Having a tough game here, candidates? The 20 IIMs and other top B-schools in India have their own CAT cut off percentile for selection and admission. The cut off remains a 99+ percentile for admission to top institutes of IIM such as IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta, IIM Lucknow, IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Kozhikode. The cutoff of CAT 2019 depends on the difficulty level of the exam and various other factors as mentioned below:
- total number of examinees,
- total number of candidates appearing for the exam,
- total number of candidates that qualify for the next round,
- reputation and ranking of the institute.
You will learn about the expected CAT 2019 cut off for IIM admission around the second week of January 2020. Other B-schools on a range of tier two to four that accept the CAT scores, also, set a minimum cut off in order to shortlist the candidates for the admission procedure which can be from 80 to 50 percentile, respectively.
Given below are highlights related to CAT cut off in the top institutes:
- The qualifying CAT cut-off for IIM Calcutta and IIM Bangalore has been fixed at 85 percentile (General category).
- The qualifying CAT cut-off for the upcoming academic year in IIM Lucknow has been fixed at 90 percentile (General category).
- The qualifying CAT cut-off in IIM Ahmedabad now stands at 80 percentile.
- As for top MBA institutes like FMS-Delhi, MDI-Gurgaon SPJIMR-Mumbai and IMT-Ghaziabad, the cut-offs are expected to remain above 95 percentile.
In order to give you a better idea about these two types of cut-offs and what roles they play in the admission procedure, we have provided a chart below, listing the differences between the two:
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| Qualifying CAT cut off | Final CAT cut off |
| It is also known as IIM eligibility cut off or IIM shortlist cut off. It is the minimum marks a candidate must score in order to be eligible for an interview call (for WAT/General Discussion-Personal Interview round) from the IIMs. | It is also known as IIM call cut offs, it is the minimum percentile score fixed by the IIMs for selection of candidate for WAT/ General Discussion-Personal Interview round. |
| Meeting the qualifying cut off does not ensure the selection of the candidate for General Discussion-Personal Interview round. | Meeting the final CAT cut off does not ensure the selection of the candidate for admission. |
| The cut off is fixed before the announcement of CAT result. | The final cut off is fixed after the declaration of CAT result. |
| The cut off percentiles are announced by each campus in their respective sections for admission criteria and selection process for the respective academic year. | The cut off percentiles are not officially announced by any IIM or any other top MBA institute. |
| Except for being IIM Ahmedabad where, since 2016 the qualifying cut off has remained 80 percentile, it remains above 90 percentile for all IIMs. | In case of all the top IIMs and 95+ percentile for new IIMs it remains as high as 99+ percentile. |
| Includes sectional and overall cut offs. | Includes sectional and overall cut offs. |
| It is fixed on the basis of category. The cut off for General category students is approximately 90 and for those in reserved category it is relatively low, i.e., 70 and below. | It is fixed on the basis of category. General category male students with Engineering background have the final cut off is high as compared to those of reserved category, female students as well as students with non-engineering background. |
It may seem like a hard nut to crack, but if you know your pressure points well, you can give your best and you will be sure to come out with vibrant, flying colors.
All the best!