“What are the minimum marks required to qualify CAT 2025 Exam? What is the meaning of CAT pass percentage/cat qualifying marks?” These are a few important questions that students must be aware of. The CAT Pass Percentage is the minimum percentile that a candidate must secure in order to qualify the CAT Exam and be eligible to apply for CAT Accepting Colleges.
Top IIMs have a varying range of 85 and above (exceptIIM Shillong). Non-IIM institutes such as FMS Delhi, and IIFT put their qualifying percentile at 95-99.
Calculate Your Expected CAT Exam Percentile
Expected CAT Pass Percentage 2025
For CAT pass marks, candidates must meet the cat section wise cutoff released by the IIMs after the declaration of CAT Result. Check below the expected cutoff of CAT 2025 for VARC, DILR, and QA sections.
Below mentioned is the expected CAT Pass Percentage for CAT 2025. The minimum percentage for CAT Exam is given category wise.
CAT Pass Percentage (CAT Percentile) | VARC Score | DILR Score | QA Score | 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 |
CAT Qualifying Marks 2025 are expected to be out during the second week of January 2025. The qualifying marks of CAT 2025 will consist of the minimum marks required for admission to IIMs and other management institutes across the country. The top IIMs accept admission at a varying range of 95 percentile and above except IIM Shillong while Non IIM institutes such as FMS Delhi, IIFT keep their qualifying percentile at 85 and above for admission. Candidates appearing in the Common Admission Test 2025 must secure a valid cat percentile to apply for admission to MBA colleges of their choice.
The CAT qualifying percentage is calculated based on the normalized score of the CAT Exam. This CAT pass percentage varies for different colleges. It is released in the form of CAT Cutoff by all the participating institutes that accept CAT Score.
Before the CAT Qualifying Percentile is released, IIM Kozhikode will release the CAT 2025 Result. It is expected to be released in December 2025. Students who took the exam can analyze the CAT Exam Pass Percentage to calculate their chances of admission.
Note* Candidates must know that even getting the minimum CAT Passing Marks 2025 will not guarantee admission to the top MBA Colleges.
What is CAT Pass Percentage 2025?
CAT Pass Percentage is the minimum marks to qualify the CAT Exam. The minimum marks to pass the examination vary with different colleges and their pre-defined admission criteria. Students must secure more than the CAT Exam Passing Marks to be considered eligible for the final merit list.
The CAT Official website i.e. iimcat.ac.in will release the CAT Qualifying Marks after the exam is conducted successfully. The expected CAT Passing Marks for CAT 2025 have been tabulated below. These will help students get a rough estimate of their qualifying status.
Also Read - CAT 2025 Score vs Percentile
CAT Qualifying Marks 2025
CAT Qualifying Marks is the minimum marks that students must get in their CAT Exam to be eligible for further process of admission. Each IIM provides a list with acceptable pass percentage of the CAT Exam. Applicants who stand eligible for the interview round of the CAT Admission Process must secure the minimum CAT Qualifying Marks 2025.
CAT Pass Percentage 2025 is usually released after the declaration of CAT Result. The marks released are specific to different colleges.
Expected CAT Pass Percentage 2025 for IIMs
IIM | CAT Qualifying Mark 2025 |
85 | |
85 | |
85 | |
90 | |
IIM Indore | 90 |
85 | |
IIM Amritsar | 90 |
IIM Nagpur | 85 |
IIM Sambalpur | 93 |
IIM Trichy | 93 |
93 | |
IIM Ranchi | 90 |
IIM Kashipur | 94 |
IIM Vizag | 80 |
IIM Udaipur | 93 |
IIM Bodhgaya | 93 |
IIM Shillong | 75 |
IIM Sirmaur | 92 |
IIM Rohtak | 95 |
IIM Jammu | 93 |
CAT Exam Pass Percentage for Top Non IIM Colleges
The CAT pass percentage for Non IIM colleges will surely be lower than that of IIM colleges. The expected CAT percentile for CAT Qualifying Marks 2025 is supposed to begin from 95+ percentile. Some of the top MBA colleges admit students based on their CAT qualifying marks.
The table mentioned below gives an insight of expected CAT pass percentage 2025 for top Non IIM management colleges. The marks are for the general category candidates for the admission through CAT 2025.
