IIM Ahmedabad Shortlist & Admission Criteria 2027-2029 (Released): Check CAT Cut Offs 2026 & PI Weightage
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IIM Ahmedabad Admission Criteria 2026-2028 includes 95 percentile as minimum CAT cut off. Check the weightage of CAT 2025, AWT-PI and graduation marks as well as key parameters for MBA admission 2026.
IIM Ahmedabad Admission Process 2026-28
IIM Ahmedabad admission criteria for 2027-2029 MBA batch has been released. The qualifying CAT cut off for MBA 2027 is 95 percentile, same as last year. Until 2025, the qualifying CAT cut off percentile was 80 for General category candidates. But since last year, it has become tougher to qualify for IIM Ahmedabad. The admission process further includes Analytical Writing Test (AWT) and Personal Interview (PI). Candidates who wll met the qualifying CAT cut off, will be eligible for IIM Ahmedabad admission.
However, to be eligible, candidates need to apply for CAT 2026 and select IIM Ahmedabad as a preferred college in the CAT registration form 2026. Read all about IIM Ahmedabad admission and selection process 2027-2029 in this article.
- IIM Ahmedabad Admission Criteria 2027-2029
- IIM Ahmedabad Selection Criteria: CAT cut offs 2026
- IIM Ahmedabad Admission Criteria 2027-2029: Rating of Academic Scores
- IIM Ahmedabad Selection Criteria 2027-2029: Final Merit List
- IIM Ahmedabad Selection & Admission Criteria 2026: Important Points
- Campus-wise IIM Admission Criteria & Selection Process
IIM Ahmedabad Admission Criteria 2027-2029
The selection process of IIM Ahmedabad will include two phases:
- Shortlisting candidates for AWT and PI on the basis of CAT 2026 score
- Final selection of candidates for admission
⚡ CAT 2026 Exam Guide: Know all about Common Admission Test to get into the best B-Schools
Get a complete overview of CAT exam 2026 to be conducted by IIM Indore on November 29 for nearly 2.9 lakh MBA aspirants.
IIM Ahmedabad Selection Criteria: CAT cut offs 2026
For the preliminary screening, i.e. shortlisting candidates for AWT and PI, the institute has fixed qualifying CAT cut offs (2027-2029 batch) for all the categories. These qualifying cut off are CAT percentile required to be eligible for AWT-PI round of IIM Ahmedabad admissions. Candidates must note that the final CAT cut offs will be higher.
|
Category |
Non-PwD CAT Cut Off |
PwD CAT Cut Off |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall percentile rank (PT) |
Sectionwise percentile rank (PVARC, PDILR, PQA) |
Overall percentile rank (PT) |
Sectionwise percentile rank (PVARC, PDILR, PQA) |
|
| General/ EWS |
95 |
85 |
85 |
75 |
| NC-OBC |
90 |
80 |
80 |
70 |
| SC |
85 |
75 |
75 |
65 |
| ST |
75 |
65 |
65 |
55 |
IIM Ahmedabad Admission Criteria 2027-2029: Rating of Academic Scores
Below are the ratings of academic scores for Class 10 and 12. These scores will be taken into consideration at the time of PI shortlisting as well as final shortlisting.
Rating of score in Class 10
| Score in Class 10 (in per cent) |
Rating Score: A |
|---|---|
| Less than or equal to 55 |
1 |
| 55-60 |
2 |
| 60-70 |
3 |
| 70-80 |
5 |
| 80-90 |
8 |
| More than 90 |
10 |
Rating of score in Class 12
| Science Stream |
Commerce Stream |
Arts Stream |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score in Class 12 (in per cent) |
Rating Score: B |
Score in Class 12 (in per cent) |
Rating Score: B |
Score in Class 12 (in per cent) |
Rating Score: B |
| Less than 55 |
1 |
Less than 50 |
1 |
Less than 45 |
1 |
| 55-60 |
2 |
50-55 |
2 |
45-50 |
2 |
| 60-70 |
3 |
55-65 |
3 |
50-60 |
3 |
| 70-80 |
5 |
65-75 |
5 |
60-70 |
5 |
| 80-90 |
8 |
75-90 |
8 |
70-85 |
8 |
| More than 90 |
10 |
More than 90 |
10 |
85 |
10 |
Rating of score in Graduation
Check the table below for rating scores in Graduation for various streams of education.
| AC-1 |
AC-2 |
AC-3 & AC-5 |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score in Graduation (in per cent) |
Rating Score: C |
Score in Graduation (in per cent) |
Rating Score: C |
Score in Graduation (in per cent) |
Rating Score: C |
| Less than 55 |
1 |
Less than 50 |
1 |
Less than 55 |
1 |
| 55-60 |
2 |
50-53 |
2 |
55-60 |
2 |
| 60-62 |
3 |
53-55 |
3 |
60-65 |
3 |
| 62-65 |
5 |
55-57 |
5 |
65-70 |
5 |
| 65-70 |
8 |
57-63 |
8 |
70-80 |
8 |
| More than 70 |
10 |
More than 63 |
10 |
80 |
10 |
| AC-4, AC 7 |
AC-6 |
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Score in Graduation (in per cent) |
Rating Score: C |
Score in Graduation (in per cent) |
Rating Score: C |
| Less than 60 |
1 |
Less than 50 |
1 |
| 60-65 |
2 |
50-55 |
2 |
| 65-70 |
3 |
55-60 |
3 |
| 70-75 |
5 |
60-65 |
5 |
| 75-85 |
8 |
65-75 |
8 |
| More than 85 |
10 |
More than 75 |
10 |
AC-1: Medicine and Surgery based subjects
AC-2: Selected Professional Degrees (Chartered Accountancy, Cost and Works Accountancy, Company Secretaryship)
AC-3: All Commerce, Economics, Finance and Management Related Degrees
AC-4: All Engineering, Technology and Architecture related Areas
AC-5: All Arts/Humanities Related Degrees, Design, Education, Fashion Technology, Law and Rural Studies
Commonly asked questions
AC-6: Any other discipline not mentioned in AC-1 to AC-5.
