Common Admission Test Exam

IIMs primarily offer post graduate, Doctorial and executive education programmes. The programme of IIMs is the two-year post graduate programme. These two programmes are residdential in nature.

Admission to the two year post graduate programmes in IIMs is based on Merit and involves a rigorous selection process comprising of a Personal Interview, Written Ability Test / Group Discussions, and scores in the Common Admission Test which is commonly known as CAT.

CAT is a management aptitude test conducted by the IIMs primarily to evaluate and shortlist candidates for the post graduate programme. It is computer-based exam and candidate has to follow the due process of registering in order to appear for this exam conducted once a year.

CAT (Common Admission Test) is a national level entrance examination, which is conducted for admission to management programs in Indian Institutes of Management (IIM's) and top B-Schools across the country. It tests a candidate on his quantitative ability, data interpretation skills, verbal ability and logical reasoning.

CAT also serves as the eligibility criteria for being admitted into the business administration courses in various IIM's spread across the country. The test is designed to evaluate the management aptitude of students by testing his analytical and communication skills. It demands up to three to four months of intense preparation.

The test is open to all graduates. Usually, CAT examination will be held in November every year. CAT is conducted online at the examination centres. In August 2011, it was announced that the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and Indian I

Institutes of Technology (IITs) would also use the CAT scores, instead of Joint Management Test (JMET).

IIMs spread across the country offer post-graduate, doctoral and executive education programmes. The flagship programme is the two-year post-graduate programme, which is residential in nature. The admission to the two-year post-graduate programmes in IIMs is purely based on merit in the Common Admission Test (CAT). 

CAT Exam Highlights 

CAT 2026 Registration to Start from 01 August 2024

The Indian Institute of Management, Indore is expected to start the online registration for Common Admission Test (CAT) 2026 on 05 August, 2026 and the registration will be open till 18 September, 2026.

Candidates who are interested and eligible can start the registration on the official website - iimcat.ac.in. Candidates can download their admit cards starting from 04 November, 2026. The CAT 2026 exam is scheduled for 29 November, 2026 and the result will be released by January, 2027.

Common Admission Test (CAT) is a national level MBA Entrance Examination and it is conducted yearly once for admission to MBA / PGP Courses offered by IIMS - Indian Institute of Management and other B-Schools accepting CAT Scores. Candidates who are aiming to appear for the CAT entrance test should submit the registration form successfully. The CAT 2026 registration window opens at 10.00 AM on 05 August, 2026 and will close at 5.00 PM on 18 September, 2026.

At the time of registration, candidates have to select any six cities as per their preference from the drop-down menu. After the last date of registration, candidates will be allotted one among the six preferred cities subject to availability. In the rare case that a candidate is not allotted any of the preferred cities, he / she will be allotted a nearby city. The candidates can download the admit cards from 04 November, 2026 until 29 November, 2026. Explore the CAT registration process step by step.

Note: All the candidates must declare and maintain a valid and unique email id and a mobile phone number throughout the selection process.

Steps for CAT Registration 2026:

By following the given below instructions, candidates can register themselves for the CAT 2026 Exam:

Step 1: Visit the official website of CAT 2026; iimcat.ac.in.

Step 2: On the homepage, click on, “New Candidate Registration”.

Step 3: Create your login account by entering the required credentials.  

Step 4: Fill out the application form in the prescribed format.

Step 5: Pay the fee and upload the scanned copies of the documents.

Step 6: Click on submit.

CAT 2026 Exam Dates

Candidates who are appear for the CAT Exam 2026 are advised to check all the important dates such as registration date, application date, application date, admit card date, exam date, result date and counselling date.

CAT Eligibility 2026

The candidates must hold a Bachelor's Degree, with at least 50% Marks or Equivalent CGPA [45% in case of candidates, belonging to the Schedule Caste (SC), Scheduled Test (ST) and Persons with Disability (PwD) Categories], awarded by any University or educational institution as incorporated by an Act Parliament or State Legistature in India or declared to be deemed as a University under section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956, or posses an equivalent qualification recognized by the Ministry of HRD. Government of India. Candidates are advised to check the CAT eligibility details meticulously before applying online.

