CAT 2025 Score vs Percentile (Updated – Dec 2): Latest Expert Predictions & Slot-Wise Analysis

The CAT 2025 exam, conducted on 30 November 2025, has shifted the expected CAT score vs percentile 2025 trends because the paper was relatively tougher than CAT 2024 (but still easier than the challenging CAT 2023). Early exam analysis indicates notable slot-wise variations that affect percentile mapping and shortlisting cut-offs.

Leading coaching institutes and experts — IMS, Career Launcher (CL), TIME, Arun Sharma (Mindworkzz), Rajesh Balasubramanian (2IIM), Cracku, iQuanta, CATKing — have published updated slot-wise score vs percentile estimates. For example, IMS suggests 90 marks in Slot 1 ≈ 99 percentile, while Slot 2 may need around 83 marks for the same percentile due to slot difficulty differences.

The CAT score vs percentile 2025 chart helps aspirants convert raw marks into a meaningful percentile (relative rank among all test-takers). It is the primary metric used by IIMs and most top B-schools for shortlisting candidates for further stages.

• Expected percentile based on raw marks: Estimate where your score likely stands.
• Slot-wise performance variation: Normalization adjusts for different slot difficulties.
• Difficulty-level adjustment: Scaled scores make cross-slot comparison fair and comparable.
• IIM shortlisting: Normalized percentiles determine shortlists and sectional cut-offs.

Remember: the relationship between CAT marks and percentile is not fixed. It varies every year depending on exam difficulty, candidate performance distribution, section-wise behavior (VARC / DILR / QA), and the normalization algorithm used by IIMs.

CAT 2025 uses a scientific, multi-step evaluation system to convert your raw performance into scaled scores and finally your percentile. This ensures fairness across all three exam slots. Below is the complete process explained in a simple, structured way.

Step 1 — Response Evaluation (VARC, DILR, QA)

Each candidate’s answers are compared against the official CAT Answer Key 2025. At this stage, the system identifies:

• Correct responses
• Incorrect responses
• TITA (Non-MCQ) attempts
• Unattempted questions

Step 2 — Raw Score Calculation (Marking Scheme)

After evaluating the correctness of each response, raw scores are calculated section-wise using the official CAT marking scheme:

• +3 marks for every correct answer
• –1 mark for every incorrect MCQ
• 0 marks deduction for wrong TITA

Raw scores for VARC, DILR and QA form the foundation for normalization.

Step 3 — CAT Normalization (Slot-Wise Adjustment)

Since CAT is held in 3 different slots, difficulty levels vary slightly. To ensure fairness, raw scores are adjusted using a statistical normalization formula. Tougher slots receive positive adjustment; easier slots receive slight downward adjustment.

Step 4 — Overall Scaled Score Calculation

The scaled scores from all three sections are added together to create the CAT Overall Scaled Score, which is used to rank candidates.

Step 5 — Ranking of Candidates

Candidates are ranked in descending order of their overall scaled score. If two candidates have the same scaled score, they share the same rank.

Step 6 — Percentile Calculation

Percentile is calculated using the formula:

Percentile = ((Total candidates – Candidate’s rank) / Total candidates) × 100

Percentile is shown both section-wise and overall, and rounded to two decimal places.

Calculate Your CAT Percentile

Calculate Now

The difficulty level of CAT 2025 has played a major role in shifting the CAT score vs percentile 2025 trends. Historical analysis from 2017 to 2024 shows a consistent pattern — when the paper is tough, candidates need fewer marks to score high percentiles; when the paper is easier, the marks required increase significantly.

Expert analysis from IMS, CL, TIME, 2IIM, Cracku, CATKing, and iQuanta confirms the following:

• CAT 2023 — One of the toughest papers in the last 10 years
• CAT 2024 — One of the easiest papers recently
• CAT 2025 — Moderate to moderately difficult

Since CAT 2025 was tougher than 2024 (but easier than 2023), the marks required for 99 and 100 percentile have reduced compared to last year.

This difficulty trend directly affects the CAT score vs percentile chart 2025. For example:

• CAT 2024 → 99.9 percentile required 120–125 marks
• CAT 2025 → 99.9 percentile expected around 113–115 marks
• CAT 2023 → 99 percentile required only 77 marks (paper was very tough)

These shifts prove that CAT score vs percentile varies each year and depends heavily on overall difficulty + slot variation + normalization.

Calculate Your CAT Percentile

Calculate Now

Understanding the CAT score vs percentile previous years trend helps you predict how difficulty level impacts the marks needed for top percentiles. Over the last five years, CAT has shown a clear pattern — even small fluctuations in exam difficulty cause noticeable shifts in percentile outcomes.

The below comparison summarizes the CAT score vs percentile trend from CAT 2021, CAT 2022, CAT 2023, and CAT 2024, based on expert analysis from IMS, CL, TIME, and 2IIM.

As the data shows, CAT difficulty level directly impacts percentile mapping. For example:

• CAT 2023 was tougher → only 77 marks = 99 percentile
• CAT 2024 was easier → 95 marks needed for the same percentile
• CAT 2021 & 2022 stayed moderate → 84–88 marks for 99 percentile

This pattern also matches trends from earlier years like CAT score vs percentile 2020, CAT 2019, CAT 2018, CAT 2017.

Calculate Your CAT Percentile

Calculate Now

Multiple top coaching experts including IMS, Career Launcher (CL), 2IIM, TIME, Mindworkzz, Cracku, iQuanta and others have released their CAT 2025 score vs percentile predictions. These estimates reflect the difficulty level of all three CAT slots.

Below is the clean, consolidated comparison of expert predictions for CAT 2025.

