99 Percentile in CAT 2025 Means How Many Marks

99 Percentile in CAT 2025 Means How Many Marks

Suvam MaitiUpdated on 30 Nov 2025, 11:28 AM IST

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.

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99 Percentile in CAT 2025 Means How Many Marks
CAT Marks for 99 Percentile

How many marks should I score in CAT 2025 to get 99 percentile?

CAT marks for the 99 percentile: Section-wise cut-off Marks vs Percentile in Slot 1

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

CAT 2025 marks for the 99 percentile: Section-wise cut-off Marks vs Percentile in Slot 2

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

CAT marks for the 99 percentile: Comparison Between CAT 2025vs 2024 vs CAT 2023 vs CAT 2022

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


CAT 2025 marks for the 99 percentile: CAT 2025 Section and the Marks Divison

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
(minutes)

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

CAT 2025 marks for the 99 percentile: How Percentile is Calculated

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.

CAT 2025 marks for the 99 percentile: How Score is Normalised

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- 1732515738778

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)

Q: What is considered a good CAT score?
A:

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.

Q: How to calculate the CAT RAW score?
A:

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) 

Q: What is the weightage of each section in CAT?
A:

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.

Q: What is my expected CAT percentile?
A:

Applicants can try the Careers360 Percentile to know their CAT percentile. Upon putting the CAT Raw score in the predictor tool.

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Questions related to CAT

On Question asked by student community

Have a question related to CAT ?

CAT does not restrict eligibility based on stream. Candidates from commerce, arts, science, engineering or any other background can appear for CAT and apply to MBA programmes offered by IIMs and other top B-schools.

The basic eligibility criteria for CAT are:
You must hold a bachelor’s degree in any discipline from a recognised university with at least 50 percent marks (45 percent for SC, ST and PwD categories). Final-year graduation students are also eligible to apply.

Being a commerce graduate can actually be an advantage in areas such as accounting, finance, economics and business studies, especially during MBA coursework in finance, marketing and operations.

After qualifying CAT, admission depends on multiple factors including CAT percentile, academic background, work experience (if any), performance in GD, WAT and personal interview rounds. Many IIMs and B-schools follow a diverse academic background policy, which means non-engineering candidates, including commerce graduates, often receive additional weightage.

Apart from IIMs, several reputed institutes such as FMS Delhi, SPJIMR Mumbai, MDI Gurgaon, IMT Ghaziabad, and many state and private universities also accept CAT scores for MBA admissions.

So, as a commerce graduate, you are fully eligible to appear for CAT and pursue an MBA, provided you meet the minimum academic requirements and perform well in the selection process.

If you want, I can also help you with realistic CAT percentile targets based on your academic profile or suggest suitable MBA colleges.


Hello aspirant,

With a CAT 2025 raw score of 84 and strong sectionals, your expected percentile may fail in the high 98 range , depending on scaling. Your excellent academics and 2 years of work experience strengthen your profile .IIM Lucknow calls are possible but competitive for EWS engineers , while FMS Delhi looks mainly at CAT score and VARC , so you have a reasonable chance there . Final calls depend on cutoffs and composite score.

FOR REFERENCE : https://bschool.careers360.com/articles/cat-cutoff

Hope the details will help you.

THANK YOU

Hello aspirant ,

For MANAGE Hyderabad MBA , the OBC cutoff in CAT 2024 was generally around 85-90 percentile for shortlist consideration , tough exact figures vary by section and profile . For CAT 2025, if fewer candidates appeared , the cutoff might slightly adjust , but percentile based cutoffs dont change drastically year to year. A minor decrease is possible , but you should still aim for 90+ percentile to be competitive. Factors like VARC, QA-LRDI and overall profile influence the final shortlist.

FOR REFERENCE : https://bschool.careers360.com/articles/cat-cutof f

Hope the details will help you.

THANK YOU

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.