How Many Questions to Attempt in CAT to Score 99 Percentile: Candidates appearing for the CAT 2025 Exam on November 30, 2025, is wondering how many marks one should score in the CAT to get the 99 percentile. The CAT 2025 question paper will have a total number of 68 questions, for a total score of 204. 22 questions came in the VARC section, LRDI and QA sections had 22 questions each. As CAT 2025 score calculation is a complex process, involving the RAW CAT score, CAT percentile, and the normalised score, read this article to learn about how many marks one should score in the CAT to get the 99 percentile. Read the Careers360 article to know what the probable CAT marks are for the 99 percentile.
As CAT 2025 has concluded, 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 99 percentile are needed in the CAT 2025 Slot 1.
CAT Percentile | CAT VARC Score | CAT LRDI | 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 |
As CAT 2025 has concluded, 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 99 percentile are needed in the 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 |
CAT Percentile | CAT VARC Score | CAT LRDI | CAT QA Score | Overall CAT Score |
99 | 39-40 | 32 | 33-35 | 90 |
95 | 31 | 24 | 24 | 72 |
90 | 26 | 19-20 | 21-22 | 60 |
One of the best ways to get an idea of how the CAT marks for the 99 percentile have differed over the years is to look at the scaled marks for the past year, along with the scaled score of CAT 2024. This will also help the candidate to understand the difficulty level of the CAT 2025 compared to previous years.
CAT Percentile | Scaled Score 2023 | Scaled Score 2024 | Scaled Score 2025 |
100 CAT Percentile | 145.83 | 138.59 | To be Announced |
99.95 CAT Percentile | 115 | 106.95 | To be Announced |
99.90 CAT Percentile | 109.9 | 101.43 | To be Announced |
99.50 - CAT Percentile | 92.87 | 84.29 | To be Announced |
99 CAT Percentile | 83.64 | 76.02 | To be Announced |
98 CAT Percentile | 73.88 | 68.68 | To be Announced |
96.6 CAT Percentile | 65.40 | 59.99 | To be Announced |
95.5 CAT Percentile | 59.75 | 56.41 | To be Announced |
93 CAT Percentile | 53 | 52.35 | To be Announced |
90 CAT Percentile | 48.44 | 45.1690 CAT Percentile | To be Announced |
85 CAT Percentile | 41.32 | 42.29 | To be Announced |
80 CAT Percentile | 36.02 | 41.19 | To be Announced |
70 CAT Percentile | 28.5-29 | 38.94 | To be Announced |
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.
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 2024 Score Calculation: How Raw Score Converts to Scaled Score
New: CAT Score Calculator: Estimate Your Raw and Scaled Scores Instantly
Suggested: CAT 2024 Percentile Predictor: Estimate Your Percentile Instantly
To understand how many marks one should score in CAT 2025 to get the 99 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- 48
MCQ incorrect- 8
Non-MCQ Incorrect 2
So Total = (48*3)- (8*1) = 136
Moreover being a competitive exam, the CAT also provides the percentile apart from the RAW CAT Score. Percentile shows how one candidate has scored better than other candidates. For instance, last year 76.02 marks fetched one a percentile of 99, which in turn implies that one candidate has scored better than the 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.
The difficulty level of the CAT exam varies each year. So the same number in different years can provide a higher or lower percentile depending on the nature of the exam in that particular year. One can look into the raw marks of the candidates as well as the percentile of the last year to get an idea about what the section-good score or what section-wise score expectations might look like in CAT 2024, looking at the previous years.
Moreover, as the CAT Exam is conducted in different shifts, there are possibilities that some shifts might have difficult questions compared to the other shifts. So to bring parity between the different shifts, the CAT normalization process is initiated, keeping the difficulties of question in mind. CAT marks for the 99 percentile needed to be comprehended in this context of CAT normalization process:
Step 1: Calculate the mean and the standard deviation (SD) of the raw scores in the QA section for all candidates appearing in the morning session. Let Mean = M1 and SD = S1.
So G1 = M1 + S1.
