Do IIMs Have A Sectional Cutoff For MBA Admission 2025-27

Do IIMs Have A Sectional Cutoff For MBA Admission 2025-27

Team Careers360Updated on 20 Nov 2025, 02:41 PM IST

The IIMs shortlist candidates based on the CAT percentile for WAT and PI rounds in the selection process for their MBA/PGDM programs. To be eligible for applying to the IIMs, the candidates must clear the CAT cutoff criteria for individual IIMs. The official CAT cutoff for IIMS and top MBA colleges is expected to be released by January 2026. Apart from the CAT overall cutoff, the IIMs also have a criterion for the CAT sectional cutoff for all three sections of the CAT exam. The IIM sectional-wise cutoff is decided based on the category of the candidate, reserved or unreserved. The IIM sectional-wise cutoff for candidates from the general category is different from that of candidates from OBC, EWS, SC, and ST.

This Story also Contains

  1. Which IIM Has No Sectional Cutoff in CAT?
  2. Do IIMs have a Sectional Cutoff for VARC?
  3. Do IIMs have a Sectional Cutoff for DILR?
  4. Do IIMs have a Sectional Cutoff for QA?
Do IIMs Have A Sectional Cutoff For MBA Admission 2025-27
Do IIMs have a sectional cutoff?

Which IIM Has No Sectional Cutoff in CAT?

The Indian Institute of Management, Rohtak, is the only institute among all the IIMs that does not have any sectional cutoff for the CAT 2025 exam. In this, the candidate has to only clear the overall CAT cutoff 2025 to be shortlisted for the additional rounds.

Additionally, in several other IIMs, they do have overall and sectional cutoffs in VARC, DILR and QA, which are used to shortlist candidates for admission.

Thus, IIM Rohtak gives candidates the benefit of a fair chance to be accepted by the institution to those applicants who score highly on the overall score but have lower scores in the sections.

Do IIMs have a Sectional Cutoff for VARC?

The IIMs have a sectional cutoff for the VARC (Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension) section. Candidates applying for the different IIMs must clear the specified VARC sectional cutoff. The sectional cutoff for VARC for different IIMs is given in the table below.

Do IIMs have a Sectional Cutoff for DILR?

The Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR) section will have a specified cutoff for every IIM, which is mandatory to be cleared by the candidate. The DILR sectional cutoff for different IIMs is mentioned in the table below.

Also See: CAT Sectional Cutoff Marks 2024: Detailed Analysis and Expert Insights

Do IIMs have a Sectional Cutoff for QA?

The Quantitative Aptitude section of the CAT exam will have a cutoff to be cleared by the candidate along with a cutoff for the other two CAT exam sections. The sectional cutoff for the quantitative aptitude section for various IIMs is given in the table below.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q: Does sectional cutoff matter in CAT?
A:

Sectional cutoff for all the CAT exam sections is mandatory to be cleared by every candidate along with the specified overall CAT cutoff for applying to a particular IIM. Candidates not meeting the cutoff criteria for any one of the sections.

Q: Do colleges other than IIMs consider sectional cut-off?
A:

Colleges other than IIMs consider the sectional cutoff in some cases. Most of the MBA/PGDM colleges other than the IIMs do not consider sectional cutoffs for admissions. However, they do require good performance in all the sections of the CAT exam.

Q: Which IIM has no sectional cut-off?
A:

IIM Rohtak is the IIM with no sectional cutoff for any of the CAT exam sections. The candidate only needs to clear the overall CAT cutoff specified by the college to get shortlisted for further WAT and PI rounds.

Q: Which IIM has the least sectional cutoff?
A:

IIM Ahmedabad has one of the least sectional cutoffs among all the IIMs. The IIM Ahmedabad sectional cutoff for each section is equal to around 70. The sectional cutoff along with the overall CAT cutoff is mandatory to clear for getting shortlisted.

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Questions related to CAT

On Question asked by student community

Have a question related to CAT ?

Hello there,

Yes, you should surely give a try. Your score and being Non-Engineer gives you an edge. The previous trends shows that cutoff typically hovers around 75-84 for EWS category. Therefore you must give a try.

NIBM  gives proper weightage to academics as well, therefore your 8\8\8 would work

HELLO,

With an overall 98.54 percentile ( QA/DILR 97.55, VARC 94.89) and strong academics 9/9/0, you have a good profile. As a B.Tech candidate you can expect calls from :-

  • IIM Shillong
  • IIM Udaipur
  • IIM Trichy
  • IIM Ranchi
  • IIM Raipur
  • IIM Kashipur
  • IIM Nagpur
  • IIM Indore is Boderline

Hope this

Hello there,

The IIMs you should expect are listed below:

  • A 90-100% chance: IIM Lucknow, IIM Indore, IIM Kozhikode, IIM Shillong, IIM Mumbai, and all CAP IIMs( Udaipur, Trichy, Ranchi, etc.).
  • A 50-70% CHANCE: IIM Calcutta and SPJIMR.
  • A very competitive chance, IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Bangalore

Your biotech background

Hello there,

With a 70 percentile it is not easy to make it in the IMT Hyderabad because the cutoff usually reaches 85-90+ for general category, even IMT Nagpur has low chances since the cutoff usually reaches 75-85. However, IMI Kolkata, is your safe option, since the cutoff is around

Hello aspirant,

Your kid has a good profile even in the general category with a BTech from IIT Delhi, three years of excellent job experience in a leading industry, and a 96 percentile in the CAT. He has a strong chance at reputable MBA schools like IIM Shillong, IIM Udaipur,