97 Percentile in CAT 2026: Marks Required, Colleges, IIMs & Score vs Percentile

97 Percentile In CAT 2026 Means How Many Marks

Those who are wondering what the 97 percentile in CAT 2026 means in terms of marks should first know that the full marks of the CAT 2026 exam will be 204. The CAT 2026 question paper will have a total of 68 questions; 24 questions came in the VARC section, LRDI and QA sections had 22 questions each. Here is the approximate list of CAT marks, which would be useful to understand the 97 percentile in CAT means.

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Is 97 Percentile Good in CAT 2026: Past year CAT Score vs Percentile by IQuanta in 3 slots

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 are needed for the 97 percentile in the CAT 2026 examination.

Also Read: 96 Percentile In CAT Means How Many Marks.

How Many Marks are Required to Clear the CAT

97 percentile in CAT 2026 (expected): CAT Marks needed for 97 percentile for Slot 1

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 2026 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 2026, but at the same timee is 97 percentile good in CAT 2026 for slot 1 or not?

Data by Careers360

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97 Percentile in CAT 2026 Means How Many Marks for Slot 2

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 2026 slot 2.

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97 Percentile in CAT Marks: CAT 2026 Scaled Score (Expected)

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 2026.

Is 97 percentile Good in CAT: CAT 2026 Section and the Marks Division

Before looking into the 97 percentile in CAT marks, and if 97 percentile is good in CAT or not, students need to get a clear idea about the CAT 2026 sections and the mark division. There are three sections in the CAT 2026 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.

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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

97 Percentile In CAT 2026 Means How Many Marks: How Percentile is Calculated

Moreover, being a competitive exam, the CAT 2026 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.

CAT 97 Percentile Colleges 2026

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 2026, 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