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    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.

    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: 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. 

    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 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: 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.

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    Questions related to CAT

    On Question asked by student community

    Have a question related to CAT ?

    Hi, while some of the Agri-business management courses need prior education or experience in the agricultural education background, but for others it is not always mandatory to have an agricultural education background. However with 62 percentile in CAT is it difficult to get into the premium B-Schools in India. For

    FMS Udaipur admission for 2026 is not open. The MBA 2026 admission will likely commence in May 2026. You can keep checking the official website of FMS.

    Hi admission to the courses offered at CUSAT is based on the CUSAT CAT results, relative performnace of the students and the number of applications for each course. Please check CUSAT CAT cutoff 2025 to know in detail about the cutoff score for Electrical and Electronic branch in previous years.

    Yes, it is possible. If you have received a PI call from IIM Sambalpur with a 75 percentile in CAT, you have a chance to convert the call. However, the final selection will depend on multiple factors such as your personal interview performance, academic record, and overall profile.

    All the