XAT- Xavier Aptitude Test 2026
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The CAT 2025 eligibility criteria will be specified by the conducting IIM in the official CAT notification. IIMs annually conduct the CAT exam for admission into MBA/PGDM programmes offered by IIMs and more than 1300 B-schools across the country. Since MBA is a postgraduate (PG) programme, the basic CAT eligibility criteria are graduation or its equivalent degree, i.e., every CAT exam applicant must have completed their graduation in any discipline or be in the final year of a bachelor’s degree. The total aggregate percentage of graduation marks is different for reserved and unreserved category candidates.
Detailed CAT 2025 exam eligibility criteria will be mentioned in the official notification, which is expected to be released on July 30, 2025. After checking CAT eligibility, if a candidate fits in the same category, then they will be able to fill out the CAT registration form, probably from the first week of August 2025. Candidates interested in taking CAT 2025 must know the eligibility criteria. On this page, we have shared all the details about the CAT 2025 eligibility criteria.
As mentioned above, the minimum qualification required for the CAT exam is graduation. Check out the CAT exam eligibility and minimum marks requirements category-wise.
Academic Qualifications for CAT | Pass Percentage Required | Affiliation Required |
Bachelor’s degree in any discipline | 50% for candidates belonging to General/EWS/NC-OBC & 45% for SC, ST, PwD candidates | Recognized by UGC |
Engineering degree BE/B.Tech | 50% for candidates belonging to General/EWS/NC-OBC & 45% for SC, ST, PwD candidates | Recognized by the MHRD/AICTE approved |
(CA/CS/ICWA) | 50% for candidates belonging to General/EWS/NC-OBC & 45% for SC, ST, PwD candidates | Certificate-granting organization |
Final year students of the bachelor’s | 50% for candidates belonging to General/EWS/NC-OBC & 45% for SC, ST, PwD candidates | Recognized by UGC |
Those who have completed their post-graduation want to take the CAT, then for them, the option of mentioning or not mentioning their PG qualification in the CAT application form. However, those candidates who will mention PG qualification can be beneficial at the time of the Personal Interview (PI) and admission shortlisting. Apart from that, the option of mentioning professional degrees is also there in the CAT application form.
Candidates must hold a graduation degree or its equivalent from a university or government-recognized institution.
Candidates should have scored 50% marks in the total aggregate in graduation in any discipline.
Those who are in the final year of a bachelor’s degree are also eligible to apply for CAT 2025.
Those who have professional degrees like CA/ CS/ ICWA with a minimum 50% are also eligible.
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Candidates belonging to the reserved category, such as SC/ST/PwD, must have scored 45% in total aggregate in graduation in any discipline.
Those who are in the final year of a bachelor’s degree are also eligible to apply for CAT 2025.
Those who have professional degrees like CA/ CS/ ICWA with a minimum 50% are also eligible.
Here we have listed all the situations under which a candidate is not eligible for the CAT entrance exam.
If a candidate has not scored 50% marks in graduation (45% for SC/ST/PwD) are not eligible to take the CAT entrance test.
Candidates who do not have a graduation degree or equivalent degree like CA/CS/ICWA etc.
Candidates whose two years average marks in graduation degree does not make up 50 percent (45% for SC/ST/PwD).
Those who are not in the final year of their graduation program.
Candidates who are pursuing (not completed) their professional degree like CA/CS/ICWA.
If the candidate’s bachelor’s degree is not approved/ recognized by AICTE/UGC/MHRD-Govt.
The basic academic CAT eligibility and IIM are same. However, to appear in CAT exam, candidates have to fulfill mainly the academic criteria which is graduation, and to be eligible for admission to the IIMs, candidates are required to meet the CAT cutoff percentile.
There is no reservation criteria for CAT apart from the 5 percent relaxation of marks in bachelor’s for reserved category (SC/ST/PwD) candidates. The Indian Institute of Management (IIMs) follows reservation criteria fixed by the Government of India. Here we have mentioned a table that shows the percentage of seats reserved for SC, ST and NC-OBC candidates.
Categories | Percentage of Seats Reserved in IIMs and other MBA colleges |
SC | 15% |
ST | 7.5% |
NC-OBC | 27% |
PwD | 5% |
Candidates must hold a Bachelor’s degree with at least 50% marks (45% for SC/ST/PwD). Final year students are also eligible.
No, there is no upper or lower age limit to appear for the CAT exam.
Yes, final-year students can apply, but they must submit proof of completion within the stipulated timeframe set by the institute.
Yes, general category candidates need 50%, and SC/ST/PwD candidates need 45% in their graduation.
No, candidates can appear for CAT as many times as they wish, provided they meet the eligibility criteria each time.
CAT 2025 is expected to be held on November 30. The exact date will be confirmed in the official notification.
CAT is a computer-based test (CBT) conducted at designated test centers across India.
The exam typically has three sections: VARC, DILR, and QA, with a total duration of 2 hours (40 minutes per section).
Yes, for multiple-choice questions (MCQs), there is a penalty of -1 for each wrong answer. No negative marking for non-MCQs (TITA).
Yes, candidates can select up to 6 preferred test cities during registration. Allotment is based on availability.
With a CAT rank of 5419, your percentile is around 95 to 97. This means you may not get into the top IIMs like Ahmedabad, Bangalore, or Calcutta, because they usually take students above 98 or 99 percentile. But you still have good chances at newer IIMs and other top MBA colleges.
You can get admission into IIMs like Amritsar, Raipur, Jammu, Udaipur, and Bodh Gaya. These IIMs accept students with lower percentiles, usually between 90 and 94.
Apart from IIMs, you can also get colleges like MDI Gurugram, IMI Delhi, Great Lakes Chennai, and maybe even FMS Delhi or JBIMS Mumbai depending on your category and performance in interview rounds.
You should now start preparing for the interview, group discussions, and written tests that most colleges will conduct after shortlisting you based on your CAT rank.
Here are websites you can check for cut-off and admission details:
https://www.imsindia.com/blog/cat-cutoff/
Hello Sahitya
For FMS Delhi, your percentile should be 99%+ and it should be 99.5%+ to be on the safer side.
Now coming to the academics:
1. 10th marks: 75%+ are given 10 out of 10
2. 12th marks: 75%+ are given 10 out of 10
3. Graduation marks: FMS doesn't considers graduation marks for screening.
So if you have 75%+ in both 10th and 12th, you will get full marks in academic score.
To know more about FMS: FMS
Hope this answer helps! Thank You!!!
Hello Ayush
This is definitely a myth that with 0 work-ex you can't get IIM ABC because freshers still get into them although the competition is brutal but if you have good academics (9/9/9) and a good CAT (99.5%+), you have a chance.
These are some other good colleges except IIM ABC which you can aim for:
TIER 1:
Tier 2:
To know more about CAT: CAT by Careers360
Hope this answer helps! Thank You!!!
Hello Aspirant,
With an AIR (All India Rank) of 1,60,000 in NEET and in the OC (Open Category) there is a very slim chance of getting an MBBS seat in a government medical college, especially in General Category seats through All India Quota (AIQ), but here are some options:
You can also participate in state counselling rounds, as sometimes, seats remain vacant/unfilled, including mop-up rounds.
Hello aspirant,
The question papers for CAT MGU University can be found on their official website, or you can also visit careers360 website for the same.
The link of which, I am attaching here,
https://university.careers360.com/articles/mgu-cat-2025
Regards
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