CAT Score vs Percentile 2025 – Section-wise analysis of How Many Marks You Need to Score 99%+

Your CAT raw score is not equal to a straightforward percentile. CAT percentiles don’t depend only on your score, but also on how others perform. You must understand the CAT score vs percentile conversion process. Understanding the scoring process will help you better grasp:

1. What is CAT score vs CAT percentile?
2. What score do you need for the percentile required to maximize your chances of landing a call from your target college?
3. How much do you need to score to clear the sectional as well as overall cutoffs?
4. What is the CAT score normalization process that nets you the scaled score?
5. How well do you stack up against your peers?

This blog gives you a clear answer to these questions and CAT 2025 score vs percentile trends for all three slots (overall and section-wise). So, let’s dive right into the CAT score vs percentile debate and see how much you need to score to get into your target college.

 

What Does CAT Score vs Percentile Mean?

Before getting into numbers, let’s clarify two terms: CAT score and CAT percentile:

CAT Raw Score: This is the total marks you get under the CAT marking scheme:

• +3 for every correct answer
• –1 for MCQ incorrect
• 0 for TITA (non-MCQ) wrong answers

CAT Percentile: It’s a statistical rank that shows what percentage of test-takers you outperform. For example, 99 percentile explains that you outperformed 99% of candidates.

Since CAT exam has relative scoring, the same raw score can result in different percentiles each year, depending on exam difficulty.

 

CAT Score vs Percentile 2025 (Overall) – Initial Estimates &Prediction

Here are the predicted CAT 2025 scores vs percentile for overall exam:

These numbers clearly indicate that Slot 2 was marginally tougher overall, with slightly lower corresponding scores across the percentile bands.

CAT 2025 Score vs Percentile – Sectional Estimates

CAT VARC Score Vs Percentile 2025: Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension

Initial sectional trends show VARC is similar across slots, with Slot 3 slightly on the easier side at the very top end.

CAT DILR Score Vs Percentile 2025: Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning

DILR showed clear slot-wise variation, with Slot 2 reportedly being the toughest, as reflected in score dips across most percentiles.

CAT 2025 Quant Score Vs Percentile: Quantitative Aptitude

QA followed a similar pattern, with Slot 2 again proving the toughest, and Slot 1 yielding the highest score requirement at the top percentiles.

 

CAT Score vs Percentile 2024: Previous Year’s CAT Percentile Trends

The CAT score vs percentile data changes every year based on the overall difficulty level and the number of students sitting for the test. CAT 2024 was of a lower difficulty level, as reflected in the higher CAT score-to-percentile ratio.

PERCENTILE	VARC SCORE	DILR SCORE	QA SCORE	OVERALL SCORE
80.00	18.00	17.00	11.00	43.00
85.00	20.00	19.00	14.00	49.00
90.00	24.00	22.00	17.00	57.00
95.00	30.00	27.00	22.00	70.00
98.00	36.00	34.00	29.00	85.00
99.00	41.00	38.00	33.00	96.00
100.00	59.00	63.00	57.00	151.00

 

Read More: CAT Exam 2025: Date, Registration, Eligibility, Pattern, Syllabus, Preparation Tips, Cutoff

CAT Score vs Percentile 2024 – Sectional Score vs Percentile Estimates

CAT 2024 Score Vs Percentile VARC: Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension

PERCENTILE	VARC SCORE
80.00	18.00
85.00	20.00
90.00	24.00
95.00	30.00
98.00	36.00
99.00	41.00
100.00	59.00

  

Read More – CAT Previous Years’ Papers – Click here to take CAT 2022 in test format

CAT 2024 Score Vs Percentile DILR: Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning

PERCENTILE	DILR SCORE
80.00	17.00
85.00	19.00
90.00	22.00
95.00	27.00
98.00	34.00
99.00	38.00
100.00	63.00

  

Read More –  CAT Cutoffs – How much do you need to score to get into the top IIMs?

CAT 2024 Score Vs Percentile Quant: Quantitative Aptitude

PERCENTILE	QA SCORE
80.00	11.00
85.00	14.00
90.00	17.00
95.00	22.00
98.00	29.00
99.00	33.00
100.00	57.00

Read More – CAT Syllabus – Section-wise important topics and types of questions

 

 

CAT Score vs Percentile – What Exactly is Your CAT Score?

While any layman can tell you that your CAT score comprises the marks you scored on the CAT exam, it is still critical to decode how exactly you got those marks. For that, let’s look at the CAT exam pattern and CAT marking scheme.

CAT marks vs percentile – CAT exam pattern and marking scheme

The CAT exam has three sections: Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC), Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR), and Quantitative Aptitude (QA). Each section has between 20 and 24 questions, each worth 3 marks. There is negative marking in CAT to the tune of -1 for each incorrect attempt. 

 

Section	Number of Questions	Time Allotted (In Minutes)	Marks (+3 for every correct answer and -1 for every incorrect answer)
Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC)	24	40	72
Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR)	22	40	66
Quantitative Aptitude (QA)	22	40	66

 

Read More – MBA vs PGDM – Which one is better?

