CAT (Common Admission Test) 2026 is conducted by IIM Indore on November 29, 2026, across three sessions in approximately 170 cities. Your final CAT score is not a simple mark tally — it is a percentile derived from a section-wise raw score that is first normalised across all three sessions, then converted into an overall and section-wise percentile. Understanding this process helps you set realistic preparation targets and interpret your scorecard correctly.
CAT Result 2026 - SOON
CAT 2026 registration is currently open from August 3 to September 15, 2026, at iimcat.ac.in. The result is expected in the third week of December 2026. Top IIMs typically require an overall percentile of 99 or above for shortlisting, while most other IIMs consider students in the 90–95 percentile range. Section-wise percentile thresholds — usually 80–90 per section at the top IIMs — apply alongside the overall cutoff.
- CAT 2026 has 68 questions across three sections: VARC (24), DILR (22) and QA (22), for a maximum raw score of 204 marks.
- MCQ questions carry +3 marks for a correct answer and −1 mark for a wrong answer.
- TITA (Type in the Answer) questions carry +3 marks for a correct answer with no negative marking.
- Raw scores are normalised section-wise across all three sessions before percentiles are computed.
- The CAT scorecard shows section-wise scaled scores, section-wise percentiles and the overall percentile — not raw marks.
CAT Score Calculation 2026: Overview
CAT 2026 score calculation follows a two-stage process: first, a section-wise raw score is computed from your answers; second, a statistical normalisation adjusts that raw score across the three exam sessions held on the same day. The adjusted (scaled) scores are then used to derive section-wise and overall percentiles.
IIM Indore will conduct CAT 2026 in three sessions on November 29, 2026. Because each session may have questions of varying difficulty, raw scores from the three sessions cannot be directly compared. Normalisation levels the playing field by mapping all session scores to a common statistical baseline before the final result is computed.
- The three sections are Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC), Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR) and Quantitative Ability (QA). Each section has a 40-minute time limit and students cannot move between sections.
- Each section’s raw score is normalised independently. The normalised section scores are then summed to give the total scaled score.
- Percentiles are calculated from total scaled scores for the overall percentile, and from section-wise scaled scores for the three sectional percentiles.
- IIMs use both the overall and section-wise percentile at the shortlisting stage — a very high overall percentile does not compensate for a weak section-wise percentile at many IIMs.
- The official CAT 2026 website for registration, admit card, response sheet and result is iimcat.ac.in.
| Event | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|
| CAT 2026 Registration Opens | August 3, 2026 | Open |
| CAT 2026 Registration Closes | September 15, 2026 | Upcoming |
| CAT 2026 Admit Card Release | November 4, 2026 | Upcoming |
| CAT 2026 Exam Date | November 29, 2026 (3 sessions) | Upcoming |
| CAT 2026 Response Sheet | To be announced | Upcoming |
| CAT 2026 Result | Third week of December 2026 | Upcoming |
CAT Marking Scheme 2026
CAT 2026 uses two question types — MCQ (Multiple Choice Questions) and TITA (Type in the Answer) — with different marking rules. The marking scheme below is based on the official CAT pattern established in recent years and is expected to apply to CAT 2026 as well; any change will be confirmed in the official notification at iimcat.ac.in.
| Question Type | Marks for Correct Answer | Marks for Wrong Answer | Marks for Unattempted |
|---|---|---|---|
| MCQ (Multiple Choice Question) | +3 | −1 | 0 |
| TITA (Type in the Answer / Non-MCQ) | +3 | 0 (no negative marking) | 0 |
TITA questions carry no negative marking, making them a strategic opportunity to attempt even when you are not fully certain — any answer attempt can only add marks, not reduce them.
The section-wise question distribution and maximum marks for CAT 2026 (based on the officially announced 68-question pattern by IIM Indore) are as follows:
| Section | Total Questions | Maximum Raw Score | Time Allowed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC) | 24 | 72 | 40 minutes |
| Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR) | 22 | 66 | 40 minutes |
| Quantitative Ability (QA) | 22 | 66 | 40 minutes |
| Total | 68 | 204 | 120 minutes |
Note: The exact MCQ vs TITA split within each section is not announced in advance by IIM Indore. Based on recent CAT exams, VARC typically has the highest share of TITA questions (Reading Comprehension questions are all MCQ; Verbal Ability questions include TITA). QA and DILR also include a mix of MCQ and TITA questions.
CAT Score Calculation Formula
Before normalisation is applied, a raw score is computed for each section. This raw score is the starting point for the scaled score calculation. The formula differs based on question type.
