CAT Score vs Percentile 2026: Overall & Section-wise Analysis
Common Admission Test 2026 ( CAT )
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CAT percentile is the most important factor that determines your career path. But how is it achieve and waht 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 2026 exam, read below all about CAT Score vs Percentile.
Check Detailed score vs percentile analysis for CAT exam
CAT score vs percentile: Candidates preparing for the CAT exam must understand how CAT percentile is calculated. It is important to know in the early phase of preparation, because it is directly related to your study plan. CAT preparation strategy should be based on three things – your target college, its admission cut off and your ability to score that much.
It is not about scoring in a certain range, it is about whether a particular score will put you in the desired percentile range bracket. Thus, you must understand the CAT score vs percentile formula now.
So, what is CAT percentile? and what is the difference between CAT score and CAT percentile?
The answer: CAT score is the total marks obtained by a candidate in the exam and CAT percentile is a relative score/rank.
Both CAT score and CAT percentile are equally important as higher the score, higher the percentile. CAT percentile plays a very important role in IIM admission. Read this blog to understand the difference between CAT score and CAT percentile.
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- CAT Score vs Percentile Calculation 2026
- What is CAT Percentile?
- What is CAT Scaled Score?
- CAT Score vs Percentile 2026 (Expected)
- What is Normalisation of CAT score?
- How is Overall CAT Percentile Calculated?
- CAT Score vs Percentile 2026: CAT Composite Score Calculation
CAT Score vs Percentile Calculation 2026
As mentioned earlier, CAT percentile is the relative score of a candidate on the basis of their performance compared to other candidates. This relative score is arrived at by evaluating marks scored by them in the CAT exam against a few parameters. So, how to calculate the CAT score and CAT percentile? In order to clear the CAT marks vs percentile 2026 confusion, let’s understand it in detail with an example:
- The CAT question paper has 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 is 204. Every question carries 3 marks for correct attempt and every MCQ carried -1 mark for incorrect attempt.
- There is no negative marking for unanswered questions and non-MCQs.
- The sectional scores are summed up and sorted to arrive at the total CAT score.
What is CAT Percentile?
CAT percentile is referred to as the 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.
An important point to note is that, CAT percentile does not refer to the actual performance in the CAT exam. It refers to a particular candidate’s relatie performance in comparison to all the test takers.
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 2026 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 exam analysis and expected score
CAT Score vs Percentile 2026 (Expected)
CAT 2026 will be conducted by IIM Indore so candidates can expect a moderate paper. This may afftect changes in CAT score vs percentile calculation in comparison to last year. Shared below is an estimation of CAT marks vs percentile 2026.
| 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 |
Check Shiksha CAT Percentile Predictor
Know how much CAT raw score will convert into how much percentile by using Shiksha's free CAT percentile predictor.
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
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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.
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.
CAT Score vs Percentile 2026: 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 2026 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
Also Read:
CAT score vs percentile 2026: 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 2026: 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 |
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CAT score vs percentile 2026: 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 |
Commonly asked questions
CAT cut off is prepared by all accepting colleges individually. There is no one authorized body to do so. Even the IIMs determine their admission cut offs separately.
Also Read:
Commonly asked questions
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.
To get 99 percentile and above, candidates must attempt 40-45 out of 68 questions in CAT, with maximum accuracy.
