CAT Score vs Percentile 2025 (Expected) vs 2020–2024: What Marks to Percentile Conversion Expected this Year

CAT Score vs Percentile 2025 (Expected) vs 2020–2024: What Marks to Percentile Conversion Expected this Year

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Malvika ChawlaUpdated on 08 Oct 2025, 03:57 PM IST

CAT Score vs Percentile 2025: CAT is said to be one of the most competitive MBA entrance exams in India. This year, as per social media reports, IIM received 3.42 lakh email registrations for the upcoming CAT 2025 exam. The CAT exam will comprise three sections and will last for 120 minutes. To assess a candidate, a scaled scoring system will be used, which is often very confusing. Every year, MBA aspirants seek clarity between the CAT score vs percentile. Understanding how a raw score can be converted to percentiles will help one come up with an effective strategy. Going by past year trends, a raw score of 96-98 led to a 99+ percentile. To find out the expected CAT score vs percentile, and understand the difference between the two, keep reading the article.

This Story also Contains

  1. CAT Score vs Percentile 2025: Understanding the Difference
  2. CAT Score vs Percentile 2025 (Expected): Overall Analysis
  3. CAT Score vs Percentile 2025: Section-wise Target Scores for Top IIMs & Colleges
  4. CAT Exam 2025: Why Small Score Changes Impact Percentile Heavily?
  5. CAT Score Vs Percentile 2025: Step-by-Step Conversion Process
CAT Score vs Percentile 2025 (Expected) vs 2020–2024: What Marks to Percentile Conversion Expected this Year
CAT Score vs Percentile 2025 (Expected) vs 2020–2024: What Marks to Percentile Conversion is Expected this Year

CAT Score vs Percentile 2025: Understanding the Difference

CAT Score: A CAT score is the total marks that the candidate obtains in the Common Admission Test (CAT) based on their performance in the CAT exam. There are three types of CAT scores: Raw score (direct total from the candidate’s answers), Scaled/Normalised score (adjusted score after slot normalisation) and Percentile (rank in comparison to other test-takers).

The CAT score can be calculated as follows:

  • Correct Answer (MCQ): +3 marks

  • Incorrect answer (MCQ): -1 marks

  • TITA/Mon-MCQ Questions: +3 marks for correct, no negative marking for wrong/unanswered questions.

  • Unattempted questions: 0 marks

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Your raw score will be calculated as follows:

Raw CAT Score = (number of correct answer x3) - (Number of incorrect MCQs x1)

CAT Percentile: The CAT percentile is a relative ranking metric that shows how well a candidate performed as compared to all the other test-takers in that year. All candidates must note that the CAT percentile is not the same as their raw marks. Sectional percentiles are also given for VARC, DILR and QA. Two candidates with the same raw score may have slightly different percentiles if they were in different slots due to normalisation. Since IIMs have sectional cutoffs, candidates must perform well across all sections, not just overall.

The CAT percentile is calculated as follows:

  • CAT will assign a raw score based on the total number of correct/incorrect answers.

  • The normalisation process will be applied across three slots to account for differences in difficulty.

  • Candidates will be ranked according to scaled scores

  • The final CAT percentile will be calculated using this formula:

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Percentile=(1−Total Candidates/Rank)×100

For example: If there are 2,00,000 candidates and your rank is 10,000, then, percentile = (1-10,000/2,00,000) X 100 = 95 percentile.

Check out the CAT 2025 percentile predictor by Careers360, which will help you with the same.

CAT Score vs Percentile 2025 (Expected): Overall Analysis

CAT score vs percentile data will depend on the previous years’ analysis. If the exam difficulty remains the same, then the 2025 statistics will resemble 2024. Take a look at the following table, which mentions the expected CAT 2025 score vs percentile.

CAT Percentile

CAT 2025 Expected VARC Score

CAT 2025 Expected DILR Score

CAT 2025 Expected QA Score

80 Percentile

18.00

17.00

11.00

85 Percentile

20.00

19.00

14.00

90 Percentile

24.00

22.00

17.00

95 Percentile

30.00

27.00

22.00

98 Percentile

36.00

34.00

29.00

99 Percentile

41.00

38.00

33.00

100 Percentile

59.00

63.00

57.00

Question: How much 96 percentile in CAT 2025 will mean how many marks?

Answer: 96 percentile in the CAT 2025 exam will be in the range of 66.3+ to 69.8+.