However, not all questions are the same in CAT. While the MCQs have negative marking, the TITA or ‘Type in Your Answer’ questions have no negative marking.

Section Name	Number of MCQs	Number of TITAs	Total
VA-RC Section	22	2	24
DI-LR Section	12	10	22
QA Section	14	8	22
Total	48	20	68

 

CAT Score vs Percentile – What is Your Raw CAT score?

Based on the number of correct and incorrect responses you produce, you can calculate the raw CAT score. Give yourself a +3 for every correct answer and a -1 for every incorrect MCQ. However, the CAT exam is held across multiple slots, and the probability of each slot’s paper being exactly the same in difficulty level is low due to the inherent randomness in question distribution. 

To ensure fairness and avoid any misgivings, the process of CAT score normalization was introduced. Through a scientifically rigorous normalization process, the differences in difficulty level are accounted for. For instance, the third slot for CAT 2023 was easier than the first one. This meant that during normalization, 4 marks were deducted from the raw CAT score of test-takers in the third slot while 3 marks were added to those of the first slot. To understand the CAT normalization process in detail, watch the above video.

 

CAT Score vs Percentile – What is Your CAT Percentile?

CAT in itself is a comparative evaluation method; it does not have a pass, fail, or minimum score. Unlike the absolute CAT marks you get awarded, the CAT percentile helps you compare your performance to that of other test takers. For instance, scoring 76.02 marks in CAT 2023 corresponded with a percentile of 99, i.e., you scored better than 99% of all CAT test takers.

Here is the general formula to calculate your CAT percentile:

P = [1 – { r/N }] * 100

Where,

P = CAT percentile

r = Your CAT rank

N = No. of total test takers

Your CAT percentile is a crucial bit of information that will be used by colleges and universities to determine whether you’re deserving of admission. Your final percentile will be rounded off to two decimal places. 

Read More – MBA from IITs – Admission, eligibility, fees, placements

CAT Score vs Percentile 2023 – Previous Years’ CAT Marks vs Percentile Table

This table will help you see the corresponding normalized CAT score required to score different percentiles in 2023. For our 2024 estimates, scroll below.

CAT score vs percentile 2023 (Overall)

As you can see, the highest CAT score was 142.90. The difficulty level of the CAT 2023 paper was slightly lower than in 2022, so the CAT scores corresponding to each percentile went up. 99% was at 76.02, while 95% was at 45.16. 

Read More – CAT Exam Pattern – Questions, exam pattern, marking scheme

CAT Percentile	Scaled CAT Score
100.00	142.90
99.99	118.67
99.95	106.95
99.90	101.43
99.83	95.96
99.50	84.29
99.37	81.75
99.00	76.02
98.50	71.15
98.37	70.31
98.00	66.68
97.70	65.91
97.00	61.56
96.60	59.99
96.00	58.10
95.42	56.13
95.00	54.86
94.00	53.32
93.00	52.35
92.05	47.99
91.00	46.13
90.00	45.16
85.00	42.29
80.00	41.19
75.00	40.02

 

CAT score vs percentile 2023 (VARC)

The highest score for the VARC section in CAT was 61.66. As you’ll notice, VARC has the lowest rate of corresponding decline in scaled CAT scores as we move down the percentile list. 

CAT Percentile	Scaled CAT Score
100.00	61.66
99.99	57.32
99.87	51.02
99.50	44.00
99.26	41.76
99.00	39.70
98.21	35.88
96.72	31.47
95.00	28.68
93.50	26.33
90.00	23.39
86.43	20.66
80.00	17.58
75.00	15.27
62.28	11.53

 

Read More – Top MBA Colleges in India with Low Fees

CAT score vs percentile 2023 (DILR)

The CAT score vs percentile table for the DILR section clearly shows that 50.60 was the highest score, while 99% was at 27.39 marks and 90% was at just 15.63 marks. 

CAT Percentile	Scaled CAT Score
100.00	50.60
99.99	42.70
99.90	36.58
99.71	32.78
99.43	29.71
99.14	27.56
99.00	27.39
98.37	24.58
96.83	20.88
95.53	19.60
90.00	15.63
84.87	13.01
80.00	11.67
77.88	10.81
72.94	9.67

 

Read More – Top MBA Colleges in India – Compare fees, placements, and RoI

CAT marks vs percentile 2023 (QA)

You’ll notice an accelerated drop in the corresponding CAT scores for subsequent CAT percentiles. In QA, usually, the sectional cutoffs are as low as 12 marks for most colleges. While toppers score well above 40 marks in the QA section, even the 90th percentile score is just 13.63 marks. 