Raw Score Formula (per section):
Raw Score = (Correct MCQ Answers × 3) + (Incorrect MCQ Answers × −1) + (Correct TITA Answers × 3)
where,
- Correct MCQ Answers: Each earns +3 marks.
- Incorrect MCQ Answers: Each deducts 1 mark from the total.
- Correct TITA Answers: Each earns +3 marks; wrong TITA answers receive 0 (not deducted).
- Unattempted questions (any type): 0 marks — no penalty for leaving a question blank.
Worked example — Section raw score:
A student in the VARC section (24 questions) answers 16 MCQ questions correctly, gets 4 MCQ questions wrong, answers 3 TITA questions correctly and leaves 1 TITA question unattempted.
VARC Raw Score = (16 × 3) + (4 × −1) + (3 × 3) + (1 × 0) = 48 − 4 + 9 + 0 = 53
Worked example — Total raw score:
If the same student scores 53 in VARC, 40 in DILR and 44 in QA:
Total Raw Score = 53 + 40 + 44 = 137 out of 204
This raw score is then passed section-wise through the normalisation formula. The final scorecard does not show raw marks — it shows the scaled (normalised) score and the percentile derived from it.
CAT 2026 Score Normalisation
CAT 2026 will be held in three sessions on November 29, 2026. Students in the morning, afternoon and evening sessions may face question papers of different difficulty levels. A student who sits a harder session would be unfairly disadvantaged if raw scores alone were compared. Normalisation ensures students from easier and harder sessions are compared on a common scale.
The IIM conducting CAT applies a linear normalisation formula to each section’s raw scores independently. The process uses the mean and standard deviation of scores within each session and across all sessions combined.
- For each section (VARC, DILR, QA), the mean and standard deviation of raw scores are computed separately for each of the three sessions.
- The same statistics are also computed across all three sessions combined to establish a global (reference) baseline for each section.
- A linear transformation then maps each student’s section raw score to the global baseline, producing a scaled section score.
- The three scaled section scores are added to give the total scaled score used for the overall percentile.
Scaled Section Score = Mg + (SDg ÷ SDi) × (Ri − Mi)
where,
- Mg: Mean raw score for that section across all three sessions combined (global mean).
- SDg: Standard deviation of raw scores for that section across all sessions combined (global SD).
- Ri: Your raw score in that section (in your session).
- Mi: Mean raw score for that section in your specific session.
- SDi: Standard deviation of raw scores for that section in your specific session.
Worked example — QA section normalisation:
Assume a student appeared in Session 1 (which turned out to be relatively harder) for the QA section. The statistics are:
- Student’s raw QA score (Ri) = 45
- Session 1 mean QA score (Mi) = 32
- Session 1 QA standard deviation (SDi) = 9
- Global mean QA score (Mg) = 36
- Global QA standard deviation (SDg) = 11
Scaled QA Score = 36 + (11 ÷ 9) × (45 − 32) = 36 + 1.22 × 13 = 36 + 15.9 ≈ 52
Because this student scored well above the Session 1 average in a harder session, normalisation boosts their scaled score above what raw marks alone would suggest. A student who appeared in an easier session and scored 45 raw marks might receive a lower scaled score after normalisation, because that session’s mean was higher.
Note: The scaled scores computed by IIM Indore for CAT 2026 may differ slightly from the above formula depending on any methodological refinements applied that year. The official normalisation methodology is published along with the CAT 2026 result on iimcat.ac.in.
How CAT Percentile is Calculated
Your CAT percentile is not the same as your scaled score — it tells you what percentage of students scored less than or equal to your scaled score. A 97 percentile means you outperformed 97% of all students who appeared across all sessions.
CAT computes percentiles in two ways: section-wise (for VARC, DILR and QA separately) and overall (from the total scaled score). Both appear on the scorecard.
Percentile = (Number of students who obtained a scaled score ≤ your scaled score ÷ Total number of students who appeared across all sessions) × 100
Worked example — Overall percentile:
Assume 3,00,000 students appeared for CAT 2026 across all three sessions. If 2,91,000 students obtained a total scaled score less than or equal to yours:
Your Overall Percentile = (2,91,000 ÷ 3,00,000) × 100 = 97.0
The same formula is applied separately to VARC, DILR and QA scaled scores to generate the three section-wise percentiles. The section-wise percentile and overall percentile are computed independently — a student can have a higher section-wise percentile in one area but a lower overall percentile if other sections pulled down the total scaled score.
