CAT Score vs Percentile 2024 (Latest): Sectional & Overall Analysis
Common Admission Test 2025 ( CAT )
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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 2024 - CAT result is released in percentile and MBA colleges also consider CAT percentile for MBA admission. Thus, it is very natural to ask "what is CAT percentile?", "what is he 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. MBA aspirants preparing for CAT 2025, must understand this key criteria of selection. Read this blog to understand what is the difference between CAT score and CAT percentile.
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- CAT 2024 Score vs Percentile Calculation
- CAT Score Vs Percentile: What is CAT Percentile?
- CAT Score Vs Percentile: What is CAT Scaled Score?
- CAT 2024 Score Vs Percentile
- CAT Score Vs Percentile 2025: What is Normalisation of CAT score?
- CAT 2025 Score Vs Percentile: How is Overall CAT Percentile Calculated?
- CAT Score Vs Percentile: CAT Composite Score Calculation
CAT 2024 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 confusion, let’s understand it in detail with the example of CAT 2024:
- The CAT 2024 question paper had 68 questions from Quantitative Ability (24), Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (22) and Logical Reasoning and Data Interpretation (20).
- The total marks of CAT exam 2024 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.
cat_percentile_Score_Calculation_2024
CAT Score 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.
CAT Score Vs Percentile: 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.
Also Read:
CAT 2024 Score Vs Percentile
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 |
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.
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| 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 |
CAT Score Vs Percentile 2025: 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
CAT 2025 Score Vs Percentile: 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:
- Colleges accepting CAT scores range 50-60 percentile
- Colleges accepting CAT scores range 60-70 percentile
- Colleges accepting CAT scores range 70-80 percentile
- Colleges accepting CAT scores above 85 percentile
- Colleges accepting CAT scores range 80-90 percentile
CAT Score Vs Percentile: 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 2024 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.
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Composite score calculation formula
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 |
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.
| CAT Toppers | Gender and Discipline | State |
|---|---|---|
| 100 percentiles 14 - Nos | Female - 1 Male - 13 Engg – 13 Non-Engg – 1 | Andhra Pradesh 1 Delhi 2 Haryana 1 Kerala 1 Maharashtra 5 Odisha 1 Rajasthan 1 Telangana 2 |
| 99.99 percentiles 29 -Nos. | Female - 2 Male - 27 Engg – 25 Non-Engg - 4 | Chandigarh 1 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 |
| 99.98 percentiles 30-Nos | Female - 1 Male - 29 Engg – 20 Non-Engg -10 | Bihar 1 Delhi 2 Gujarat 2 Haryana 4 Karnataka 4 Madhya Pradesh 3 Maharashtra 3 Tamil Nadu 2 Telangana 3 Uttar Pradesh 2 West Bengal 4 |
Yes, it is possible to score 99.99 percentile in CAT in first attempt. Many candidates have scored 99.99 percentile in their first attempt in previously. But for that one needs to have a preparation strategy which is comprehensive and covers all the aspects of CAT. Apart from covering CAT syllabus through books and sample papers, one need constant guidance and study sessions with mentors and subject matter experts to develop deep understanding and capability to crack any type of question.
Check the table below for CAT cut offs for IITs, on the basis of which candidates are selected for their MBA programmes:
IIT | CAT Cut Offs |
|---|---|
IIT Delhi | 98 percentile |
97percentile | |
IIT Bombay | 98.5 percentile |
IIT Kharagpur | 90 percentile |
IIT Roorkee | 94.6 percentile |
IIT Madras | 96 percentile |
IIT Kanpur | 95 percentile |
IIT-ISM Dhanbad | 80 percentile |
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