In CAT 2025, the number of 100 percentilers was 12. Check state wise data:
Overall Percentile | Total | Gender and Discipline | State wise distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
100 | 12 | Female - 2 Male - 10 Engineering - 3 Non-Engineering - 9 | Uttar Pradesh 1 Karnataka 1 Maharashtra 1 Delhi 3 Haryana 2 Gujarat 2 Jharkhand 1 Odisha 1 |
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Commonly asked questions
Qualifying CAT cut off percentiles of Iims for Written Ability Test (What) and Personal Interview PI are listed below. Candidates who MET the qualifying CAT cut off, were eligible for What-PI round. These qualifying CAT cut offs are for General Category. The cut offs for Reserved category students are lower:
- IIM Ahmedabad: 95 percentile
- IIM Bangalore: 85 percentile
- IIM Calcutta: 85 percentile
- IIM Lucknow: 90 percentile
- IIM Kozhikode: 85 percentile
- IIM Indore: 90 percentile
- IIM Udaipur: 93 percentile
- IIM Shillong: 75 percentile
- IIM Trichy: 93 percentile
- IIM Visakhapatnam: 80 percentile
- IIM Rohtak: 95 percentile
- 1IIM Nagpur: 85 percentile
- IIM Jammu: 93 percentile
- IIM Ranchi: 90 percentile
- IIM Sirmaur: 92 percentile
- IIM Bodhgaya: 93 percentile
- IIM Sambalpur: 93 percentile
- IIM Kashipur: 94 percentile
- IIM Raipur: 93 percentile
- IIM Amritsar: 90 percentile
For complete details of IIM selection and admission process read this article: https://www.shiksha.com/mba/articles/iim-shortlist-selection-admission-criteria-blogId-18787.
The general category CAT percentile cutoff at IIM Raipur normally lies between 92 and 95%, though it could differ somewhat depending on the category (OBC, SC, ST) and applicant pool. At somewhat lower percentiles, candidates with a solid academic background and pertinent professional experience may be given consideration. A comprehensive review that takes into account the candidate's performance on the Written Ability Test (WAT), academic background, and personal interview (PI) is required for the ultimate selection. The likelihood of being shortlisted for the following round of the selection process increases with higher scores.
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Student Forum
Anything you would want to ask experts?Answered Yesterday
CAT coaching institutes in Vadodara that offer weekend batches IMS Vadodara, Career Launcher (CL) Baroda and Endeavor Vadodara.
S
Contributor-Level 10
Answered Yesterday
To choose the best CAT Coaching institute in Vadodara, candidates must consider the following points:
- Compare classroom vs. online/hybrid formats
- Success Rate of the centre
- Ask about batch size, number of full-length mocks, recorded sessions/notes
- Final fee structure and refund/installment policy.
S
Contributor-Level 10
Answered Yesterday
The average fee in Vadodara ranges from ₹50,000 to ₹85,000 for offline classroom courses and ₹25,000 to ₹35,000 for online courses.
S
Contributor-Level 10
Answered 2 days ago
CAT coaching institute in Cuttack that offers weekend batches is Career Launcher Cuttack. TIME and Samantaray Academy also offer weekend batches, but candidates need to contact them for more information.
S
Contributor-Level 10
Answered 2 days ago
To choose the best CAT Coaching institute in Cuttack, candidates must consider the following points:
- Compare classroom vs. online/hybrid formats
- Success Rate of the centre
- Ask about batch size, number of full-length mocks, recorded sessions/notes
- Final fee structure and refund/installment policy
S
Contributor-Level 10
Answered 2 days ago
The average fee ranges in Cuttack from ₹50,000 to ₹85,000 for offline classroom courses and ₹25,000 to ₹45,000 for online courses.
S
Contributor-Level 10
Answered 4 days ago
CAT sectional cutoff is the minimum percentile score required in each individual section (VARC, DILR, and QA) to qualify for an institute's selection process. All IIMs have a distinct admission policy, including the sectional cutoffs and overall cutoff scores.
A
Contributor-Level 7
Answered 4 days ago
IIM exam score remains valid a period of one year for admissions. However, IIM Ahmedabad has a deferred admission policy for its flagship PGP course, allowing selected candidates to postpone joining by up to two years to gain work experience.
Some other IIMs like IIM Trichy and IIM Sirmaur have known
L
Contributor-Level 7
Answered 4 days ago
The CAT exam pattern and difficulty levels do not change drastically. The core syllabus of Quant, VARC, and DILR typically remains the same.
CAT exam pattern saw a major change in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic demanded a reduction in the exam duration. The exam sections remained the same, while the q
V
Contributor-Level 7
Answered 5 days ago
Career Launcher (Rajkot) and TIME are CAT coaching Institutes in Rajkot that offer weekend batches.
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Contributor-Level 10
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