The percentage of marks obtained by the candidate would be calculated based on the practice of marks would be based on proceduresas certified by the respective University / Institution. If any University / Institution confirms that there is no scheme for converting CGPA into equivalent marks, the equivalence would be established by dividing the candidate's CGPA by the maximum possible CGPA, and multiplying the result with 100.

Candidates appearing for the final year of Bachelor's degree / equivalent qualification examination and those who have completed degree requirements and are awaiting results can also apply.

However, it is may be noted that such candidates, if selected, will be allowed to join the programme provisionally, only if they submit a certificate from the Principle / Registrar of their University / Institution (Issued on or before the date as stipulated by the respective IIM) stating that they have completed all the requirements for obtaining the Bachelor's degree / equivalent qualification on the date of the issue of the certificate. IIMs may verify eligibility at various stages of the selection process.

Courses In IIMs Through CAT 

The CAT examination is conducted for admission to several Post Graduate Programmes (PGP), Doctoral and Executive programmes in IIMs spread across the country. Some institutes even offer Fellowship Programmes in Management (FPM) which is equal to PhD. List of courses offered in IIMs. 

• PGP (Post Graduate Program in Management)
• PGP- FABM (Food and Agribusiness Management)
• PGPEM (PGP in Enterprise Management)
• PGPPM (PGP in Public Policy and Management)
• EPGP (Executive Post Graduate Program in Management)
• PGPSM (PGP in Sustainable Management)
• PGPWE (PGP in Management for Working Executive)
• PGPBM (PGP in Business Management)
• FPM (Fellow Program in Management)

List Of IIMs In India 

There are a total of 20 IIMs across the country. Explore the complete list of IIMs with the year of establishment and state located.

CAT Application Fee 2026

Candidates have to pay the prescribed application fee to complete the CAT registration process.

The application fee can be paid through net banking, debit card, credit card, BillDesk, PayU and Paytm.

No change in the category will be entertained after CAT Registration. The applicants are advised to pay attention while registering.

• For General Category Candidates – Rs 2600/-
• For NC - OBC Category Candidates – Rs  2600/-
• For SC/ST/PwD Category Candidates – Rs 1300/- 
• For All Others –  2600/-

Please note that a candidate needs to pay the registration fee only once, irrespective of the number of Institutes he / she is applying for. SC / ST and PwD candidates must upload of their SC / ST / PwD certificates at the time of registration. Fees once paid cannot be refunded under any circumstances.

CAT Reservation Criteria 2026

As per the legal requirements, 15% of the seats are reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC) Candidates, 7.5% for Schedule Tribe (ST) Candidates, 27% for Other Backward Classes candidates belonging to the "Non-Creamy" Layer (NC-OBC), up to 10% for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) candidates and 5% for Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwD).

As defined in the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 (RPwD Act 2016), "Person with Benchmark Disability" means a persons with not less than forty percent (40%) of a specified disability where the specified disability has not been defined in measurable terms and includes a person with disability where the specified disability has been defined in measurable terms, as certified by the certifying authority. "Sepcified disability" means the disabilities as specified in the Schedule of the RPwD Act 2016. The Categories of disability are:

• Blindness and low vision
• Deaf and hard of hearing,
• Locomotor disability including cerebral palsy, leprosy cured, dwarfism, acid attack victims and muscular dystrophy
• Autism, intellectual disability, specific learning disability and mental illness, and
• Multiple disabilities from amongst persons under clauses (a) to (d)
• Other 'specified disabilities' mentioned in 'The Schedule' of the RPwD Act 2016

CAT Test Centres

The CAT 2026 test is going to be conducted in centres spread across around 155 test cities.Test cities will be mentioned below and the name of the test centre will be indicated in the Admit Card.

IIMs reserve the right to change or cancel any test centre/city/change the test time and date at their own discretion. 

CAT Exam Pattern 

CAT 2026 Exam Pattern will remain the same as the last year's CAT Paper Pattern.CAT 2026 exam will be conducted in online mode on 29 November, 2026.CAT is a computer-based test carrying a total of 68 questions.It contains both multiple-choice questions (MCQ) and non-MCQ questions.The duration of the exam is two hours.Candidates can fill the registration form of CAT 2026 from 05 August, 2026 to 18 September, 2026.Check the complete details of the CAT exam pattern here.

