CAT Exam: Result, Cutoff, Pattern, Syllabus, Admit Card

Common Admission Test or CAT is a management aptitude test organized by IIM at the national level for getting admission to MBA and other postgraduate courses in its 21 campuses (NITIE Mumbai has been included in the cluster of IIM Mumbai). Approximately two lakh candidates confront the CAT exam annually. In CAT 2023, the number of applications had risen to a minimum of 3.30 lakh.

The total number of applicants for CAT 2024 registration is 3,29,000. The candidates who have cleared the CAT exam are capable of being admitted to more than 1300 MBA colleges in India excluding the IIMs. 

CAT exam is a speed-based test that consists of questions from Verbal and Reading Comprehension, Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning, and Quantitative Ability.

CAT Exam: Quick Highlights

CAT Answer Key 2025 – How to download

The CAT 2024 exam conducted for admission to the management courses appeared candidates can download the cut-off marks answer key at the portal. The following are the steps to download the CAT 2024 answer key: 

• Type in the official address in your web browser and press enter, the referring address will be http://www.iimcat.ac.in.
• On the homepage of the official CAT website, there is a CAT Answer Key 2024 link.
• Please type in your registration number and password.
• The answer key and the response sheet will pop up on the screen after entering the right details
• Copy the answer key and the response sheet and align the answer you ticked
• Take it for your reference in the future if you wish.

CAT Reservation Criteria 2024

There is no reservation policy filled for the CAT exam except for a 5% relaxation of marks in graduation for SC/ST/PwD category students. However, the IIMs follow reservation criteria which are set by the Government of India. Take a look at the table below for the percentage of seats reserved for SC, ST and NC-OBC candidates:

IIM CAT Cut-Offs 2024

IIM Admission CAT cut-off is predefined for each institute category-wise. The qualifying cut-offs are between 80 to 90 percentile agle (Gen category), however the cut-offs at the end are much higher. 

The closing cutoffs though for the final selection of candidates for the top IIMs are higher with the cutoff percentile ranging between 98% to 100% whereas the cutoff percentile for other IIMs lies in the range of 90% to 97%. 

Thus, the process of shortlisting academic and industry professionals named PI is derived from the last CAT cut-offs.

There is a huge amount of time and effort required in preparing for the CAT exam by any candidate. Unlike before, the CAT 2025 examination will offer a total of 120 minutes to solve all 68 multiple-choice questions and TITA questions. Both sections have a duration of forty minutes. If they do not complete the section in the 40 minutes then the next section will start automatically and candidates cannot answer questions from the previous section.

The CAT Exam Question Pattern consists of the following sections:

• Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC) 
• Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR)
• Quantitative Ability (QA)

CAT admit card is perhaps the only document that the candidate must possess and produce at the examination center therefore the candidate must download it before the examination date. The CAT admit card will have the test centre location, the slot in which the candidate has to write the examination, the reporting time for the examination as well as other important details regarding the examination. Here’s the process to download the CAT admit card 2024:

• Log on to the CAT website: iimcat.ac.in
• Click on the 'login' tab
• Now you need to type in the CAT application number and password.
• Scroll down to the ‘admit card’ link
• Click on 'Download'

As a specific education standard, the candidate should be a graduate and from any discipline from a recognized university. Read below the detailed CAT eligibility criteria:

• The candidate must have a minimum of a two-year Bachelor’s degree with a minimum of 50 % aggregate or equivalent CGPA (45 % for SC/ST/PWD/DA category) to write CAT.
• Appearing for CAT, candidates must be graduates who have scored 60% or its equivalent in a professional degree course such as CA/CS/ICWA/FCAI.
• Final year bachelor’s degree/equivalent qualified candidates and those aspirants who are awaiting their result of Bachelor’s degree/equivalent qualification can also apply for the CAT test. However, the cumulative average from their first and second-year results must be sufficient to meet the mark.
• The mode of education of the bachelor’s degree must be regular or distance education but the programme must be for 3 years minimum and from UGC recognised university.

The CAT exam selection process can be broadly categorised into:

Stage 1: Selection Ratio: based on CAT exam score, Past academic scores work experience.

Stage 2: WAT/GD/PI refers to the Written Ability Test, Group Discussion and Personal Interview respectively.

Stage 3: Final selection list or admission offer for evaluated candidates for merit based on performance in Stage 1 and Stage 2.