CAT 2025: Registration Starts, Exam Date, Previous Year Papers, Syllabus, Mock Test and IIMCAT Cutoff

The CAT 2025 will be held on 30th November by IIM Kozhikode. CAT official Notification and registration dates has been out on July 27, 2025, on the official website, iimcat.ac.in. 

• The Registration for CAT 2025 has started from August 1 and will continue till September 13, 2025.
• The CAT Exam is conducted for admission to more than 21 IIMs and over 1,000 B-Schools in India. The IIMs offer more than 5,000 seats for MBA or PGDM through CAT.
• To be eligible for CAT 2025, candidates should have a bachelor’s degree with at least 50% marks and 45% for SC/ST/PwD. Students in their final year can also apply, with no age limit and no restriction on total attempts.
• The CAT Exam will include 3 sections as in previous years: VARC, DILR and QA, in which VARC includes 24 questions, QA and DILR include 22 questions each.

In 2024, more than 3.29 lakh candidates registered for the exam, and around 2.9 lakh candidates appeared for the CAT Exam, from which around 2.10 lakh candidates were male and 1.19 lakh were female.

In 2025, it is expected that more than 3 lakh candidates will appear as the interest in management is growing.

CAT 2025 Changes

Till now, there have been no major changes in CAT 2025. But, every year, the conducting authority of CAT Changes, along with certain changes in the structure of the exam, process and eligibility.

• The Conducting Authority of CAT 2025 is IIM Kozhikode, with IIM Calcutta being the conducting authority in 2024 and last time IIM Kozhikode conducted the exam in 2019.
• The Total number of questions is expected to increase from 68 to 66 questions; there is are increase in questions in DILR from 20 to 22.

CAT 2025 Registration Process

The CAT 2025 Registration will be conducted online on the official website iimcat.ac.in and will start in the first week of August 2025 and continue until the third week of September 2025.

Candidates have to complete the registration process without any incorrect information, leading to disqualification during admission.

Stage-Wise CAT 2025 Registration Process

CAT Previous Year Registration Statistics

The CAT Exam has seen a high number of registrations for the MBA Programs at IIMs and top B-Schools in India in the last few years.

Over the last 3 years, both the registration and participation of candidates have increased.

Candidates Appeared & Registered in CAT (2024-2021)

How to Apply for CAT 2025?

To apply for CAT 2025, candidates can simply follow these steps:

Top B-Schools Accepting CAT 2025 Score

Besides IIMs, the CAT is accepted by more than 1,000 B-Schools for admission into MBA, PGDM and other management programs.

These institutes include the central universities, IITs, Private institutes, and other colleges that have high NIRF rankings as well.

B-Schools Accepting CAT Score

Top MBA Colleges in India accepting CAT Score

In India, the MBA is mostly dominated by the IIMs, but many other top-tier private and government B-Schools such as FMS Delhi, XLRI and MDI Gurgaon also have strong rankings.

These are based on various factors like the CAT Cutoffs, NIRF Placements, ROI and Alumni status.

MBA Colleges in India as per Rank

The FMS Delhi has the highest ROI with the fees of just Rs. 2 lakhs and placements more than Rs. 34+ LPA, and is more than many IIMs as well.

• The CAT percentile of 99.6+ is required to get shortlisted in top IIMs and get high placements.
• The top 10 colleges require at least 95-96 percentile, a strong profile and work experience as well.

Job Roles offered by Top IIMs

CAT 2025: MBA Colleges with Low Fees & Required Percentile

The Fees for IIMs are too high, and not every candidate can afford IIM because of budget issues.

But, some government and private B-Schools in India offer MBA with low fees as well, which is under Rs. 5 Lakhs and accepts CAT Percentile of 60-85%.

Top MBA Colleges with Low Fees Accepting CAT 2025 Scores

CAT 2025 Seat Matrix: IIM-wise & Category-wise Intake

The Total Seats in CAT 2025 is expected to be around 5,500 to 5,800 in all 21 IIMs. The Final Number of seats may differ, but most IIMs have similar seat intake.

The distribution of CAT Seats is according to the reservation norms of the Government of India.

Total Seats in IIM (Expected)

• The top 6 IIMs have around 45% of the total seats, which makes them the most competitive among all.
• The Seat Intake of New IIMs have grown from 15-20% from 2021 to meet the rising demands.
• The IIM Mumbai is a new IIM and offers around 60-90% of seats, mostly for engineering candidates.
• There are 40-45% seats for the general category candidates, so scoring above 98-99% is essential for all top IIMs.

CAT 2025 Topic-wise Weightage: Section-wise Analysis

The CAT Exam has three sections: VARC, DILR and QA, with the total number of questions which are 66 remaining the same, the weightage of individual topics in each section differs from each other.

• 60-70% of questions in the Quantitative aptitude section, including the arithmetic and algebra sections.
• Approximately 80% of students struggle in the DILR Section, so they should attempt full sets of questions.
• There is no negative marking in TITA Questions, so they should be attempted completely.

