CAT 2023: Exam Date, Notification, Registration, Syllabus, Preparation, Pattern, Eligibility, Sample Papers

Common Admission Test (CAT 2023) will tentatively be held on the last Sunday of November 2023. CAT 2023 Notification will be released in the month of July or August. The registration for CAT will also begin from the date of CAT notification. Candidates can register online for the CAT 2023 Examination on their official website (iimcat.ac.in).

CAT is one of the most popular entrance tests, and it is conducted by the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs). For MBA aspirants who desire to pursue their MBA in the best colleges in India, taking the CAT exam is the best option, as the CAT scores are accepted for admission to the Top B-schools in India. The CAT exam is accepted by the top MBA institutes in India, such as the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), FMS Delhi, SPJIMR Mumbai, NITIE Mumbai, MDI Gurgaon, IMT Ghaziabad, IITs, etc. After reading this article, you will get a comprehensive understanding of the CAT exam, including the exam dates, pattern, syllabus, topic-wise weightage, eligibility, and many more.

CAT 2023 Overview

The CAT exam is a national-level entrance test which is entrance test for MBA programmes. It is conducted by the Indian Institutes of Management for admission into IIMs and more than 1000 MBA institutes across the country. CAT is a computer-based test which is conducted in more than 400 test centres in India. Every year more than 2 lakh aspirants appear for the CAT exam to get admission to their desired B-schools in India.

CAT 2023 Notification

CAT 2023 Notification will be released usually in the month of July or August. Candidates can register for the CAT 2023 from the date of notification release. Aspirants are advised to follow the CAT 2023 official website to get immediate updates regarding the examination. You can also follow our Youtube channel for instant updates. Check out the below tentative dates for the CAT 2023 exam. 

Events	Dates
CAT 2023 Notification Release Date	4th week of July 2023
CAT 2023 Registration	1st week of August 2023
Last date to apply for CAT 2023	2nd week of September 2023
Beginning of Application Correction for CAT 2023	3rd week of September 2023
CAT 2023 Admit Card Release Date	4th week of October 2023
CAT 2023 Exam Date	4th week of November 2023
Answer Key Release Date	1st week of December 2023
Last date to submit an objection	2nd week of December 2023
CAT 2023 Announcement of Results	1st week of January 2024

 

CAT 2023 Key Highlights

Particulars	Details
Exam Name	Common Admission Test (CAT 2023)
Conducted By	Indian Institutes of Management Lucknow (Expected)
CAT Official Website	iimcat.ac.in
Exam Frequency	Once a year
Mode of Examination	Online (Computer-based)
Exam Duration	2 hours (120 Minutes)
Mode of Registration	Online

CAT 2023 Eligibility Criteria

Aspirants who are taking the CAT 2023 must fulfil the eligibility criteria, which is mandatory for the submission of the CAT 2023 application form. It is imperative to be aware of the eligibility criteria to apply for the CAT exam, which is shown below.

Educational Qualification

• Candidate must hold a bachelor’s degree with an aggregate of at least 50% for the general category (45% for SC, ST and PWD candidates) in any discipline.
• Candidates who are in the final year of their under graduation are also eligible to apply for the CAT exam. These candidates must submit provisional graduation certification with the required marks during the admission process. 
• Candidates with backlogs or arrears in their undergraduate are not eligible to apply for the CAT examination.

Work Experience

• There is no specific requirement for work experience to apply for the CAT exam. Even freshers can appear for the CAT examination. 
• However, having work experience can be beneficial during the admission process. Some MBA colleges give weight to prior work experience.

Age Limit

• There is no age limit to appear for the CAT exam. Anyone who fulfils the above criteria, can apply for the CAT. 

The limit for Attempts

• There is no limit to attempting the CAT exam. One can take the CAT exam as many times as one can.

CAT 2023 Registration

Aspirants must visit the CAT 2023 official website to get registered for the examination. The online application form for CAT 2023 will be released in the last week of July or the first week of August 2023. Follow the below-given steps to register for the CAT exam.

