CAT 2025 Eligibility Criteria - Minimum Qualification, Age Limit, Reservation

CAT Eligibility Criteria 2025- Candidates who wish to appear in the CAT Entrance Exam for MBA Course must stand eligible as per the CAT 2025 Eligibility Criteria. According to the Eligibility Criteria for CAT 2025, candidates must satisfy a few factors set up by the conducting body of CAT. As per the basic eligibility criteria, the candidates must have cleared their graduation a.k.a the qualifying examination with 50% marks. Students in their final year of graduation may also apply.

CAT Exam Overview - CAT Exam is one of the most popular MBA Entrance Exams conducted in India for admission to MBA and PGDM programs offered by various renowned colleges and universities. These colleges include 20 Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), FMS Delhi, MDI Gurgaon, SPJIMR Mumbai, and IITs. IIM Kozhikode is expected to release the CAT official notification along with the CAT Exam Eligibility on its official website in July or August 2025. A valid score in CAT will allow candidates to be eligible to apply for most of the best Business Schools in India. Check the Top MBA Colleges in India here.

CAT Eligibility Criteria 2025 - An Overview

According to the CAT 2025 Exam Eligibility, candidates with a bachelor's degree or its equivalent securing at least 50% marks in aggregate from a recognized university can apply for and appear in CAT 2025. Candidates belonging to the reserved categories (SC/ST/PwD) must secured at least 45% marks in aggregate.

Those willing to apply for the exam and take it must check the eligibility of CAT Exam before applying or preparing for the exam. Only if they fulfil the criteria, they can apply for the exam. Below mentioned are the requirements candidates must fulfil in order to be eligible-

• Bachelor's degree in any field or its equivalent from a recognized university.
• Secure at least 50% marks (45% marks for SC/ST/PwD category candidates) in aggregate.
• In final year of bachelor's degree. In this case, candidates will be required to submit the certificate of completion of degree signed by the principal or registrar of their university.

Particular	Detail
CAT Age Limit	No CAT Age Limit
CAT Educational Qualification	Bachelor's Degree
Work Experience	No
Minimum Marks in Graduation	50% for General/OBC category and 45% for SC/ST/PwD category students
Reservation	Yes. Category wise

CAT Eligibility Criteria - General and NC-OBC Candidates

The following section describes the CAT eligibility criteria for the General and NC-OBC candidates.

• Candidates must hold a bachelor’s degree or equivalent from a university or educational institution recognized by the Government of India
• Candidates must have scored minimum 50 per cent aggregate in graduation (or equivalent)in any stream
• Candidates must be in their final year of graduation or awaiting result
• Candidates with professional degrees like CA/CS/ICWA must have a minimum of 50 per cent aggregate

CAT Eligibility Criteria - SC, ST and PwD Candidates

The following section describes the CAT eligibility criteria for the SC, ST, and PwD candidates.

• Candidates belonging to SC/ST/PwD categories must have scored minimum45 per cent aggregate in graduation (or equivalent) in any stream
• Candidates must be in their final year of graduation or awaiting result
• Candidates with professional degrees like CA/CS/ICWA must have a minimum of 45 per cent aggregate

CAT Eligibility Criteria 2025 – Educational Qualification

The exam conducting body i.e. IIM Kozhikode has mentioned all the academic qualifications and marks that candidates must secure in order to appear in the CAT Exam.

Note* Candidates in their final year of graduation must submit the certificate from the Registrar or Principal of the college. The certificate must state that the candidate must fulfil all the requirements for the equivalent qualification on the date when the certificate is issued.

CAT 2025 Eligibility Criteria for Students with Backlogs

Students with any academic backlogs in their bachelor's education are usually confused about if they can register for and take CAT Exam. It should be noted that these CAT Aspirants who have academic backlogs can apply for the exam and register for CAT 2025 without any issues. Candidates who secure at least 50% marks in aggregate (45% for SC/ST/PwD category) in the degree. While filling the CAT 2025 Registration Form, select “Yes” to the question “Are you in your final year of bachelor's degree?”.

IIM CAT 2025 Eligibility – Reservation Criteria

Each IIM will have its own and individual IIM Selection Criteria for MBA/PGDM Admission 2022-23. They follow the reservation guidelines defined by the Government of India. In order to get details on CAT Exam Eligibility for OBC, MBC, SC, ST, PwD, and General candidates, go through the table below:

Candidates belonging to these above-mentioned categories must ensure that they upload their caste certificates during CAT Registration and bring a photocopy of the same at the time of document verification.

