CAT Exam Syllabus, Exam Pattern, Eligibility

The sections run in that fixed order and you can't switch between them. You can't save time on Verbal for Quant, or look ahead at DILR to find the easy sets. Treat each as its own 40-minute paper.

CAT 2026 runs in three sessions on 29 November 2026. Your session is allotted, not chosen, and is printed on the admit card.

The question count, marks per question and negative marking aren't stated in the CAT 2026 Information Bulletin or the press release. CAT has changed its question count between cycles, and the official mock on iimcat.ac.in shows the current format.

The IIMs may change the test date and time, and add, remove or cancel any centre or city.

The IIMs publish no syllabus for CAT. It tests graduate-level aptitude, and the paper's make-up shifts between cycles. The outline below is the ground the sections have covered; the IIMs haven't endorsed it.

Section I: Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension

Reading comprehension dominates. Long passages from the humanities, social sciences, science, economics and business, with inference, tone, main-idea and vocabulary-in-context questions. Verbal ability adds para-jumbles, para-summary, odd-sentence-out and sentence completion. Direct grammar and vocabulary questions are generally absent.

Section II: Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning

Sets rather than standalone questions. DI on tables, graphs, charts and composite or unusual layouts; LR on arrangements, distributions, games and tournaments, networks, and constraint puzzles.

Section III: Quantitative Ability

Arithmetic is the largest part: percentages, ratio and proportion, averages and mixtures, time and work, time speed and distance, profit and loss, and simple and compound interest. Then algebra (equations, inequalities, functions, logarithms, sequences and series), geometry and mensuration, and number systems. Permutations, combinations and probability appear less. It's school mathematics under time pressure.

Degree

A bachelor's degree with at least 50% marks or equivalent CGPA from a university set up by an Act of Parliament or a State legislature, a deemed university under Section 3 of the UGC Act 1956, or an equivalent qualification recognised by the Ministry of Education.

A completed professional degree also qualifies with the same percentage: CA, CS, ICWA (CMA), or Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries of India.

Final-year students

Final-year students, and those awaiting results, can apply. If selected you're admitted provisionally, until you produce a certificate from your university's Principal or Registrar that all degree requirements were completed, by the date the IIM sets.

Reservation

Benchmark disability means at least 40% of a specified disability under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016.

Certificate dates

• NC-OBC certificates must be issued on or after 1 April 2026.
• EWS certificates must be valid for 2026-27, assessed on financial year 2025-26.

If you've applied for a new certificate but don't have it yet, upload one PDF with the "Undertaking for NC-OBC/EWS Certificate" from the CAT website, your older certificate, and the issuing authority's acknowledgement. An incomplete set can disqualify you from the whole admission process.

Your category can't be changed after registration. The Central Government list on the last day of registration applies.

1. CAT, a 120-minute computer-based test in three sections.
2. Shortlisting by each IIM separately, on its own criteria and weightings.
3. The institute's own later stages, usually a written assessment and a personal interview, sometimes group activities.
4. That institute's final merit list, on its own composite score.

Beyond the CAT score, IIMs weigh some mix of sectional scores, class X and XII marks, graduation marks and discipline, work experience, gender and academic diversity, and the written assessment and interview. Two IIMs can shortlist very different people from the same score, so read the admission policy of each one you want.

Non-IIM member institutions, listed on iimcat.ac.in, run their own eligibility, deadlines and selection. Applying to them is separate from registering for CAT.

The IIMs can verify eligibility at any stage, and a disqualification found in a later year applies retrospectively. Keep a valid, unique email and mobile number throughout.

CAT is an admission test, so there's no salary attached. Registration costs ₹2,700, or ₹1,350 for SC, ST and PwBD candidates, paid once however many institutes you apply to.

Each IIM publishes its own programme fee and its own placement report for every graduating batch, many of them audited. Look for the median and the spread, not a single average, which a few international offers can pull a long way. Placement figures differ by institute, programme and year.

Where to register

iimcat.ac.in is the only official website. No other site is authorised. Report anything suspicious to the help desk at cat2026_helpdesk@iimidr.ac.in or 1800 210 0175.

Fee

Paid once, never refunded. SC, ST and PwBD candidates upload their certificate at registration to get the lower fee.

Editing after you submit

A very short edit window opens after registration closes, for those who registered and paid on time. Only your photograph, signature and test city preferences can change. Category, academic and personal details are fixed.

Have ready

• A valid, unique email and mobile number, kept live through the whole selection process.
• Photograph and signature in the specified format.
• Category certificates that meet the date rules, or the undertaking for NC-OBC and EWS.
• Academic details. The Registration Guide on the CAT site walks through the form.

Registering for CAT isn't applying to an IIM. Programmes other than the flagship PGP have their own advertisements on each IIM's site, and non-IIM institutions run their own applications.

The IIMs run CAT together, with one convening it each year. IIM Indore is conducting CAT 2026.

The CAT 2026 Information Bulletin lists each IIM's programmes: the flagship MBA or PGP, specialised MBAs (business analytics, HR, digital business and AI, healthcare, supply chain, tourism, public policy), executive and working-professional formats, and Fellow Programmes in Management, the doctoral route, at twenty of them. IIM Raipur's MBA in Public Policy and Governance is for Chhattisgarh domiciles only.