CAT VARC Topic-wise weightage

• The Reading comprehension is expected to carry the most weightage of around 66% and the number of questions in the VARC Section, making it most important for candidates.
• Odd one out and para-summary will have 2-3 questions, with the weightage of para summary being 10% and odd one out being 8%.

CAT DILR Topic-Wise Weightage

DILR is among the tough sections as it has different topics carrying high weightage.

• The topics like Bar/line graphs, games and arrangements are expected to carry a similar weightage of 25% each.
• The Venn Diagrams and Caselets carry the weightage of 15% each, with around 4-5 questions from each topic.

CAT QA Topic-Wise Weightage

• The Arithmetic is expected to carry most weightage of around 45% with expected questions to be around 10.
• The Algebra will also be of high weightage of around 25% with questions expected to be 6-7%, similar to previous years.
• The Number system and modern maths carry a weightage of around 5-8% with around 1-2 questions asked from both the topics.

CAT Combined Section-Wise Weightage

CAT 2025 Coaching Centres for Preparation

For better preparation in CAT, Candidates can take the help of the coaching centres, which will give them proper and detailed guidance on the way they can study and allocate time to each topic in an effective manner.

There are different coaching centres in different parts of India, and offline & online coaching as well.

As much as the preparation of CAT is important, things candidates should not do on the exam day are also very crucial. Many candidates lose the opportunity to get admission due to a few mistakes.

CAT 2025 Exam Day Mistakes to Avoid

CAT 2025 Result

The CAT 2025 Result is expected to be released in the last week of December 2025 on the official website iimcat.ac.

• Candidates can download their scorecard using their login credentials.
• The CAT Scorecard will include section-wise and overall scores, along with the percentages.

Candidates can also read: CAT 2025 Result

CAT 2025 Normalisation Process

CAT Normalisation Process is done to maintain equality and fairness in the comparison of the performance of CAT aspirants. Through the process, students are scaled based on location, scale differences, test slots, etc. The scaled score will be then converted into a percentile score for further shortlisting process. 

Also Read CAT Score Calculation

CAT 2025 Cutoff

The cutoff for CAT exam depends on various factors like the total number of applicants, the difficulty level of exam, seats available and previous years’ cutoff. Each IIM will announce its cutoff for shortlisting candidates for the selection process separately. 

Candidates must clear sectional and overall cutoff to be eligible for the subsequent rounds. The overall cutoff for IIMs usually falls between 90-99 percentile.

The top 3 IIMs- Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Calcutta have a cut off over 99 percentile. The cutoff for other top business schools like FMS, JBIMS, and SPIJMR is over 95 percentile. The expected CAT Cutoff for top management colleges are-

CAT Previous Year Cut-off Analysis: Category-wise (2024-2022)

More than 3.2 lakh candidates are expected to appear in CAT 2025, but the actual percentile depends on the candidate’s category, profile, and the IIMs candidates want to get admission.

• The Official minimum qualifying cutoff is low, around 60-85, but the shortlist cutoffs are more competitive.
• By knowing about the category-wise cutoff of the previous year, candidates can know about the percentile analysis as per the categories.

CAT 2024 Cutoff

• In 2024, the highest number of candidates registered which were more than 3.28 lakh, which increased the general cutoff a bit.
• The cutoff for EWS and OBC Candidates was between 80-88th percentiles as per the shortlisting criteria.

CAT 2023 Cutoff

• The Cutoff for IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Bangalore remains the same, with the difference of around 99.6-99.5 percentile.
• The cutoff for the SC Category is expected to be between 80 to 75%

CAT 2022 Cutoff

• The cutoff of 2022 was somewhere low, then the cutoffs of CAT 2024 and CAT 2023.
• The IIM Indore and Kozhikode cutoff for the SC/ST/PwD Candidates was flexible for around 75 to 65.

Check Related News:

• FMS Delhi Admission Procedure through CAT 2025
• Courses Offered Through CAT
• IIM Ahmedabad CAT Cutoff and Admission Criteria 2025

CAT Selection Process

The CAT selection process was updated in 2015 for newer IIMs. 10 out of 20 IIMs still adhere to the traditional selection process i.e. GD, WTA, and PI rounds. While 10 IIMs are opting for the new process, this year. The new process also called Common Admission Process (CAP) will be conducted by IIM Ranchi. IIM Kozhikode is responsible for conducting the CAT exam throughout the country. Important Dates for CAP, 2025

Each year, one of the 20 IIMs organize a nationwide Common Admission Test (CAT) for admission to an MBA programme. IIM, Kozhikode is organizing the exam for the year 2025. There are two different selection processes a traditional process and a new process. The basic differences between both the process are tabulated below:

CAT Selection Process: Written Test, GD or Written Ability Test, and Personal Interview 

1. Written Test

The written test is divided into three main sections, with a total of 100 questions to be attempted in a duration of 3 hours.

The official mock test for 2019 will be released by IIM, Kozhikode. The average cut off for most of the IIMs would range from 95-99%. To know more about calculating %ile score and the section-wise cut-off, please click here.