Students belonging to the PwD category must bring a PwD certificate that has been issued by a competent authority. PwD category candidates are advised to go through the Section 39 of PwD Act 1995 and check the list of all the disabilities accepted under this category. Candidates applying for the specified category must possess at least 40% of disability as certified by any medical authority.

What is the meaning of Person with Benchmark Disability (PwD) in CAT?

Persons with benchmark disability means a person with not less than 40 per cent of a specified disability as specified in the Schedule of the RPwD Act 2016. Given below are disabilities that fall under CAT’s PwD category:

• Blindness and low vision
• Deaf and hard of hearing
• Locomotor disability including cerebral palsy, leprosy cured, dwarfism, acid attack victims and muscular dystrophy.
• Autism, intellectual disability, specific learning disability and mental illness
• Multiple disabilities from amongst persons under clauses (a) to (d)
• Other 'specified disabilities' mentioned in 'The Schedule' of the RPwD Act 2016

CAT Exam Eligibility Criteria 2025 - Equivalent Degrees

• In case the marking scheme of any candidate’s bachelor’s degree is in grades or CGPA, percentage of marks would be calculated on the basis of practice as followed by the respective University/Institution.
• If any University/Institution confirms that they do not follow any scheme for converting CGPA into marks, the calculation will be done by dividing the candidate’s CGPA by the maximum possible CGPA, and multiplying the result with 100.

CAT 2025 Eligibility – Minimum CAT Score Required (CAT Marks Calculation)

The calculation of marks for CAT Exam qualification is mentioned below:

• MBA Colleges follow their own criteria for calculation marks on graduation. The CAT Exam Marks calculation will be based on this process only.
• In case the university awards grades or CGPA and not marks, the marks will then be converted into percentage by using the conversion method provided by the university.
• In case the university has no methodology for converting the marks into percentage, then it will be done through the direct conversion.
• In this case the candidates will have to divide the achieved CGPA by the highest CGPA possible and multiply the result with 100.

CAT Exam Eligibility 2025 - Graduation Marks

The minimum qualification required to apply for CAT 2025 is graduation. Check below, the CAT exam eligibility criteria and minimum marks required for General and Reserved category students:

Academic Qualification for CAT	Affiliation Required	Pass Percentage Required
Engineering Degree – BTech/ BE	Recognized by MHRD/AICTE*	50% for General/EWS/NC-OBC & 45% for SC, ST, PwD candidates
Bachelor’s Degree in any stream from any University	Recognized by UGC	50% for General/EWS/NC-OBC & 45% for SC, ST, PwD candidates
Students in their final year of Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) are also eligible to take CAT exam	Continuing graduation from University Recognized by MHRD/AICTE or UGC	50% for General/EWS/NC-OBC & 45% for SC, ST, PwD candidates
(CA/CS/ICWA/Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries of India (FIAI)	Certification granting organisation	50% for General/EWS/NC-OBC & 45% for SC, ST, PwD candidates

Those having post-graduation degree have the option of mentioning or not mentioning their PG qualification in the CAT form 2025. However, mentioning PG qualification can be beneficial for students at the time of PI and admission shortlisting. Similarly, the option of mentioning professional degrees or additional degrees is also there in the CAT 2025 application form.

Who is Ineligible for the CAT Exam?

The following candidates are considered ‘non-eligible’ to take the CAT exam.

• Candidates with no bachelor's degree or who failed in their graduation.
• Candidates with less than 50% marks in their graduation (45% for SC/ST/PwD category students).
• Candidates pursuing both bachelor's and professional degree and have not completed any of these yet.
• Bachelor's degree from a university not recognized by UGC, AICTE, or MHRD.

CAT Exam Eligibility – Work Experience Requirement

The most common questions asked about this is - ‘Is work experience important to apply for CAT Exam?' and the answer to this question is ‘NO'. CAT Aspirants are often skeptical if they should have some work experience or not. Below are the points that candidates must consider:

• Candidates applying for the CAT Entrance Exam are not required to possess any prior work experience.
• CAT Application Form has a section of work experience which is not mandatory to be filled.
• Work Experience has some weightage in the later stage of the CAT Admission Process in IIMs. However, not having a work experience is not going to affect CAT Scores or your chances of IIM Admission.