CATCommon Admission Test

CAT is India's flagship MBA entrance examination and the sole gateway to the flagship two-year MBA/PGP programmes of the IIMs. Conducted by the IIMs on annual rotation (with TCS as the technology partner since 2014), it draws roughly 2.5-3 lakh test takers each year competing for a few thousand IIM seats — Wikipedia describes its success rate for the older IIMs as around one in two hundred, which places it among the most selective examinations anywhere. Since 2020 the exam has run in a compact two-hour format with three sequential, individually timed 40-minute sections that cannot be revisited.

Scores are reported as scaled scores and percentiles after normalization across test slots. IIM shortlists for general-category candidates at the older campuses have typically required very high overall percentiles (often 98-99+), but the exam score is only the first gate: final selection weighs the Written Ability Test and Personal Interview along with Class 10, Class 12 and graduation marks, work experience, and academic and gender diversity — so candidates with weaker academics may need percentiles well above the cut-off, while strong all-round profiles get some cushion.

Preparation conventionally takes 6-12 months of structured work across the three sections, with sectional cut-offs making balanced competence non-negotiable. Because CAT scores are also accepted by more than a thousand non-IIM institutions — including FMS Delhi, SPJIMR, MDI and the IITs' departments of management — a single CAT attempt effectively powers the majority of top-tier MBA applications in India. CAT scores remain valid for the admission cycle immediately following the exam.