CAT Score vs Percentile (Updated): Last 5-Year Trend Analysis

CAT Score vs Percentile: The CAT exam percentile visible on the scorecard of a candidate is not the raw score that is calculated using the marked answers of a candidate. Instead, a normalization process is followed to convert the raw scores to the scaled scores and finally to a CAT percentile. If you have scored the 99%ile in the examination, this means you are ahead of the 99% of test takers who appeared for the CAT exam. In the CAT 2025 exam, 99.90%ile is equivalent to an overall 111.4, and so on, which is mentioned in the blog in a detailed manner.

It is indispensable for the candidates that they should know the CAT score vs percentile because the exam authority uses relative ranking instead of the absolute scores to evaluate the candidates’ performance. This blog covers the 5-year detailed trend analysis overall and section-wise.

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What is CAT Score vs Percentile?

CAT Score: This term is defined as the total number of marks you gained after calculating correct and incorrect answers across the sections. For the correct option, you will receive +3 marks and -1 mark for the incorrect marked answer, with 0 for not attempted. The final score you receive post-calculation is your raw score, which is further scaled and undergoes the normalization process across slots to eradicate unfairness in calculating the final CAT exam percentile.

CAT Percentile: The CAT percentile refers to how you performed in the exam among the test takers who appeared for the CAT exam. For example, if you score 99 percentile in the CAT exam, then this implies that you are ahead of 99% of the test takers.

CAT Score vs Percentile 2026 (Expected)

CAT Percentile	Expected Overall Score (2026)
99.90%ile	105 – 115
99.50%ile	90 – 100
99%ile	85 – 90
98%ile	65 – 85
95%ile	60 – 65
90%ile	50 – 55

What is the Good CAT Score vs Percentile?

Getting admission to the top B-schools like IIMs, FMS Delhi, and more requires 99+%ile to select best candidates among the competition for their MBA/PGDM programme. Having comprehensive knowledge about the CAT score vs percentile is way too important for the candidates so that they can set an ultimate goal for targeting the final percentile in the CAT examination.

CAT Score vs Percentile 2025

In the CAT 2025 exam, the overall percentile at 99.90% is 111.4, where VARC covers 53 marks, DILR covers 38 marks and QA covers 37 marks. If you need to know the respective overall and sectional percentile score at 99.50%ile, 99%ile, 98%ile, 95%ile and 90%ile, candidates should refer the table specified below for a clear reference of CAT score vs percentile.

Percentile	VARC	DILR	QA	Overall
99.90%ile	53	38	37	111.4
99.50%ile	48	33	31	93
99%ile	44	30	27	84.8
98%ile	39	26	25	73
95%ile	33	22	19	62.3
90%ile	26	17	15	51.5

CAT Score vs Percentile 2024

The overall percentile required in CAT 2024 at 99.90%ile is 127, which is slightly higher in comparison to the CAT 2023 exam, where a candidate is required a 101.43 CAT score vs percentile at 99.90%ile. Simultaneously, have a look on other percentiles as well across the sections in the table specified below .

Percentile	VARC	DILR	QA	Overall
99.90%ile	55	50	45	127
99.50%ile	44	41	37	103
99%ile	41	38	33	95
98%ile	36	34	27	79
95%ile	30	27	22	70
90%ile	24	22	17	58

CAT Score vs Percentile 2023

Top B-schools in India accept candidates at maximum CAT marks vs percentile due to intensive competition for MBA/PGDM seats. In the CAT 2023 exam, candidates required an overall 84.29 marks for 99.50%ile, 76.02 marks for 99%ile and more, which you will have a look on a table.

Percentile	VARC	DILR	QA	Overall
99.90%ile	51	37	38	101.43
99.50%ile	44	30	32	84.29
99%ile	40	27	28	76.02
98%ile	35	24	25	66.68
95%ile	29	19	19	54.86
90%ile	23	16	13	45.16

CAT Score vs Percentile 2022

In CAT 2022 examination, candidates who score 110 overall marks with 52 in VARC, 46 in DILR and 43 in QA can made it to 99.90%ile, 99.50%ile at 95 marks and respectively other CAT 2022 score vs percentile is specified in the table given below.