Top MBA College | CAT Exam Pass Percentage (Percentile) |
98-99 | |
IIFT Delhi | 95-99 |
SPJIMR, Mumbai | 95-99 |
95-97 | |
JBIMS, Mumbai | 96 |
97-99 | |
IMI, New Delhi | 90 |
XIM, Bhubaneshwar | 91 |
GIM Goa | 85 |
K J Somaiya, Mumbai | 86 |
TAPMI, Manipal | 80 |
FORE, New Delhi | 85 |
IFMR, Chennai | 80 |
IRMA, Anand | 80 |
MICA, Ahmedabad | 80 |
LIBA, Chennai | 70 |
XIME, Bangalore | 70 |
How Many Marks are Required to Qualify the CAT 2025 Exam?
It is imperative for students to understand the difference between the minimum percentile and CAT Exam minimum passing marks for admission to the top management colleges. These cutoff percentiles and passing marks vary each year determined by various factors mentioned below:
- Difficulty level of the question paper
- Number of students taking the exam
- Previous years’ cutoff trend
- Total number of seats available
- Ranking of cat accepting colleges
CAT percentile of >=90 will fall in the competitive category for admission to the IIMs. Here is the detailed analysis of expected CAT Pass percentage for CAT 2025 Exam and the admission trend of previous years. Check below the trend of previous years’ cutoff.
CAT Percentile | Marks in CAT 2024 | Marks in CAT 2023 | Marks in CAT 2022 | Marks in CAT 2021 | Marks in CAT 2020 | Marks in CAT 2019 |
99.9 | 196 | 196 | 196 | 192 | 194 | 191 |
99.5 | 192 | 192 | 190 | 170 | 183 | 168 |
99 | 190 | 190 | 188 | 155 | 173 | 153 |
95 | 185 | 185 | 176 | 125 | 139 | 123 |
90 | 183 | 183 | 174 | 110 | 121 | 108 |
85 | 170 | 170 | 87 | 90 | 103 | 93 |
80 | 159 | 159 | 75 | 80 | 98 | 84 |
70 | 143 | 143 | 57 | 62 | 83 | 68 |
What is the Difference Between CAT Qualifying Marks and CAT Final Marks?
There are two rounds of CAT Cutoff based on which the students are selected for admission. The first round analyzes the qualifying marks and the second round analyzes the final CAT cutoff achieved by the candidates and hence the admission is granted.
Below mentioned are the basic differences between the CAT Qualifying Marks and CAT Final marks.
CAT Qualifying Marks | CAT Final Marks |
CAT qualifying marks are the minimum marks obtained by candidates to be shortlisted for the interview calls. | These are the final cat cutoff marks that select candidates for further admission process such as WAT/GD/PI rounds. |
Students with minimum CAT qualifying marks may or may not proceed to the further rounds of admission. | Students who secure the final cat cutoff may or may not go for the further rounds of college admissions. |
IIMs declare the minimum marks required to pass the cat exam right before the declaration of CAT result. | Once the IIM declares the CAT Result, the final cat cutoff marks and final cat percentiles are released. |
The minimum marks required to pass the cat exam usually reach 90+ percentile while the newer IIMs offer admission at 85+ percentile as well. | The final CAT cutoff scores/percentiles may go beyond 99+ for the Top IIM colleges and 95+ for the newer IIM colleges. |
CAT 2025 Score vs Percentile
The CAT Score vs Percentile defines the relation between the marks obtained by candidates in CAT Exam 2025 and their equivalent CAT percentile. Candidates can use their CAT percentile to calculate the cat qualifying marks and their chances of admission to their desired MBA college. For example, if a student obtains 99th percentile, it means there are 99% students who secured less marks than that student. The expected CAT Passing marks 2025 are mentioned in the table below:
CAT Percentile | VARC Score | DILR Score | QA Score | Overall CAT Score |
99.5 Percentile | 44 | 36 | 39 | 101 |
99 Percentile | 41 | 31 | 36 | 91 |
98 Percentile | 35 | 28 | 31 | 80 |
95 Percentile | 29 | 22 | 24 | 66 |
90 Percentile | 24 | 18 | 17 | 53 |
85 Percentile | 20 | 15 | 14 | 45 |
80 Percentile | 17 | 13 | 11 | 40 |
