XAT- Xavier Aptitude Test 2027
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The CAT 2025 results were declared on December 24, 2025, by IIM Kozhikode, bringing clarity to nearly three lakh MBA aspirants across India. As candidates begin analysing their performance and admission prospects, a natural question arises — how does CAT 2025 compare with CAT 2024?
From the number of test takers and toppers to gender, category, and academic background trends, the CAT 2025 result data reveals several notable shifts compared to last year. This article offers a data-backed comparison of CAT 2025 and CAT 2024, helping aspirants understand what truly changed this year.
Read detailed analysis on CAT Toppers 2025
| Parameter | CAT 2024 | CAT 2025 |
| Registered candidates | 3.28 Lakh | 2.95 Lakh |
| Appeared candidates | 2.88 Lakh | 2.58 Lakh |
| Exam conducting IIM | IIM Calcutta | IIM Kozhikode |
| Result Declaration | Dec 19, 2024 | Dec 24, 2025 |
Key takeaway: CAT 2025 witnessed a drop in both registrations and appearances, indicating either a more cautious applicant pool or increased diversification towards other MBA exams.
One of the biggest changes in CAT 2025 is lower participation.
CAT 2024: Around 2.88 lakh candidates appeared
CAT 2025: Around 2.58 lakh candidates appeared
This nearly 30,000-candidate drop suggests:
Reduced multiple-attempt behaviour
Greater focus on profile-based MBA admissions
Despite fewer test takers, competition at the top percentiles remained intense.
CAT 2025 produced 12 candidates with a 100 percentile, which is lower than CAT 2024, where the number was in the higher teens.
100 percentile: 12 candidates
99.99 percentile: 26 candidates
99.98 percentile: 26 candidates
This indicates a slightly tighter score distribution at the very top, reinforcing that even a marginal error had a greater impact on percentile in CAT 2025.
Gender-wise participation in CAT 2025 remained largely consistent with CAT 2024.
Female: 0.97 lakh
Male: 1.61 lakh
Transgender: 9
While male candidates continue to dominate numerically, female representation at top percentiles showed improvement, including 2 female 100 percentilers in CAT 2025.
This aligns with CAT 2024, where women also demonstrated stronger percentile efficiency relative to participation.
A key change in CAT 2025 compared to CAT 2024 is the strong showing of non-engineers at the highest percentiles.
Among CAT 2025 100 percentilers:
Engineers: 3
Non-engineers: 9
This continues and strengthens a trend first noticed in CAT 2024, where non-engineers began closing the gap at the top. The CAT exam’s increasing focus on reasoning, comprehension, and decision-making appears to be levelling the field.
The category-wise distribution of candidates in CAT 2025 remains almost identical to CAT 2024.
General: 65.76%
NC-OBC: 17.82%
SC: 8.78%
ST: 2.38%
EWS: 5.26%
PwD: 0.49%
This stability suggests that cat cutoff trends and reservation dynamics are unlikely to change drastically between CAT 2024 and CAT 2025, especially for IIM admissions.
CAT 2025 toppers came from a broader range of states, including Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Delhi, Haryana, Gujarat, West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand, and Karnataka.
Compared to CAT 2024 — which saw heavier clustering around a few metro states — CAT 2025 reflects a more geographically diverse topper pool, indicating deeper CAT penetration in Tier-2 and Tier-3 regions.
Despite fewer candidates:
IIM shortlisting remains highly competitive
Profile factors (academics, work experience, diversity) continue to play a decisive role
A high percentile alone, as seen in both CAT 2024 and CAT 2025, does not guarantee top IIM calls
Additionally, with 93 non-IIM institutions accepting CAT 2025 scores, aspirants now have broader quality MBA options beyond the IIMs.
The comparison between CAT 2025 and CAT 2024 shows evolution, not disruption.
Fewer candidates, but similar competition
Stronger non-engineer presence at top percentiles
Stable category and gender trends
More geographically diverse toppers
For MBA aspirants, the message is clear: percentile matters, but profile strength matters more than ever.
On Question asked by student community
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