The table below provides indicative scaled score ranges and approximate overall percentiles based on CAT 2025 data (CAT 2025 had 66 questions, maximum raw score 198). CAT 2026 has 68 questions (maximum 204), so the actual score-to-percentile mapping for 2026 may shift slightly and will be confirmed after the exam.
| Approximate Overall Percentile | Indicative Scaled Score Range (CAT 2025 Reference, out of ~198) |
|---|---|
| 99.95 and above | 110 and above |
| 99 – 99.94 | 95 – 109 |
| 98 – 98.99 | 80 – 94 |
| 97 – 97.99 | 70 – 79 |
| 95 – 96.99 | 58 – 69 |
| 90 – 94.99 | 42 – 57 |
| 80 – 89.99 | 25 – 41 |
| Below 80 | Below 25 |
Note: These ranges are indicative and based on CAT 2025 historical data. The actual score-to-percentile conversion for CAT 2026 depends on total candidate count, paper difficulty and the score distribution after normalisation. Official conversion data will be published with the CAT 2026 result.
CAT Scorecard Details
The CAT 2026 scorecard is a digital document downloadable from iimcat.ac.in after the result is declared in the third week of December 2026. It contains the following information:
| Detail on Scorecard | What it Means |
|---|---|
| Candidate Name and Application Number | Personal identification details as registered during the CAT 2026 application. |
| Category (General / NC-OBC / SC / ST / EWS / PwD) | Your reservation category as declared during registration; affects section-wise and overall cutoffs applied by individual IIMs. |
| Section-wise Scaled Score (VARC, DILR, QA) | Your normalised score for each section after the IIM applies the cross-session statistical adjustment. This is the score used to compute percentiles — not the raw marks. |
| Section-wise Percentile (VARC, DILR, QA) | The percentage of students who scored less than or equal to your scaled score in that specific section, across all sessions combined. |
| Total Scaled Score | The sum of the three scaled section scores (VARC + DILR + QA). Used to compute your overall percentile. |
| Overall Percentile | The percentage of students who scored less than or equal to your total scaled score across all sessions. This is the primary metric used by IIMs and B-schools for shortlisting. |
| Validity | CAT 2026 scorecard is valid for one admission cycle — it will be used for admissions to the 2027–29 MBA batch. IIMs do not accept scores from previous CAT years. |
Note: The CAT scorecard does not display an All India Rank (AIR). IIMs individually use the overall and section-wise percentile to shortlist students and compute their own internal merit ordering during the admission process. Raw marks also do not appear on the scorecard.
How to Check CAT Score 2026
The CAT 2026 scorecard will be available for download from the official portal in the third week of December 2026, after IIM Indore declares the result. Follow these steps to access your score:
- Visit the official CAT 2026 website at iimcat.ac.in.
- Click on the ’CAT 2026 Result’ or ’Scorecard Download’ link displayed on the homepage after the result is declared.
- Log in using your CAT 2026 User ID and Password (set at the time of registration).
- Your scorecard with section-wise scaled scores, section-wise percentiles, total scaled score and overall percentile will load on screen.
- Click ’Download’ or ’Print’ to save a PDF copy of the scorecard for your records and for uploading to IIM and B-school application portals.
Estimating your score before the official result using the response sheet: IIM Indore will release the CAT 2026 response sheet (showing your marked answers against the correct answers) a few days after the exam. You can use it to calculate your estimated section-wise and total raw score by applying the formula: (Correct MCQ × 3) + (Incorrect MCQ × −1) + (Correct TITA × 3). This gives you a raw score estimate only. The scaled score and percentile on the official scorecard will differ because of cross-session normalisation and can only be confirmed once the result is published.
CAT Score Calculation FAQs
Ques. What is the maximum score in CAT 2026?
Ans. The maximum raw score in CAT 2026 is 204 marks (68 questions × 3 marks each), broken down as VARC 72 (24 questions), DILR 66 (22 questions) and QA 66 (22 questions). However, the scorecard reports a scaled (normalised) score rather than the raw marks, so the effective maximum on the scorecard can vary and is not a fixed number like 204.
Ques. How is the CAT scaled score different from the raw score?
Ans. The raw score is the direct mark earned from correct and incorrect answers using the +3/−1 scheme. Because CAT 2026 is conducted in three sessions that may vary in difficulty, IIM Indore applies a statistical normalisation formula to convert each student’s raw score to a scaled score on a common baseline. Two students can score the same raw marks in different sessions and receive different scaled scores depending on how their session performed overall. The percentile is then computed from this scaled score, not from the raw marks.