Rating Scores for Work Experience
One of the major parameters of IIM Ahmedabad admission criteria 2026 will be work experience, like every year. Check below the rating scores for work experience.
| Work experience in month | Score |
|---|---|
| <12 months | 0 |
| >= 12 months and <=36 months | MF * (number of months of work experience – 11) |
| <36 months | 5 |
Work-experience Multiplication Factor (MF) = 0.20
IIM Ahmedabad Selection Criteria 2027-2029: Final Merit List
The final selection list will be prepared on the basis of candidate's AWT-PI performance. CAT score and other factors will also be taken into consideration for preparing the admission list.
| Parameters | Weightage |
|---|---|
| CAT score | 25 |
| WAT-PI | 65 |
| AR | 10 |
Formula to calculate Final Composite Score:
Final Composite Score (FCS) = 0.50 * Normalized PI Score + 0.10 * Normalized AWT Score + 0.40 * Normalized Composite Score
Selection of candidates for admission will be done category wise and offer will be rolled out basis the Reservation Criteria fixed by the Government of India. Those selected for admission will be sent offer of admission letter by the last week of April 2027.
IIM Ahmedabad Selection & Admission Criteria 2026: Important Points
1. Percentages of marks of an applicant awaiting final result was computed based on their available marks.
2. For a candidate having cleared CA/ICWA/CS but not completed bachelor’s degree, the average of inter and final examinations’ percentages of marks obtained were treated as their available marks.
Campus-wise IIM Admission Criteria & Selection Process
Given below is the table containing articles on admission criteria of each IIM. Click on the links to read.
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.
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.
- General category: 80 VARC 75 DILR 75 Quantitative Aptitude 85 (Overall)
- NC-OBC category: 75 VARC 65 DILR 65 Quantitative Aptitude 75 (Overall)
- EWS category: 70 VARC 65 DILR 65 Quantitative Aptitude 75 (Overall)
- SC category: 65 VARC 60 DILR 60 Quantitative Aptitude 70 (Overall)
- ST category: 55 VARC 55 DILR 55 Quantitative Aptitude 65 (Overall)
- PwD category: 50 VARC 50 DILR 50 Quantitative Aptitude 60 (Overall)
Commonly asked questions
There are a very few IIMs which have CAT cutoff of 85 percentile. These are IIM Nagpur, IIM Amritsar and IIM Bodh Gaya. Since these IIMs have been launched in the last decade, the cut offs are low for admission to MBA/PGP courses. Reserved category students can apply with 85 percentile in most of the IIMs as the cut off for them is much lower in comparison to General category candidates.
On an average, about 10-15 CAT aspirants score 100 percentile. Given below is the data of CAT 100 percentilers of last 4 years:
Exam year | CAT 100 percentilers | State wise numbers |
|---|---|---|
CAT 2025 | 12 | 1- Uttar Pradesh 1- Karnataka 1- Maharashtra 3- Delhi 2- Haryana 2- Gujarat 1- Jharkhand 1- Odisha |
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 |
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.
No, securing a high CAT percentile is not enough for admission. One has to clear the selection process round too, like WAT and PI.
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Student Forum
Anything you would want to ask experts?Answered 15 hours ago
Yes. Most CAT time, speed, distance questions can be solved faster using inverse and direct proportionality ratios
Contributor-Level 10
Answered 15 hours ago
CAT frequently tests concepts based on relative speed, linear and circular races, trains passing platforms or other trains, boats and streams, and escalators.
V
Contributor-Level 7
Answered 15 hours ago
Typically, 1 to 3 questions are asked from Time, Speed, and Distance in the Quant section of CAT exam. It is one of the high weightage topics within Arithmetic.
L
Contributor-Level 7
Answered 3 days ago
Some frequent traps in CAT exam are:
- Confusing the counts of original and new members in replacement vs. inclusion problems.
- Weighting by values instead of quantities or frequencies in weighted average setups.
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Contributor-Level 7
Answered 3 days ago
Yes. Most CAT-level problems involving replacements, group additions, or combinations are designed to test logical shortcuts rather than heavy calculations.
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Contributor-Level 7
Answered 3 days ago
Direct questions on Averages typically range from 1 to 2 per slot in the CAT exam. However, the concept appears across several other topics, including Mixtures & Alligations, etc.
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Answered 4 days ago
Candidates can refer to How to Prepare for Logical Reasoning for CAT by Arun Sharma and DILR for CAT by Nishit K. Sinha.
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Yes, Routes and Networks is an important topic for CAT DILR. It tests logical thinking, visualisation and the ability to analyse connections and pathways.
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CAT does not have a fixed number of questions from Routes and Networks. The topic may appear as part of a DILR set, usually comprising 4-5 questions.
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Candidates should spend no more than 1.5 to 2 minutes on an Odd One Out question.
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