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97 percentile in CAT 2025 means approximately 70-76 marks, based on the trend of the previous years. Management aspirants wondering whether is 97 percentile good in CAT or not should know that 97 percentile in CAT is considered a good score in CAT. Looking at the trends of previous years, management aspirants with 97 percentile in CAT would get into IIMs like IIM Kashipur, IIM Rachi etc. Apart from that 97 percentile in CAT can fetch you a good management college like SPJIMR, IMI New Delhi, XLRI, MDI Gurgaon etc. This year's CAT 2025 examination will take place on November 30, 2025. The CAT official answer key and the response sheet will be published, probably in the 2nd week of December 2025. With the help of the CAT answer key 2025, candidates will be able to understand 97 percentile in CAT marks means how many marks. Read this article to learn about 97 Percentile In CAT 2025 means, how many marks, Is 97 percentile in CAT a good score and CAT 97 percentile colleges 2025
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Candidates can expect the CAT 2025 scorecard shortly. They can follow the steps given below to download the CAT 2025 results.
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Those who are wondering about the 97 percentile in CAT means how many marks should first know that the full mark of the CAT 2025 exam will be 204. The CAT 2025 question paper will have a total number of 68 questions, 22 questions came in the VARC section, LRDI and QA sections had 22 questions each. Here is the approximate list of the CAT marks which would be useful to understand the 97 percentile in CAT means how many marks.
CAT Marks needed for 97 percentile: Percentile | CAT Marks needed for 97 percentile: Marks (Approximately) |
97.9 | 75.9+ |
97.8 | 75.5+ |
97.7 | 75.1+ |
97.6 | 74. 5+ |
97.5 | 73.8+ |
97.4 | 73.0+ |
97.3 | 72.3+ |
97.2 | 71.6+ |
97.1 | 70.9+ |
97.0 | 70.2+ |
New: CAT Marks for 99 Percentile: How Many Marks Should I Score in CAT to Get 99 Percentile?
Let us look at the section-wise marks and the probable percentile for that. These would be crucial for candidates to understand how many CAT marks for the 97 percentile are needed in the CAT 2025 examination.
Percentile | Slot 1 Score | Slot 2 Score | Slot 3 Score |
100 Percentile | 150 | 140 | 140 |
99.5 Percentile | 97 | 95 | 96 |
99 Percentile | 91 | 85 | 88 |
98 Percentile | 80 | 74 | 77 |
| 97 percentile | 76 | 74 | 70 |
95 Percentile | 67 | 62 | 65 |
90 Percentile | 55 | 50 | 53 |
85 Percentile | 46 | 41 | 44 |
80 Percentile | 40 | 35 | 38 |
Also Read: 96 Percentile In CAT Means How Many Marks.
Management aspirants wonder if 97 percentile is good in CAT or not. For those, here is an expected table about the CAT Marks vs percentile 2025 for slot 1, based on the trends of the previous year. It would be crucial for the candidates not only to understand how many marks are needed for 97 percentile in CAT 2025, but at the same timee is 97 percentile good in CAT 2025 for slot 1 or not?
CAT 2025 Percentile | CAT VARC Score | CAT LRDI Score | CAT QA Score | Overall CAT Score |
99 | 39-40 | 31-32 | 30-31 | 90 |
95 | 31-32 | 24-25 | 23–24 | 66 |
90 | 25-26 | 19-21 | 17-18 | 56-57 |
85 | 22-23 | 16-18 | 14-15 | 45-46 |
80 | 20-21 | 13-14 | 12-13 | 40-41 |
70 | 16-17 | 11-12 | 10-11 | 35-36 |
Data by Careers360
Also Read: CAT Colleges Rank-Wise: Top B-Schools Accepting CAT Scores
Check out the section-wise marks and the approximate 97 percentile in CAT Marks for Slot 2. These would be crucial for candidates to understand how 97 percentile in CAT means how many marks in CAT 2025 slot 2.
CAT Percentile | CAT VARC Score | CAT LRDI | CAT QA Score | Overall CAT Score |
99 | 41-42 | 27-28 | 28-29 | 87 |
95 | 33-34 | 22-23 | 22-23 | 63 |
90 | 26-27 | 18-19 | 16-17 | 55-56 |
85 | 23-24 | 15-17 | 13-14 | 44-45 |
80 | 21-22 | 12-14 | 11-12 | 39-40 |
70 | 17-18 | 11-12 | 10-11 | 35-36 |
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One of the best ways to get an idea about 97 percentile in CAT marks is to look at the expected scaled score of CAT 2025.
| CAT Percentile | CAT 2025 Expected Scaled Score |
| 100 | 142.9 |
| 99.99 | 118.67 |
| 99.95 | 106.95 |
| 99.90 | 101.43 |
| 99.83 | 95.96 |
| 99.50 | 84.29 |
| 99.37 | 81.75 |
| 99.00 | 76.02 |
| 98.50 | 71.15 |
| 98.37 | 70.31 |
| 98.00 | 66.68 |
| 97.70 | 65.91 |
| 97.00 | 61.56 |
| 96.60 | 59.99 |
| 96.00 | 58.1 |
| 95.42 | 56.13 |
| 95.00 | 54.86 |
| 94.00 | 53.32 |
| 93.00 | 52.35 |
| 92.05 | 47.99 |
| 91.00 | 46.13 |
| 90.00 | 45.16 |
| 85.00 | 42.29 |
| 80.00 | 41.19 |
| 75.00 | 40.02 |
Before looking into the 97 percentile in CAT marks, and if 97 percentile good in CAT or not, students need to get a clear idea about the CAT 2025 section and the mark division. There are three sections in the CAT 2025 Examination: Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC), Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR), and Quantitative Aptitude (QA). 68 questions will be divided into these three sections, each correct answer carrying 3 marks. The candidate would get 40 minutes for each of the sections. Each section would contain several non-MCQ questions along with primarily MCQ questions.
