How Many Students Appeared for CAT 2023 Exam?

How Many Students Appeared for CAT 2023 Exam?

Alen Tom ShajiUpdated on 07 Aug 2024, 03:56 PM IST

Indian Institute of Management conducts the CAT exam once a year. Out of 6 old IIMs, one of the IIMs was randomly chosen as the official authority to manage the CAT exam and release the CAT selection procedure in a year. Interested candidates can give their maximum effort and time after knowing how many students appeared for CAT 2023 exam. As per the CAT 2023 trends, Around 2.88 lakh students appeared for the CAT exam conducted in 150+ test cities and the total number of CAT registrations made in 2023 was 3.5 lakh. CAT 2023 was held on November 26, 2023, in 3 slots. Read this article to know about the previous year's CAT registration and CAT exam analysis.

LiveIIM CAT 2025 Result (OUT) LIVE: MBA admission criteria for IIMs; CAT score weightage, cut-offsDec 26, 2025 | 11:01 PM IST

IIM Kozhikode will retain its three-stage admission process for the MBA (PGP) 2026–28 batch, with CAT 2025 scores carrying a final weightage of 35 percent. The minimum overall CAT cut-off for general category candidates remains at 85 percentile, with sectional qualifying scores required in VARC, DILR, and QA. Shortlisting of candidates will be based on CAT performance, academic record, and personal interview rounds.

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This Story also Contains

  1. How many students appeared for CAT Exam 2023?
  2. What is CAT exam?
  3. CAT 2023 Exam Analysis
  4. What is the overall success rate of CAT Exam?
How Many Students Appeared for CAT 2023 Exam?
How Many Students Appeared for CAT 2023 Exam

How many students appeared for CAT Exam 2023?

MBA aspirants who wish to appear for the CAT 2024 exam can check out the below table to know how many students appeared for the CAT exam in 2022, 2021 and 2020 after CAT registrations.

Previous Year’s Trends in CAT Registration: 2023, 2022, 2021 and 2020

Year

CAT Conducting IIMs

Total CAT registrations

Total Applicants Appeared for CAT exam

2023

IIM Lucknow

3.5 lakh

2.88 lakh

2022

IIM Bangalore

2.55 lakh

2.22 lakh

2021

IIM Ahmedabad

2.30 lakhs

1.90 lakh

2020

IIM Indore

2.30 lakhs

1.90 lakh

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How many students can appear for CAT 2024? (Expected)

IIM Calcutta will conduct CAT 2024 on November 24, 2024. The total number of candidates appearing for the CAT exam 2024 is expected to be 3 lakhs according to previous year’s trends. The expected number of CAT registrations 2024 comes to around 3.5 lakh and out of this about 3 lakh candidates will appear for the computer-based CAT exam.

Also Read: How to apply for CAT exam 2024

What is CAT exam?

The CAT exam is a national-level MBA entrance exam conducted by the IIMs once a year for MBA/PGDM/PGP admissions for the IIMs, IITs and 1000+ B-Schools in India. The CAT full form is the Common Admission Test. Candidates who wish to appear for the CAT 2024 must meet the CAT eligibility requirements and complete the CAT registration. Interested candidates can go through the CAT previous year's paper to understand the CAT exam pattern.

CAT 2023 Exam Analysis

As per the reviews from CAT exam takers 2023 and experts the CAT 2023 exam was moderate to difficult. The quantitative aptitude section was a tricky and challenging one. Candidates with good reading habits were able to crack the CAT VARC section last year. The difficulty level of the CAT 2023 was different from one slot to another in 3 slots.

Also Read: IIM vs IIT MBA: Which one to choose?

What is the overall success rate of CAT Exam?

Around 2.5 to 3 lakh students register and appear for the CAT exam every year. The overall difficulty level of the CAT exam and the total number of participants is also higher compared to other MBA entrance exams. The CAT exam is conducted to choose the eligible candidates based on their logical, analytical, mathematical and language skills for top BSchool MBA admissions. So, the overall success rate of the CAT exam is only 2 per cent as per the CAT results. This indicates only 2 candidates out of 100 passed in the CAT exam with good scores acceptable by top IIMs or other MBA institutes in India.

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Questions related to CAT

On Question asked by student community

Have a question related to CAT ?

Hello,

The results for the CAT 2025 entrance, which is conducted on November 30, 2025, were declared on December 22, 2025. Candidates can download and see their results on the official IIM CAT website. On the website, click on the "CAT 2025 Result/Scorecard" link to download the result by entering the required details.

I hope it will clear your query!!

Hello,

The link to the website where you can check the published result is attached herewith.  The result will be out soon. You can also check the cutoffs on the website of Careers360.

https://bschool.careers360.com/articles/cat-result

Thank you.

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,

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!!