CAT 2021 will be held on the 29th November 2021, in an online mode. The official CAT 2021 result is expected to be declared in the second week of January 2022 although this is more of a guideline rather than a rule. However, you can estimate their CAT Percentile from the expected CAT Score. Based on the estimated CAT Percentile, the IIM calls that you are likely to receive can be shortlisted and the further preparation can be done accordingly. In this article, you can find out how CAT percentile is calculated, know the relation between CAT score vs percentile, and some other important tips about CAT Exam that could help boost your preparation.
First, let us have a look at how the raw CAT score is calculated. Even before that, let us understand what CAT raw score is.
The raw score is the actual score that you receive with the marking scheme being +3 for every correct answer and -1 for every incorrect answer in MCQs. The non-MCQs carry the same reward but no penalty. Therefore, you can get a maximum of 300 from the CAT 2020 Exam since there are 100 questions with the maximum marks that can be obtained from each question being 3 marks. This score is also mentioned in your CAT scorecard.
Although, raw score is not directly used by the twenty IIMs to shortlist a candidate. There are several other parameters which are brought into consideration to have an unbiased and fair evaluation of the candidate’s eligibility. The process they follow is known as normalization. The score which is derived from the CAT raw score is known as scaled score. Before understanding the scaled score in detail, here is how the raw score of the candidate is calculated.
Student |
Number of questions the student attempted |
Right Attempts |
Incorrect Attempts (Non- MCQ and MCQ) |
Marks For right attempt |
Marks for wrong attempt (MCQ) |
Marks for wrong attempt (Non- MCQ) |
Raw Score |
ABC
|
100 |
76 |
MCQ = 20 Non MCQ = 4 |
76*3 = 228 |
20*1 = 20 |
4*0 = 0 |
228-20 = 208 |
XYZ
|
88 |
80 |
MCQ = 6 Non MCQ = 2 |
80*3 = 240 |
6*1 = 6 |
2*0 = 0 |
240-6 = 234 |
This is to note that an incorrect attempt for MCQs will lead a deduction of -1 and based on the number of incorrect attempts taken by you say n, the overall CAT score will face a total deduction of n*(-1) marks and an incorrect attempt for Non MCQs (say x) will lead to no deduction of marks hence the overall CAT score will face a total deduction of x*(0) = 0
Also read: CAT Marks vs Percentile
Evidently, CAT 2021 will be conducted in two shifts this year due to the participation of approximately 2.5 lakh students, it is certain that the complexity of both the set of question papers may vary. Hence, IIMs use the equating procedure I.e. normalization to calculate your scaled score. The scaled score may be either more or lesser than the raw score obtained by you. However, this modification will not result in the decrease of CAT percentile or your achieved rank.
One thing that each candidate needs to understand is that the CAT Score that candidates receive in their CAT Result is not the actual CAT Score that they have got in the CAT Exam. The reason for this is the much-maligned Normalization Procedure that the IIMs follow.
The normalized score is converted from the raw score of the candidate. The raw score of the candidate is the actual score that the candidate receives with the marking scheme being +3 for every correct answer and -1 for every incorrect answer in MCQs. The non-MCQs carry the same reward but no penalty. Therefore, the candidate can get a maximum of 300 from the CAT 2019 Exam since there are 100 questions with the maximum marks that can be obtained from each question being 3 marks.
The Normalization Procedure is followed in order to ensure that all the candidates appearing for the CAT Exam are at the same level. It was far more important in the past when the CAT Exam was held over several days. Here the difficulty level had to be equalized in order to get a fair idea of each candidate’s performance. However, it was also very contentious for candidates who got lower scores than what they expected.
Here is the official statement from the IIMs: "The process of Normalization is an established practice for comparing candidate scores across multiple forms and is similar to those being adopted in other large educational selection tests conducted in India, such as Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE). For normalization across sections, we shall use the percentile equivalence".
A CAT percentile is an indication of the position of the candidate below another candidate in the final rankerâs list. For e.g if a candidate secured 90%, it means 10% of the candidates have scored equal to or greater than her. We can say that CAT percentile distinguishes candidates based on their performance. Keep in mind that CAT percentile is only an indication of the rank of the student, not the exact scores students have received in the test.
