CAT Exam 2025: Registration, Exam Dates, Syllabus, Pattern& Preparation

The CAT is a national-level exam for getting into MBA and other management programs in India. It’s organised by the IIMs and used by around 1,000 business schools in the country.

Actually, the CAT exam isn’t just for MBA programs. It’s also used for admission to a variety of other graduate management courses—like Executive MBAs, PhDs, and FPM programs—at the IIMs and other leading business schools in India.

You need to have a Bachelor’s degree with at least 50% marks to be eligible for the CAT exam. The minimum is 45% for candidates from reserved categories. If you’re in your final year of study, you can also apply. And there is no age limitation for the IIM entrance exam for MBA.

The salary you can expect after taking the CAT exam largely depends on which management program and business school you choose. For instance, top MBA programs at the IIMs often report average annual salaries between ₹30 to 40 lakhs.

To register for the CAT 2025 exam, there’s a non-refundable fee that you pay online. It costs INR 2,600 for General, EWS, and NC-OBC candidates, and INR 1,300 for SC, ST, and PWD candidates.

You can pursue an MBA without taking the CAT exam by applying to business schools that accept alternative test scores such as the GMAT, XAT, NMAT, MAT, SNAP, CMAT, or their own institution-specific entrance exams.

The Common Admission Test (CAT) syllabus is divided into three sections: Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC), Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR), and Quantitative Aptitude (QA).

You can take the CAT exam as many times as you want, as long as you’re eligible each time you apply.

A “good CAT score” is typically defined by one’s percentile rank. Generally, anything above the 90th percentile is viewed as competitive for admission to top MBA programs in India. Those targeting the premier IIMs will usually need a percentile of 99 or higher to be in contention. Meanwhile, a score between 95 and 98 is still regarded as excellent and strengthens one’s application to other leading institutes such as XLRI and FMS.

The CAT exam doesn’t have a set passing score. Instead, it uses a percentile system to rank test-takers based on how they perform compared to others.

A candidate’s CAT score is the total marks they get by answering questions. Each correct answer adds 3 points, while each incorrect one leads to a deduction of 1 point. This means your final score of the CAT exam for MBA is based on the number of correct answers minus the penalties for wrong responses.

While for admission to IIMs and other MBA colleges in India, it’s not the raw score that matters—it’s the CAT test percentile. The percentile shows how a candidate performed compared to others who took the exam.

The Common Admission Test (CAT) is a two-hour exam consisting of three sections: Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC), Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR), and Quantitative Ability (QA). Each section must be completed within 40 minutes for most test-takers, while candidates with disabilities are allowed approximately 53 minutes per section.

The CAT exam is held in about 170 Indian cities. Applicants can select up to six preferred cities when applying. Please choose carefully, as changing your test city later is difficult and subject to seat availability.

The shortlist for the top IIMs is announced in the first week of January, shortly after the CAT results are declared. After that, each IIM releases its own shortlist one after the other throughout the same month. By the end of January, all 21 IIMs have published their MBA/PGP shortlists.

Yes, you are eligible. You must have a bachelor’s degree in any subject from a UGC-recognized university. You also need at least 50% marks if you’re in the General category, or 45% if you’re from SC/ST categories.