What is a good score in CAT 2025? This is the most common question amongst the aspirants who are appearing for the CAT exam on 30th November 2025. Most candidates often get confused between the CAT score vs percentile. Clearly, your CAT percentile plays a fundamental role in getting a call from the top IIMs like IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta, etc. Top Non-IIMs also pay major attention to the CAT percentile in comparison to the CAT score. However, you still cannot neglect the importance of a good score in CAT 2025. You must be wondering why? Let us break down this crucial information to you in a step-by-step manner. 

This comprehensive blog will give you a complete idea of how B-schools scale the CAT score and implement score normalisation across Slot 1, Slot 2 and Slot 3 respectively. This is done to promote fairness and authenticity before converting the raw scores into the CAT percentile. With only 25 days left for the CAT exam 2025, it’s time you obtain a crystal clear understanding of the CAT score, CAT percentile and factors which affect the CAT score vs Percentile. Overall, this will help you to stimulate your preparation accordingly to gain admission into your dream B-school to pursue a 24-month full-time residential MBA course. 

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What is a Good Score in CAT 2025?

The CAT exam 2025 paper is estimated to have 68 questions from VARC, DILR and QA. A correct response for a particular MCQ and TITA question will yield you +3 marks. An incorrect response for an MCQ question will yield you -1 mark. In the CAT exam 2025, there will be no deduction for the wrong TITA attempts and unattempted questions. To understand what is a good score in CAT 2025, you should know the proper definition of a CAT score, how it’s calculated to convert it into a CAT percentile and what factors affect a raw CAT score.

IIMs follow a simple formula to calculate the CAT score. It’s CAT Score = Number of Correct Attempts*3 – Number of Incorrect Attempts. It’s the total score which IIMs generate by evaluating the correct responses and wrong attempts. Out of 68 questions, 24 questions will appear in VARC, 22 questions in QA and 22 questions in DILR. The scores you achieve in every section will be combined to generate a total raw score. Later on, these raw scores are scaled while analysing the difficulty level across all the three slots which results in a scaled CAT score. Furthermore, these scaled scores are utilised for calculating the CAT percentile and determining the rank of every candidate from the total number of appearing candidates. 

This was all about the CAT score. If you’re a CAT 2025 aspirant, you must be wondering what will be a good score for the CAT 2025. Here, you will have to conduct a proper analysis of the past year’s CAT score vs percentile. Reportedly, a good score from the CAT 2024 was between 96-151+ out of 204 marks. Candidates who managed to score 96 or above in the CAT exam were amongst the 99%ilers. Hereby, if you’re aiming to reach that top 1% then this must be your target score range for the CAT exam 2025. However, please note that the calculation of the scores will fluctuate due to multiple factors. Henceforth, always aim to achieve a higher score mainly above 151+ which will eventually result in a high CAT percentile. 

What will be a Good Percentile for the CAT Exam 2025?

A good CAT percentile above 99%ile+ means you delivered an exceptional performance compared to the other test takers. A CAT percentile will determine your rank amongst the other candidates. We will explain this to you with a simple example. 

Candidate 1 scores 99%ile in the CAT exam. This simply indicates that your performance was better or you performed well from the huge pool of candidates who appeared for the CAT exam in that specific year. 

Here’s the accurate formula to calculate the CAT Percentile: P = (n/N) × 100​​. Here, P stands for a candidate’s percentile, N is the number of appearing candidates for the CAT 2025, and r = rank of a candidate according to the scaled score. Always target a higher CAT percentile in the range between 95-99+ to get admission into a top-tier B-school. 

Which Factors Affect the CAT Score Vs Percentile?

Primarily, various factors impact the CAT score vs percentile. If the difficulty level of a paper is high, then even a low CAT score can get you a high percentile. But tables will turn if the CAT exam is easy to crack. Basically, if the CAT paper complexity level is easy, then a CAT aspirant must achieve a good score to achieve a higher percentile. Including this, there are many more components that are taken into consideration while calculating the CAT score and Percentile of the candidates. Here are some of the key factors that you must know before appearing for the CAT exam 2025. These factors will impact your CAT score and percentile in the actual exam. 

CAT Paper Level: The most important factor to evaluate the appearing candidates. An extremely difficult paper means that even low CAT scores will result in a high percentile and vice versa. 

