Quick answer: in CAT 2025, roughly 85 marks got you the 99th percentile, 62 the 95th and 52 the 90th. The easier CAT 2024 needed about 95, 70 and 58 for the same percentiles, while CAT 2023 needed about 76, 55 and 44. The exact marks move every year with the paper’s difficulty.
| Percentile | CAT 2025 | CAT 2024 | CAT 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 99 | ~85 | ~95 | ~76 |
| 95 | ~62 | ~70 | ~55 |
| 90 | ~52 | ~58 | ~44 |
| 80 | ~38 | ~44 | ~35 |
How this was compiled: these are estimates from publicly reported scorecards, gathered by coaching institutes after each exam. The IIMs publish no official marks-to-percentile table, and sources differ by a few marks. Sources · full table · section-wise.
CAT percentile calculator
Enter your answers for each section from a mock or an answer key. The calculator works out your marks and estimates your percentile from past CAT results.
Estimate your percentile
78 marks out of 204, judged against the CAT 2025 curve.
Marks: +3 for a correct answer, −1 for a wrong MCQ, 0 for a wrong TITA or a skipped question. Count wrong TITA answers as neither correct nor wrong. These are estimates from public score reports, not official IIM figures.
How many marks for your target percentile?
Pick a target to see the marks it took in each of the last three CATs, and roughly how many questions that means.
Marks needed for
Question counts assume about 85% accuracy on the questions you attempt: marks ÷ 2.82 correct answers, with roughly one wrong answer for every six right.
CAT marks vs percentile trends, 2023–2025
Each line shows the overall scaled score needed for each percentile in one year. Hover or tap the chart to compare years at any score. The dashed line marks your score from the calculator.
Overall marks vs percentile
- CAT 2025
- CAT 2024
- CAT 2023
The lines stop where public data ends. Scores are normalised (scaled) marks, so they can differ slightly from the raw marks on your response sheet.
Overall score vs percentile table
The overall scaled score needed for each percentile. A dash means no reliable figure was reported for that year.
| Percentile | CAT 2025 | CAT 2024 | CAT 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 99.9 | 111.5 | 127 | 101.4 |
| 99.5 | 93 | 104 | 84 |
| 99 | 84.8 | 95.1 | 76.2 |
| 98 | 76 | – | – |
| 97 | 70 | 78.9 | 61 |
| 95 | 62.3 | 70 | 54.9 |
| 90 | 51.5 | 58 | 44.4 |
| 85 | 44.2 | 50 | – |
| 80 | 38 | 44 | 35 |
| 75 | 33 | 40 | – |
| 70 | 29.5 | – | – |
| 65 | 26 | – | – |
| 60 | 23 | – | – |
| 55 | 20 | – | – |
Sectional score vs percentile
Most IIMs set a minimum percentile for each section as well as overall, so your weakest section matters. These are the sectional scaled scores needed for each percentile.
| Percentile | VARC | DILR | QA |
|---|---|---|---|
| 99.9 | 53 | 38 | 37 |
| 99.5 | 48 | 33 | 31.2 |
| 99 | 44 | 29.8 | 27.3 |
| 95 | 32.5 | 21.5 | 18.5 |
| 90 | 26 | 16.7 | 15 |
| 85 | 22 | 14 | 12 |
| 80 | 19 | 11.5 | 10 |
| 70 | – | 8.5 | 7.1 |
| 60 | 11 | – | – |
| Percentile | VARC | DILR | QA |
|---|---|---|---|
| 99.9 | 55 | 50.1 | 45 |
| 99.5 | 44 | 41.4 | 36.5 |
| 99 | 40.3 | 37.8 | 33 |
| 97 | 33.5 | 30.8 | 25 |
| 95 | 30 | 27 | 22 |
| 90 | 24 | 22.5 | 17 |
| 85 | 20.4 | 19.5 | 13.7 |
| 80 | 18.2 | 17 | 11.6 |
| 75 | 15.6 | 15 | 9.9 |
| Percentile | VARC | DILR | QA |
|---|---|---|---|
| 99.9 | 51.1 | 36.6 | 35 |
| 99.5 | 44 | 30.6 | 28.3 |
| 99 | 39.8 | 27.3 | 25.2 |
| 95 | 28.8 | 18.9 | 16.9 |
| 90 | 23.4 | 15.6 | 13.6 |
| 80 | 17.6 | 11.7 | 9.2 |
Why the marks needed keep changing
A percentile is a rank, not a score. The 99th percentile is simply the score that beats 99% of test-takers, so it moves with how hard the paper was and how the field performed.
- CAT 2023 was a tough paper. About 76 marks was enough for 99 percentile, and about 55 for 95.
- CAT 2024 was noticeably easier, especially DILR. The same 99 percentile needed about 95 marks, roughly 19 more.
- CAT 2025 swung back towards tougher. About 85 marks got 99 percentile, in between the two previous years.
Slots matter too. CAT runs in three slots with different papers, and IIMs normalise the scores so that each slot is treated fairly. That is why the official scorecard shows a scaled score that may differ from the raw marks you calculate from the answer key.
Don’t chase a fixed number like “90 marks”. Aim for a range that would have worked across the last few years, and keep every section above your target colleges’ sectional cut-offs. Your mock series’ own percentile is usually the better guide, since everyone taking it faced the same paper.
Rough rules of thumb
Taken across 2023–2025, these ranges give a sense of scale:
Overall marks out of about 200, roughly
- 99+ percentile About 76–95 marks: worth about 25–32 correct answers
- 95 percentile About 55–70 marks: worth about 18–23 correct answers
- 90 percentile About 44–58 marks: worth about 15–19 correct answers
- 80 percentile About 35–44 marks: worth about 12–15 correct answers
In other words, scoring about a third of the total has been enough for the mid-90s in recent years. CAT rewards accuracy and good question selection far more than attempting everything. If you want to turn mock scores into those habits, start with our guide on how to analyse a CAT mock test. New to the exam? Read CAT 101 first.
Frequently asked questions
How many marks do I need for 99 percentile in CAT?
It has ranged from about 76 marks (CAT 2023) to about 95 (CAT 2024), with CAT 2025 at around 85. Plan for the upper end if you want a safety margin.
Is 60 marks a good score in CAT?
Yes. Across 2023–2025, about 60 marks would have put you somewhere between the 90th and 97th percentile, depending on the year.
Is percentile the same as percentage?
No. Percentile shows the share of test-takers you scored above. A 95 percentile usually needs only about 30% of the total marks.
How accurate is this calculator?
It gives a rough estimate. It uses past years’ reported score-to-percentile data and joins the points with straight lines, so the real percentile can differ by a point or two, more in the very high range or for an unusually easy or hard slot.
