The CAT 2025 exam will be conducted on November 30 by one of the IIMs. The official notification will be released in the last week of july 2025 on the official IIMCAT website iimcat.ac.in. Registrations for CAT 2025 will begin in the first week of August 2025. Graduates or students in the final year of their bachelor’s degree are eligible to apply for the CAT 2025 exam.
CAT 2025 is your ticket to top IIMs and other leading B schools in India. If you dream of becoming a leader landing high impact roles or even starting your own business someday a good MBA can really make a difference. A strong CAT score doesn't just get you interview calls from the IIMs it adds real value to your resume boosts your career path and can lead to a much better salary too.
In the current year, part of CAT has been attempted in more test cities. Below are the key highlights of CAT 2025:
CAT Exam Particulars | CAT 2025 Details |
CAT Full Form |
Common Admission Test (CAT) |
Conducting Institute for 2025 |
IIM Kozhikode |
Exam Level |
National |
CAT Entrance Exam Frequency |
Once a year |
Exam Mode | Online |
CAT Exam Date 2025 |
November 30, 2025 |
CAT Exam Timings |
|
CAT Exam Fees |
INR 2,500 (General category) and INR 1,250 (Reserved category) |
Eligibility Criteria |
Graduation with 50% aggregate (45% for SC/ST students) |
Exam Purpose |
Admission to IIMs, SPJIMR, FMS, MDI, IMT and over 1,200 B-Schools in India |
Courses Offered |
MBA/PGDM |
No. of test cities |
170 |
CAT exam website |
https://iimcat.ac.in |
Following are the timeline for CAT 2025. These will assist the aspirants to know the registration closure date, examination date among others.
CAT 2025 Important Dates & Timeline |
Important Dates (Tentative) |
CAT 2025 Notification Date |
Last week of July 2025 |
CAT 2025 Registration Date |
First week of August, 2025 |
CAT 2025 Registration Last Date |
First week of September 2025 |
CAT 2025 Exam Date |
November 30, 2025 |
CAT 2025 Result Date |
First week of January 2026 |
The eligibility criteria for CAT 2025 have been stated below that every candidate must remember before they begin their preparation for the exam.The criteria mentioned below are calculated with regard to the trends of—last year.must keep in mind before starting their preparation for the exam. The criteria mentioned below are based on the trends of the previous year.
CAT 2025 aspirants should recall the exam pattern to identify the areas of study and the kind of questions asked. CAT also released a preliminary CAT 2025 exam pattern based on previous actual exams:
Mode of Examination |
Computer-based |
Medium of Examination |
English |
Slots for Exam |
3 |
Total Questions |
66 |
Questions Per Section |
VARC: 24 DILR: 20 QA: 22 |
Time Allotted |
120 minutes (40 minutes per section) |
Type of Questions |
MCQs and TITA (Type In The Answer) |
Marks Awarded for Correct Answer |
+3 for every right answer |
Marks Deducted for Wrong Answer |
-1 for every wrong answer No negative marking for TITA |
In particular, there is no syllabus provided by the official university or the examination conducting centres for CAT 2025. However, aspirants are advised, for English and Math should be under the class X syllabus. As per developments in the prior examination, the probable areas for the CAT 2025 are as follows. The following areas should be given precidence by these candidates.
Syllabus |
Topics |
Verbal Ability Reading Comprehension |
Fill in the blanks, Para Jumbles, Grammar, Reading Comprehension, Sentence completion, Jumbled paragraphs, Verbal Logic, Different usage of the same word, Syllogisms, Parts of speech |
Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning |
Seating Arrangement, Venn Diagram, Coding-Decoding, Binary Logic, Blood Relations, Syllogism, Direction Sense, Tables, Bars and Line Graphs, Puzzles, Family Tree, Assumptions, Pie Charts, Data Sufficiency, Clocks and Calendars |
Quantitative Aptitude |
Geometry, Ratios and Proportion, Work and Time, Algebra, Percentages, Mensuration, Time, Speed and Distance, Square Root and Cube Root, Number System, Simple interest and compound interest, Mean, mode, median, Binomial theorem, Geometric Progression, Surds and Indices |
Here’s a simple guide to the CAT 2025 registration process:
1. Visit iimcat.ac.in
2. Login using User ID and Password
3. Click on ‘Download Admit Card’
4. Take a print and check exam center & timings
CAT 2025 results will be released in January 2026
Here is the expected cat cutoff in the below.
IIM | General | SC/ST |
IIM Ahmedabad | 99-100 | 80+ |
IIM Bangalore | 98+ | 75+ |
IIM Lucknow | 97+ | 70+ |
FMS Delhi | 98+ | 85+ |
To get the admission in the top management institutes one has to qualify the CAT 2025 exam. Here are some tips to help you prepare effectively:
Understand the Exam Pattern: Provided below is the information about CAT exam structure along with the types of questions that are usually asked. Start Early: It takes at least one year to prepare, so start in that timeframe. This affords one enough time to grasp ideas a nd , therefore, have an equally adequate amount of time to review.
Create a Study Plan: Teacher’s time table may include all syllabus topics for a given lesson, however more concentration should be given to areas of difficulty.
Focus on Fundamentals: D or the Quantitative Ability section is a good place to start: you need to strengthen your basics here. Better understanding of core concepts should come in handy when attempting some of the most difficult problems.
Practice Regularly: To get accustomed to the level of difficulty being set for you in CAT and to know your improvements and demerits, practice in solving past CAT papers and taking mock tests.
Stay Informed: Candidates must visit the official CAT website often to stay updated on recent changes in the examination pattern, course material or any other thing.
Yes, final year students are eligible to apply.
No, there’s no age limit for appearing in the CAT exam.
CAT is conducted once a year, usually in November.
If you're aiming for the top IIMs, scoring above 98 percentile in CAT is usually considered really good.