Quick answer: CAT (Common Admission Test) is India’s once-a-year, two-hour computer-based MBA entrance exam, run by the IIMs. CAT 2026 is on 29 November 2026, conducted by IIM Indore. It tests verbal ability, logical reasoning and maths. Around 2.5 to 3 lakh people take it every year, and the score is used for admission to the IIMs and many other top MBA colleges in India.

CAT 2026 at a glance

  • Full name Common Admission Test
  • Conducted by The IIMs, by rotation. CAT 2026 is run by IIM Indore (per the CAT 2026 notification).
  • CAT 2026 date Sunday, 29 November 2026, as announced in the CAT 2026 notification. Confirm on iimcat.ac.in.
  • CAT 2026 result Expected late December 2026 or early January 2027, going by past cycles. Not yet announced.
  • How often Once a year, usually on the last Sunday of November
  • Mode Computer-based, at test centres, in three slots on the same day
  • Duration 120 minutes: three sections of 40 minutes each
  • Sections VARC (verbal), DILR (reasoning), QA (maths)
  • Eligibility A bachelor’s degree with at least 50% (45% for SC, ST and PwD). Final-year students can apply.
  • Age limit None
  • Attempts No limit
  • Official site iimcat.ac.in

What is CAT?

CAT, short for Common Admission Test, is the entrance exam the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) use to shortlist candidates for their flagship MBA and PGP programmes. One IIM runs the exam each year on behalf of all of them, and the role rotates.

CAT is an aptitude test, not a subject test. It doesn’t ask about business, economics or your degree. It checks how well you read, reason and solve problems under time pressure. That’s why engineers, commerce graduates, arts students and working professionals all compete on the same paper.

A CAT score on its own doesn’t get you into a college. It gets you shortlisted. Each college then runs its own selection process, which usually includes interviews and looks at your academics and work experience as well.

How many people take CAT?

CAT is one of India’s most-taken postgraduate entrance exams. Here is how registrations and attendance have moved over the last few years:

CAT registrations and test-takers (approx.)

  • CAT 2021 ~2.3 lakh registered · ~1.9 lakh appeared
  • CAT 2022 ~2.55 lakh registered · ~2.2 lakh appeared
  • CAT 2023 ~3.3 lakh registered · ~2.88 lakh appeared (record year)
  • CAT 2024 ~3.29 lakh registered · ~2.93 lakh appeared
  • CAT 2025 ~2.95 lakh registered · ~2.58 lakh appeared

Two things stand out. First, the number of test-takers grew by roughly half between 2021 and 2024. Second, only about 85 to 90% of the people who register actually show up on exam day.

How competitive is it? Every year only a handful of candidates score 100 percentile: 12 in CAT 2025. The IIMs together have only a few thousand MBA seats, so the competition for the top colleges is intense. For the wider set of good colleges, though, the field is far more open than those numbers suggest.

Why do people take CAT?

Most people take CAT for one reason: an MBA from a top Indian B-school. The reasons behind that usually fall into a few groups:

  • Career switch: moving from engineering, IT, operations or another field into consulting, finance, marketing, product or general management.
  • Faster growth: a top MBA can open managerial roles that might otherwise take many years to reach.
  • Salary jump: placements at the top IIMs and other leading B-schools are among the best-paid entry routes into corporate India.
  • Network and brand: the alumni network and the name on the degree help throughout a career.
  • Value for money: compared with a top international MBA, a top Indian MBA costs much less for a strong outcome.

Some people take CAT straight after college; many take it after a few years of work. Both paths are common, and colleges look at your profile differently depending on which one you are on.

Which colleges accept CAT?

The IIMs

There are 21 IIMs, and all of them admit students to their flagship programme through CAT. They are often grouped informally:

  • The older, most sought-after IIMs: Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Lucknow, Kozhikode and Indore.
  • The other established IIMs: such as Shillong, Udaipur, Trichy, Raipur, Ranchi, Rohtak and Kashipur.
  • The newer IIMs: such as Amritsar, Bodh Gaya, Jammu, Nagpur, Sambalpur, Sirmaur, Visakhapatnam and Mumbai (formerly NITIE).

Top non-IIM colleges

Many highly regarded B-schools also use CAT scores, including:

  • FMS Delhi, known for its very low fees and strong placements
  • MDI Gurgaon
  • SPJIMR Mumbai
  • IIT B-schools, such as SJMSOM (IIT Bombay), DMS (IIT Delhi) and VGSoM (IIT Kharagpur)
  • IIFT, which moved to CAT scores for its MBA (IB) admissions
  • IMT Ghaziabad, among many other private B-schools

In total, well over a thousand institutes accept CAT scores. Some other well-known colleges use their own exams instead. XLRI, for example, uses XAT. Many serious aspirants write CAT alongside a few of these.

