall scaled scores and percentiles.
CAT result cum scorecard
It must be noted that even though CAT percentile is a popular terms and indicates the candidate’s performance compared to the rest, it is the CAT score (scaled) which is used for the calculation of composite score for shortlisting candidates for WAT-PI round of IIMs.
Also Read:
CAT Score vs Percentile 2025: CAT Composite Score Calculation
The composite score of each candidate is arrived at by calculating their score on the basis of some parameters. The parameters for CAT 2025 score and percentile calculation will include:
- CAT score (scaled)
- Class 12 marks
- Class 10 marks
- Graduation score
- Work Experience
- Diversity (Gender)
- Diversity (Academic)
Given below is the formula of calculating CAT Composite Score used by the IIMs.
Composite score calculation formula
CAT 2024 Score Vs Percentile (Overall)
Take a look at the table below to understand how much CAT score will fetch how much CAT percentile as estimated by IMS experts. These are slot wise CAT 2024 marks vs percentile for various ranges, basis the number of questions.
| CAT Percentile |
VARC score |
DILR score |
QA score |
Overall score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 %ile |
59 |
63 |
57 |
151 |
| 99.9 %ile |
48 |
36 |
40 |
102 |
| 99 %ile |
41 |
38 |
33 |
96 |
| 98 %ile |
36 |
34 |
29 |
85 |
| 95 %ile |
30 |
27 |
22 |
70 |
| 90 %ile |
24 |
22 |
17 |
57 |
| 85 %ile |
20 |
19 |
14 |
49 |
| 80 %ile |
18 |
17 |
11 |
43 |
*The above figures are estimation and not actual representation.
Also Read:
CAT score vs percentile 2024: VARC
Check the table below for an estimation of how much CAT VARC score will convert into VARC percentile.
| VARC score |
CAT Percentile (estimated) |
|---|---|
| 59.00 |
100.00 |
| 41.00 |
99.00 |
| 36.00 |
98.00 |
| 30.00 |
95.00 |
| 24.00 |
90.00 |
| 20.00 |
85.00 |
| 18.00 |
80.00 |
Explore colleges based on CAT
Want better recommendations?
There is a 90% more chance of getting best college recommendations by sharing preferences.
- Chat with our counselor
- Get your personalised list of colleges & exams matching your preferences
CAT score vs percentile 2024: DILR
Check the table below for an estimation of how much CAT DILR score will convert into DILR percentile.
| DILR score |
CAT Percentile (estimated) |
|---|---|
| 63.00 |
100.00 |
| 38.00 |
99.00 |
| 34.00 |
98.00 |
| 27.00 |
95.00 |
| 22.00 |
90.00 |
| 19.00 |
85.00 |
| 18.00 |
80.00 |
CAT score vs percentile 2024: Quantitative Aptitude
Check the table below for an estimation of how much CAT Quant score will convert into Quant percentile.
| QA score |
CAT Percentile (estimated) |
|---|---|
| 57.00 |
100.00 |
| 33.00 |
99.00 |
| 29.00 |
98.00 |
| 22.00 |
95.00 |
| 17.00 |
90.00 |
| 14.00 |
85.00 |
| 11.00 |
80.00 |
Also read:
- CAT 2025 slot 1 answer key PDF question paper analysis
- CAT 2025 slot 2 answer key PDF question paper analysis
- CAT 2025 slot 3 answer key PDF question paper analysis
- CAT 2025 analysis and expected cut offs by CATKing
- CAT 2025 response sheet and answer key PDF download
- CAT 2025 question paper PDF download slot 1, 2 and 3
- CAT 2025 review and student reactions
- CAT 2025 exam analysis slot 1, 2 and 3 by Career Launcher
- CAT 2025 exam analysis by TIME (slot 1, 2 and 3)
- IMS CAT paper analysis slot 1, 2 and 3 (DILR, VARC, QA)
CAT score vs percentile 2023 (Overall)
Check the table below for CAT marks vs percentile comparison for 2023.
| CAT Percentile |
Overall Score |
|---|---|
| 99.5 %ile |
104 |
| 99 %ile |
97 |
| 98 %ile |
86 |
| 95%ile |
72 |
| 90%ile |
59 |
| 85%ile |
52 |
| 80%ile |
44 |
CAT marks vs percentile 2023: VARC
Check the table below for CAT marks vs percentile 2023 comparison for VARC.
| CAT Percentile |
VARC Score |
|---|---|
| 99.5 %ile |
45 |
| 99 %ile |
41 |
| 98 %ile |
37 |
| 95%ile |
32 |
| 90%ile |
27 |
| 85%ile |
23 |
| 80%ile |
21 |
CAT marks vs percentile 2023: DILR
Check the table below for CAT marks vs percentile 2023 comparison for DILR.
| CAT Percentile |
DILR Score |
|---|---|
| 99.5 %ile |
33 |
| 99 %ile |
29 |
| 98 %ile |
26 |
| 95%ile |
21 |
| 90%ile |
17 |
| 85%ile |
15 |
| 80%ile |
13 |
CAT marks vs percentile 2023: Quantitative Aptitude
Check the table below for CAT marks vs percentile 2023 comparison for Quantitative Aptitude.
| CAT Percentile |
QA Score |
|---|---|
| 99.5 %ile |
48 |
| 99 %ile |
42 |
| 98 %ile |
37 |
| 95%ile |
28 |
| 90%ile |
23 |
| 85%ile |
19 |
| 80%ile |
16 |
Check CAT cutoffs and predict calls from IIMs and other Top MBA Colleges, whether your CAT score is 70 percentile, 80 percentile or 90 percentile. Check Fees, Placement Reviews, Admission, Shortlist Criteria and eligibility of all MBA Colleges by clicking the link below:
Predict IIM & Non IIM CallsExplore more MBA exams with upcoming dates
18 Feb '26
23 Feb '26
28 Feb '26
3 Mar '26
18 Feb '26
10 Jan '26 - 20 Feb '26
20 Feb '26
CAT cut offs do not flutuate much. For the past few years, the CAT exam cut offs for IIMs or other top colleges have not seen much change. If there is any change at all, it is in decimals. However, that decimal point too can make or mar admission chances. CAT cut offs for 2026 admission will largely remain the same as the CAT 2025 exam difficulty level was same as last year and number of takers dipped from last year.