Step 1: New Registration for CAT 2023

• As mentioned before, candidates must visit the official website of CAT 2023 to register after the application form is released.
• Click on the candidate’s registration tab, which will be displayed on the official website of CAT.
• Fill out the required details like Name, Date of birth, E-mail ID, Phone Number, etc., then click on the “Submit” Button.
• Now, you will be displayed with a unique CAT 2023 registration ID, and a unique password will be generated. Note the registration ID (User ID) and Password.

Step 2: Fill Out The Application Form

Go back to the CAT 2023 login page and enter your registration ID and password. Now, candidates must have to fill out the below-given details.

• Personal details, which include Full name, Father’s name, Date of birth, Gender, Category, Nationality, Contact details, Address, etc.
• Academic Details, which include 10th, 12th, Under graduation scores etc.
• Work Experience details (Optional).
• After filling in the above details, candidates need to select their desired MBA programmes in various institutes and also cities for the personal interview process.

Step 3: Upload Required Documents

After filling in all the required details, including personal, educational and work experience, candidates must upload some documents, which are given below.

• Candidate’s photograph (JPG/JPEG format) with the below or equal file size of 80Kb.
• Candidate’s Signature (JPG/JPEG format) with the below or equal file size of 80Kb.
• Category certificate (PDF format)  with the below or equal file size of 200Kb.
• PwD/DA certificate (PDF format)  with the below or equal file size of 200Kb.

Step 4: Make The Registration Fee Payment

Finally, the candidate must have to pay the registration fee. The application fee details for CAT 2023 are shown below.

• CAT Registration fee is Rs. 2200/- (for the general & OBC category) inclusive of the IIM application fee.
• CAT Registration fee is  Rs. 1100/- (for SC, ST and PwD candidates), inclusive of the IIM application fee.

CAT 2023 Exam Pattern

Over the past two years (due to the covid pandemic), the CAT exam pattern has changed. Earlier CAT was conducted in a 3-hour pattern with 1 hour for each section. But, Since 2020, the exam has moved to a 2-hour format. The exam pattern is expected to remain the same (2-hrs) for the CAT 2023 examination. The exam pattern for CAT 2023 is as follows.

There will be three sections:

1. Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC)
2. Logical Reasoning and Data Interpretation (LRDI)
3. Quantitative Ability (QA)

Each correct answer is awarded 3 marks, and each wrong answer carries a penalty of -1 mark. Some questions are Type-in-the-answer (TITA) questions. The marking scheme for TITA questions is +3 marks for the correct answer and NO negative marks for the wrong answer. Also, there is no negative marking for Unattempted questions.

Each section has a sectional time limit of 40 minutes, and candidates are not allowed to switch between the sections. Candidates are expected to perform well in all the sections, as most of the institutes accepting CAT scores for admission have sectional cut-offs in addition to overall cut-offs.

The below table shows the exam pattern for CAT 2023 (the following pattern is based on the previous year’s exam pattern):

SECTION	DURATION	Number of questions (Expected)
Verbal Ability	40 minutes	24
Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning	40 minutes	20
Quantitative Ability	40 minutes	22
Total	120 minutes	66

 

CAT 2023 Syllabus [PDF]

CAT does not have a defined syllabus. Based on the CAT previous papers we have curated the CAT 2023 syllabus that consisting all the important topics in all the three sections. One can also download this CAT 2023 syllabus PDF and check out all the topics in the CAT syllabus.

• Two sections (VARC & LRDI) out of the three do not require you to memorise even basic formulae. VARC and LRDI are the sections entirely based on the candidate’s logical reasoning ability, reading comprehension skills, and language skills.
• Quantitative Ability (Third Section): This section deals with mathematics based on the concepts learned in high school. The weightage for each section is represented in the below pie chart. (You can also download the PDF of the detailed CAT syllabus, which is given under this pie chart)

Detailed Section-wise Syllabus

Let us have a look at the detailed section-wise CAT 2023 Syllabus.

Verbal Ability And Reading Comprehension (VARC) Section

There are 24 questions in the verbal ability and reading comprehension segment, with around  5 of them being TITA-based. Out of the 24 questions, 16 questions are from RCs coupled with 8 verbal ability questions. The majority of the section comprises reading comprehension questions. The key syllabus topics for the CAT VARC part are listed below.

