The Common Admission Test 2025 (CAT 2025) is a popular competitive entrance exam for admission to various management programmes at IIMs and other top business schools. Every year, one of the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) is the exam-conducting body for CAT. Presently, there are typically 21 IIMs in the country. Many CAT aspirants are wondering which IIM will conduct CAT 2025? As of now, there is no official notification regarding this. However, it is anticipated that the IIM Kozhikode can conduct CAT 2025. It is also expected that the CAT 2025 exam will be conducted in the last week of November 2025. With less than 6 months left, aspirants must focus on strengthening their preparation. Read on to learn about which IIM will conduct CAT 2025, along with the difficulty level of the exam over the years for reference purposes.
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Which IIM will conduct CAT 2025 & Their Role
While the official notification is yet to be announced, the IIM Kozhikode is expected to conduct the CAT 2025. The official notification, along with exam date, registration process, and other details for CAT, is likely to be out in the last week of July 2025. The role of the exam-conducting IIM is to organize and oversee the entire CAT examination process. They are responsible for following tasks.
| Determining the Exam Date | IIM releases the CAT exam date along with the information bulletin. |
| Handling Registration Process | They are responsible for opening and closing the CAT application window. |
| Coordinating Exam Centres | IIMs reserve the right to add/remove, change or cancel any CAT test center/city and/or change the test time and date at their discretion. |
| Conducting the Exam | Ensures that the CAT exams are conducted without any difficulty on the scheduled date and time. |
| Result Announcement | Responsible for releasing the CAT result and related details |
Which IIM will conduct CAT 2025? CAT Conducting IIMs Over the Years
The CAT exam is typically divided into three sections, i.e. Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC), Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR), and Quantitative Ability (QA). Every year, the level of difficulty of the CAT exam fluctuates, and a different IIM is appointed to conduct the exam every year. As per the past trend & analysis, the CAT exam level is typically moderately difficult. To guide aspirants, we have shared below the CAT conducting body with the difficulty level of all the sections over the years.
Which IIM will conduct CAT 2025?
The Common Aptitude Test is conducted every year by one of the top IIMs on a rotation basis. Based on the recent trend, IIM Kozhikode is expected to conduct CAT 2025. This table below shows which IIM conducted the exam over the past 9 years, along with the difficulty level that we are representing section wise. While the overall difficulty level of the CAT exam remains moderate to difficult level. The level of each section that is VARC (Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension), DILR (Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning) and QA (Quantitative Ability) depends on which IIM will conduct the CAT exam. This trend helps students and aspirants understand what to expect well and prepare accordingly for the upcoming CAT exam 2025.
| Year | IIM | VARC | DILR | QA |
| 2025 | IIM Kozhikode (Expected) | Moderate (expected) | Moderate to Tough (expected) | Moderate (expected) |
| 2024 | IIM Calcutta | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate |
| 2023 | IIM Lucknow | Moderate to Difficult | Moderate | Difficult |
| 2022 | IIM Bangalore | Moderate | Difficult | Moderate |
| 2021 | IIM Ahmedabad | Moderate to Difficult | Difficult | Moderate |
| 2020 | IIM Indore | Moderate to Difficult | Difficult | Moderate |
| 2019 | IIM Kozhikode | Moderate | Moderate to difficult | Moderate |
| 2018 | IIM Calcutta | Moderate | Difficult | Difficult |
| 2017 | IIM Lucknow | Moderate | Moderate to difficult | Easy |
CAT Exam Question Trends & Analysis (2020 to 2024)
Apart from knowing the difficulty level, aspirants must also be familiar with the number of questions typically asked in the CAT exam every year. This will help understand the weightage of each section and build a more strategic and focused approach. In CAT 2024, the total number of questions was increased to 68. Given below are the past CAT question trends to simplify candidates’ preparation.
CAT Question Trends Over Years
Over the past five years, the structure of the CAT examination has seen a slight change and especially in the total number of questions. From 76 questions in 2020, the count dropped to 66 between 2021 and 2023. If we will look at the VARC section, then it consistently has 24 questions since 2021 that shows that reading and language skills are still very important. But the number of questions in DILR and QA has changed a little each year. Here is the table mentioned below that shows the CAT questions trends over past 5 years.
| Year | Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC) | Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR) | Quantitative Ability (QA) | Total |
| 2024 | 24 | 22 | 22 | 68 |
| 2023 | 24 | 20 | 22 | 66 |
| 2022 | 24 | 20 | 22 | 66 |
| 2021 | 24 | 20 | 22 | 66 |
| 2020 | 26 | 24 | 26 | 76 |
CAT Scores Vs Percentile Trends (2024 to 2022)
CAT aspirants aiming for MBA admissions in top IIMs must be familiar with the CAT score vs percentile trends in order to set realistic goals during their preparation. Analysing the past trends helps them gauge their current preparation level and focus on key areas to achieve the target percentile. It also provides insights into how raw scores are converted into percentiles across all the CAT sections. This year, it is expected that if students obtain 40 to 45% of the total marks in CAT, then they will end up securing a 99
+ percentile in CAT 2025. Have a look at the CAT scores vs percentile trends from 2024 to 2022 in the tables below.
CAT Score vs Percentile Trend 2024
| Percentile | Marks in 2024 |
| 99.9 | 123 |
| 99.5 | 104 |
| 99 | 96 |
| 97 | 79 |
| 95 | 70 |
| 90 | 58 |
| 80 | 44 |
CAT Score vs Percentile Trend 2023
| Percentile | Marks in 2023 |
| 99.9 | 101 |
| 99.5 | 84 |
| 99 | 76 |
| 97 | 61 |
| 95 | 54 |
| 90 | 44 |
| 80 | 35 |
CAT Score vs Percentile Trend 2022
| Percentile | Marks on 2022 |
| 99.9 | 109 |
| 99.5 | 92 |
| 99 | 84 |
| 97 | 72 |
| 95 | 62 |
| 90 | 49 |
| 80 | 36.02 |
CAT Exam 2025 Important Dates
| CAT 2025 Events | Expected Dates |
| CAT 2025 Notification | Last Week of July 2025 |
| Registration Starts | First Week of August 2025 |
| Registration Ends | Mid-September 2025 |
| Admit Card Release | October 2025 |
| CAT 2025 Exam Date | Last Week of November 2025 |
| Result Declaration | First Week of January 2026 |
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FAQs
While the official notification is yet to be announced, the IIM Kozhikode is expected to conduct the CAT 2025. Aspirants are advised to check the official website regularly for all the latest and official updates.
Based on past trends and analysis, the CAT exam level is typically moderately difficult. So, yes, the CAT 2025 exam is expected to be moderate to difficult level.
Yes, you can clear the CAT exam in 6 months with a focused approach, expert guidance, and unlimited practice of questions from CAT-level resources.
The official CAT 2025 exam notification expected to be released in the last week of July 2025 and will include details such as exam date, registration process, eligibility and syllabus.
Yes, every section in the CAT exam 2025 has a sectional time limit of 40 minutes and you cannot switch between sections during the exam.
Yes, On-screen calculator is available during the CAT exam 2025.
Based on the CAT exam past trends, the CAT exam 2025 difficulty level expected to be moderate to difficult. Each section that is VARC, DILR and QA may vary according to the difficulty level.
Yet official notification is not released but it is expected that the IIM Kozhikode will be the conducting body for the CAT exam 2025.