A separate list of non-IIM member institutions that accept CAT scores is published state by state on iimcat.ac.in. Their admissions are entirely their own.

CAT 2026 is held in about 170 test cities. You pick five preferred cities at registration.

• After registration closes you get one of your five, subject to availability.
• Where demand is high, you may get a centre close to one of your choices; if none of the five works, a nearby city.
• Once a centre is allotted, it can't be changed.

You choose the city; the actual centre and your session appear only on the admit card. City preferences are one of the three fields you can still change in the short edit window after registration closes.

Carry the printed admit card and the original photo ID whose details you gave at registration.

CAT is held once a year: bulletin in late July, about six weeks of registration from early August, the test on a Sunday in late November. Results and each IIM's shortlists, interviews and offers follow over the next few months, on the institutes' own sites.

The IIMs can change the date or centres, so check iimcat.ac.in before you travel.

Download it from iimcat.ac.in with your login between 4 November and 29 November 2026, the test day. Nothing is posted.

It's the only place you'll find your test centre address, your session, and the reporting time. Get it early in that window so you have time to arrange travel.

Take the original photo ID whose details you entered at registration. If you need a scribe, the CAT site has a Scribe Affidavit and an Identification Affidavit among its certificate forms; sort them out before the day.

The scorecard gives a sectional and overall scaled score and percentile. Institutes shortlist on percentile, which says what share of candidates you scored above.

Because the three sessions use different questions, raw scores are scaled before percentiles are worked out. A raw score you calculate from memory isn't what the IIMs see.

Most IIMs set a minimum sectional percentile as well as an overall one, so a weak third section can cost you a shortlist.

The CAT site also keeps a login for the previous year's scorecard; keep yours. Shortlists, interview calls and offers come from each institute separately.

There's no CAT cut-off. The IIMs don't publish a qualifying mark; each institute sets its own shortlisting criteria, and they change every year:

• a minimum overall percentile;
• a minimum percentile in each section, applied first;
• different figures by category;
• a composite score weighing the percentile with class X and XII marks, graduation, academic discipline, work experience and diversity.

The real numbers are in each IIM's admission policy on its own website, published before the cycle. A percentile quoted without the institute, programme, category and year isn't a cut-off for anything.

1. Practise in 40-minute blocks. Moving freely between sections in a two-hour practice session trains a habit the test forbids.
2. Take the official mock on iimcat.ac.in. It's free and runs on the real interface: the locked section timer, the navigation, the on-screen calculator, how questions are flagged. Third-party mocks don't reproduce those exactly.
3. Past papers are reconstructions. The IIMs don't release past papers, and the "previous year papers" in circulation are rebuilt from memory. Use them for style, not structure.
4. Treat DILR set selection as its own skill. You'll only get to a few sets. Picking them fast, and dropping one that's going badly, matters more than solving speed.
5. Read widely for VARC. Reading comprehension dominates, and the passages come from unfamiliar fields.
6. Don't neglect a section. Sectional minimums are applied first, so an uneven scorecard fails early.
7. Read the admission policy of the IIMs you want. It tells you what percentile you actually need, given marks and experience you can no longer change.

The IIMs don't release past CAT papers. What the CAT Centre does publish is a free mock on the real test interface, on iimcat.ac.in. The bulletin appears in late July each year and the test is in late November.

The site also carries the CAT 2026 Information Bulletin, the press release, a Registration Guide, the certificate forms and the list of non-IIM member institutions.

• CAT official website: iimcat.ac.in (mock test, Registration Guide, certificate forms, non-IIM institution list, previous year's scorecard login)
• CAT 2026 Information Bulletin
• CAT 2026 press release, IIM Indore, 26 July 2026
• CAT help desk: 1800 210 0175, cat2026_helpdesk@iimidr.ac.in
• Each IIM's admission policy, on its own website (listed in the bulletin)

Who conducts CAT?

The IIMs, with one convening each year. IIM Indore is conducting CAT 2026.

When is CAT 2026?

Sunday, 29 November 2026, in three sessions.

Can I move between sections?

No. Each section is locked at 40 minutes.

How many questions are there, and is there negative marking?

The CAT 2026 bulletin and press release don't say. The official mock shows the current format.

What qualification do I need?

A bachelor's degree with 50%, or 45% for SC, ST and PwBD, or a completed CA, CS, ICWA/CMA or actuarial fellowship with the same percentage.

Can final-year students apply?

Yes, and so can those awaiting results. Admission is provisional until you show the degree was completed.

What is the fee?

₹2,700, or ₹1,350 for SC, ST and PwBD. Non-refundable.

Can I change my test city?

Only in the short edit window after registration closes. Once a centre is allotted, no.

What is the CAT cut-off?

There isn't one. Each IIM sets its own overall and sectional percentiles.

Do non-IIM institutes accept CAT?

Yes. Their list is on the CAT website, and the IIMs have no part in their selection.

Is iimcat.ac.in the only website?

Yes. Report anything else to cat2026_helpdesk@iimidr.ac.in.