The expert comparison clearly suggests that CAT 2025 was moderately difficult, leading to lower score requirements for 99–100 percentiles compared to CAT 2024. Slot 1 appears toughest, while Slot 3 was slightly easier.

• 82–83 marks → 99 percentile (average prediction)
• 50–52 marks → 90 percentile
• 35 marks → 85 percentile

This aligns closely with the last 5 year trend from CAT 2021–2024.

Calculate Your CAT Percentile

Calculate Now

The CAT percentile calculation process follows a scientific and consistent model that the IIMs have used every year—from CAT 2017 to CAT 2025. Understanding this method helps candidates accurately predict their section-wise and overall percentile.

The percentile calculation is based on scaled scores, not raw marks. Below is the complete, step-by-step explanation of how IIMs compute the CAT percentile.

Step 1 — Total Candidates (N)

All candidates appearing in all 3 slots of CAT are combined to get the total number of test-takers.

Step 2 — Ranking Candidates (r)

Candidates are ranked based on their overall scaled score. If two or more candidates get the same scaled score:

• They receive the same rank.
• Raw score is not used for ranking—only scaled score matters.

Step 3 — Apply the Percentile Formula

The official IIM percentile formula is:

This formula is separately applied to:

• VARC percentile
• DILR percentile
• QA percentile
• Overall percentile

Step 4 — Rounding Off Percentiles

Percentiles are rounded up to two decimal places. For example:

• 99.994 → 99.99
• 99.995 → 100

CAT Percentile Calculation — Quick Summary Table

This calculation is the backbone of all predictions made by coaching institutes and percentile calculators.

The CAT normalization process ensures that candidates across all three slots (Slot 1, Slot 2, Slot 3) are evaluated fairly—even when the difficulty level varies between shifts. This is one of the most important reasons why CAT score vs percentile changes slot-wise.

Normalization adjusts each candidate’s raw VARC, DILR, and QA scores to create scaled scores that are comparable across all slots. IIMs have used this same model from CAT 2017 to CAT 2025.

Step 1 — Identify Slot Difficulty Variation

Since all slots have different sets of questions, difficulty varies naturally. Normalization starts by comparing:

• Mean raw score of each slot
• Score distribution (spread)
• Standard deviation

Step 2 — Slot Mean & SD-Based Statistical Adjustment

Using parameters from all slots, IIMs apply a statistical method to adjust every candidate’s raw score:

• Tougher slot → Scores are scaled up
• Easier slot → Scores are scaled down slightly

This ensures that a candidate scoring 70 in a tougher slot is treated fairly when compared to a candidate scoring 70 in an easier slot.

Step 3 — Section-Wise Normalization (VARC, DILR, QA)

Normalization is applied separately for all three sections:

• VARC Scaled Score
• DILR Scaled Score
• QA Scaled Score

This prevents any advantage to a slot where one specific section was easier or tougher.

Step 4 — Overall Scaled Score

The scaled scores of all three sections are added to form the candidate’s:

This score is used for ranking and percentile generation.

CAT Normalization — Quick Summary Table

With CAT 2025 being more difficult than CAT 2024 but easier than CAT 2023, the overall score vs percentile curve shifted downward. This directly affects the expected cut-offs for IIMs and top MBA colleges.

Since percentiles (not raw marks) decide shortlisting, a candidate scoring 82–90 marks may fall in the 99 percentile range depending on slot. This percentile directly determines IIM call chances.

Expected CAT 2025 Percentile Requirement for Top IIMs

Based on difficulty level, expert analysis (IMS, CL, TIME, 2IIM), and admission trends over the last 5–7 years, here are the estimated percentiles required for India’s top B-schools:

These estimates closely match historical patterns observed in:

• CAT score vs percentile 2024
• CAT score vs percentile 2023
• CAT score vs percentile 2022
• CAT percentile trends of last 5 years

For candidates targeting top IIMs, the safest benchmark for CAT 2025 remains:

Since difficulty was moderate, cut-offs will remain similar to CAT 2023 rather than CAT 2024.

After analyzing the updated predictions from IMS, Career Launcher (CL), 2IIM, Mindworkzz (Arun Sharma) and other major CAT preparation platforms, here is the most accurate, consolidated comparison for CAT 2025 score vs percentile.

This table combines slot-wise difficulty variations, expert insights, and normalisation impact — making it the most reliable CAT percentile estimate for aspirants.

This consolidated table is the most referenced CAT score vs percentile chart for 2025 aspirants as it blends slot-wise analysis, difficulty variation, and multi-expert validation — similar to historical sources like:

• CAT score vs percentile 2024
• CAT score vs percentile 2023
• CAT score vs percentile 2022
• CAT percentile trends across last 5 years

Section-wise performance in CAT 2025 greatly impacts both overall percentile and sectional cut-offs required by IIMs. The analysis below summarises how many marks are needed in VARC, DILR and QA to reach key percentiles based on the latest expert predictions and difficulty levels.

Many aspirants search for accurate CAT score vs percentile calculators right after the exam. These tools estimate your expected percentile based on:

• Raw score (based on answer key comparison)
• Scaled score predictions
• Slot difficulty & normalization factors
• Previous CAT score vs percentile trends (2020–2024)

Reliable CAT percentile predictors use mathematical models similar to the ones adopted by IIMs. These models analyze your performance across VARC, DILR, and QA to generate your expected percentile range.

While these predictors offer strong estimates, your official percentile might vary slightly due to normalization, scaling and overall test-taker performance. Still, they are extremely useful for:

• Checking IIM call eligibility
• Creating a college application strategy
• Understanding section-wise weaknesses
• Comparing your score to last 5 years' trends

Overall, using a trusted predictor helps you understand where you stand in terms of admissions and what percentile range to expect. They are especially helpful because CAT score vs percentile varies every year depending on paper difficulty.