CAT 2025 Pass Percentage: Expected Cutoff Percentiles for IIMs & Top MBA Colleges

CAT 2025 Pass Percentage: Expected Cutoff Percentiles for IIMs & Top MBA Colleges

Himanshu ShekharUpdated on 30 Nov 2025, 04:04 PM IST

CAT 2025 pass percentage is the minimum percentile a candidate needs to get in the CAT exam to be eligible to apply for different CAT accepting colleges. The CAT pass percentage is calculated based on the normalized CAT scores. The CAT pass percentage varies for every college. The CAT pass percentage is released in the form of a CAT cutoff by all the participating MBA/ PGDM/ MMS institutes. In this article, know the college-wise expected CAT pass percentage.

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This Story also Contains

  1. CAT Pass Percentage 2025: Expected
  2. CAT Pass Percentage: Previous Year Trends
  3. CAT Pass Percentage: VARC Scores
  4. CAT Pass Percentage: DILR Scores
  5. CAT Pass Percentage: QA Scores
  6. CAT Pass Percentage for IIMs
  7. CAT Pass Percentage for Non-IIMs
CAT 2025 Pass Percentage: Expected Cutoff Percentiles for IIMs & Top MBA Colleges
CAT Pass Percentage

CAT Pass Percentage 2025: Expected

The CAT pass percentage will depend on factors like CAT 2025 difficulty, seats offered, the number of candidates appearing, and the normalization effect. Considering all these contributing factors, the expected CAT pass percentage for 2025 for different categories is provided in the table below.

CAT Pass PercentileVARC ScoreDILR ScoreQA ScoreCAT Total Marks

99.5

42

30

30

105-110

99

36

25

25

95-100

95

30

20

22

70-75

90

24

14

13

58-62

80

20

11

9

44

70

18

9

7

30

Also see: What is a good CAT score? How to achieve it in CAT exam

CAT Pass Percentage: Previous Year Trends

Here are the CAT pass percentage previous year trends to help candidates preparing for the CAT 2025 exam understand the required percentile and target accordingly.

CAT PercentileCAT Exam 2024CAT Exam 2023CAT Exam 2022CAT Exam 2021CAT Exam 2020
99.59123101109124130
99.51048492110115
9996768498101
977961728285
957054627376
905844496063
804435364548

CAT Pass Percentage: VARC Scores

VARC is one of the important sections of the CAT exam. The candidate must score more in the VARC section to maximise chances of selection. Here are the CAT pass percentage VARC scores for your reference.

CAT VARC Percentile CAT VARC Score 2024CAT VARC Score 2023CAT VARC Score 2022
99.95557.3252.43
99.5444445.57
994039.741.77
973331.4734.18
953028.6829.12
902423.3924.06
8520--
801817.68-
751515.27-
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CAT Pass Percentage: DILR Scores

DILR previous year scores vs the percentile breakout are given below. Candidates preparing for the CAT exam can check the table for more information.

CAT DILR PercentileCAT DILR Score 2024CAT DILR Score 2023CAT DILR Score 2022
99.95042.748.31
99.54129.7134.37
993727.39-
973020.88-
952719.6-
902215.6318.56
851913.01-
801711.67-
7514--
CAT 2025 Percentile Predictor
Use the CAT Percentile Predictor to estimate your score, gauge your performance, and know your chances of getting shortlisted by IIMs.
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CAT Pass Percentage: QA Scores

The CAT exam section of QA is considered difficult among the three sections. Candidates appearing for the CAT 2025 exam must check the CAT QA previous year scores vs the percentile breakout given below for better understanding.

CAT QA PercentileCAT QA Score 2024CAT QA Score 2023CAT QA Score 2022
99.945-46.3
99.536-36.85
9933-36.07
9725-26.85
9522--
9017--
8513--
8011--
759--
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CAT Pass Percentage for IIMs

The pass percentage in the CAT exam for IIMs is expected to be in the range of 97-99.9 CAT percentile. The CAT pass percentage is used by IIMs to shortlist the candidates for the next selection rounds. The CAT pass percentage 2023, the CAT 2022 pass percentage, and the CAT pass percentile 2021 are given in the table below.