1. Reading Comprehension Passage-Based Questions
2. Parajumbles, Out Of Context (OOC) Sentences
3. Para Summary
4. Para Insertion
5. Others – not included from the past few years (Fill in the blanks, Vocabulary Based, etc.)

VARC Topic-wise Weightage

Topics	Weightage
Reading Comprehension	16 Questions
Passage 1	4 Q’s
Passage 2	4 Q’s
Passage 3	4 Q’s
Passage 4	4 Q’s
Verbal Ability	8 Questions
Para Jumbles	2-3 Questions
Para Summary	2-3 Questions
Pick Out of Context Sentence	1-2 Questions
Para Insertion / Fill in the blanks	1-2 Questions

 

Data Interpretation And Logical Reasoning (DILR) Section

The CAT logical reasoning and data interpretation section contains 20 questions (with around 6 TITA-based questions). Based on the last year, there were a total of 4 sets which comprised 5 questions each. The key topics from the syllabus of the CAT DILR section are listed below.

Logical Reasoning Key Topics

• Seating arrangement (facing different directions).
• Einstein’s puzzle and arrangement puzzles
• Games and tournaments
• Truth-liar concept
• 2D/3D Space LRs
• Routes and Networks
• LR based on picking coins
• Scheduling
• Selection with conditions
• Quant Based LR

Data Interpretation Key Topics

• Charts (Line chart, Bar chart, Pie chart)
• Unconventional charts – radar chart, bubble chart, area chart
• Tables, tables with missing values, incorrect values & connected datasets
• DI based on growth over the years
• Venn diagrams and 4 Set Venn diagrams
• Quant based DI 

LRDI Topic-wise Weightage Based on Last Year Paper

Slot	Type of Sets
Slot 1	2D and 3D LR	Puzzles	Games and Tournaments	Di Venn Diagrams
Slot 2	Puzzles	2D and 3D LR	Venn Diagrams	Special Charts
Slot 3	Games and Tournaments	Quant Based LR	Puzzles	DI Charts

 

Quantitative Ability Section

There are a few items in the quantitative aptitude part that are extremely important and are repeated every year in the CAT exam. This part has 22 questions, 8 of which are TITA-based. The following are some of the most important Quant topics for CAT 2023.

• Arithmetic.
• Algebra.
• Number System.
• Geometry and Mensuration.
• Modern Maths

Key Topics	Sub-topics	Slot-1	Slot-2	Slot-3
Arithmetic	Averages, Ratio and Proportion	5	5	5
	Profit, Loss and Interest	3	1	1
	Time, Distance and Work	1	2	5
Geometry	Geometry	3	3	3
Algebra	Quadrilaterals, Polynomial Equations	1	1	2
	Progressions and Series	1	3	1
	Linear Equations and Inequalities	2	2	3
Modern Math	Logarithms, Surds and Indices	0	1	1
	Functions and Graphs	3	2	1
	Probability Combinatorics	1	1	1
Number Systems	Number Systems	1	1	1
Venn Diagrams	Venn Diagrams	1	0	0

 

CAT Preparation – Resources, Online Coaching & Study Materials

In order to prepare for CAT 2023, there are many sources, including study materials, online classes, mocks, CAT previous papers and more. Let us look at all the sources that can help you to crack CAT.

CAT 2023 Preparation Free Resources

Many free resources can help you to prepare for the CAT examination, such as CAT previous papers, Free Mock Tests, Sectional tests and Youtube videos. Cracku provides you with all these CAT preparation free resources, which are very helpful to prepare for CAT without coaching. The links for free CAT preparation resources are given below.

CAT Preparation Free Resources	Links
Free CAT Previous Question Papers with Video Solutions PDF	Visit Now
Free CAT Mock Tests	Visit Now
Free Sectional Tests	Visit Now
Free Youtube Videos	Visit Our Youtube Channel

 

CAT 2023 Online Course

As mentioned earlier, around two lakhs, people appear for the CAT exam every year. Among those, around 50% of the aspirants are working professionals. Although they are working people, many of them successfully clear the CAT with a very good percentile. So, what is the secret to their success? The answer is “Online preparation”. Spending at least 1 hour on CAT preparation can help you to crack the CAT exam. If you are a working professional, online preparation is the best option to start.

