CAT 2025 Percentile Calculation: The Common Admission Test or CAT exam is not just a test of your aptitude; it is a test of your relative performance. Unlike university exams where 90% is an absolute score, CAT is all about the percentile. As an aspirant, once you check your response sheet, the immediate question is, “What does a raw score of 80 or 100 actually mean for my IIM dreams?”
Understanding this process is extremely important since admissions to IIMs and leading B-schools rely on the CAT percentiles rather than raw scores. The CAT is administered in various slots, prompting the IIMs to implement a normalization and scaling process to maintain fairness amid differing difficulty levels. This blog will walk you through the process of calculating your CAT 2025 percentile based on raw scores, clarify the normalization method, and analyze the transition from your CAT raw score to the final CAT 2025 percentile, assisting you in establishing achievable goals for your desired B-schools.
Table of Contents
How To Calculate Your CAT 2025 Percentile Using Raw Scores?
Below mentioned is the step-by-step guide on how CAT 2025 raw scores are converted to scaled scores and percentiles, so you can accurately estimate your performance.
Understanding the CAT Marking Scheme
After the CAT exam, students usually try to calculate their raw scores using their estimated attempts. Candidates’ performance is assessed directly based solely on the accuracy of their attempts, both correct and incorrect. The official CAT score calculation process uses a standardized marking scheme across all three sections, including VARC, DILR, and QA.
CAT 2025 Raw Score Formula
The raw score is determined by assigning marks for correct responses and subtracting marks for incorrect answers in Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs).
| Answer Type | Marks Awarded/Deducted |
| Correct Answer | +3 Marks |
| Incorrect MCQ | -1 Mark (Negative Marking) |
| Incorrect Non-MCQ (TITA) | 0 Marks (No Negative Marking) |
| Unattempted Question | 0 Marks |
Formula: Raw Score = (3 x Number of Correct Answers) – (1 x Number of Incorrect MCQs)
This methodology applies to both sectional raw scores and the cumulative raw score. For example, if you achieve 40 accurate responses and 15 incorrect multiple-choice questions throughout all parts, your raw score would be:
Example Raw Score Calculation: Raw Score = (3 x 40) – (1 x 15) = 120 – 15 = 105
This raw score is the absolute value of your performance, but it is not the score used to determine your final percentile.
CAT Normalization Process: From Raw Score to Scaled Score
This step is essential, yet frequently misinterpreted, in the conversion process. The CAT exam is administered in multiple sessions, with variations in difficulty levels observed across these sessions. To promote fairness and equity, the IIMs employ a statistical method known as Normalization to transform raw scores into CAT Scaled Scores.
What is the CAT Normalization Process?
CAT Score Normalization is a method that modifies the raw scores of candidates to reflect the varying difficulty levels encountered in different examination sessions. The goal is to bring all scores onto a common relative scale.
- Tougher Slot: If the average performance in your slot was poor (indicating a tough paper), your raw score may be scaled up to produce a higher scaled score.
- Easier Slot: If the average performance in your slot was high, your raw score might be scaled down to maintain fairness.
The Role of the CAT Scaled Score
The CAT Scaled Score represents the score following the normalization adjustment. The official score utilized by IIMs to determine your percentile is the same score that appears on your final CAT scorecard.
Note: The final CAT percentile is always calculated on the basis of the Scaled Score, not the Raw Score. This is why a raw score of 100 in a difficult slot might yield a higher percentile than a raw score of 105 in an easier slot.
Read More: CAT Raw Score Vs Scaled Score
How Is The CAT Percentile Calculated?
The final step is to turn your scaled score into a percentile. The CAT percentile is a relative ranking that indicates the proportion of candidates that scored lower than or equal to your scaled score. Securing a 99 percentile indicates that you outperformed 99% of all test takers.
The IIM CAT percentile formula is based on the rank assigned to a candidate relative to the total number of students who appeared for the exam.
Official CAT Percentile Formula
The formula used by the IIMs to determine the overall and sectional percentiles is:
Where:
- P is the Percentile Score of the candidate.
- N is the Total Number of Candidates who appeared in all sessions of CAT 2025.
- r is the Rank assigned to the candidate based on their Scaled Score (overall or sectional).
The rank (r) is calculated as the number of candidates who secured a scaled score less than or equal to the candidate’s scaled score.
Percentile Calculation Example
Let’s assume:
- Total number of candidates who appeared (N): 2,50,000
- Your assigned rank based on your scaled score (r): 5,000 (meaning 4,999 candidates scored strictly higher than you).
Percentile = 2,50,000 – 5,000 / 2,50,000 X 100
Percentile = 2,45,000 / 2,50,000 X 100 = 0.98 X 100 = 98%ile
This example illustrates the exact mechanism used to determine your competitive standing. The CAT normalization process entails intricate statistical modeling that is not available to the public, making it impossible to manually compute your final scaled score or percentile. Tools such as the Career Launcher’s CAT Percentile Predictor prove to be very beneficial in this context.
Expected CAT 2025 Score vs Percentile
While your raw score doesn’t directly map to a desired percentile, historical data and trends are the best way to determine your target. The table below reflects the estimated CAT score vs percentile and required score in each section for your reference:
| Expected Percentiles | Overall Score | ||
| CAT 2025 Slot 1 | CAT 2025 Slot 2 | CAT 2025 Slot 3 | |
| 99 | 81 | 82-83 | 83-84 |
| 95 | 65 | 66 | 67 |
| 90 | 52 | 53 | 53 |
| 85 | 45 | 45 | 45 |
| 80 | 40 | 40 | 40 |
Disclaimer: These are historical projections and expected ranges. The actual score-to-percentile conversion will vary significantly depending on the overall difficulty of the CAT 2025 slots and the total number of candidates who appear.
Conclusion
Calculating your CAT 2025 percentile based on raw scores is a fundamental initial step. Recall the three-step procedure: Raw Score is converted to a Scaled Score via the CAT Normalization process, resulting in the Final CAT Percentile. Your CAT percentile is the only metric that depicts your eligibility for the coveted IIM and top B-school cutoffs.
With your estimated CAT percentile in hand, the real work begins. Don’t stop there! Start preparing for your next big step now. Utilize this number to strategically narrow down your college options, verify the anticipated CAT cutoff for 2025, and promptly redirect your attention to preparing for the GD-PI-WAT rounds.
Also Read: CAT 2025 GDPI and WAT Preparation
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. Is the CAT percentile calculated from raw score?
A: No, the CAT percentile is determined by the scaled score, which is derived following the normalization process.
Q2. When will the official CAT 2025 percentile be released?
A: The CAT 2025 percentile will be released along with the official CAT scorecard, usually a few weeks after the exam.
Q3. Should I rely only on raw score-based predictions?
A: Use them as an estimate, not a final result. Actual percentiles may vary slightly.
Q4. Does a high raw score guarantee an IIM call?
A: Yes, a high raw score may result in receiving calls from major IIMs; however, it is not always the case. Final selection also includes sectional cutoffs, academic profile, work experience, and diversity factors along with the raw score.