Percentile	VARC	DILR	QA	Overall
99.90%ile	52	46	43	110
99.50%ile	45	38	35	95
99%ile	41	33	30	84
98%ile	35	28	27	72
95%ile	29	23	22	60
90%ile	24	20	17	49

CAT Score vs Percentile 2021

The CAT 2021 exam covers 117 marks at 99.90%ile, 107 marks at 99.50%ile and respectively other CAT score vs percentile is specified in the table given below.

Percentile	VARC	DILR	QA	Overall
99.90%ile	56	42	49	117
99.50%ile	49	36	41	107
99%ile	45	33	34	97
98%ile	40	30	28	84
95%ile	34	24	23	72
90%ile	28	20	18	60

CAT Score vs Percentile: Section-Wise Analysis

This section helps you to understand the section-wise analysis of CAT score vs percentile.

CAT Score vs Percentile for VARC

Percentile	2025	2024	2023	2022	2021
99.90%ile	53	55	51	52	56
99.50%ile	48	44	44	45	49
99%ile	44	41	40	41	45
98%ile	39	36	35	35	40
95%ile	33	30	29	29	34
90%ile	26	24	23	24	28

CAT Score vs Percentile for DILR

Percentile	2025	2024	2023	2022	2021
99.90%ile	38	50	37	46	42
99.50%ile	33	41	30	38	36
99%ile	30	38	27	33	33
98%ile	26	34	24	28	30
95%ile	22	27	19	23	24
90%ile	17	22	16	20	20

CAT Score vs Percentile for QA

Percentile	2025	2024	2023	2022	2021
99.90%ile	37	45	38	43	49
99.50%ile	31	37	32	35	41
99%ile	27	33	28	30	34
98%ile	25	27	25	27	28
95%ile	19	22	19	22	23
90%ile	15	17	13	17	18

How Many Marks Needed for 99.50%ile in CAT Exam?

CAT Exam Year	VARC	DILR	QA	Overall
CAT 2025	48	33	31	93
CAT 2024	44	41	37	103
CAT 2023	44	30	32	84.29
CAT 2022	45	38	35	95
CAT 2021	49	36	41	107

How Many Marks Needed for 99%ile in CAT Exam?

99%ile is the good percentile to get calls from several top B-schools, and to target this percentile, you need the respective score bracket which is mentioned in the table given below based on the last 5 years’ CAT score vs percentile.

CAT Exam Year	VARC	DILR	QA	Overall
CAT 2025	44	30	27	84.8
CAT 2024	41	38	33	95
CAT 2023	40	27	28	76.02
CAT 2022	41	33	30	84
CAT 2021	45	33	34	97

How Many Marks Needed for 95%ile in CAT Exam?

CAT Exam Year	VARC	DILR	QA	Overall
CAT 2025	33	22	19	62.3
CAT 2024	30	27	22	70
CAT 2023	29	19	19	54.86
CAT 2022	29	23	22	60
CAT 2021	34	24	23	72

How Many Marks Needed For 90%ile in CAT Exam?

CAT Exam Year	VARC	DILR	QA	Overall
CAT 2025	26	17	15	51.5
CAT 2024	24	22	17	58
CAT 2023	23	16	13	45.16
CAT 2022	24	20	17	49
CAT 2021	28	20	18	60

Do Your Scorecard Shows Scaled Scores?

No, your scorecard will directly not show the raw scores because the examination is conducted across various slots (morning, evening, and afternoon) and varies based on the difficulty level of a question paper. To ensure fairness in the final checking, the exam authority is using the normalization process, which helps in converting the raw scores (calculated based on the candidate’s marked answers) to scaled scores.

Your scorecard contains the scaled scores, sectional percentiles, and an overall percentile based on the candidate’s performance. The final percentile is calculated by using the formula: 𝑃 = ((𝑁 − 𝑟)/𝑁) x 100

CAT Score vs Percentile: Basic Difference

CAT Score	CAT Percentile
This term is used to refer to the total marks or scores obtained in the CAT examination based on both correct and incorrect answers.	“CAT percentile” refers to the relative ranking of a candidate compared to all other test-takers.
Absolute value	Relative value
Based on CAT marking scheme (correct +3, incorrect –1)	Based on the number of candidates scoring less than you in the CAT exam
0 to 198 (approx.)	0 to 100
Your raw performance in the test	Your position or rank among all test-takers
Slightly affected	Heavily affected by normalization and scaling process

CAT Score vs Percentile Conversion

These are the detailed steps that the exam authority uses to convert CAT score to a percentile for ensuring fairness.