For that sake, Cracku provides you with an online CAT course which is very flexible for both college students and working professionals. 

What will you get in Cracku’s CAT Online Course?

Cracku provides you with a comprehensive CAT course which covers the entire syllabus for all the sections of CAT. Check out the full list of CAT preparation resources that you will get in this course, as shown below.

• 1000+ Videos covering the entire CAT Syllabus (from Basics to Advanced)
• 17,500 Excellent Questions with detailed solutions
• 30 Live Interactive CAT classes
• 20 CAT Mocks and 45 Sectional Tests
• 100 Concept Notes and Solved Example sets
• Day-wise schedule and weekly revision
• 30 OMETS Mocks (IIFT, XAT, SNAP, TISSNET, NMAT, CMAT & MAH MBA CET)
• Daily Targets tests with Video solutions
• Doubt-solving by exam experts
• Around 30 Previous CAT solved papers
• Take the test in the actual exam interface
• Get detailed solutions & analysis for each mock

CAT 2023 Study Material

One can utilise the concept notes that you can access in Cracku’s CAT online course, along with the concept videos taught by the CAT experts. The CAT all-time toppers and IIM Alumni prepare these study materials. 

Solved CAT Previous Question Papers Book – Cracku

One can also purchase the solved CAT previous years’ question papers book with detailed solutions, which is available on the Cracku Official website. 

Buy Solved CAT Years’ Previous Papers Book

CAT Quant Formula Book 

In order to crack the quant section in the CAT exam, gaining a firm grasp on basics and formulas in Quant is very essential. Cracku provides you with a CAT quant formula book that consists of all the formulas, fundamentals, tricks and shortcuts to solve the tricky questions in CAT. One can purchase this Quant formula book online on the official website of Cracku.

Buy Cracku’s Quant Formula Book

CAT 2023 Preparation Strategy

The CAT exam is one of the most popular entrance tests in India. Over 2 lakh students appear for the CAT exam, and the level of competition is also high for this exam as this is the gateway to getting admission into the top b-schools in India to pursue MBA. In order to crack this exam, aspirants must have a pre-planned strategy for the CAT preparation. Below are some very helpful tips for preparing for the CAT exam.

• CAT Preparation Strategy: A strategic plan is imperative to crack the CAT examination. One of the most common strategies that many successful aspirants implement during their CAT preparation is to divide their preparation into 2 phases.
• Being well-versed with basics: In the first phase, one must cover the basics from all three sections. Spend enough time learning the fundamental concepts, and make sure you thoroughly understand them. 
• Test yourself (Mocks & Previous Papers): In the second phase, it is imperative to take more mock tests. After having a firm grasp on the basic fundamentals of the concepts in all the sections of CAT, one can start phase 2 preparation, which involves mock tests. But remember that, you should Not wait for the syllabus to finish to take a Mock test. One should start the mocks early in the preparation. You can take one mock per month at the start of your preparation. Once you finish covering the key concepts, you can increase the frequency of the CAT mock tests.   

Mocks and Previous Papers are the best sources for CAT preparation.  

CAT Mock Tests

Mock tests play an extremely important role in order to succeed in the CAT examination. Mock tests are very essential for tracking your progress in your CAT preparation. A CAT aspirant must take a CAT mock seriously, which gives a feel of the actual CAT environment. One of the best things one must remember while taking the mock tests is that you can apply various exam-taking strategies on each mock that you have taken. And finally, remember that just taking CAT mock test is not enough. Analysing the mock test is imperative. It tells you the mistakes that you have made in the mock. By analysing the CAT mock test, one can also understand their strong and weak areas.

Every year IIM releases an official CAT mock test on its official CAT website for the aspirants to check out how the exam is going to be. This is a sample mock that IIM allows you to practice a week before the exam, which is in the actual CAT exam format.