CAT Score vs Percentile 2025 vs 2024 vs 2023 vs 2022 vs 2021 vs 2020: Sectional Analysis
Going through previous years' CAT score vs percentile analysis will help one identify trends and what one can expect for this year. One must note that small changes in the CAT raw score can lead to large percentile jumps. Take a look at the following table, which mentions the CAT score vs percentile for previous years (section-wise) from 2020 to 2024.

CAT 2024 Score vs Percentile Section-wise Analysis (Cracku)

Percentile

VARC Score

DILR Score

QA Score

Overall Score

99.99

127

99.5

103.9

99

95.13

97

78.9




95

70.52

90

58.98

85

50.29

80

44.29

CAT Score vs Percentile 2023 Section-wise Analysis (Cracku)

Percentile

VARC Score

DILR Score

QA Score

Overall Score

100

61.66

50.4

49.46

99.99

58.20

42.66

44.89

99.9

51.14

36.58

34.96


99.5

44

30.58

28.28

99

39.83

27.29

25.20

95

28.78

18.92

16.87

90

22.37

15.63

13.63

85

17.58

11.67

9.2

CAT 2022 Score vs Percentile Section-wise Analysis (iQuanta)

Percentile

VARC Score

DILR Score

QA Score

Overall Score

100

136

99.9

114.15

99.5

104.28

99.4

102.56

99

87.20

95

60.70

90

52.63

85

46.57

CAT 2021 Score vs Percentile Section-wise Analysis (Cracku)

Percentile

VARC Score

DILR Score

QA Score

Overall Score

99.5

45

32

48

103

99

40

28

42

95

98

36

25

36

84

95

31

20

27

70

90

26

16

22

56

85

22

14

18

48

CAT 2020 Score vs Percentile Sectional Analysis (Cracku)

Percentile

VARC Score

DILR Score

QA Score

Overall Score

99

40-44

34-36

43-44

105-110

95

32-35

20-32

36-38

88-94

90

29-31

25-27

32-34

78-81

85

24-27

20-23

25-29

72-74

CAT Score vs Percentile 2025: Section-wise Target Scores for Top IIMs & Colleges

Here are the section-wise CAT cutoff requirements for top IIMs (approx.). Through this data, you will get an idea of how much a candidate must aim for to get admission to the top IIMs in India.

IIM

VARC

DILR

QA

Overall

IIM Ahmedabad

80%ile

80%ile

80%ile

99%ile

IIM Bangalore

85%ile

85%ile

85%ile

99%ile

IIM Calcutta

80%ile

80%ile

80%ile

99%ile

IIM Lucknow

85%ile

85%ile

85%ile

97+%ile

IIM Kozhikode

80%ile

80%ile

80%ile

97+%ile

IIM Indore

80%ile

80%ile

80%ile

97+%ile

IIM Shillong

75%ile

75%ile

75%ile

90-92%ile

Note: Now, several other IIMs and Tier 1 private colleges like MDI, SPJIMR, FMS Delhi and IIT Bombay also accept candidates with 95-97%ile with sectional cutoffs around 70-75%ile.

CAT Exam 2025: Why Small Score Changes Impact Percentile Heavily?

Here are the reasons why small CAT score changes can significantly impact percentiles.

  • High Competition at the Top End: The majority of aspirants score in the mid-range (30-70 percentile). Very few candidates make it to the top percentiles (90-99.9 percentiles), separating thousands of candidates. For instance, even a difference of 3-4 marks can move you from 95 percentile to 97 percentile.

  • Compressed Score Distribution: Since the CAT exam has only 66 questions, this means that each question will carry 3 marks (MCQ) and 3 marks without negative marking (TITA).

  • Normalisation Across Slots: Since the CAT exam is only held in 3 slots, a normalisation process will be conducted. After which, all raw score differences will become amplified to percentile shifts.

  • Limited Number of High Scores: Each year, only around 200-300 students get to reach the 99.9 percentile.

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CAT Score Vs Percentile 2025: Step-by-Step Conversion Process

Take a look at the following step-by-step process of how one can convert their CAT 2025 scores to the CAT percentile.

Step 1: Calculate Raw Score

Calculating the CAT raw score is easy once the candidate knows the number of questions they attempted and how many were correct or incorrect. Take a look at the CAT raw score calculation formula.

Raw Score = (Correct MCQs x 3) - (incorrect MCQs x 1) + (Correct TITA x3)

*Unattempted questions will not affect the score.