CAT Percentile	Scaled CAT Score
100	49.46
99.98	41.87
99.9	37.83
99.5	31.39
99	28.18
98.5	25.73
98	24.31
97.5	23.71
97	22.7
96.5	21.69
96	21.41
95.5	20.44
95	19.68
94	17.91
93.5	17.66
93	17.54
92.5	15
90	13.63
80	9.2

 

Read More – Top PGDM Colleges in India

CAT score vs percentile 2025 – Expected marks needed to score 90%

Based on our mentors’ experiences with students across the decade, we can fairly gauge the CAT scores and CAT percentiles for this year. While this table is not deemed to be accurate, it will give you a fair idea of the score you should target to get a good percentile. We’ll solidify the data gathered here once the CAT 2024 exam is up and we have more information regarding its difficulty level. For now, it is a fair assumption to make that CAT 2024 will be harder than CAT 2023.

 

Expected CAT score vs percentile 2025 (Overall)

We expect the 95th percentile score to be around 55 marks, while the 99th percentile mark should fall around 80 marks. 

CAT Percentile	Overall CAT Score
100	98 -102
99+	80-83
95+	55-58
90+	45-48
85+	39-43
80+	35-39

Expected CAT score vs percentile 2025 (VARC)

For VARC, we’re looking at 30 marks for 95 percentile and 40 for 99 percentile.

CAT Percentile	CAT VARC Score
100	42-44
99+	38-40
95+	29-31
90+	23-26
85+	20-22
80+	18-20

 

Read More – Top Tier 2 MBA Colleges in India

Expected CAT score vs percentile 2025 (DILR)

For DILR, expect a CAT score of 20 to reach 95 percentile and 26 for 99 percentile. 

CAT Percentile	CAT DILR Score
100	26-30
99+	23-26
95+	18-20
90+	14-17
85+	13-14
80+	10-12

 

Expected CAT score vs percentile 2024 (QA)

Along similar lines as DILR, the QA section, too, should have the 95th percentile to be at 20 marks and the 99th percentile score at 26.

 

CAT Percentile	CAT QA Score
100	29-33
99+	25-28
95+	19-22
90+	15-17
85+	12-14
80+	10-12

 

Read More – CAT Cutoff – How much do you need to score for the top colleges?

CAT 2025 Score vs Percentile – What is a good CAT score?

While the answer to this question is subject to one’s college and program preferences, ideally, students should target a CAT percentile score above 90% to stand a chance at the best MBA colleges in India. And to get to that score, you should target attempting around 24 questions with an accuracy of 85%-90%. This will result in you getting to a net question count ( a general count of how many questions you’d need to attempt, assuming your accuracy was 100%) of 14 questions. 

For more information, refer to the table below:

CAT Percentile	VARC questions to attempt	DILR questions to attempt	QA questions to attempt	Overall questions to attempt	Net Questions
100	15-16	11-12	15-16	42-45	28+
99+	14-15	10-11	13-15	40-41	25+
95-98.99	13-14	9-10	12-13	35-39	18+
90-94.99	11-12	7-8	11-12	29-34	14+
85+	9-10	6-7	9-11	24-28	12+

 

Understanding the whole CAT score vs percentile picture will aid you in fine-tuning your strategy for your target college. Based on the cutoffs for the college you are targeting, you need to decide on a score you want to achieve. Then, you match that score with the number of questions you need to attempt. Finally, you can match the total questions with the topics you need to study based on the weightage assigned to each topic. While there is no solid weightage for each topic, past trends do help zero down on the expected weightage for each topic. 

You can learn more about the topics and their weightage in this blog – CAT Syllabus – Topic-wise weightage for all sections.

 

How to Improve CAT Exam Scores: CAT Percentile Conversion

Target 100% accuracy in your strongest area. Even 1–2 silly mistakes can drop sectional percentile by 10+ points. In QA & DILR, selecting wrong sets/questions can destroy your score.

Maintain sectional balance as IIMs require minimum sectional percentiles. So target 85–90 percentile minimum in each section.

Take 20–25 full-length mock tests as CAT Mocks help you develop exam stamina, understand your target percentiles, and improve question-selection strategy.

Based on your target score, your CAT exam prep also vary. To get the best preparation strategy for your goals, you require personalised mentorship from the top CAT mentors in India. The IMS CATapult Program gives you more than 100 classes and 100+ mock tests covering all the major MBA entrances, apart from multiple one-on-one mentorship and strategy sessions with India’s top mentors. Just click on the link below, fill out the form, and one of our Education Advisors will reach out to you regarding your CAT prep.

 

FAQs on CAT Score Vs Percentile

 

What factors affect CAT score vs percentile?

CAT percentile depends on the certain factors, like difficulty level of each slot, normalization logic, number of test-takers, section-wise variations, and TITA questions percentage. This is why CAT raw score is not equal to a straightforward percentile.

 

What score is required for 99 percentile in CAT 2025?

Expect 82–90 marks, depending on sectional difficulty.

 

Is 120+ CAT score always convert into 99.9 percentile?

Yes, this is the usual trend seen recently almost every year.

 

Is 60 marks enough for 95 CAT percentile?

Usually, yes.

 

Can I get into IIMs with 80 percentile?

You can get into newer IIMs or non-IIM top B-schools in Mumbai and MBA colleges in Delhi.