The Common Admission Test is a competitive examination that tests candidates across quantitative aptitude, verbal ability, and logical reasoning. As per last year’s statistics, there were 2,95,000 candidates who registered to appear for the CAT exam, and out of these, 2,58,000 candidates actually gave this examination. The main purpose of giving the Common Admission Test 2026 is to get admission to top renowned management institutes in India such as IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta, IIM Lucknow, and more. These institutes are widely known for providing the top management education, alumni networks, industry exposure, brand value, placements and more, which shape your career to the next level.
But due to strategic competition and around 6000+ seats available in top B-schools, very few candidates are able to make it to the top IIMs or B-schools in India. But you know what? Everything depends on your preparation level for the CAT exam.
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How Many Candidates Registered to Sit for the CAT Exam?
The CAT 2026 exam is around the corner, and there are fewer than 5 months left. It is expected that this year, around 3 lakh aspirants will apply to sit for the CAT exam. In CAT 2025, there were 2,95,000 aspirants who had registered, and out of these, only 2,58,000 appeared for the CAT examination.
The table below covers the complete trend analysis of the number of students registered as well as those who appeared for the CAT exam.
| CAT Year | Registered Candidates | Appeared Candidates | Attendance Rate |
| 2025 | 2,95,000 | 2,58,000 | 87.46% |
| 2024 | 3,29,000 | 2,93,000 | 89.06% |
| 2023 | 3,28,000 | 2,88,000 | 87.80% |
| 2022 | 2,55,501 | 2,22,184 | 86.96% |
| 2021 | 2,29,969 | 1,91,660 | 83.34% |
| 2020 | 2,27,835 | 1,90,144 | 83.46% |
| 2019 | 2,44,169 | 2,09,926 | 85.98% |
| 2018 | 2,40,338 | 2,09,405 | 87.13% |
| 2017 | 2,31,067 | 1,99,632 | 86.39% |
| 2016 | 2,32,434 | 1,95,679 | 84.19% |
| 2015 | 2,18,664 | 1,79,602 | 82.14% |
Weightage of CAT Exam in Top IIMs
Apart from just CAT exam scores, there are other components responsible for the final selection criteria such as academic weightage, work experience, gender diversity, and more. Top B-schools will evaluate your overall performance to give you a seat in their full-time MBA/PGDM program.
Given below is the CAT exam weightage across top IIMs in the final selection criteria:
| Top IIMs in India | Weightage of CAT exam scores |
| IIM Ahmedabad | 25% |
| IIM Bangalore | 25% |
| IIM Calcutta | 30% |
| IIM Kozhikode | 35% |
| IIM Lucknow | 30% |
| IIM Indore | 40% |
Stages in the CAT Exam Preparation
CAT exam preparation is a long journey, and starting with a streamlined preparation works differently for every aspirant. Some aspirants start with the fundamentals of understanding the exam syllabus in depth, finding the best resources to pursue preparation, and some follow the self-study approach to complete the preparation.
Now, what should be the ideal way or stages of CAT exam preparation?
Starting with CAT Exam Syllabus – 50% of Preparation
This stage takes accountability for your 50% preparation because problem-solving can only be done once you come across the fundamental concepts. Overall topics are widely come across in quantitative aptitude, logical reasoning, and verbal ability. The latest trend follows: 24 questions to be asked in VARC, 22 questions in LRDI, and the remaining 22 questions in the Quant section. The same alignment is followed during the CAT exam as well.
The remaining 50% of preparation can be done by approaching good resources, solving various questions, and mocks, which will help you simulate the exam-like conditions.
Solving Questions using Tricks and Techniques
Your problem-solving ability during CAT exam preparation should not only stick to solving maximum questions; instead, building speed and accuracy both lead to a successful result. To compete with approximately 3 lakh aspirants, just solving questions will not really work until and unless you are not giving your 70% approach to solve a problem smartly. The rest 30% elimination technique works on those problems that are time-consuming during the CAT exam.
iQuanta’s CutShort module helps you with solving quant questions 2x faster with various shortcut techniques and tricks. This can automatically reduce your extra time in the CAT examination and will help you approach the 99+ percentile to target top B-schools in India.
Revision of Weaker Concepts for CAT Exam Preparation
CAT is a sectional exam, and that means not only your overall percentile but also your sectional percentile matters the most. Candidates who are weak in any of the sections should keenly focus on concept learning so that they will apply the same during solving mocks and finally in the CAT exam with more accuracy.
Admission to top B-schools is a competitive process because they are not only relying on the CAT exam score but also evaluating you overall. See, this examination is not only about fighting across the people who belong to the specific domain; instead, they came from varied fields.
Solving Best CAT Exam Mock
This is an important stage for aspirants because you can easily see your preparation here among candidates who are going to be your competitors in the final examination. Solving mock tests for the CAT exam overall gives you clear insights about the paper pattern and difficulty level of questions and is better to identify the weaker and stronger sections.
iQuanta’s CAT mock test is widely popular among candidates due to various features such as error tracker, goal tracker, analysis across mocks, etc.
Why Should You Choose the Best CAT Coaching?
Let’s be honest, CAT prep is overwhelming. There’s quant, verbal, DILR, mocks, sectional tests, and a hundred YouTube videos telling you a hundred different things. This is where good coaching actually matters, not just for content but for direction. You need someone to tell you what to skip, what to focus on, and how to actually finish a section in 40 minutes without panicking. That’s the real value of coaching, not just teaching you formulas you could technically find online yourself. iQuanta has become a name a lot of CAT aspirants trust for this, mainly because their approach isn’t just lecture-based, it’s built around solving your specific problem areas.
What also matters is the community and the constant feedback loop. iQuanta gives students regular mock analysis, so you’re not just taking tests blindly and hoping for the best, you actually know why you’re losing marks and where. Their faculty also comes from strong academic and CAT-scoring backgrounds, so the teaching feels practical, not textbook-ish. At the end of the day, CAT is as much a mental game as an academic one, and having the right structure around you, the kind iQuanta tries to build, can genuinely be the difference between a decent attempt and getting into the college you actually want.
Key Features of iQuanta (Best CAT Coaching)
- Dual-Pedagogy Approach (Live + Application) classes.
- Specialized Modules Across Quant, LRDI, and VARC
- AI-Driven CAT Mock Test Analysis
- 24/7 Doubt-Solving Support
- Expert Mentorship for Your Preparation
- Peer-Learning Environment through iQuanta’s community
