CAT 2025: How Much Marks to Target Section-Wise, Score vs Percentile, Expected Cutoff

CAT 2025: How Much Marks to Target Section-Wise, Score vs Percentile, Expected Cutoff

Malvika ChawlaUpdated on 15 Dec 2025, 05:28 PM IST

CAT is one of the most competitive MBA entrance exams in India and serves as the gateway to admission to top MBA colleges in India, such as the IIMs, FMS Delhi, SPJIMR, MDI Gurgaon and several others. However, one of the biggest challenges for aspirants is understanding the relationship between the CAT score and the percentile. Since CAT is a scaled-score-based exam, the raw marks are converted into scaled scores and percentiles. This can vary each year depending on the exam’s difficulty. CAT 2025 exam is scheduled to be held on November 30. Candidates appearing for this MBA entrance must check out this article to know how much to target section-wise in the upcoming CAT 2025 exam, make sure you keep reading the article.

This Story also Contains

  1. CAT 2025: How Much to Target Section-Wise
  2. CAT 2025 Slot-wise Score vs Percentile (Expected)
  3. CAT 2025 Section-wise Score vs percentile: IMS India
  4. What is CAT Percentile and How is it Calculated?
  5. CAT 2025 Normalisation and Slot Difficulty
  6. How to Plan Section-wise CAT Targets Effectively?
  7. Which Colleges Accept CAT 2025 Percentiles?
CAT 2025: How Much Marks to Target Section-Wise, Score vs Percentile, Expected Cutoff
CAT 2025: How Much Marks to Target Section-Wise, Score vs Percentile, Expected Cutoff

CAT 2025: How Much to Target Section-Wise

The CAT 2025 score vs percentile depends on the previous year’s analysis. The section-wise CAT 2025 score vs percentile (expected) data helps a candidate get an idea of both sectional cut-off and the overall cutoff required by them for MBA admissions 2026.

CAT 2025 Slot-wise Score vs Percentile (Expected)

Check out the following tables, which mention the CAT 2025 section-wise scores which all candidates must target (slot-wise) by iQuanta.

CAT 2025 Slot 1 Sectional Cutoff

CAT PercentileCAT VARCCAT DILRCAT QAOverall
99.9 %ile544344120
99.5 %ile443536100
99 %ile40303288
98 %ile35252775
95 %ile30202165
90 %ile24161654
85 %ile20131345
80 %ile18111140
75 %ile159930


CAT 2025 Slot 2 Section-wise cutoff

CAT PercentileVARCDILRQAOverall
99.9%ile544642121
99.5%ile463834102
99%ile41333190
98%ile35282777
95%ile30232067
90%ile25161656
85%ile21131347
80%ile18111142
75%ile159932
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Slot 3 Section-wise cutoff fro CAT 2025

CAT PercentileVARCDILRQAOverall
99.9%ile544238115
99.5%ile46363397
99%ile41302885
98%ile35272672
95%ile30222065
90%ile25171652
85%ile21121242
80%ile18101138
75%ile158930
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CAT 2025 Section-wise Score vs percentile: IMS India

The CAT 2025 section-wise cutoff for each slot is mentioned in the following tables as per IMS India.

Slot 1



PercentileCAT VARC ScoreCAT DILR ScoreCAT QA ScoreCAT Overall
99.9514648122
99.5443940103
9940343390
9834313081
9530262570
9023191853
8519151645
8017131440
7515111234
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Slot 2



CAT PercentileVARC ScoreDILR ScoreQA ScoreCAT Overall
99.9524243115
99.545353597
9941302883
9836272575
9532232065
9025171551
8520131341
8018111237
7517101033


Slot 3



CAT Percentile CAT VARC Score CAT DILR ScoreCAT QA ScoreCAT Score
99.9534445119
99.5463737101
9941323087
9834292777
9530242366
9023181752
8519151443
8017121237
7515111133

What is CAT Percentile and How is it Calculated?

The CAT percentile is the percentage of test takers a candidate has scored better than, not their percentage score. The CAT 2025 percentile is calculated by comparing a candidate’s rank to the total number of test takers. The final percentile score is rounded to two decimal places.

For example, if a candidate has a 99th percentile, it means that their performance was better than 99 per cent of all the CAT test takers that year.

The formula for calculating the CAT sectional as well as the overall CAT percentile for each candidate is provided below. For percentile calculation, the raw CAT scores of every candidate across the exam sessions are scaled to be marked on the same scale.

CAT 2025 Normalisation and Slot Difficulty

The CAT 2025 normalisation process is conducted to adjust scores across different exam slots. This is to ensure fairness due to potential variations in difficulty. This is a statistical process that uses the mean and standard deviation of each slot, which can be equated to a slightly higher scale score than a raw score from an easier slot.

How to Plan Section-wise CAT Targets Effectively?

The CAT exam is not just about overall percentile; it’s also about how well you perform in each section. To crack CAT 2025, one will need a section-wise strategy that will align with their strengths, weaknesses and target percentile.

Take a look at the following table to understand the CAT 2025 exam structure and how one can plan section-wise CAT targets.

Section

Number of Questions

Time Limit

Type of Questions

Marking Scheme

VARC (Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension)

24

40 mins

MCQs + TITA

-3/-1

DILR (Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning)

20

40 mins

MCQs + TITA

-3/-1

QA (Quantitative Ability)

22

40 mins

MCQs + TITA

-3/-1

Total

66

120 mins


Which Colleges Accept CAT 2025 Percentiles?

Take a look at the following table, which mentions the list of colleges that will fall under the required CAT 2025 percentiles.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

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

A 99.9 percentile in the CAT exam will correspond to an overall score of approximately 102-106 marks, with the exact number varying slightly by year and slot. 

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

A safe score in CAT will usually be between 90 and 98 and will be achieved with 72-84 raw marks. Such a percentile is appropriate for admissions to new IIMs and other B-schools as per the previous year's CAT cutoff. 

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

A 40-mark score in CAT exam is estimated to be around 85 percentile. However, this can vary based on the exam’s difficulty and the number of test takers. 

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Questions related to CAT

On Question asked by student community

Have a question related to CAT ?

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

Hi there,

With a B.tech in industrial engineering from IIT Roorkee and a CAT 2025 score of 98.89 percentile and strong sectionals your profile is solid for top B-schools. For the top IIMs like Ahmedabad and Bangalore, calls for engineers usually go to candidates with near perfect percentiles. Your score

Hello,
The IIT Guwahati cutoff for SC and EWS categories depends on the branch, year, and JoSAA counselling round, but you can get a general idea from recent trends.

For the SC category, closing ranks usually range from 4,000 to 9,000 for popular branches like CSE, ECE, and Mechanical, while

with this percentile, you can get into tier 2 or tier 3 college, the list of the few notable college is given below-

1) FLAME university, Pune

2) AIMS institute, Bangalore

3) Doon business school, Dehradun

4) Christ university, Bangalore

5) NIT Trichy

6) KIIT school of management, Bhuvneshwar






A CAT percentile of 99.64 is an excellent score and definitely places you in a strong position for top IIM calls, including IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, and IIM Calcutta. However, admission to these institutes is not based on CAT score alone. Each of these IIMs follows a holistic selection process