CAT Score vs Percentile 2024 Direct Admission in MBA

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CAT Score vs Percentile 2024 Direct Admission in MBA

It is almost unanimously agreed across India that the fastest way to accelerate one’s career and jump a few steps on the corporate ladder is to take the CAT exam and get into a renowned B-School. But with over 3 lakh aspirants vying for just a few thousand seats across India’s Top B-Schools, the competition is intense. CAT Score vs Percentile 2024 Direct Admission in MBA

CAT Score vs Percentile 2024 Direct Admission in MBA While a lot rests on your syllabus coverage and prep, strategy also plays an important part. And it is no secret that to whittle down your strategy into actionable, you need to know your target score. To do that, you must understand the CAT score vs percentile conversion process. Understanding the scoring process will help you better grasp: CAT Score vs Percentile 2024 Direct Admission in MBA

CAT score vs percentile 2024 (Based on initial estimates of the exam)

Beware, the CAT cutoff is expected to track upwards due to the lower difficulty level of the exam. We’ll continue to update this space based on new data as and when it comes in. CAT Score vs Percentile 2024 Direct Admission in MBA

Percentile	Slot 1	Slot 2	Slot 3
99.9%ile	120-124	118-123	118-123
99.5%ile	106-110	103-108	103-108
99%ile	95-98	92-95	92-95
98%ile	71-74	69-72	68-71
95%ile	59-61	57-59	55-57
90%ile	46-47	47-49	45-47
85%ile	41-42	42-44	39-42
80%ile	36-37	39-40	36-38

CAT score vs percentile 2024 (Based on initial estimates of the exam) – Sectional score vs percentile estimates

Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension

Percentile	Slot 1	Slot 2	Slot 3
99.9%ile	48	50	48
99.5%ile	40	46	40
99%ile	36	42	36
98%ile	25	38	25
95%ile	20	32	19
90%ile	17	26	16
85%ile	15	22	14
80%ile	13	20	12

Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning

Percentile	Slot 1	Slot 2	Slot 3
99.9%ile	49	46	46
99.5%ile	43	40	40
99%ile	40	37	37
98%ile	33	30	30
95%ile	29	27	27
90%ile	23	21	21
85%ile	21	19	19
80%ile	19	17	17

Quantitative Aptitude

Percentile	Slot 1	Slot 2	Slot 3
99.9%ile	48	46	48
99.5%ile	43	41	43
99%ile	35	33	35
98%ile	24	22	24
95%ile	18	16	18
90%ile	14	13	14
85%ile	13	12	13
80%ile	11	10	11

CAT score vs percentile – What exactly is your CAT score?

While any layman can tell you that your CAT score comprises of the marks you scored on the CAT exam, it is still critical to decode how exactly you got those marks. For that, let’s look at the CAT exam pattern and CAT marking scheme. CAT Score vs Percentile 2024 Direct Admission in MBA

CAT marks vs percentile – CAT exam pattern and marking scheme

The CAT exam has three sections: Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC), Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR), and Quantitative Aptitude (QA). Each section has between 20 and 24 questions, each worth 3 marks. CAT Score vs Percentile 2024 Direct Admission in MBA There is negative marking in CAT to the tune of -1 for each incorrect attempt. CAT Score vs Percentile 2024 Direct Admission in MBA

Section	Number of Questions	Time Allotted (In Minutes)	Marks (+3 for every correct answer and -1 for every incorrect answer)
Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC)	24	40	72
Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR)	20	40	60
Quantitative Aptitude (QA)	22	40	66

However, not all questions are the same in CAT. While the MCQs have negative marking, the TITA or ‘Type in Your Answer’ questions have no negative marking

Section	MCQs	Non-MCQs	Total No. of Questions	CAT Exam Duration
Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC)	21	3	24	40 min
Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DI & LR)	14	6	20	40 min
Quantitative Ability (QA)	14	8	22	40 min
Total	49	17	66	120 (2 hours)

CAT score vs percentile – What is your raw CAT score?