The CAT exam pattern

CAT has three sections, each with its own 40-minute timer. You must attempt them in a fixed order, and you can’t switch between sections.

VARCVerbal Ability and Reading Comprehension

Mostly reading-comprehension passages, plus verbal questions such as para summaries, odd sentence out and para jumbles. It tests reading speed, comprehension and careful elimination of options.

DILRData Interpretation and Logical Reasoning

Sets of four to six questions built around a table, chart, arrangement or puzzle. Picking the right sets to attempt matters as much as solving them. For many test-takers this is the hardest section to get comfortable with.

QAQuantitative Ability

School-level maths, mostly classes 8 to 10, asked in tricky ways: arithmetic, algebra, geometry, number systems and modern maths. Arithmetic and algebra usually carry the most weight.

Questions and marking

  • Recent papers have had 68 questions: about 24 in VARC and 22 each in DILR and QA.
  • Multiple-choice questions: +3 for a correct answer, −1 for a wrong one.
  • TITA (type in the answer) questions: +3 for correct, with no negative marking.
  • Unattempted questions score zero.

The exact question count and split can change from year to year, and the IIMs confirm them close to the exam. Always check the current year’s notification on iimcat.ac.in.

How CAT scores and percentiles work

CAT is held in three slots, and the papers differ slightly in difficulty. So your raw marks are first normalised to make the slots comparable. Your result is then reported as a percentile, both overall and for each section.

A percentile is not a percentage. A 95 percentile means you scored higher than about 95% of all test-takers, not that you got 95% of the marks. Because CAT is hard, a score far below half the total marks can still put you in a high percentile.

Colleges usually set cut-offs on both the overall percentile and each section’s percentile. That means you can’t ignore your weakest section and make up for it with your strongest. This is why balanced preparation across VARC, DILR and QA matters.

What happens after CAT?

Results usually come out in late December or early January, so expect CAT 2026 results around then; the IIMs announce the exact date on iimcat.ac.in. After that, the admission process looks roughly like this:

1Shortlisting

Each college shortlists candidates using its own formula. CAT percentile is the biggest factor, but many IIMs also give weight to your Class 10, Class 12 and graduation marks, work experience, and academic or gender diversity.

2Interviews and written tests

Shortlisted candidates go through a personal interview (PI), often with a written ability test (WAT) or group discussion (GD). These usually take place between February and April.

3Final offers

Final selection combines your CAT score, interview performance and profile. Offers and waitlists usually roll out from around April to June, and classes begin in the summer.

Your profile matters too

Two people with the same CAT percentile can get very different calls because of their academics, work experience or background. Check each college’s admission policy, which most publish every year, to see how much weight it gives to each factor.

How to start preparing for CAT

Most aspirants prepare for six months to a year, often alongside college or a job. A simple starting plan:

  • Take a diagnostic mock first. Before studying, attempt one full mock to see where you stand in each section.
  • Build fundamentals. Revise school maths topic by topic, read every day for VARC, and solve DILR sets regularly.
  • Start sectionals, then full mocks. Timed practice teaches you the 40-minute rhythm of each section.
  • Analyse every mock. The score matters less than what you change afterwards. Our guide on how to analyse a CAT mock test walks through a simple process.
  • Track your progress. Keep a record of your mocks, weak topics and study hours so you can see what’s actually improving.

Frequently asked questions

Is CAT hard to crack?

CAT is competitive, mainly because of the number of test-takers and the time pressure, not because the topics are advanced. The maths is mostly school level. With steady preparation and regular mock practice, a good percentile is very achievable.

Can non-engineers do well in CAT?

Yes. CAT tests aptitude, not your degree. In CAT 2025, most of the 100 percentilers came from non-engineering backgrounds.

Can I take CAT in my final year of college?

Yes. Final-year students can apply, as long as they complete their degree with the required marks before the deadline set by the college they join.

How long is a CAT score valid?

A CAT score is used for the admission cycle that follows that year’s exam. If you want to apply in a later year, you’ll need to take CAT again.

Do I need work experience for CAT?

No. Work experience isn’t needed to take the exam, and many students join straight from college. Some colleges do give extra weight to relevant work experience at the shortlisting or interview stage.