Step 2: Calculate the mean and the standard deviation (SD) of the raw scores in the QA section for all candidates appearing in the afternoon session. Let Mean = M2 and SD = S2.
So G2= M2 + S2.
Step 3: Calculate the mean and the standard deviation (SD) of the raw scores in the QA section for all candidates appearing in the evening session. Let Mean = M3 and SD = S3 and G3 = M3 + S3.
Step 4: Calculate the mean and the standard deviation (SD) of the raw scores in the QA section for all candidates appearing in CAT (i.e. including all three sessions). Let Mean = M and SD = S and G = M + S.
Step 5: Calculate the mean raw score in the QA section of the top 0.1% candidates in the morning session and denote it by M10.1.
Step 6. Calculate the mean raw score in QA of the top 0.1% candidates in the afternoon session and denote it by M20.1.
Step 7. Calculate the mean raw score in QA of the top 0.1% candidates in the evening session and denote it by M30.1.
Step 8. Calculate the mean raw score in QA of the top 0.1% of candidates appearing in CAT (i.e. considering all three sessions) and denote it by M0.1
Now let's assume that ABC is a candidate who appeared for the CAT exam in the morning shift. ABC gained the Raw Score of R in the QA section. Then the scaled score of ABC is calculated by following this formula- 
A similar process is to be taken for the afternoon and evening courses.
Similar Methods are taken to calculate marks for other sections as well.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
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 the QA section. The DILR and QA sections comprise 22 and 22 questions, respectively, and with 66 marks.
A score of approximately 95 to 100 marks will generally be required for a 90 percentile in the CAT exam, although this can fluctuate depending on the difficulty level of the paper. To achieve this, you typically will need to score around 32-25 correct answers across all sections.
A 70 mark score in the CAT exam will generally be equivalent to a percentile in the range of 90-95%, depending on the specific exam year and the difficulty level.
Scoring 35 marks in the CAT exam corresponds to a CAT percentile of 80 or above. After the declaration of CAT results, the CAT score vs percentile will be released by the CAT authorities based on the difficulty level of the exam, CAT passing percentage and total applicants.
Applicants can try the Careers360 Percentile to know their CAT percentile. Upon putting the CAT Raw score in the predictor tool.
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.
To calculate the the CAT Raw Score one need to follow these steps
Raw Score = 3 * (number of correct answers given by the candidate) - 1 * ( number of wrong answers given by the candidate)
On Question asked by student community
Hello,
Here are some top colleges accepting XAT and CAT exams :
Top colleges accepting CAT:
IIMs (All Indian Institutes of Management)
FMS Delhi
SPJIMR Mumbai
MDI Gurgaon
IIT Bombay (SJMSOM)
IIT Delhi (DMS)
IIFT
IMT Ghaziabad
JBIMS Mumbai
Top colleges accepting XAT:
XLRI Jamshedpur
XIMB Bhubaneswar
IMT Ghaziabad
Great
Hi there,
A female candidate with a CAT percentile of 67.97 and low sectional scores should target private and tier-2/3 B-schools that accept overall CAT scores in the 60–70 percentile range and have flexible sectional criteria.
Some suitable options include AIMS Institute Bangalore, Doon Business School Dehradun, Christ Institute of
Hi there,
Yes, you are eligible for XISS Ranchi with a CAT percentile of 67.60.
According to recent admission trends, the CAT cutoff for the PGDM in Human Resource Management for the general category has been around 60 percentile. For other programs such as Marketing, Finance, and Rural Management, the
Hi there,
Careers360 offers a wide range of eBooks and study materials to assist with CAT preparation. You can access past CAT question papers with solutions to understand the exam pattern and difficulty level. Additionally, there are quantitative aptitude handbooks, cheat sheets, and section-specific practice sets for arithmetic, algebra, and
Hi there,
The minimum eligibility criteria for a general candidate to receive a call from IIM Sambalpur are as follows:
VARC: 65%ile
QUANTS: 65%ile
LRDI: 65%ile
Overall: 90%tile
Keep practising and aim to improve your score. You can also focus on other management exams where you may secure a strong
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