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As stipulated by the Government of India's reservation policy original category certificates are required by CAT at the time of admission. Experience may not be required but can be taken into account in executive programs. Foreign and NRI students can be admitted by some IIMs on the basis of GMAT scores. Candidates should check the latest news and rules, if any, on the official CAT website (iimcat.ac.in).
In order to avoid disqualification, applicants need to know the eligibility requirements before they apply. They need to refer to the official notice or call the CAT helpline in the event of questions on their qualifications.
CAT 2025 Exam: Highlights at a Glance
The CAT 2025 exam is a national-level entrance exam for admission to India's top business schools like the IIMs.
It is an internet-based (computer) test and will be conducted on Sunday, November 30, 2025.
The test timing is 2 hours (120 minutes) and all official communications and updates are posted on the CAT official website.
Qualifications for the 2025 CAT Exam
Educational Qualifications
The applicant must have graduated with at least 50% of the possible points or an equivalent CGPA (45% for applicants from the ST, SC orPwD categories.
The contestants can also include students who have finished their degree requirements but are yet to receive the result as well as contestants appearing for the final year examinations.
CAT 2025 applicants must fulfil one or more of the following conditions:
Obtained the minimum percentage of marks for a Bachelor's degree.
Exceeded the required minimum % for a professional degree FIAI or CA/CS/ICWA (CMA)).
Should possess the percentage as required and should be in the last year of a bachelor's degree. Schedule Castes, Schedule Tribes or the PwD candidates must possess an aggregate of at least 45% and an aggregate of at least 50% for General, EWS or NC-OBC candidates.
Academic qualifications required for the CAT exam | Affiliation Needed | Percentage Required |
The candidates must have graduated from an accredited, prestigious university with a degree in any discipline. | Approval of UGC Required | 45% for SC, ST, and PwD, and at least 50% for EWS, Open, or OBC-NCL. |
B.Tech/BE | Approval required of AICTE/MHRD | 45% for SC, ST, and PwD, and at least 50% for EWS, Open, or OBC-NCL. |
CS, ICWA,FIAI, CA | Affiliation of Certificate-providing organisation | 45% for SC, ST, and PwD, and at least 50% for EWS, Open, or OBC-NCL. |
Last year students | Approval required of AICTE, MHRD or UGC | 45% for SC, ST, and PwD, and at least 50% for EWS, Open, or OBC-NCL. |
Depending on the policies followed by the concerned institution or university the percentage of marks obtained by the candidate is determined.
IIMs can check eligibility at various levels of the selection process and the information is available on the www.iimcat.ac.in website. Shortlisting does not guarantee that candidates who meet the minimum requirement of eligibility will be considered for an IIM shortlist.
Registering with backlogs
Even when the students have an academic backlog in the course of their graduation degree, they can freely sit for the CAT exam 2025. Despite having a backlog, they can apply for the CAT exam if they have earned a degree with a minimum mark of 50% (45% reserved category).
Work Experience
To appear for the CAT Exam, no prior work experience is required for candidates except for a few executive programs and other specialised courses run by IIMs and MBA schools. Although the IIMs might give this work experience some weightage at the time of final selection. The actual weightage provided would differ from IIM to IIM and it has never been disclosed in the past.
Limitations on Age for the CAT Exam
There is no minimum age requirement to take the November 2025 CAT exam. Candidates can appear for the CAT exam without following any age criteria. The CAT exam eligibility has only one criterion and that is a degree with desired marks.
Who cannot appear for the CAT Exam 2025?
when the applicant completes their CS, CA, or ICWA professional degree without taking the bachelor's degree exam.
The candidate is working for a bachelor's degree and a professional degree, both of which are yet unfinished.
If the candidate gets less than 50% marks (45% marks for SC, ST and PWT) in graduation then they are not eligible to apply for the CAT Exam 2024.
If the candidate's degree is not sanctioned by MHRD, AICTE or UGC they are not eligible to appear for the CAT Exam 2024.
Policy for Reservation
The law states that 7.5% of seats are set aside for ST and 15% for SC. Therefore, they can fill 27% of the seats. Up to 10% of the seats may be held by candidates from Economically Weaker Sections (EWS).
According to Persons with disability Act, 2016 (RPwD Act 2016), 5% of the seats are set aside for people with physical disability (PwD).
Before applying reserved category candidates must thoroughly go through the eligibility criteria mentioned for them. It must be noted that while IIMs try to arrange for candidates belonging to the SC, ST, NC-OBC, EWS and PwD categories to join the program in the desired proportions as per law they first need to meet the minimum eligibility criteria and a specified performance level before getting eligible for admission.
candidates must go through the latest description of the selection process that each IIM follows by visiting their official website.No category changes will be entertained after CAT registration. Applicants are advised to pay special attention to all the steps during the registration process.
IIMs Accepting CAT Scores
Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) are India's best business schools with their highly sought-after MBA programs. All 21 IIMs use CAT scores for admission such as IIM Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Lucknow, Indore and Kozhikode as well as newer ones like IIM Amritsar, Bodh Gaya and Mumbai. These institutions provide world-class management education and great career prospects.IIMs that take CAT score for admission | |
IIM Kashipur | IIM Ahmedabad |
IIM Shillong | IIM Bangalore |
IIM Bodh Gaya | IIM Lucknow |
IIM Vishakhapatnam | IIM Kozhikode |
IIM Tiruchirapalli | IIM Calcutta |
IIM Nagpur | IIM Mumbai |
IIM Jammu | IIM Indore |
IIM Amritsar | IIM Rohtak |
IIM Sambhapur | IIM Raipur |
IIM Sirmaur | IIM Ranchi |
IIM Udaipur | |
FAQs
As long as they finish their degree before the start of the admission cycle, final-year students are also eligible.
Yes, CAT admits candidates with academic backlogs. But it has to be cleared prior to admission.
Few IIMs accept GMAT score for foreign/NRI applicants instead of CAT. They must verify individual institute requirements.
Such degrees which do not receive recognition from the MHRD, UGC or AICTE do not possess eligibility for the CAT.
No, in being eligible, you are merely free to write the test but for admissions the student must possess a good CAT score together with an academic record and selection process in each of the IIMs.
