CAT exam 2026: date, admit card, pattern, syllabus, fees, eligibility and what happens after the exam

CAT 2026 exam date and important dates

The provisional answer key and objection window had not been announced as of 15 October 2026. Keep checking iimcat.ac.in. The CAT Centre says it is the only official website and asks candidates to report look-alike sites to [email protected].

CAT exam 2026 pattern: sections, timing and marking

CAT is a computer-based test taken at a test centre, not from home. The press release of 26 July sets out the structure:

1. Section I: Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC), 40 minutes
2. Section II: Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR), 40 minutes
3. Section III: Quantitative Ability (QA), 40 minutes

When a section's 40 minutes end, the next one opens. You cannot go back. The FAQ says the order is the same for every candidate.

There are two kinds of questions. MCQs carry +3 for a correct answer and -1 for a wrong one. Non-MCQ questions, where you type the answer, carry +3 for a correct answer and nothing is deducted if you get them wrong. Unattempted questions score zero. The CAT Centre does not disclose how many non-MCQs each section will have, and the total number of questions for 2026 had not been published as of 15 October 2026.

No calculator is allowed; an on-screen one is available throughout. You get one scribble pad and a pen at the centre and hand both back at the end.

PwBD candidates get 20 extra minutes per hour, so 40 minutes in all, split equally across the three sections.

Is there a syllabus for the CAT exam?

No. The official FAQ is plain about it: "the CAT examination does not have a defined syllabus for CAT preparation." The section names tell you what is tested: reading and verbal reasoning, data sets and logic puzzles, and quantitative problems. Beyond that, the IIMs point you to the mock test so that you can see the question types.

Topic lists you see online are someone's guess, not the IIMs' word. The best preview is the official mock test from 12 November 2026.

CAT 2026 admit card: how to download it

The admit card is online only. Nothing is posted or emailed.

1. From 5 pm on 4 November 2026, log in at iimcat.ac.in with your CAT 2026 User ID and password.
2. Check your name, test date, session and time, PwD status and test-centre address.
3. Print it. The FAQ calls it a "mandatory document" for test day.
4. Fix on the printout a photograph that matches the one you uploaded during registration.
5. Carry it to the centre on 29 November with the photo ID you registered with, and do no rough work on it.

If it does not appear, call the help desk on 1800 210 0175 well before test day.

CAT fees and eligibility: can a BSc student give CAT?

Fee: ₹2,700 for General, EWS and NC-OBC candidates and ₹1,350 for SC, ST and PwBD candidates. You pay once, however many IIMs you apply to, and the fee is not refunded.

Eligibility: a bachelor's degree with at least 50% marks or equivalent CGPA (45% for SC, ST and PwBD) from a university set up by an Act of Parliament or a State legislature, or a deemed university, or an equivalent qualification recognised by the Ministry of Education. The stream does not matter: B.Sc, B.Com, B.A., BBA and B.Tech graduates qualify on the same terms, as do those with CA, CS, ICWA (CMA) or FIAI.

A few cases from the official FAQ:

• Final-year students can take CAT. If selected, you join provisionally and must produce a certificate that you have completed the degree by the date your IIM sets. IIM Ahmedabad's deadline for that certificate is 30 June 2027.
• The 50% is judged on the bachelor's degree only. A General candidate with 49% in the bachelor's degree and 51% in a master's degree is not eligible.
• There is no age limit for CAT itself. Individual programmes can still set one. IIM Ahmedabad's two-year PGP needs you to be at least 19 on 30 June 2027.

CAT 2026 test cities, including Gujarat

CAT 2026 is being held in about 170 cities. Every candidate chose five preferred cities while registering. You are allotted one of them, or a nearby city if demand is high, and the exact centre is printed on your admit card. Once a centre is allotted it cannot be changed.

Gujarat has seven test cities on the official list: Ahmedabad, Anand, Gandhinagar, Mehsana, Rajkot, Surat and Vadodara. Elsewhere, Maharashtra has the longest list, 19 cities (including Mumbai-Thane, Pune, Nagpur and Nashik). Uttar Pradesh has 14 cities, from Agra to Varanasi, and Bihar has eight, including Patna, Gaya and Muzaffarpur.

