MBA Colleges Without Sectional Cut Off in CAT
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CAT 2025 results will be released online. Students who appeared for the CAT exam may face concerns about the sectional cutoff. But worry not. In this article, Shiksha has listed down the top MBA colleges in India which give admission to the MBA programme without sectional cutoff. Read the article below to know more.
MBA colleges in India with no sectional cutoff: CAT is one of the most popular MBA entrance exams in India. The CAT exam is the first stepping stone for students embarking upon the MBA journey. Every year lakhs of students appear for the CAT exam, with a dream to get into the top B-school in India. But all of them do not achieve it. But it does not mean it is the end of the road of getting into a good B-school.
CAT 2025 will be conducted on November 30, 2025, by the Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode. The CAT response sheet was also released on the official website of CAT. Traversing the intricate aspects of the CAT exam presents challenges other than the overall CAT percentile. Many students who appeared for the exam may face concerns about sectional cutoff. But, there are many top MBA colleges in India without sectional cutoff which offer admissions into the MBA programme. In this article, Shiksha has listed down the MBA colleges in India with no sectional cutoffs.
- What is Sectional Cutoff?
- Is the Sectional Cutoff Important?
- List of MBA Colleges in India with No Sectional Cutoffs
- Advantages of MBA Colleges in India With No Sectional Cutoff
What is Sectional Cutoff?
CAT is divided into three sections, i.e. Quantitative Aptitude, Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension and Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning. The sectional cutoff is the minimum score decided by the institutes. The minimum score or the sectional cutoff is based on factors such as the difficulty level of the exam, the number of applicants, available seats, etc. These cutoffs are set for each section of the CAT exam and serve as qualifying criteria for admissions to the institutes.
Many management colleges consider sectional cutoffs for admissions, in addition to the overall percentile for admissions, hence, maintaining a good sectional score is important. Meeting the sectional cutoff will enhance the chances of the students to get into their dream B-school. Usually, a score of 70-80 percentile in VARC and DILR and 60-70 percentile in QA is good score. However, various MBA colleges in India also take other factors into consideration such as work experience, academic profile, PI performance.
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- IIM Admission Process and Selection Criteria 2025
Commonly asked questions
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)
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.
Is the Sectional Cutoff Important?
CAT is a highly competitive exam and the sectional cutoff is important in the way that many institutes determine the minimum score needed for the students to qualify for admission. The CAT sectional cutoff can change from one institute to another and one programme to another. Scoring well in all the sections is importnat for achieving a good overall CAT percentile.
Most of the tier I colleges focus on the overall cutoff as well as the sectional cutoff, but a majority of the tier II and tier III colleges focus only on the overall cutoff.
IIMs and top business schools in India release their sectional and overall CAT exam cutoff after the CAT results are announced. The CAT result 2025 will likely be released in the third week of December 2025. So, scoring well only in one section is not enough to grab a seat in a top tier B-school. Scoring well in all the three sections of the CAT exam is imperative.
Also Read: CAT Score vs Percentile
List of MBA Colleges in India with No Sectional Cutoffs
The following table depicts the list of MBA colleges in India with no sectional cutoffs with their overall expected CAT cutoff 2024:
| Name of the Institute |
Expected CAT Cutoff 2023 |
|---|---|
| 96+ |
|
| 80+ |
|
| 98+ |
|
| 90+ |
|
| 24.6 |
|
| 23.75 |
|
| 70+ |
|
| 85+ |
|
| 99 |
|
| 93+ |
|
| 85+ |
|
| 94+ |
|
| 85+ |
|
| 85+ |
|
| 88+ |
Also Read:
Commonly asked questions
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, 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.
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.
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Advantages of MBA Colleges in India With No Sectional Cutoff
Choosing MBA colleges with no sectional cutoff can be advantageous in the way that these colleges look at the overall performance of the aspirants rather than focusing on a particular section. Colleges that do not impose sectional cutoffs in entrance exams, such as the CAT for MBA programmes, offer several advantages to candidates.
- Broad Evaluation: Students are evaluated comprehensively, i.e. they are selected on the basis of the overall marks and percentile. Such colleges do not solely focus on one section. This gives way to a fairer evaluation and allows for a more nuanced consideration of the performances of the students.
- Diverse Skill Sets: Students with diverse skills get the change to apply to their dream college even if they have not cleared the sectional CAT cutoff. Students from non-traditional academic or professional backgrounds will find it easier to qualify, as their unique skills and experiences can be taken into account. The focus on rigid benchmarks can be taken off.
- Flexibility: Students have the option to emphasize on their strengths and work on their weaknesses in sections where they scored low.
It is important to note that while these advantages exist, candidates should still strive for a balanced performance across all sections to enhance their chances of success in the competitive admission processes.
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Student Forum
Anything you would want to ask experts?Answered Yesterday
Best books for Venn diagrams and set theory in the CAT exam are How to Prepare for Data Interpretation for CAT by Arun Sharma and LRDI for CAT by Nishit K. Sinha.
D
Contributor-Level 7
Answered Yesterday
Yes, Venn diagrams are very important for the CAT exam, especially for DILR and Set Theory in Quant. It helps solve overlapping data sets, and save time in exam.
R
Contributor-Level 7
Answered Yesterday
Venn Diagram questions are not fixed every year in CAT, but when they appear in the DILR section, they usually form a single complete set of 4 questions.
B
Contributor-Level 7
Answered 2 days ago
Some of the coaching centres that provide weekend batches in Raipur are Career Launcher, Pro C Education and AB Classes.
S
Contributor-Level 10
Answered 2 days ago
To choose the best CAT Coaching institute in Raipur, 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 from ₹50,000 to ₹85,000 for offline classroom courses and ₹18,000 to ₹35,000 for online courses in Raipur.
S
Contributor-Level 10
Answered 2 days ago
You can refer Quantitative Aptitude for Competitive Examinations by R.S. Aggarwal and Quantitative Aptitude Quantum CAT by Sarvesh Verma along with previous years' CAT question papers, for cracking CAT Mensuration questions.
A
Contributor-Level 7
Answered 2 days ago
Yes, Mensuration is an important topic for CAT Quantitative Aptitude. If forms a good chunk of Geometry questions.
M
Contributor-Level 7
Answered 2 days ago
About 2-4 questions can be asked from Mensuration section in CAT. Candidates can must practice this topic extensively.
P
Contributor-Level 7
Answered 2 days ago
CAT Coaching centres that provide weekend batches in Noida are Career Launcher (Sector 62, Sector 15/2), IMS (Sector 18, Sector 62) and TIME (Sector 15).
S
Contributor-Level 10
Saumya Jain is an English Literature graduate from the University of Delhi. She has over 8 years of editorial and content writing experience. At Shiksha.com, she has spent more than six years creating research, stud
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