List of IIMsExpected CAT Pass Percentage (Last year)CAT Pass Percentage 2023CAT Pass Percentage 2022
CAT Pass Percentage 2021

IIM Ahmedabad

99-100

99.68

99-100

99-100

IIM Bangalore

99-100

99.89

99-100

99-100

IIM Calcutta

99

99.71

99

99

IIM Lucknow

97+

98

97-98

97-98

IIM Indore

97+

98

97-98

97-98

IIM Kozhikode

97-98

98

97-98

97-98

IIM Amritsar

95+

96

95-96

95-96

IIM Nagpur

95+

96

95-96

95-96

IIM Sambalpur

95+

96

95-96

95-96

IIM Trichy

94

95

94-95

94-95

IIM Raipur

94

95

94-95

94-95

IIM Ranchi

94

95

94-95

94-95

IIM Vizag

94

95

92-94

92-94

IIM Udaipur

92

93

92-94

92-94

IIM Bodh Gaya

92

93

92

92

IIM Shillong

92

93

90

90

IIM Sirmaur

90

92

92

92

IIM Rohtak

95

96

92-94

93-94

IIM Mumbai

95

96

90

91-92

CAT Pass Percentage for Non-IIMs

CAT scores are accepted nationwide by colleges other than IIMs for admission to their MBA/PGDM programs. The non-IIMs CAT pass percentage 2023, the CAT pass percentage 2022, the CAT 2021 pass percentage, and the CAT pass percentage 2020 are given in the table below.

CAT Accepting CollegesExpected CAT Pass Percentage (Last Year)
CAT Pass Percentage 2023
CAT Pass Percentage 2022
CAT Pass Percentage 2021
CAT Pass Percentage 2020

FMS

99

98.2

97-99

98-99

97-99

BITSOM

94

95

90

85

85

DMS, IIT Delhi

98+

97

97+

98

98+

Loyola Institute of Business Administration (LIBA) Chennai

90+

95

90

70

90

SJMSOM, IIT Bombay

99+

99

99

99+

99

Institute of Management Technology (IMT) Ghaziabad

90+

98

95-99

95-97

95-99

MDI Gurgaon

95+

95

94+

97+

95+

National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE) Mumbai

95+

96

95

97

95

SPJIMR

85+

90

95-99

95-99

95-99

XIMB

90+

94

91

91


Department of Management Studies, IIT Madras

95+

95

90

85.11

85.11

T A Pai Management Institute (TAPMI) Manipal

85+

90

85

80

80

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q: What is the pass percentage for the CAT exam?
A:

The CAT pass percentage generally ranges from 90-99 percentile for most of the good B schools. For getting into IIMs the required CAT pass percentage is usually between 97-99.9 percentile. IIMs also have sectional CAT pass percentage criteria for selection.

Q: What is the percentage for clearing the CAT exam?
A:

There is no specified percentage required for clearing the CAT exam. The IIMs and other B schools accepting CAT scores for admission to their MBA/PGDM programs have their own respective CAT pass percentage for shortlisting applicants.

Q: What is a good CAT score?
A:

A good CAT score will differ from college to college. If a candidate aims for IIMs a good CAT score would be 97-99.9 percentile for normalized CAT scores. For colleges other than IIMs any CAT score above 90 percentile will be considered as a good score.

Q: Which IIM is easiest to get into?
A:

IIM with lower CAT pass percentage are easy to get into. IIMs such as IIM Bodh Gaya, IIM Sirmaur, IIM Amritsar, IIM Shillong, and IIM Nagpur are much easier to get into if the CAT scores are low and the overall is not strong enough for top IIMs.

Q: What is the qualifying score for CAT?
A:

The qualifying score for the CAT exam varies from one institute to another. The qualifying CAT cut off required for the top MBA colleges in India is 90 to 99 percentile.

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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.