How Much CAT Score is Required for IIM Admissions?

How Much CAT Score is Required for IIM Admissions?

Himanshu ShekharUpdated on 30 Nov 2025, 12:56 PM IST

How Much CAT Score is Required for IIM - The question that every CAT aspirant encounters is ‘How much CAT score is required for IIM’. Every year over 2.5 lakh candidates appear for the CAT exam and have this question as IIMs are considered the most prestigious B schools in India. The CAT scores required are different for every IIM. The CAT score required for IIMs is released as a CAT cutoff by the individual IIM for shortlisting candidates for PI and WAT rounds.
Check Here- CAT Score required for IIM Ahmedabad

LiveIIM CAT 2025 Result (OUT) LIVE: MBA admission criteria for IIMs; CAT score weightage, cut-offsDec 26, 2025 | 12:11 PM IST

The ISB Hyderabad keeps lower CAT 2025 cut-offs between 70 to 75 for admission to MBA programmes. 

Read More

This Story also Contains

  1. CAT Score vs Percentile Required for IIM
  2. When will CAT results be out?
  3. CAT Score Required for IIM in 2025 (Expected)
  4. CAT Score Required for IIM for Past Years
How Much CAT Score is Required for IIM Admissions?
How Much CAT Score is Required for IIM?

CAT Score vs Percentile Required for IIM

The CAT score is the score that the candidate obtains after the CAT normalisation process is implemented. The CAT percentile indicates that a candidate's score is above the percentage of candidates who appeared for the CAT 2025. The sectional and the overall CAT scores for different CAT percentiles are mentioned in the table below.

CAT percentile

Score VARC

Score DILR

Score QA

CAT Total Marks

99.5

42

30

30

86

99

36

25

25

74

95

30

20

22

52

90

24

14

13

42

80

20

11

9

35

70

18

9

7

30

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When will CAT results be out?

The CAT 2025 result date is expected to be out in the second/third week of December 2025. The CAT result 2025 will be available on the official website iimcat.ac.in. The result of CAT 2025 will be declared in a scorecard form.

CAT Score Required for IIM in 2025 (Expected)

Considering the trends from past years, the CAT scores required for IIMs are between 98-99.9 percentile. The expected IIM Cut off required for IIMs in 2025 is given below.

CAT Score Required for IIM for Past Years

According to the CAT score required for IIM for the past years, IIM Ahmedabad has had the highest cutoff, while IIM Bodh Gaya has had the lowest. The past years' CAT scores required for IIMs are given in the table below.

Name of IIM

CAT scores 2024 (General)

CAT scores 2023

CAT scores 2022

IIM Ahmedabad

84.12

93.76

87.1

IIM Bangalore

---

91.97

86.18

IIM Calcutta

---

---

---

IIM Lucknow

90

92.48

---

IIM Indore

90

92.92

90.72

IIM Kozhikode

85

88.14

91.94

IIM Amritsar

---

88.37

---

IIM Nagpur

99.69

94

90.16

IIM Sambalpur

90

88.02

80.02

IIM Trichy

95

94.01

92.13

IIM Raipur

94

---

---

IIM Ranchi

94

---

92

IIM Vizag

82

82.03

---

IIM Udaipur

---

95.85

92.03

IIM Bodh Gaya

---

---

---

IIM Shillong

---

98.45

---

IIM Sirmaur

80

---

92

IIM Rohtak

97

96

95

IIM Mumbai

85

91.54

91.54

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q: Is 70 a good score in CAT?
A:

70-80 percentile is considered a moderate score in CAT. Therefore, you must be assured that you are already above average. 

Q: Is 80% good for IIM Ahmedabad?
A:

The minimum CAT percentile for IIM Ahmedabad is considered to be around 99. At 80% it will be hard to get into any of the IIMs. For 80% in CAT, candidates should look for colleges other than IIMs.

Q: What is the minimum CAT score for IIM?
A:

There is no single minimum CAT score for all IIMs, as the cutoffs vary by institute, category and overall profile. Some of the top IIMs, such as Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Calcutta, often require a percentile of 98-99+, while new IIMs may accept scores in the 90-95 percentile range. 

Q: Which IIM is the toughest to get into?
A:

IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Bangalore are the toughest to get into as per the feedback of the previous CAT candidates. The CAT cutoff is the highest for these two IIMs. The overall selection metric is also the strictest for these two IIMs.

Q: Does IIM see 12th marks?
A:

IIMs do consider the marks obtained by an applicant in their 12th standard. The weightage and the round for which they are considered would vary from one IIM to another. The weightage of the 12th marks varies anywhere from 5% to 15%.

Q: Which IIM is easiest to get into?
A:

IIM with lower CAT pass percentage are easy to get into. IIMs such as IIM Bodh Gaya, IIM Sirmaur, IIM Amritsar, IIM Shillong, and IIM Nagpur are much easier to get into if the CAT scores are low and the overall is not strong enough for top IIMs.

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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!!