Number of Appearing Candidates: If the number of appearing candidates is higher, then it means stiff competition and strict percentile allocation in the 90+ range. 

Strong Time Management: CAT is a time-bound entrance exam. You will have to ensure that you allocate your 40-minute sectional time efficiently to make maximum correct attempts. 

Performance in Every Section: Your ultimate target should be to achieve a good score individually in Quantitative Aptitude, Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension, Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning. Excellent performance in every section will stimulate your overall CAT percentile.

Accuracy Factor: Make it compulsory to achieve an 85-90% accuracy in the CAT exam. It means that maximum correct attempts and avoiding random guessing will help you accomplish a high percentile in the CAT exam.

Score Distribution: Generally, IIMs calculate a CAT percentile by comparing the performance of the other candidates. Low scores of the other test-takers can help candidates, even with moderate scores, secure a high percentile. 

Total Attempts: Random guessing will result in a penalty. Limited attempts will decrease your CAT score. In this case, you have to ensure that you achieve 85-90% accuracy and get maximum answers right without any errors. 

CAT 2024 Overall Score VS Percentile: Short Overview 

Percentile	Overall (Out of 204 Marks)
100%ile	151
99.99%ile	142
99.90%ile	127
99.70%ile	112
99.50%ile	105
99%ile	96
95%ile	70
90%ile	58

Note: All the above information is compiled from the official sources of CAT 2024. It’s subject to change without any prior notice for the CAT exam 2025.

CAT 2024 Sectional Score VS Percentile: Detailed Analysis 

Percentile	VARC (Out of 72 Marks)	DILR (Out of 66 Marks)	Quant (Out of 66 Marks)
100%ile	59	64	57
99.99%ile	56	63	53
99.90%ile	50	50	45
99.70%ile	47	45	41
99.50%ile	45	41	37
99%ile	40	38	32
95%ile	30	28	22
90%ile	24	22	17

Important Note: This is the official sectional cut-off for the CAT exam 2024. CAT 2025 score and percentile will vary for every candidate on multiple factors like total number of test takers, paper difficulty level, slot variation, normalisation of the score across different slots, performance in every section, accuracy rate, speed, score distribution, total number of correct attempts, statistical score scaling and accuracy rate in TITA questions.

Final Words 

It must be clear now that: What is a Good Score in CAT 2025? In simple terms, the total marks you obtain in the CAT exam will be your total score. Anything ranging between 96-151+ will be considered a good CAT score. The formula for calculating the CAT raw score is denoted as: CAT Score (Total Number of Correct Answers*3) – (Total Number of Incorrect Answers). Candidates get zero scores for unattempted questions. Henceforth, there’s no penalty for the same. No marks are deducted for the wrong TITA questions. 

Once the raw scores are calculated for the CAT exam, IIMs follow a score normalization process. It’s mainly performed to ensure that fair and equal scoring opportunity is followed for candidates who appear in the three slots. The paper complexity level varies for every CAT exam. Thus, normalisation via a statistical method in the CAT 2025 will hold a substantial weightage to prevent unfairness amongst the appearing candidates. 

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Frequently Asked Questions 

Is it difficult to score 99%ile+ in the CAT 2025?

Achieving a 99%ile in the CAT exam 2025 can be complex but not difficult. You need a vigorous preparation strategy, in-depth revision and mock attempts to achieve this goal. 

What is a good score in CAT 2025?

Your target should be to score between 96-151+ in the CAT exam. Last year’s result analysis of the CAT exam states that candidates with this CAT score fall under the 99%ile+ range. 

How can I achieve a good score in CAT 2025?

Your CAT preparation should be strong enough to achieve a good score in QA, DILR and VARC separately. Strengthen basics, boost speed and accuracy to achieve your target score in the CAT exam. 

Will the performance of the other candidates impact my CAT percentile?

Your CAT percentile will be higher if you attain a high score in the CAT exam in comparison to the other candidates with a low CAT score. Your CAT percentile will be denoted as your rank. 

Which factors affect the CAT Percentile?

Top factors like paper difficulty level, score normalization, sectional performance, total number of appearing candidates, etc, are common factors which the CAT percentile.