Benefits of taking CAT mock tests

• Taking mocks will help you understand the exam style, and you will get to experience CAT before the actual CAT Exam.
• By taking mocks regularly, you will learn to manage time well during the exam.
• You can implement your strategy, experiment with various strategies, and see what is working and what is not.
• Taking mocks seriously on a regular basis will help you improve your speed and accuracy.
• Your post-mock analysis will help you track your progress and let you know where you stand with respect to the other test-takers through your percentile.
• Taking mocks will help you understand your strengths and weaknesses. Understanding your strong and weak areas is extremely important to plan your preparation and strategy in the subsequent mocks.

Cracku’s CAT 2023 Mock Tests

To help the CAT aspirants, Cracku is providing you with 20 National level CAT Mock Tests and one additional Free CAT mock test. For every question in each mock, you will be provided with a detailed video solution. In addition to this, one can get the benefits of detailed mock analysis after the completion of every mock.

Take the benefit of a free CAT mock test by Cracku with detailed video solutions and free mock analysis.

Free CAT 2023 Mock Test

Start Mock Test

 

CAT Previous Papers

• CAT is evolving every year with various changes in its pattern. So the aspirants are advised to use the past years’ CAT question papers which play a vital role in CAT preparation. CAT’s previous papers are one of the best free resources to prepare for the CAT exam. 
• It is highly recommended to try to solve these CAT previous papers, which help you understand the difficulty level of the questions that appear in the CAT every year. 
• By solving the CAT previous papers, you can identify your strengths and weaknesses in each section of CAT. Assessing your strengths and weaknesses in the exam will help you to prepare the best exam-taking strategy that you need while taking the actual CAT examination.

Cracku CAT Previous Papers PDFs

Cracku provides you with free CAT Previous Papers from the year 1990 to 2022 with detailed video solutions for all the questions. You can also download these past years’ CAT question papers PDFs for free. You can also attempt them as an actual exam. Take these free benefits from Cracku that will help you a lot while preparing for CAT 2023. 

CAT Previous Question Papers

CAT Previous Papers	PDF Download Link
CAT 2022 Slot 3 With Solutions	Download PDF
CAT 2022 Slot 2 With Solutions	Download PDF
CAT 2022 Slot 1 With Solutions	Download PDF
CAT 2021 Slot 3 With Solutions	Download PDF
CAT 2021 Slot 2 With Solutions	Download PDF
CAT 2021 Slot 1 With Solutions	Download PDF
CAT 2020 Slot 1 With Solutions	Download PDF
CAT 2020 Slot 2 With Solutions	Download PDF
CAT 2020 Slot 3 With Solutions	Download PDF
CAT 2019 Slot 1 With Solutions	Download PDF
CAT 2019 Slot 2 With Solutions	Download PDF
CAT 2018 Slot 2 With Solutions	Download PDF
CAT 2018 Slot 1 With Solutions	Download PDF
CAT 2017 Shift-2 With Solutions	Download PDF
CAT 2017 Shift-1 With Solutions	Download PDF

 

CAT 2023 Admit Card

Usually, the CAT Admit Cards will be released one month before the date of examination. So the CAT 2023 Admit Cards will be tentatively released in month of October 2023. Candidates can download their CAT 2023 Admit Card on the official website of CAT. The following are the steps to download the CAT admit card.

• Visit the official website of CAT 2023
• Log in using your CAT registration ID and Password. 
• Click on the “Download CAT Admit Card” link, which will be displayed on your dashboard. 
• Now your CAT 2023 Admit card will be displayed.
• Take a printout and also save a soft copy for future reference.

Note: Carrying a hard copy of the CAT admit card to the examination centre is mandatory for the candidates who are appearing for the examination.

CAT 2023 Answer Key

After the completion of the CAT examination, the answer key and the response sheet will be released on the official website of CAT around a week after the exam. Candidates can download their response sheet, which will be made available on the candidate’s dashboard of the CAT official website. Follow the given below steps to download the response sheet.

• Visit the official CAT website and Log in with your user ID and password
• Click on the CAT Response Key 2023.
• Click on the download PDF link and open it.
• Now you can find the “CAT 2023 Response Sheet & Answer key”; click on the download option & download it.