Take a look at the example to understand the above formula in a better way.
Suppose a candidate attempted:

  • MCQs: 60 total, where 50 were correct and 10 were incorrect

  • TITA: 5 correct and 2 unattempted questions

So, to calculate MCQ contributions:

(50x3)- (10x1) = 150-10 = 140

To calculate TITA contributions:

5x3 =15

To add both contributions:

140+15 = 155

Therefore, the final raw score will be 155

Step 2: Check Slot Normalisation

Since the CAT exam is conducted in multiple slots, the raw scores are normalised to adjust for the difficulty differences across the 3 slots. After the CAT normalisation process, this will give the candidate their scaled score (used for percentile calculation).

Step 3: Convert Scaled CAT Score to Percentile

This is all about having a basic understanding of how one’s performance compares to all test-takers after the normalisation process. The scaled score will equal the normalised score after accounting for slot difficulty.

To convert a scaled score to a percentile, one can follow this basic formula to calculate the percentile:

Percentile=(1−Total CandidatesRank)×100

Example:

Suppose 2,00,00 total candidates took the CAT exam, and your rank is 10,000. Then, by using the above-mentioned formula, the percentile will come out to be 95%.

Step 4: Sectional Percentiles

Lastly, CAT also provides sectional percentiles for all three sections: VARC, DILR and QA. CAT sectional scores are normalised in the same manner as the CAT scores.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q: What is a safe score in CAT?
A:

A safe score in the CAT exam will depend on your target B-school, but generally, 150+ marks is needed for getting admission to top IIMs, while 120-149 marks is needed for mid-tier and other reputed institutes. 

Q: What marks is 99.9 percentile in CAT exam?
A:

To achieve a 99.9 percentile in the CAT exam, a candidate will need a scaled score of around 101-127 marks, although this will vary from year to year depending on the CAT paper’s overall difficulty and the specific exam year. 

Q: What percentile is 40 marks in CAT exam?
A:

A raw score of 40 in the CAT exam will typically correspond to a percentile in the range of 77-83 percentile. Although, this can vary slightly depending on the overall difficulty of the CAT exam and in which slot was it taken. 

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Questions related to CAT

On Question asked by student community

Have a question related to CAT ?

With a 70 percent in CAT Examination, you can go for various B-Schools or private collages. The S. K. Patel Institute of Management in Gandhinagar is an option for those who score 70-80 percent in their CAT examination or The Gujarat Institute of Management (GIM) in Goa with a cutoff of 60-80 percentage. These are the collages you can look for in Gujarat or nearby.

Collage in other regions: BA Colleges Accepting 70-80 Percentile in CAT 2025

Thank You.

Hello dear candidate,

NO. your application for CAT will not rejected for wrong gender small mistake in the OBC NCL certificate. You will be considered as an OBC candidate.

you just need to get your OBC certificate corrected and need to inform the CAT helpdesk about this error.


Hello,

Here are some top MBA colleges in India with fees under Rs. 2 lakh and their exam/cutoff details:

  • SIMSREE, Mumbai – Fee around Rs. 1.3–1.4 lakh for 2 years. Accepts CAT, CMAT, MAH-CET, MAT, ATMA. Cutoff is very high, usually 99+ percentile in CAT/CMAT.

  • PUMBA (Dept. of Management Sciences, Savitribai Phule Pune University) – Fee around Rs. 1.2–1.3 lakh. Accepts CAT, CMAT, MAH-CET, ATMA. Cutoff approx. 75+ percentile in CAT, 90–95+ percentile in CMAT, high scores in MAH-CET.

  • TISS, Mumbai (MA HRM & other management-related programmes) – Fee around Rs. 1.7–1.9 lakh. Accepts CAT for some courses. Qualifying cutoff is around 60–70 percentile, but final selection cutoffs are higher.

These are the main government institutes where the full MBA/PG programme fee is within Rs. 2 lakh. Cutoffs vary slightly each year and by category, but SIMSREE and PUMBA generally need high scores, while TISS has its own process along with CAT shortlisting.

Hope it helps !

Hey! With a NEET score of 344 in the ST category, it is highly unlikely to get admission in any government BDS college in Delhi through the All India Quota. The cutoff for government BDS seats in Delhi usually falls around 400–450 for ST category, so your score is below that range.

You can consider private dental colleges, state quota seats in other states, or reattempt NEET next year to improve your chances.

Hello dear candidate,

YES, with NEET score 344in the ST category you have high chances of getting admission in a BDS College in J&K through JKBOPEE counselling.

check the seat availability and next participate in JKBOPEE Counselling with all the necessary documents.

Thank you.