2. GD or Written Ability Test

Only those candidates will make it to the second round who have cleared the cut-off of the written test. IIMs and other top B-Schools will be calling the applicants, inviting them for the next step.

• The next step of the process varies across the institute. Some of the institute like IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Lucknow, etc. will conduct both GD and WAT, along with PI.

• While some of the other institutes will directly conduct the Written Test.
• For Group discussion (GD), candidates are divided into a group of 8-10 each. The purpose of GD is to check your thought process and teamwork abilities.
• For written ability test (WAT) you will be given 15-45 minutes depending upon the respective IIM. 

The general purpose of each process is tabulated below:

3. Personal Interview 

The Personal Interview round or simply PI round holds a weightage of around 30-40% of the entire process. Candidates usually face a panel of 2-4 interviewers. 

While preparing a final cut-off for the admissions, IIMs considers the following factors:

• Overall CAT score
• Academic Qualification (from Xth standard onwards)
• Overall work experience
• Extra-curricular activities
• Academic Diversity (Preference to non-B.tech graduates over B. Tech graduates)
• Gender Diversity (Preference to girls over boys)

Note: The weightage for each of these factors varies with the institute.  

Common Admission Process for CAT 2025

Common Admission Process (CAP) is the latest process used to organize common counselling sessions for IIMs. Although counselling is common, every IIM releases their individual CAT cut off. The only difference in the traditional selection process and CAP is that this new process doesn’t have a Group Discussion round. 

Most of the B-Schools participating in CAP are either third-generation IIMs or are smaller in scale as compared to their fellow IIMs. IIMs participating in the Common Admission Process are listed below:

1. IIM Kashipur
2. IIM Raipur
3. IIM Ranchi
4. IIM Rohtak
5. IIM Trichy
6. IIM Udaipur
7. IIM Bodh Gaya
8. IIM Sambalpur
9. IIM Sirmaur
10. IIM Jammu

How the Common Admission Process works:

The step-wise methodology of the common admission process is explained below: The IIMs prepares an individual merit list and invite the candidates for a process called, Personal Appearance (PA). PA involves a Written Ability Test (WAT) and a personal interview (PI). 

The steps involved in the Common Admission Process (CAP) are as follows:

1. All the participating IIMs will prepare their individual short-list and send it to the CAP, coordinator for 2025: IIM, Ranchi.
2. IIM, Ranchi will prepare a final shortlist for CAP, 2019 calls.
3. The candidates will confirm their availability for common counselling.
4. Candidates will appear for the CAP process and attempt WAT and PI.
5. IIM, Ranchi will send the CAP scores to respective IIMs.
6. All IIMs will then prepare their final admission list.

The CAP 2025 will be held at Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Bengaluru, and Kolkata. It is expected that around 14,000 students will be shortlisted for the first CAP merit list. Many students are expected to receive multiple calls as many of the students will be clearing the eligibility for multiple IIMs.

Non-IIMs Accepting CAT Score

IIMs are the dream destination for every CAT aspirants, however, if a candidate fails in getting a seat there, they need not worry. There are many other top B-schools which accept CAT score. These institutes have their own benchmark. Given below are few of the best colleges in which candidates can take admission through CAT score.  

• Faculty of Management Studies (FMS Delhi)
• Department of Management Studies, IIT Delhi
• Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management, SOM, IIT Bombay
• Department of Management Studies, IIT Madras
• Management Development Institute, Gurgaon
• SP Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR), Mumbai
• Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (XIMB)
• Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad
• National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE)
• T.A. Pai Management Institute (TAPMI), Manipal
• Loyola Institute of Business Administration (LIBA), Chennai

Check MBA Colleges Accepting CAT Score

CAT 2025 - Do’s and Don’t

Do’s for the candidates

• Bring CAT Admit Cards along with a valid ID proof.
• Use the Google map link embedded on the electronic version of the Admit card to locate the Test Centre.
• Report at the Test center at 7:30 a.m. IST for the Forenoon Session and at 1:00 p.m. IST for the Afternoon Session.
• Deposit all personal belongings such as mobile phones, bags, wallets, Jackets, Jewellery, watch, electronic gadgets, stationery items, etc. at the Test Centre Entrance Gate.
• Return Writing Pad with all pages intact and Pen post the Exam to the Invigilator
• Provide your attendance in the Form with signature when asked for in the exam Lab.
• Post the Exam, handover Admit Card duly signed to Invigilatorpresent in the Exam Lab.

Don’ts for the candidates

• Don’t appear for CAT 2025 more than once.
• Do not carry any prohibited object like electronic gadgets etc. to the exam hall.
• Do not attempt to cheat during the exam.
• Do not request for a change in Exam Centre/ Exam Lab/ Console on the exam day.
• Avoid wearing jewelry, jackets, and footwear inside the exam hall.
• Mobile phones, Electronic Gadgets, Watches, Calculators, own Stationery items, Wallets, and/or goggle are not allowed in the exam hall.

Highest Salary Package offered after IIMCAT

Candidates can check below the salary packages that are being offered to IIM and other top- B school graduates:- 

Revised Seat Intake of IIMs

Other Management Exams