CAT Normalization Process 2024, Check How IIMs Calculate?

One of the most competitive MBA entrance exams in India is the Common Admission Test, also called CAT, where hundreds of thousands of test-takers take up this test in multiple slots. Due to this, ensuring fairness and consistency across slots is important. To conduct the CAT normalization process is very important. Here in this blog, you will go through how the CAT 2024 scaled score calculation is done, score vs percentile comparison, and understand how CAT applies normalization to ensure a just assessment of every candidate.

CAT Normalization Process 2024

The CAT Normalization Process is designed to ensure fairness in the Common Admission Test (CAT) by addressing variations in difficulty levels across different exam slots. This statistical method ensures that all candidates are evaluated on an equal footing.

Key Highlights of the CAT Normalization Process:

• Purpose: The main aim of normalization is to adjust for differences in the difficulty level of CAT question papers across multiple test sessions.
• How It Works:
  • Scores are standardized using statistical techniques to ensure consistency across different test slots.
  • The scaled scores are then converted into percentiles, which determine the relative performance of candidates.
• Why It Matters: This process ensures that no candidate gains or loses marks unfairly due to the specific set of questions in their slot. It guarantees an unbiased evaluation for all test-takers.

Why Is CAT Normalization Important?

The CAT exam are conducted across 3 slots that include different sets of questions each. Therefore, the difficulty may not be kept uniform across all slots so there is slight variance. Because of this, CAT has its normalization procedure where all candidates have been treated with fairness and without any bias towards the slot that was assigned to the candidate. The normalization balances the playing field as these slight differences in difficulty are considered so that it ensures consistent grading across slots.

Also Read, CAT Answer Key 2024, Check Download Link, Release Date

CAT 2024 Score Normalization and Scaling

CAT uses a two-step process to calculate the normalized score, which includes raw score to scaled score conversion and percentile calculation.

Step 1: Calculating CAT Scaled Scores Across Slots

The CAT normalization process involves adjusting the raw scores for each slot based on statistical methods. Here’s how CAT score scaling is done:

Calculate Mean and Standard Deviation (SD) for Each Slot
For each slot, CAT calculates the mean and SD of raw scores for each section: Quantitative Ability (QA), Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR), and Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC). These values are then used to normalize scores within each section for each slot.

Adjust for Top Performers
CAT considers the average score of the top 0.1% of candidates in each slot. This is done to ensure that high-performing candidates are fairly represented in the score distribution across different slots.

Apply Normalization Formula
Using statistical adjustment, the scores are scaled so that they fall within a comparable range across slots. The formula for each candidate's scaled score in a section is:

Normalized score = (Percentile rank/100) x Maximum marks for the section

Also Read, CAT Score Calculator 2024, Predict Your CAT Percentile

Step 2: Calculating Percentiles for CAT 2024

Once the scaled scores are calculated, CAT determines the percentile rank for each candidate.

Assign Rank Based on Scaled Scores
Candidates are ranked within each section based on their scaled scores. Identical scaled scores receive identical ranks, ensuring fairness.

Calculate Percentile Using Rank
The percentile score for a candidate in a section (e.g., QA) is calculated as:
Percentile=(Total Candidates−RankTotal Candidates)×100\text{Percentile} = \left( \frac{\text{Total Candidates} - \text{Rank}}{\text{Total Candidates}} \right) \times 100Percentile=(Total Candidates Total Candidates−Rank​)×100

Round Percentile Score
CAT rounds the calculated percentile to two decimal points, where scores above 99.995 are rounded up to 100.

Also Read, CAT Exam Analysis, Last 5 Year Section-wise Paper Analysis

Difference Between Raw Score and Scaled Score in CAT 2024?

In CAT, your raw score is simply the total marks you obtain from correctly answered questions, minus penalties for incorrect answers. However, due to different slots, this raw score is adjusted through the normalization process to become your scaled score. The scaled score allows for an equitable comparison of candidates across different slots, making the process fair for all.

CAT 2024 Score vs Percentile 

The CAT exam in 2024 will most likely be easier than CAT 2023, however, it won’t be as easy as other years. However, we can say that a 99%ile would be around 85 marks. check CAT score vs percentile on below table:-