CAT 2023 Result

CAT 2023 Results will be tentatively released in the month of December 2023. Candidates can download their score card on the CAT official website. The CAT 2023 Scores are valid upto December 2024. Meanwhile, the IIMs will release their cut-off for the admission process. This cut-off may vary yearly based on the applicant pool and the difficulty level of the paper. Check out the below steps to download the CAT 2023 scorecard.

• Visit CAT’s official website, and the ‘CAT 2023 scorecard” tab will be displayed. Click on it.
• Enter your CAT User ID and password.
• Click on the ‘scorecard’ button and download your CAT 2023 scorecard.

MBA Colleges in India Accepting CAT Scores

CAT is the most popular MBA entrance examination, and it is accepted in around 1000+ b-schools in India. There are 20 IIMs (Indian Institutes of Management) which are the most prestigious and accept only the CAT scores for MBA admissions. Apart from these institutes, there are some of the other top MBA colleges, the Non-IIMs, that accept the CAT score. The top Non-IIMs in India, including FMS Delhi, SPJIMR Mumbai, MDI Gurgaon, NITIE Mumbai, JBIMS Mumbai, IMT Ghaziabad, and many more. 

One can also check out the below list of top MBA colleges in India accepting CAT, including IIMs and Non-IIMs, along with their official website links. Candidates are advised to visit the respective college’s official website for more details.

Top 20 Indian Institutes of Management – IIMs 

IIM Colleges in India

Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad

Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore

Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Calcutta

Indian Institute Of Management(IIM), Lucknow

Indian Institute Of Management (IIM), Kozhikode

Indian Institute Of Management (IIM), Indore

Rajiv Gandhi Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Shillong

Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Trichy

Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Kashipur

Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Rohtak

Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ranchi

Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Nagpur

Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Udaipur

Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Raipur

Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Visakhapatnam

Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Bodh Gaya

Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Amritsar

Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Sambalpur

Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Sirmaur

Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Jammu

Top Non-IIM Colleges accepting CAT Scores In India

Non-IIM Colleges in India

Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), New Delhi

S. P. Jain Institute of Management & Research (SPJIMR), Mumbai

Management Development Institute (MDI), Gurgaon

Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS), Mumbai (for outside Maharashtra candidates)

Institute Of Management Technology (IMT), Ghaziabad

National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE), Mumbai

Department of Management Studies (IIT Delhi), New Delhi

Shailesh J Mehta School of Management (IIT Bombay), Mumbai

Vinod Gupta school of Management (VGSOM), IIT Kharagpur

Xavier Institute of Management (XIM), Bhubaneswar

International Management Institute (IMI), New Delhi

CAT 2023 – FAQs

How to get CAT exam updates?

Please join Cracku CAT telegram to get regular exam updates

When should I apply for CAT 2023?

CAT 2023 official notification will tentatively be released on July 25, 2023. The application for CAT 2023 is expected to start in the first week of August 2023. Candidates can apply for the CAT exam on its official website till the end 2nd the week of September 2023.

What is the CAT cut-off for 2023?

As per the admission policies of the IIMs, the minimum CAT score requirement for most IIMs is 85 percentile (for General category). However, the actual CAT cutoff to get a call is much higher. Again, it varies based on the candidate’s profile. Usually, the CAT cutoff for the top IIMs is 99+ percentile (for General category candidates).

Can I get IIM with 95 percentile in CAT?

Yes, you have chances of getting a call from IIMs. If you have good score in previous academics, you can get calls from a few institutes such as IIM Indore and the New IIMs, even if you scored 95 percentile. So, you have chances of getting calls from a few IIMs as these IIMs give high weightage for the previous academic and also the prior work experience.

Is 1 year sufficient for CAT?

Yes, One year is more than sufficient time for CAT preparation.

Are 3 Months sufficient for CAT?

Yes; one can ace the CAT exam in three months, provided one has a decent grasp of the fundamentals tested in the CAT exam. Some students succeeded in CAT even in 1 month. Here only hard work, focusing on the right areas, and discipline matter. 3 Months are good enough to prepare for CAT.

Which IIM has the lowest cutoff for CAT?