As you can see, the CAT Score and the CAT Percentile are entirely different concepts which are intertwined at the base. The higher the CAT Score, the higher is the CAT Percentile likely to be. However, there is some deviation in the trend every year with the difficulty of the CAT Exam varying each time. Therefore, the CAT Score vs Percentile becomes extremely important.
The CAT Score vs Percentile comparison will vary every year with the change in the difficulty of the exam. Therefore, for you to have a fair idea of how much they need to score in order to get into their dream college, the candidate needs to build cases for the different level of difficulty.
This is where the past CAT trends can help you identify the kind of score that they would require in order to stand a chance at getting into your dream college.
Percentile/ Year |
CAT 2020 |
CAT 2019 |
CAT 2018 |
CAT 2017 |
CAT 2016 |
CAT 2015 |
99%ile |
160 |
160 |
180 |
174 |
156 |
180 |
95%ile |
123 |
128 |
140 |
138 |
123 |
144 |
90%ile |
108 |
108 |
110-120 |
118 |
104 |
124 |
85%ile |
70-80+ |
94 |
94-107 |
103 |
92 |
110 |
80%ile |
51-69+ |
80+ |
91 |
93 |
82 |
98 |
2018. From recent trends it appears that the CAT Exam has two levels of difficulty and the CAT Score vs Percentile fluctuates accordingly.
As you can see from the table given above, the CAT Score vs Percentile varies widely over the years with the difficulty of the exam. CAT 2017 and CAT 2015 were quite easy in comparison to CAT 2016 and CAT 2018. From recent trends it appears that the CAT Exam has two levels of difficulty and the CAT Score vs Percentile fluctuates accordingly.
If you look at recent trends, the CAT Exam difficulty is largely decided by the difficulty of the DILR and the QA Section. The DILR Section has been tough in almost all the recent exams. Therefore, the difficulty of the Quant section determined the CAT Score vs Percentile drop. In CAT 2016, it was the above average difficulty of the DILR section which heralded the low CAT Score vs Percentile. CAT 2019 and CAT 2020 were almost similar in terms of level of difficulty. The DILR section was an extremely challenging section for two consecutive years whereas the QA section was a respite, with more easy questions in the second half of the section. The VARC section seemed tricky in the beginning, but if the candidate furnished his/her reading skills and solved 700+ RCs till the CAT Exam, it would be a smooth sail.
Based on these trends, the candidates need to get at least a 155-160 to get a 99%ile, which is the dream of several candidates. On the other hand, the CAT Score vs Percentile could shoot up if the CAT Exam is not as difficult as expected. These insights are merely conjectures that have been drawn on the basis of recent CAT Exam trends. It is not something that can be taken as gospel due to which, the CAT Score vs Percentile mapping should simply be a guideline for the candidates.
The CAT Percentile and the profile of the candidate will determine the colleges that they get calls from. These calls are the reason that candidates put in the amount of effort that they do, because the calls give them a shot at getting into the Business Schools of their dreams.
1. IIM A, IIM B and IIM C - Percentile Range 98-100
Faculty of Management Studies, MDI Gurgaon and NITIE - Percentile Range 95-98
XIMB, 2nd Gen IIMs, IMT Ghaziabad and IIT Chennai - Percentile Range 90-95% 90-95%
4. SP Jain, KJ Somaiya and TAPMI - Percentile Range 80-90%
These represent some of the colleges that candidates can look to aim for at different CAT Percentile ranges.
The composite score of each student is based on the scaled CAT score, class 12th marks, class 10th marks, Graduation score, work experience (more than 2 years) diversity, academic diversity and gender diversity.
The CAT Score vs Percentile mapping is something that candidates should be aware of so that they can target the colleges accordingly. While the CAT Score vs Percentile mentioned in this article is based on recent trends, they can flip very easily if the IIM convening CAT decides to tinker with the format or change the difficulty of the CAT Exam drastically.
At the end of the day, it is the CAT Percentile which matters as the colleges look at the CAT Percentiles rather than the marks when they make the decision on whether they will give a candidate a call or not.
Hope this helps!!
Best of Luck for CAT 2021!