Based on the number of correct and incorrect responses you produce, you can calculate the raw CAT score. Give yourself a +3 for every correct answer and a -1 for every incorrect MCQ. However, the CAT exam is held across multiple slots, and the probability of each slot’s paper being exactly the same in difficulty level is low due to the inherent randomness in question distribution. CAT Score vs Percentile 2024 Direct Admission in MBA

To ensure fairness and avoid any misgivings, the process of CAT score normalization was introduced. Through a scientifically rigorous normalization process, the differences in difficulty level are accounted for. CAT Score vs Percentile 2024 Direct Admission in MBA For instance, the third slot for CAT 2024 was easier than the first one. This meant that during normalization, 4 marks were deducted from the raw CAT score of test-takers in the third slot while 3 marks were added to those of the first slot. CAT Score vs Percentile 2024 Direct Admission in MBA

CAT score vs percentile – What is your CAT percentile?

CAT in itself is a comparative evaluation method; it does not have a pass, fail, or minimum score. Unlike the absolute CAT marks you get awarded, the CAT percentile helps you compare your performance to that of other test takers.CAT Score vs Percentile 2024 Direct Admission in MBA For instance, scoring 76.02 marks in CAT 2024 corresponded with a percentile of 99, i.e., you scored better than 99% of all CAT test takers. CAT Score vs Percentile 2024 Direct Admission in MBA

Here is the general formula to calculate your CAT percentile:

P = [1 – { r/N }] * 100

Where,

P = CAT percentile

r = Your CAT rank

N = No. of total test takers

Your CAT percentile is a crucial bit of information that will be used by colleges and universities to determine whether you’re deserving of admission. CAT Score vs Percentile 2024 Direct Admission in MBA Your final percentile will be rounded off to two decimal places. CAT Score vs Percentile 2024 Direct Admission in MBA

CAT score vs percentile 2023 – Previous years’ CAT marks vs percentile table

This table will help you see the corresponding normalized CAT score required to score different percentiles in 2024. For our 2024 estimates, scroll below. CAT Score vs Percentile 2024 Direct Admission in MBA

CAT score vs percentile 2023 (Overall)

As you can see, the highest CAT score was 142.90. The difficulty level of the CAT 2024 paper was slightly lower than 2022 because of which the CAT scores corresponding to each percentile went up. 99% was at 76.02, while 95% was at 45.16. CAT Score vs Percentile 2024 Direct Admission in MBA

CAT Percentile	Scaled CAT Score
100.00	142.90
99.99	118.67
99.95	106.95
99.90	101.43
99.83	95.96
99.50	84.29
99.37	81.75
99.00	76.02
98.50	71.15
98.37	70.31
98.00	66.68
97.70	65.91
97.00	61.56
96.60	59.99
96.00	58.10
95.42	56.13
95.00	54.86
94.00	53.32
93.00	52.35
92.05	47.99
91.00	46.13
90.00	45.16
85.00	42.29
80.00	41.19
75.00	40.02

CAT score vs percentile 2023 (VARC)

For the VARC section in CAT, the highest score was 61.66. As you’ll notice, VARC has the lowest rate of corresponding decline in scaled CAT scores as we move down the percentile list. CAT Score vs Percentile 2024 Direct Admission in MBA

CAT Percentile	Scaled CAT Score
100.00	61.66
99.99	57.32
99.87	51.02
99.50	44.00
99.26	41.76
99.00	39.70
98.21	35.88
96.72	31.47
95.00	28.68
93.50	26.33
90.00	23.39
86.43	20.66
80.00	17.58
75.00	15.27
62.28	11.53

CAT score vs percentile 2023 (DILR)

The CAT score vs percentile table for the DILR section clearly shows that 50.60 was the highest score, while 99% was at 27.39 marks and 90% was at just 15.63 marks. CAT Score vs Percentile 2024 Direct Admission in MBA

CAT Percentile	Scaled CAT Score
100.00	50.60
99.99	42.70
99.90	36.58
99.71	32.78
99.43	29.71
99.14	27.56
99.00	27.39
98.37	24.58
96.83	20.88
95.53	19.60
90.00	15.63
84.87	13.01
80.00	11.67
77.88	10.81
72.94	9.67

CAT marks vs percentile 2023 (QA)

You’ll notice an accelerated drop in the corresponding CAT scores for subsequent CAT percentiles. In QA, usually, the sectional cutoffs are as low as 12 marks for most colleges. While toppers score well above 40 marks in the QA section, even the 90th percentile score is just 13.63 marks. CAT Score vs Percentile 2024 Direct Admission in MBA