CAT Admit Card 2026

The organising institute is responsible for issuing the CAT admit card.The online CAT admit card will be released from 12 November to 29 November, 2026.Candidates should download the admit card and check all the details such as personal and test venue details besides exam day guidelines.One should also save the soft copy of the admit card until the end of the admission process.According to the sources, the CAT admit card 2026 will be released on 12 November, 2026.Check the steps to download CAT admit card online. 

CAT Syllabus 

The CAT exam consists of three subjects namely, Quantitative Aptitude (QA), Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR) and Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC).The syllabus remains the same for every year despite the changes in the number of questions.We advise students to check the CAT syllabus before preparation that gives an overall view of weightage topics.Download the CAT syllabus pdf file here. 

CAT Question Papers 

The previous year question papers and sample papers help aspirants in preparation.One should start their CAT preparation by solving these papers.Aspirants can download CAT question papers here. 

CAT Result 2026 Declaration

IIM Indore will declare CAT 2026 results iimcat.ac.in.The CAT Result 2026 will be declared in the second week of January 2027 on the CAT official website - iimcat.ac.in.

CAT Exam Analysis 2026

The CAT 2026 examination will be held across the country on 29 November, 2026.The results of the examination will be released in the second week of January, 2027 on the official portal iimcat.ac.in.The competition in this examination will not be easy because this is the only way to get admission to the pioneer management institutes (IIMs) in the country besides top business schools.

Candidates can appear for the CAT 2026 examination at more than 160 test centres.The examination will be held in three sessions – morning, afternoon, and evening.Based on stabilized format trends, aspirants can expect the Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC) section to remain highly analytical, while Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR) and Quantitative Aptitude (QA) are expected to lean on the moderate-to-tough side with high emphasis on calculation speeds.

Verbal Ability And Reading Comprehension (VARC)

VARC : 4 RC Passages with 16 MCQs; VA 8 questions (a mix of MCQs and TITA non-MCQs) subdivided into Para Summaries, Para Jumbles, Odd Sentence Out, and Sentence Completion.

The paragraphs in the reading comprehension typically consist of around 400 to 500 words.For every passage, candidates will face multiple inference-based and application-heavy questions.In the verbal ability sub-section, test takers will navigate a standardized layout containing 2 parajumbles, 2 summaries, 2 paragraph completions, and 2 odd-one-out constraints.

Data Interpretation And Logical Reasoning (DILR)

DILR : Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning features a total of 22 questions, arranged asymmetrical across 5 distinct sets (specifically 3 sets of 4 questions and 2 sets of 5 questions).

The DILR section continues to surprise candidates with a heavy shift toward Numerical Logic and Data Caselets.Pure graph sets are rare, replaced instead by multi-variable tracking templates like games/tournaments, route networks, and advanced 4-variable Venn matrices.At least 10 questions in this section are framed as TITA (Type In The Answer) non-MCQs, where accuracy tracking is vital.

Quantitative Ability (QA)

QA : Total of 22 questions heavily dominated by Arithmetic and Algebra.

The option selections for MCQs are meticulously designed with close numeric margins to confuse test-takers.The paper contains roughly 6 to 8 TITA layout questions.Arithmetic concepts (Percentages, TSD, Profit & Loss) along with Algebra properties (Logarithms, Quadratic Equations, Functions) capture over 65% of the total sectional volume, leaving a minor allocation for Geometry and Modern Math;

Scoring Expectations (Out of 68 Questions / 204 Total Marks)

A candidate who attempts 42 to 46 questions with over 90% accuracy can expect a highly competitive 99+ percentile score.

• VARC Good Attempt: 16 to 18 questions.
• DILR Good Attempt: 9 to 11 questions (roughly 2 to 2.5 full sets cleared).
• QA Good Attempt: 13 to 15 questions

CAT 2026 SCORE

Candidate's CAT 2026 Scorecards will be made accessible on the official CAT Website iimcat.ac.in.Candidates may also be intimated individually via SMS.The CAT Results are likely to be declared by the second week of January, 2027.The CAT 2026 score is valid only till December 31, 2027, and will accordingly be accessible on the website.Thereafter, no queries related to the issuance of CAT 2026 Score cards will be entertained.