CAT 2025 Section | Number of Questions | Time Allotted | Marks (+3 for every correct answer and -1 for every wrong answer) |
Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC) | 24 | 40 | 72 |
Logical Reasoning and Data Interpretation (LRDI ) | 22 | 40 | 66 |
Quantitative Aptitude (QA). | 22 | 40 | 66 |
Total | 68 | 120 | 204 |
Read Also: CAT Score Calculation: How Raw Score Converts to Scaled Score
New: CAT Score Calculator: Estimate Your Raw and Scaled Scores Instantly
Suggested: CAT Percentile Predictor: Estimate Your Percentile Instantly
To understand how many CAT marks are needed for a 97 percentile, one needs to understand how the raw score is calculated. The RAW CAT score is determined according to the following process-
Raw Score = 3 * (number of correct answers given by the candidate) - 1 * ( number of wrong answers given by the candidate)
Example: Let us assume that one of the applicants has attempted 58 questions out of 66 questions. Out of these, they have answered 48 correctly. Out of 10 wrong answers, 8 wrong answers are from MCQ and 2 are from non-MCQ, so the RAW CAT Score would be
Attempted - 58
Correct- 38
MCQ incorrect- 20
So Total = (38*3) - (20*1) = 94
Moreover, being a competitive exam, the CAT 2025 also provides the percentile apart from the RAW CAT Score. The percentile shows how one candidate has scored better than other candidates. For instance, last year 76.02 marks fetched one candiate 99 percentile, which in turn implies that one candidate has scored better than 99% of the appeared candidates. To calculate the percentile of one candidate, the following process is taken-
Percentile = [1-{One’s CAT Rank / Number of Candidates appeared for the test}] * 100
CAT Percentile Predictor can be a handy tool for applicants to get a glimpse of what they can expect as a percentile. They need to calculate the RAW score and then put it in the calculator tool mentioned above to get a sneak peek at the expected Percentile.
After getting a hold of an idea about what the 97 percentile in CAT means, many management aspirants wonder about the CAT 97 percentile colleges. Those who are wondering about the CAT 97 percentile Colleges 2025, here is the list of the top CAT MBA colleges accepting 97 percentile, depending on the category of the management aspirants.
1. IIM Ranchi
2. IIM Boodhgaya
3. II Kashipur
4. XLRI
5. MDI Gurgaon
6. IMI New Delhi
7. Great Lakes
8. SIBM Pune
9. Loyola Institute of Business Management, Chennai
10. TISS
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
As per last year (CAT 2024) the total marks for CAT 2025 will be 204.
To calculate the the CAT Raw Score one needs to follow these steps
Raw Score = 3 * (number of correct answers given by the candidate) - 1 * ( number of wrong answers given by the candidate)
The CAT 2025 Exam has three sections. The CAT VARC section will include 24 questions with a weightage of 72 marks. These will be followed by the DILR section and QA section. The DILR and QA sections comprise 20 and 22 questions, respectively, and they contain 60 and 66 marks.
Applicants can try the Careers360 Percentile to know their CAT percentile. Upon putting the CAT Raw score in the predictor tool.
The difficulty level of CAT 2025 is expected to be moderate to hard, looking into the past trends. However, with the proper preparation, the candidates will be able to clear it.
Looking at the past trends, scoring 120 will gain the candidate's 90 percentile. However, this score can vary according to the difficulty level of the examination each year.
On Question asked by student community
Hello,
For a raw score of 56 in CAT 2025 Slot 3, your expected overall percentile is likely to be in the range of the 90th-95th percentile. The exact percentile can vary slightly on the final normalization process and the process and performance of all test-takers. In this article you'll find more about the CAT result.
I hope it will clear your query!!
Hello,
With a projected CAT percentile of 87% but not clearing sectional cutoffs, your chances at top IIMs are limited because they require both overall percentile and sectional minimums. However, you still have a good shot at other reputed management institutes and non-IIM B-schools. Consider colleges like NMIMS, SPJIMR, IMT, TAPMI, Great Lakes, and other well-ranked private or state-level B-schools that accept CAT scores and weigh your profile holistically. Your academic record, BSc in Animation with 80%, and 5 years of work experience at Ubisoft India are strong points and may help in institutes that value work experience in their selection process. Also, explore institutes that accept XAT, MAT, or CMAT, where your profile can be competitive.
Hope this helps you.
Good Morning,
NIT Rourkela CAT cutoff range is between 70-85 percentiles for the general category. 70 is the minimum percentile needed to apply, and 85 is the highest percentile. However, the maximum percentile depends on the particular year competition. It can be changed.
Thank You.
If you filled the UGC NET form under EWS but you don’t have a valid EWS certificate, then forget using the EWS category. They won’t accept it. You’ll automatically be treated as General category during document verification.
And no, this won’t make your form “invalid” or “illegal.” It just means you won’t get the EWS benefit.
So yes — you can still go for General category posts and Professor recruitment. Just don’t try to submit a fake/invalid certificate; that will get you disqualified.
Hello,
If your CAT admit card shows your surname first followed by your first name as entered in the form, it is correct. You do not need to worry about this format as long as it matches the details you provided. Ensure all other information on the admit card is accurate and carry it to the exam along with the required identification documents.
Hope this helps you.
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