Some New IIMs and the Baby IIMs usually have the lowest CAT cutoffs. It varies from person to person based on his/her profile. There are some of the students who got calls from the New and Baby IIMs even though they got 65 to 70 percentile in CAT (Based on reservation and profile). One can also check out their required CAT percentile to get into IIMs here for free.

How much is the CAT score required for IIM?

The minimum CAT score to get into most of the top IIMs is 85 percentile (General category). However, the required percentile will be much higher, and will be based on various factors such as the candidate’s past academic performance, work-experience, academic diversity etc.

Can a weak student crack CAT? / Can average students clear CAT?

Yes, a weak / average student can crack the CAT exam. Cracking CAT is not difficult if one is ready to put in the requisite efforts. All it takes is hard work, perseverance and rigorously sticking to the study schedule. If the practise is done on a consistent basis, one can surely ace the CAT exam. Also, most of the topics in the CAT syllabus are from the high-school, which you would already know; all you need to do is learn the fundamentals thoroughly and take more mock tests and analyse them well, to ace the exam.

Can I clear CAT without coaching?

Yes, there are many free resources available on the internet to prepare for CAT without the need for coaching. Cracku offers free CAT preparation resources such as CAT previous papers (with detailed video solutions), Free CAT mock tests, Videos, Sectional tests, Youtube Videos, etc.

Is 80% good in CAT?

In the CAT exam, 80 is a decent percentile, but you cannot expect a call from the top IIMs as they have the minimum CAT cut-off of at least 85 percentile (General Category). If you have a good academic profile and reservation. You can expect calls from the Baby or New IIMs, and some of the Non-IIM colleges.

Can I score 99 percentile in CAT in 4 months? / Are 4 Months enough for CAT?

Four months is good enough time to prepare for CAT. You must have a perfect preparation plan for 4 months. Getting the 99 percentile is possible if you can put in the requisite efforts. One can target the 99 percentile in any one of the sections and a decent percentile in the other two sections for the same. Hard work, focusing on the right areas, and discipline will help to ace the exam.

How do you get the 99 percentile in CAT?

Getting the 99 percentile requires consistency, smart work and tenacity on the part of the student. One of the ways in which one can target the 99 percentile is: Scoring a 99 percentile in any one of the sections and a decent percentile (around 90+) in the other two sections, to get an overall 99 percentile. 

Are 8 months enough to crack CAT?

Yes, eight months are more than enough time to prepare for CAT. Also, if you’re a working professional, eight months are enough to make a flexible study plan for the CAT exam and crack the exam.

Is it easy to crack CAT on the first attempt? / Can an average student crack CAT in the 1st attempt?

Of course, cracking CAT on the first attempt is a challenging task. But many aspirants have successfully cracked the CAT with a good percentile in their first attempt. Here, hard work and the willingness to stick to the schedule consistently play an important role. With the best preparation strategy and hard work, even an average student can ace the CAT on the first attempt.

Does the 12th percent matter in IIM? / Are 10 12 marks required for IIM?

Yes, there will be specific weightages for 10th, 12th and under-graduation scores during the admission process at IIMs. The exact weights for 12th vary slightly for each IIM. You can check out our blogs on the latest admission criteria for each IIM, to know the weightage for 12th marks.

What is a good CAT score for MBA?

To get into the top IIMs, targeting the 98+ percentile is a good one. As mentioned earlier, the minimum CAT score required for most of the IIM admissions is 85+ percentile (General category). However, it is good to have a 98+ percentile to get into IIMs. Also, a good score in the CAT depends on one’s profile (past acads, work-ex, etc).

Which YouTube channel is best for CAT preparation?

Cracku is one of the Youtube channels for CAT or MBA preparation. On this channel, one can get a lot of stuff related to the CAT exam. Not only CAT but also all the other popular MBA entrance examinations. The content available in this channel includes immediate exam updates, Preparation tips, Playlists for exam preparation, daily GK(Current Affairs) updates and many more.

How many hours of study to crack CAT?

There is no perfect number for the hours required to crack the CAT exam. It is based on a person’s capability and the available time for preparation. If the person is a student or a working professional, he/she can allot 2 hours on weekdays for preparation if they start early (at least 5-6 months before). During weekends one can give 5 to 6 hours for the CAT preparation.