Step 1: Determine the overall number of test-takers (N) who took part in the CAT examination, including all sessions.

Step 2: Assign ranks to all CAT test-takers based on their scaled scores in the QA section. If two or more test-takers have the same scaled score, they should be given the same rank.

For example, if two aspirants secure the highest scaled score in the QA section, they will be assigned a rank of 1. Furthermore, the aspirant (s) who secure the 2nd highest scaled score in the QA section will be allocated a rank of 3 and so on.

Step 3: Compute the percentile score (P) of the test-taker with rank (r) in the QA section as:

𝑃 = ((𝑁 − 𝑟)/𝑁) x 100

Step 4: Round off the computed percentile score (P) of the aspirant up to two decimal points.

For example:

• Percentile scores that are above or equal to 99.995 are rounded off to 100.
• Percentile scores between 99.985 and 99.995 are rounded off to 99.99, and so on.

CAT Normalization Process

The CAT normalization process covers several stages, from converting raw scores to the scaled scores. Now the question arises, “Why are we following the normalization process for calculating the final percentile?” The answer is the examination is conducted across the various time zones (morning, afternoon, and evening). Along with that, the difficulty level of the question paper varies based on the slots, and this is the basic reason that the exam authority follows the normalization process to ensure fairness among the candidates.

Your respective CAT exam scorecard doesn’t directly show you the raw scores. The scorecard consists of a section-wise scaled score and percentile. Given below is the scorecard of a candidate.

CAT Score vs Percentile: Formula Used in Normalization

There are three steps where your final score will be taken into consideration by the authority. The first step is to calculate the raw scores followed by the normalization and scaling and last is the overall percentile among the test takers which is visible on your scorecard and consider by the IIMs in the final admission process.

Normalized Score = μ + ( X − μs / σs ) × σ

The normalized formula given above has several parameters:

Normalized Score – The final score assigned to a candidate after the normalization process.
X – The candidate’s raw score obtained in the CAT exam slot.
μ (Mu) – The overall average (mean) score of all candidates across all CAT exam slots.
μs – The average (mean) score of candidates who appeared in the candidate’s specific exam slot.
σ (Sigma) – The overall standard deviation of scores across all CAT exam slots.
σs – The standard deviation of scores in the candidate’s specific exam slot.

𝑃 = ((𝑁 − 𝑟)/𝑁) x 100

P – Candidate’s percentile score in CAT exam.
N – Total number of candidates who appeared for the CAT exam.
r – Candidate’s rank based on the scaled (normalized) score.
100 – Converts the result into a percentage (percentile).

Top MBA Colleges Based on CAT Score vs Percentile

CAT Percentile Range	Tier	Top Colleges You Can Target
99.5 – 100	Tier 1 (Elite)	IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta
99 – 99.5	Tier 1	IIM Lucknow, IIM Kozhikode, IIM Indore
98 – 99	Tier 1	FMS Delhi, SPJIMR Mumbai, MDI Gurgaon, IIFT Delhi
95 – 98	Tier 2 (Top)	New IIMs (Trichy, Udaipur, Ranchi, Raipur), IIT Delhi (DMS), IIT Bombay
90 – 95	Tier 2	IMT Ghaziabad, XIM Bhubaneswar, IMI Delhi, FORE Delhi
85 – 90	Tier 3	GIM Goa, KJ Somaiya, TAPMI Manipal
80 – 85	Tier 3	IFMR Chennai, IRMA Anand, Great Lakes
70 – 80	Tier 4	LIBA Chennai, XIME Bangalore, smaller private B-schools

Conclusion: CAT Score vs Percentile

The CAT score vs percentile is important for tracking goals as well as the CAT preparation progress. While the raw score reflects your actual performance in the CAT exam, the percentile actually defines where the candidate stands among all the competitors. That’s why it is important for candidates to focus on consistent practice, time management as well as accuracy to convert marks into higher percentile. With the structured approach and the right strategy, securing a 99+ percentile in the CAT exam is achievable.

FAQs: CAT Marks vs Percentile