Minimum qualifying cut off for IIM Ahmedabad is 95 percentile whereas for IIM Bangalore and IIM Calcutta, it is 85. However final cut offs for these three top IIMs are between 99 to 100 percentile.
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.
Vipra Shrivastava is MA in English Literature from Delhi University with extensive experience in content writing of over 14 years. She has been handling content for Management, Accounting and Commerce streams for 8
Read Full BioNews & Updates
Explore Other Exams
29 Jan '26 | XAT 2026 Cut Offs Release |
16 Jan '26 | XAT 2026 result |
9 Jan '26 | SNAP 2025 result announcement |
20 Dec '25 | SNAP 2025 session 3 |
Aug '26 | NMAT 2026 Registration Window |
Aug '26 | NMAT 2026 Scheduling Window |
17 Oct '24 - 5 Dec '24 | IIFT 2025 registration and app... |
23 Feb '26 | MAT Feb 2026 PBT Registration ... |
26 Feb '26 | MAT Feb 2026 PBT admit card |
Jul '26 | IBSAT 2026 Registration |
27 Dec '26 - 28 Dec '26 | IBSAT 2026 Exam Date |
17 Feb '26 | CMAT 2026 result |
31 Jan '26 - 2 Feb '26 | CMAT 2026 exam answer key obje... |
10 Jan '26 - 20 Feb '26 | MAH MBA CET 2026 registration |
7 Apr '26 - 8 Apr '26 | MAH MBA CET 2026 exam |
Feb '26 | TANCET registration window |
Mar '26 | TANCET admit card download |
Mar '25 | IRMASAT 2025 Final Result Anno... |
Feb '25 | IRMASAT Personal Interviews |
Student Forum
Anything you would want to ask experts?Answered 22 hours ago
NMIMS does not accept scores of the CAT exam for admission in its MBA courses. Even if you have a good percentile in CAT, you have to qualify the eligibility criteria for NMIMS MBA as well as take the NMAT exam. NMAT exam is a national level exam conducted by GMAC as an entrance exam for admission i
S
Contributor-Level 9
Answered 22 hours ago
PIBM Pune provides opportunities to students to enrol to MBA and PGDM programs even with low CAT scores based on the profile and interview performance of the student. We conduct our internal assessment test called PMAT, in which students are required to score a minimum of 50% to qualify for the GD a
K
Beginner-Level 4
Answered Yesterday
CAT and ATMA are both MBA entrance exams. But, historically, the difficulty level of CAT exam is higher as compared to that of ATMA exam.
A
Contributor-Level 6
Answered Yesterday
IIM Calcutta offers a large diversity of courses to students in Management field. IIM Calcutta admissions are held on the basis of entrance tests. Students seeking course admissions must clear their previous qualifying examination and appear for any of the prescribed entrance exams such as CAT, amon
U
Contributor-Level 10
Answered Yesterday
CAT DILR preparation is completely based on practice papers and mock tests. You should obtain recommended CAT DILR sample papers and mock test series. Make sure to cover all types of question. Also practice DILR questions of past year with the help of CAT question papers.
M
Contributor-Level 6
Answered Yesterday
Yes, you can crack CAT through self study but it will require a lot of discipline and consistency on daily basis. You will need the most recommended books, best mock test series and online practice sessions. Join YouTube channels for online tutorial. Give yourself 9 months and study for 8 hours dail
Contributor-Level 10
Answered Yesterday
While it is advised to dedicate at least 9 months to CAT preparation, six months of dedicated study can also help you crack the exam. You will need daily, weekly and monthly plan for syllabus coverage. Practice a good number of mock tests and study for about 8 hours daily.
N
Contributor-Level 6
Answered Yesterday
Overall difficulty level of CAT exam has always been moderate to high. CAT is of higher difficulty level than all other MBA entrance exams in India.
P
Contributor-Level 6
Answered Yesterday
As per the latest CAT exam pattern, there will be 68 questions. The format will be MCQ and non-MCQ. VARC will have 24 questions, DILR will have 22 questions and QA will have 22 questions. Each question will carry 3 marks and there will be negative marking of -1 for incorrect answer. Sectional time l
J
Contributor-Level 6
Answered Yesterday
While it is not mandatory to attempt all sections in CAT, the IIMs and all top B School consider sectional percentiles too for selecting candidates for admission. Thus, you cannot afford to skip a CAT section all together. You can skip some questions though.
S
Contributor-Level 6
The CAT cut offs for IIM Bangalore hovers between 97-100 percentile. The qualifying CAT cut off required for being eligible for IIM Bangalore's Written Ability test (What) and Personal Interview PI is 85 percentile for General category students, whereas for SC candidates, it is 70 percentile. For ST candidates, it is 65 percentile and for PwD candidates it is 60 percentile. Given below are the sectional and overall qualifying CAT cut offs for IIM Bangalore.