CAT Percentile	Scaled CAT Score
100	49.46
99.98	41.87
99.9	37.83
99.5	31.39
99	28.18
98.5	25.73
98	24.31
97.5	23.71
97	22.7
96.5	21.69
96	21.41
95.5	20.44
95	19.68
94	17.91
93.5	17.66
93	17.54
92.5	15
90	13.63
80	9.2

CAT score vs percentile 2024 – Expected marks needed to score 90%

Based on our mentors’ experiences with students across the decade, we can fairly gauge the CAT scores and CAT percentiles for this year. While this table is not deemed to be accurate, it will give you a fair idea of the score you should target to get a good percentile. We’ll solidify the data gathered here once the CAT 2024 exam is up and we have more information regarding its difficulty level. For now, it is a fair assumption to make that CAT 2024 will be harder than CAT 2023. CAT Score vs Percentile 2024 Direct Admission in MBA

Expected CAT score vs percentile 2024 (Overall)

We expect the 95th percentile score to be around 55 marks, while the 99th percentile mark should fall around 80 marks.

CAT Percentile	Overall CAT Score
100	98 -102
99+	80-83
95+	55-58
90+	45-48
85+	39-43
80+	35-39

Expected CAT score vs percentile 2024 (VARC)

For VARC, we’re looking at 30 marks for 95 percentile and 40 for 99 percentile. CAT Score vs Percentile 2024 Direct Admission in MBA

CAT Percentile	CAT VARC Score
100	42-44
99+	38-40
95+	29-31
90+	23-26
85+	20-22
80+	18-20

Expected CAT score vs percentile 2024 (DILR)

For DILR, expect a CAT score of 20 to reach 95 percentile and 26 for 99 percentile. CAT Score vs Percentile 2024 Direct Admission in MBA

CAT Percentile	CAT DILR Score
100	26-30
99+	23-26
95+	18-20
90+	14-17
85+	13-14
80+	10-12

Expected CAT score vs percentile 2024 (QA)

Along similar lines as DILR, the QA section, too, should have the 95th percentile to be at 20 marks and the 99th percentile score at 26.

CAT Percentile	CAT QA Score
100	29-33
99+	25-28
95+	19-22
90+	15-17
85+	12-14
80+	10-12

CAT 2024 score vs percentile – What is a good CAT score?

While the answer to this question is subject to one’s college and program preferences, ideally, students should target a CAT percentile score above 90% to stand a chance at the best MBA colleges in India. And to get to that score, you should target attempting around 24 questions with an accuracy of 85%-90%. This will result in you getting to a net question count ( a general count of how many questions you’d need to attempt assuming your accuracy was 100%) of 14 questions. CAT Score vs Percentile 2024 Direct Admission in MBA

For more information, refer to the table below:

CAT Percentile	VARC questions to attempt	DILR questions to attempt	QA questions to attempt	Overall questions to attempt	Net Questions
100	15-16	11-12	15-16	42-45	28+
99+	14-15	10-11	13-15	40-41	25+
95-98.99	13-14	9-10	12-13	35-39	18+
90-94.99	11-12	7-8	11-12	29-34	14+
85+	9-10	6-7	9-11	24-28	12+

Understanding the whole CAT score vs percentile picture will aid you in finetuning your strategy for your target college. Based on the cutoffs for the college you are targeting, you need to decide on a score you want to achieve. Then, you match that score with the number of questions you need to attempt. Finally, you can match the total questions with the topics you need to study based on the weightage assigned to each topic. While there is no solid weightage for each topic, past trends do help zero down on the expected weightage for each topic. CAT Score vs Percentile 2024 Direct Admission in MBA

You can learn more about the topics and their weightage in this blog – CAT Syllabus – Topic-wise weightage for all sections.

Based on your target score, your prep will also vary. To get the best preparation strategy for your goals, you require personalized mentorship from the top CAT mentors in India. The IMS CAT adult Program gives you more than 100 classes and 100+ mock tests covering all the major MBA entrances apart from multiple one-on-one mentorship and strategy sessions with India’s top mentors. Just click on the link below, fill out the form, and one of our Education Advisors will reach out to you regarding your CAT prep. CAT Score vs Percentile 2024 Direct Admission in MBA

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CAT Score vs Percentile 2024 Direct Admission in MBA