What happens after the CAT exam

The exam is only the first filter. Here is what comes after 29 November:

1. Answer key and objections. Dates for a provisional answer key or objection window had not been announced as of 15 October 2026.
2. Result. The bulletin says the result is "likely" by the first week of January 2027. Scorecards are posted on the CAT website, and you may also get an SMS.
3. Shortlists from each IIM. Each IIM sets its own cut-offs and weights and shortlists on its own. You can be called by one IIM and not by another with the same score.
4. Selection rounds. Shortlisted candidates go through each IIM's own rounds. At IIM Ahmedabad these are the Analytical Writing Test (AWT) and Personal Interview (PI).
5. Offers. Each IIM weighs CAT, interview, academics and work experience as its policy says.
6. Non-IIM institutes. About 80 non-IIM institutes have registered to use CAT 2026 scores. You must apply to each one separately. The IIMs say they "have no role" in those selections.

How IIM Ahmedabad uses your CAT percentile

IIM Ahmedabad's admission policy for the PGP 2027-29 batch, published in September 2026, is the clearest example of how a CAT score is used. It builds a composite score: 65% comes from your overall CAT percentile and 35% from an application rating based on Class 10, Class 12 and graduation marks, work experience and gender diversity points. That composite is then normalised within your undergraduate discipline. Only candidates above these minimum CAT 2026 percentiles move on:

After the AWT and PI, the final score is 50% interview, 10% writing test and 40% composite. IIMA plans to post its shortlist in the second week of January 2027 and its offers in the second week of April 2027. The policy itself says the cut-offs can be changed if the applicant pool demands it.

IIM Ahmedabad and Gujarat B-schools that take CAT

IIM Ahmedabad (CareerBox profile) admits to its PGP, PGP-FABM and MBA-BPGP (BA and AI) through CAT 2026, as listed in the CAT bulletin. It runs the AWT and PI in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and New Delhi. You picked two of these cities on your CAT form. Its blended MBA in analytics and AI (MBA-BPGP) is also on the CAT list. See our story on round 1 applications closing on 2 November.

Institute of Management, Nirma University, Ahmedabad (CareerBox profile) requires CAT for its MBA and MBA (HRM). Its admission page gives CAT a 60% weight, with 20% for the personal interview, 10% for Theme Development and Presentation and 10% for academics. Up to 10 extra points go for relevant full-time work experience. You apply to Nirma separately, with a ₹1,600 processing fee. Of the 300 MBA seats, 75 go through ACPC, the Gujarat state quota.

MICA, Ahmedabad asks for a CAT, XAT or GMAT score plus its own MICAT for its PGDM-C and PGDM. The 2027-29 admission page lists a fee of ₹29.50 lakh for each programme.

Nirma and MICA both appear on the CAT 2026 list of non-IIM member institutions. The same list names three more Gujarat institutions: the School of Management at Pandit Deendayal Energy University, Gandhinagar (CareerBox profile), the Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, Gandhinagar, and Tribhuvan Sahkari University, Anand. Read each one's admission page for its own cut-offs and process. For what private MBA seats cost in the state, see our report on Gujarat's three-year fee caps for technical courses.

Preparation for the CAT exam: the last six weeks

Six weeks out, keep it simple:

• Practise to the section clock. Take every practice set as three timed 40-minute blocks.
• Get used to an on-screen calculator. No physical calculator is allowed, and the mock test lets you try the real one.
• Answer typed (non-MCQ) questions when you have a fair attempt. A wrong typed answer costs nothing. A wrong MCQ costs a mark.
• Take the official mock from 12 November. It is the only preview of the real interface.
• Fix your weakest section. Sectional cut-offs mean one weak section can rule you out, whatever your total.

See our CAT exam page, MBA guide and PGDM guide, and the other MBA tests: XAT, CMAT, SNAP and NMAT. Seats are not always scarce: Maharashtra left 12,143 MBA seats empty this year.