Ques. What is negative marking in CAT 2026?
Ans. For MCQ (Multiple Choice Questions), each wrong answer deducts 1 mark. There is no deduction for leaving an MCQ unattempted. TITA (Type in the Answer / non-MCQ) questions have no negative marking — a wrong TITA answer costs 0 marks. Unattempted questions of any type receive 0 marks.
Ques. Why are there no negative marks for TITA questions in CAT?
Ans. TITA questions require students to type a numerical answer rather than choose from given options. Because there are no options to guess from, the IIM removes the negative marking deterrent. This reflects the higher cognitive effort required — if you can arrive at a number, you likely worked through the problem. This also incentivises students to attempt TITA questions in sections like QA, where estimation or working backward is sometimes feasible.
Ques. How many sessions does CAT 2026 have, and how does that affect my score?
Ans. CAT 2026 is conducted in three sessions (morning, afternoon and evening) on November 29, 2026. Each session has a different question paper. If one session has a harder paper, students in that session would, on average, score lower raw marks. Normalisation adjusts for this: students from a harder session who performed well relative to that session’s average receive a higher scaled score than the raw marks suggest. Your session assignment is therefore not a disadvantage once normalisation is applied.
Ques. How is the CAT percentile calculated?
Ans. CAT percentile = (Number of students who obtained a total scaled score less than or equal to yours across all sessions ÷ Total number of students who appeared) × 100. For example, if 3,00,000 students appeared and 2,91,000 scored less than or equal to your total scaled score, your percentile is 97.0. The same formula is applied section-wise for the VARC, DILR and QA percentiles.
Ques. What is a good CAT 2026 score for IIM admission?
Ans. The answer depends on the specific IIM. The top six IIMs (Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Lucknow, Indore and Kozhikode) typically require 95–99+ overall percentile along with sectional percentile thresholds of 80–90 per section. Newer IIMs may shortlist students at 80–90 overall percentile. A 99+ percentile significantly improves chances of a shortlist at the top three IIMs. For category students (SC, ST, NC-OBC, EWS, PwD), the cutoffs are lower — typically 55–85 overall depending on the IIM and category.
Ques. Can I calculate my CAT 2026 score from the response sheet before the official result?
Ans. Yes, but only the raw score estimate. After the exam, IIM Indore releases the official CAT 2026 response sheet showing your answers alongside the correct answers. Use the formula: Raw Score = (Correct MCQ × 3) + (Incorrect MCQ × −1) + (Correct TITA × 3) for each section. Add all three to get the total raw score. This raw score is not the same as the scaled score or percentile on the official scorecard, which are computed after cross-session normalisation. Coaching institutes publish estimated percentile ranges based on raw score cutoffs once the response sheet is live — these are good directional indicators but are not official figures.
Ques. When is CAT 2026 result expected and where will it be declared?
Ans. CAT 2026 result is expected in the third week of December 2026 — this is earlier than the January timeline seen in some previous years. IIM Indore will publish the result and make scorecards available for download on the official website at iimcat.ac.in. Students need to log in with their User ID and password to access and download the scorecard.
Ques. What details appear on the CAT 2026 scorecard?
Ans. The CAT 2026 scorecard includes candidate name, application number, category, section-wise scaled scores for VARC, DILR and QA, section-wise percentiles for all three sections, total scaled score and overall percentile. Raw marks are not shown on the scorecard. CAT does not publish an All India Rank — IIMs use the percentile directly and apply their own shortlisting criteria.
Ques. Is the CAT 2026 percentile the same across all IIMs?
Ans. Yes, the percentile on your CAT 2026 scorecard is a single number computed by IIM Indore for all candidates uniformly. However, each IIM sets its own cutoffs and shortlisting criteria independently. The same overall percentile may earn a shortlist at one IIM but not another. Many IIMs also apply separate section-wise percentile minimums — clearing the overall cutoff is necessary but not sufficient if you fall short of the section-wise threshold.
Ques. How long is the CAT 2026 scorecard valid?
Ans. The CAT 2026 scorecard is valid for one admission cycle. It will be used for admissions to the 2027–29 MBA batch at IIMs and participating B-schools. Most IIMs and top management institutes accept only the current year’s CAT score and will not consider CAT scores from earlier years, so students who wish to apply to the next batch (2028–30) would need to appear for CAT 2027.
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