CAT Score Vs Percentile 2024: Check Marks Vs Percentile prediction for Slot 1, 2, 3; “95 Marks required for 99%”

CAT score is the total marks a candidate has scored in all the three sections of CAT exam. CAT Score is printed on CAT Scorecard of each candidate and is different from CAT Raw Score. Since CAT exam is conducted in three slots or sessions, there are minor variations in the difficulty level of the question paper. To maintain fairness to all candidates across slots, IIMs apply a CAT Score Normalisation Process. This normalisation takes into account factors like difficulty level of questions, minor changes in question types and other factors across three sessions. Details are explained in next section.

How to calculate CAT Score is an often-asked question by MBA Aspirants. CAT Scores are calculated by IIMs for each candidate after taking following steps:  

Step 1: CAT Raw Score: CAT 2024 Raw score is the first thing to calculate as per the CAT Exam Marking scheme (+3 Marks for each correct answer and -1 mark for each wrong answer for MCQs; No negative marking for non MCQs). For example, if you attempt 10 questions in DILR section and 8 are correct. Out of the 2 wrong answers, if one is for MCQ and other is for Non-MCQ, your Raw CAT score can be calculated as:
1. 10x3: 30 (Recheck)
2. 1x4 (Deduct 3 marks for wrong answer for MCQ and -1 for negative marking)
3.Deduct 3 marks for Non MCQ (No negative marking for wrong answer)
4. Total raw score that you obtain is: 30-4-3=23 marks

Same process of calculation of Raw score across 3 sections and overall applies for CAT 2024 exam.

Step-2: Normalization of Scores: CAT 2024 will be conducted in 3 sessions with 3 different question papers. In order to ensure fairness and equity in comparison of performances of candidates across different test sessions, the scores of all candidates are subjected to a process of ‘Normalisation’. CAT Score Normalisation process adjusts for location, difficulty level and differences of score distributions across the three different question papers. This gives fair chance to all test takers. 

Step-3: Calculation of CAT Scaled Score: What is scaled score in CAT? After CAT score Normalisation process, the scores are further equated for all the 3 sections to obtain Scaled Score. Following steps are followed to calculate the scaled score of a candidate.

Percentile in CAT exam is calculated by taking into account the total number of candidates who appeared for CAT in all the 3 slots. Each candidate is assigned a rank based on scaled score and if more than one candidate obtains same scaled scores, same percentile is assigned to them. Following Process is followed to arrive at CAT percentile score:

• Calculate the total number of candidates (N) who appeared for CAT (i.e. including morning, afternoon and evening sessions).
• Assign a rank (r), based on the scaled scores obtained in the QA section, to all candidates who appeared for CAT. In the case of two or more candidates obtaining identical scaled scores in the QA section, assign identical ranks to all those candidates. Suppose exactly two candidates obtain the highest scaled score in the QA section, then both of those candidates are assigned a rank of 1. Moreover, the candidate(s) obtaining the second highest scaled score in the QA section are assigned a rank of 3 and so on.
• Now Calculate the percentile score (P) of a candidate with rank (r) in the QA section as:
• P = [(N – r )/n] x 100   
• Round off the calculated percentile score (P) of a candidate up to two decimal points. For example, all percentile scores greater than or equal to 99.995 are rounded off to 100, all percentile scores greater than or equal to 99.985 but less than 99.995 are rounded off to 99.99 and so on.

Source: IIM Calcutta 

CAT Score Vs Percentile 2024 is the relationship between a candidate’s CAT Score and their percentile rank among all test-takers. What are the CAT score needed to get 99% or 95% or 90% in CAT 2024? According to IMS Coaching, CAT 2024 exam difficulty level was lower as compared to CAT 2023. Hence the required CAT percentile for getting high percentile has gone up. Check CAT 2024 Score Vs Percentile estimates by IMS Coaching below. 

CAT 2024 Score vs Percentile Slot 1

Source: IMS Learning 

CAT 2024 Score vs Percentile Slot 2

Source: IMS Learning

CAT 2024 Score vs Percentile Slot 3

Source: IMS Learning 

These expectations can be summarized as follows: 

• CAT 2024 Score for 99% is 95-98
• CAT 2024 Score for 95% is about 59-61
• CAT 2024 Score for 90% is about 50-51

Arun Sharma, the top CAT Guru and Author of Bestselling CAT Books, has different take on the difficulty level of CAT 2024 exam and hence has different estimates. Arun Sharma took Slot 3 of CAT 2024, shared following initial estimates with MBAUniverse.com: “I think to get 99.8% in CAT 2024, you need about 104-105 Marks, and to get 99% you need about 88-90 Marks.” Check complete estimates and comments by Arun Sharma below.  

Source: Arun Sharma, Author and CAT Guru

Arun Sharma clarified that these are his initial estimates, and there may be some changes after release of CAT answer key. Speaking to MBAUniverse.com, Arun Sharma said: “My estimates are based on assumptions, and my assessment of difficulty levels in the papers as compared to CAT 2022 and 2023. There might be a slight upward movement on these numbers - maybe by 3-5 marks at each of these percentile levels. A closer look might give me a chance to improve my assumptions but for now I will stick with these numbers.” 

After release of CAT Answer Key and Response Sheet on December 3, Arun Sharma told MBAUniverse.com “I think, 99.8 % might go up by 3-4 marks. Will stick to the other numbers that I have shared earlier.”

Cracku, a popular CAT coaching, has released Cracku CAT score vs percentile. They say that CAT 2024 paper was easier than previous year papers. Hence, according to Cracku CAT score vs percentile 2024, to get 99% you need about 88 marks. Check table below:

Source: cracku.in

Check CAT Marks Vs Percentile 2024 Estimates below:

• 10 marks in CAT percentile: 50 Percentile
• 20 marks in CAT percentile: 60 Percentile
• 30 marks in CAT percentile: 70 Percentile
• 40 marks in CAT percentile: 80 Percentile
• 50 marks in CAT percentile: 95 Percentile
• 60 marks in CAT percentile: 98 Percentile

CL CAT Score vs Percentile 2024 data is also available. According to Career Launcher CAT Score vs Percentile 2024 estimates, to get 99% in CAT 2024, you need to score between 88-92 marks. As per CL, to get 95% in CAT 2024, you need to score about 68-70 marks.

Let’s look at CAT Score vs Percentile trends for previous years. In the tables below, you can check CAT 2023 Score Vs Percentile for overall paper for all three slots, as well as CAT Score Vs Percentile 2023 for each of the three sections. This will help you get a better understanding for CAT 2024 Score Vs Percentile calculation explained above. 

CAT 2023 Score Vs Percentile: Overall 

CAT 2023 Score Vs Percentile: Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension

CAT 2023 Score Vs Percentile: Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning

CAT 2023 Score Vs Percentile: Quantitative Aptitude

CAT Score Vs Percentile for CAT 2022 and CAT 2021 
CAT Score vs Percentile previous years analysis for CAT 2022 and CAT 22 is also published below. Check how CAT score is required for CAT 99 percentile. .

CAT Cut Offs are released by IIMs based on exam difficulty level and CAT Percentile trends. Based on CAT 2023 data, and expected CAT 2024 paper, here are key predictions. 

For complete details, read CAT 2024 Cut Offs. .

To summarize, CAT Score vs Percentile is a process to check score required for a given percentile. Last year in CAT 2023, a score of 81-82 marks achieved a 99% percentile. CAT 2024 score Vs Percentile predictions for 99% is about 90-95 marks. Remember that CAT Marks vs Percentile are same as CAT Score vs Percentile.