How Many Students Clear CAT Exam Every Year? Appearing vs Qualified Trends (2020–2025)

How Many Students Clear CAT Exam Every Year? Appearing vs Qualified Trends (2020–2025)

Team Careers360Updated on 03 Dec 2025, 04:05 PM IST

How Many Students Clear CAT Exam Every Year? This is a common question which every MBA aspirant must have. Well, to answer this question, the CAT exam authorities have never released any official numbers answering this question. However, one can get a rough idea of this question by looking at the CAT results, which will be out in the second or third week of December 2025. This year, the CAT exam was taken by 2.58 lakh students. Going by last year's data, 3,29,000 candidates had registered for the CAT exam, out of which only 2,93,000 candidates had appeared.

LiveCAT 2025 Answer Key (OUT) LIVE: IIM CAT objection facility from December 8; cut-offs, score vs percentileDec 6, 2025 | 3:26 PM IST

Candidates who appeared for the Computer-based IIM CAT 2025 on November 30 and awaiting the answer key and response sheet to calculate their probable scores can check the score vs percentile for each slot 1 by experts from the table given below.

Percentile

CAT 2025 Slot 1 (Prediction)

CAT 2025 Slot 2 (Prediction)

CAT 2025 Slot 3 (Prediction)

99.95

115+

110+

112+

99.9

103–106

101–105

102–104

99.5

90–92

89–91

88–90

99

78–80

77–79

76–78

97

66–68

65–67

65–67

95

56–58

55–57

55–57

90

45–48

44–46

44–45

85

40–42

39–41

39–40

80

35–36

34–35

34–35

75

32–33

31–32

31–32

70

30–31

29–30

29–30

60

25–26

24–25

24–25

Read More

This Story also Contains

  1. How Many Candidates Take CAT Exam Every Year?
  2. How Many Students Clear CAT Exam Every Year?
  3. Total Marks required to clear the CAT Exam
How Many Students Clear CAT Exam Every Year? Appearing vs Qualified Trends (2020–2025)
How Many Students Clear CAT Exam

CAT (Common Admission Test) is one of the most reputed and anticipated MBA entrance exams in India. The CAT exam is conducted every year for MBA aspirants to get admission to the prestigious IIMs and other top rated B schools in the country. As you continue reading this article, you will find the past years' total number of candidates who took the CAT exam, the past year's toppers, along with more details.

How Many Candidates Take CAT Exam Every Year?

To understand how many students clear the CAT exam every year, we must begin by looking at the number of how many candidates who take the CAT exam every year. Every year, 2.5 - 3+ lakh students register for the CAT exam, out of which only 80-89% of students end up participating in the CAT exam.

As you will look at the below table, you will get to see that the total number of students appearing for the CAT exam has risen significantly. Here is the table listing the total number of candidates who registered and took the CAT exam in the past 5 years.

YearNo. of Students Registered for CATNo. of Students Appeared for CAT
20252,95,0002,58,000
20243,29,0002,93,000
20232,23,0002,88,000
20222,55,5012,22,184
20212,29,9691,91,660
20202,27,8351,90,144
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Also See: How Many Students Took CAT Exam?

How Many Students Clear CAT Exam Every Year?

Over the years, it has been seen that only 10,000-30,000 students have qualified for the CAT exam in the past years. As mentioned, the exact number as to how many students who clear the CAT exam has never officially been released by the CAT exam conducting authorities.

While the exact number is not there, one must note that you need 99-100% to get admission to the top IIMs in India. Take a look at the following table, which mentions the number of toppers in each percentile.

Year

Percentile

No. of Students Qualified

2024

100%

14 (13 Males;1 Female)

99.99%

29 (27 Males;2 Females)

99.98%

30 (29 Males;1 Female)

2023

100%

14 (All Males)

99.99%

29 (28 Males;1 Female)

99.98%

29 ( All Males)

2022

100%

11 (All Males)

99.99%

22 (21 Males; 1 Female)

99.98%

22 (19 Males; 3 Females)

2021

100%

9 (All Males)

99.99%

19 (All Males)

99.98%

19 (18 Males; 1 Female)

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q: What is the success rate of CAT?
A:

The success rate for the CAT exam based on previous year records is around 2%. The success rate for IIMs through CAT is even lesser than that.

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

The pass percentage of the CAT exam is decided by the individual college. CAT exam also has sectional pass percentage for all three sections. The CAT pass percentage ranges from 60 to 80 for the overall CAT exam.

Q: How many students give the CAT every year?
A:

The CAT exam is given by over 2 lakh candidates every year. The number of students giving the CAT exam varies from 2.5 to 2.9 lakh every year.

Q: What is the CAT cutoff for IIM?
A:

The CAT cutoff for IIM is between 99 to 100 percentile. This is the CAT percentile at which the final selection of a candidate generally happens. The qualifying CAT percentile for CAT ranges from 70 to 80 depending on the particular IIM. At this percentile a candidate becomes eligible to apply to the particular IIM for its selection process.

Q: How many students get into IIM every year?
A:

Every year, it is estimated that approximately 5,500 students get admitted into 21 IIMs, with the total number of seats across all IIMs being slightly higher. 

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Questions related to CAT

On Question asked by student community

Have a question related to CAT ?

If you filled the UGC NET form under EWS but you don’t have a valid EWS certificate, then forget using the EWS category. They won’t accept it. You’ll automatically be treated as General category during document verification.


And no, this won’t make your form “invalid” or “illegal.” It just means you won’t get the EWS benefit.


So yes — you can still go for General category posts and Professor recruitment. Just don’t try to submit a fake/invalid certificate; that will get you disqualified.

Hello,
If your CAT admit card shows your surname first followed by your first name as entered in the form, it is correct. You do not need to worry about this format as long as it matches the details you provided. Ensure all other information on the admit card is accurate and carry it to the exam along with the required identification documents.
Hope this helps you.

Hello,

If your CAT admit card has a different date of birth than your Aadhaar card, you should get it corrected immediately . Here’s what you can do:

  1. Check the CAT website : Log in to your candidate portal and look for the option to correct personal details.

  2. Contact the CAT helpdesk : Email or call them explaining the issue. Attach a copy of your Aadhaar card as proof.

  3. Do not ignore it : The date of birth must match your ID, otherwise you may face problems at the exam or during admission.

Usually, the CAT authorities allow corrections before the exam, so act quickly.

Hope it helps !

Hello,

Here are Documents Required for CUSAT CAT (NRI Quota):

  1. Academic Documents includes (Class 10-mark sheet, Class 12-mark sheet, Transfer Certificate)
  2. NRI Sponsorship Documents
  3. Other Supporting Documents (Candidate’s passport, Proof of residence abroad)

To know more access below mentioned link:

https://engineering.careers360.com/articles/cusat-cat-application-form

Hope it helps.

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