CAT 2026 Exam: Dates, Registration, Eligibility, Pattern and Result

The full form of CAT is Common Admission Test. One IIM conducts the Common Admission Test each year on behalf of all IIMs, and the host changes.

IIM Indore is going to conduct CAT 2026 for all 22 participating IIMs. For eligibility and category queries, write to cat2026_helpdesk@iimidr.ac.in.

No, the CAT registration was closed on 22 September 2026 at 5:00 PM. Candidates who did not register can plan for the next cycle and watch iimcat.ac.in for its notification.

No, the IIMs conduct CAT exam once a year.

The CAT exam date is 29 November 2026, and the paper runs in the forenoon, afternoon and evening sessions. The Information Bulletin also lets the IIMs change a centre, date or time at their discretion. The CAT 2026 exam date page carries any update.

Yes, the organisers extended the CAT exam registration date from 15 September 2026 to 22 September 2026. A second release extended the fee-payment window to 24 September 2026 for candidates who had already registered. The Information Bulletin and the registration guide still print 15 September, but the later media releases decide the date.

No, you cannot choose the session on your own. The CAT exam centre will allot one of the three sessions once registration closes. Your admit card includes session and time related details.

All 22 IIMs named in the Information Bulletin accept CAT 2026 scores. They are Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bangalore, Bodh Gaya, Calcutta, Guwahati, Indore, Jammu, Kashipur, Kozhikode, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, Raipur, Ranchi, Rohtak, Sambalpur, Shillong, Sirmaur, Tiruchirappalli, Udaipur and Visakhapatnam.

Use iimcat.ac.in only for information on CAT exam 2026. It includes the Information Bulletin, the registration guide, frequently asked questions and media releases.

Yes, even candidates who are awaiting results and have met the CAT eligibility rule, can apply. If selected, they join an IIM provisionally. They must submit a certificate from the Principal or Registrar. It must show that they completed all degree requirements by the IIM's stated date.

Yes, candidates who completed CA, CS, ICWA (CMA) or FIAI can apply with the required percentage. FIAI stands for Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries of India. The CAT eligibility rule asks for any one of three things. These are a completed bachelor's degree, a completed professional degree, or the final year of a bachelor's degree.

The CAT eligibility check uses the conversion formula that your university certifies. If the university has no formula, divide your CGPA by the maximum possible CGPA and multiply by 100. For example, a CGPA of 7 out of 10 gives 70%.

There is no upper age limit for CAT 2026, as per the Information Bulletin. Candidates must keep one valid email account and one mobile number throughout the selection process.

No. The CAT exam organisers do not allow any change of category after registration. The central government list on the last registration date applies for CAT 2026 and the later IIM selection process.

Yes. The Information Bulletin does not make work experience a condition. Some IIMs give it weight in shortlisting, so check each IIM's admission policy.

The CAT exam registration fee is Rs. 2,700 for General, EWS and NC-OBC candidates. SC, ST and PwBD candidates pay Rs. 1,350. You can pay by card, net banking, UPI or wallet.

The CAT application form needs a photograph, a signature and, where they apply, your category certificate. Upload SC, ST, NC-OBC and EWS certificates as PDF files. PwBD candidates upload the disability certificate in the same way. Scribe users must also fill the Scribe Affidavit form from the CAT website.

Only full-time work after graduation counts. Part-time work, projects, internships, articleship and pre-graduation work do not count. Enter your experience in days as on 31 July 2026, and enter any break in days. If you had no break, enter 0.

It is not possible and the only exception is the edit window from 5 October to 6 October 2026. It allows changes to the photograph, signature and test city preferences. A candidate who must change any other detail has to register again with a new email address.

You choose five different test cities, and the organisers allot you one of them, subject to availability. If none is available, you get a nearby city.

Raise a ticket on the Grievance Portal inside your registered login. You can also call 1800 210 0175 from Monday to Saturday, 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM. Expect a reply on the ticket within two working days.

You can get disqualified from the selection process and you may be barred from future CAT exams.

Log in to your registered account on iimcat.ac.in during the download window and open the CAT admit card link. Save it and take a clear print on A4 paper.

The admit card shows your name, test date, PwD status, test centre, session and reporting time. Check the spelling of your name and the centre address as soon as you download it. Raise a ticket on the Grievance Portal if any detail on the CAT admit card looks wrong.

Yes, the printed CAT admit card is compulsory. Carry printed copies of the same photograph that you uploaded in the form. The registration guide says the photograph is affixed on the admit card on test day. Writing anything extra on the admit card counts as unfair means.

The CAT mock test will be available from 12 November 2026 on iimcat.ac.in. Take it before the exam to get used to the test interface and the time pressure.

No. The organisers do not change a city after allotment.

Download it again from your account. The download window stays open until the CAT exam date.

The official CAT exam pattern gives no question count and no total mark. There were around 68 questions in CAT 2025 where 3 marks were awarded for each correct answer. In total, 68 questions carry a maximum of 204 marks.

The sectional time limit is 40 minutes for each section. You cannot switch between sections or move ahead early. This rule means unused time in one section is lost, so pace each section on its own clock.

Yes, PwBD candidates get 20 extra minutes for every hour of the exam. That adds 40 minutes in total, split equally across the three sections.

The CAT 2026 exam pattern fixes the order, so VARC always opens the paper. Plan your first ten minutes for reading. A candidate who is quick with the on-screen calculator saves minutes in QA.

You get an on-screen calculator, one scribble pad and one pen. The on-screen calculator is the only calculator allowed in CAT 2026. Practise with it in the CAT mock test, because a slow calculator habit costs time under a sectional time limit.

No. CAT 2026 is a computer-based test held at test centres in about 170 cities.

Under the CAT exam pattern, each correct answer earns 3 marks. A wrong MCQ answer loses 1 mark, and a wrong non-MCQ answer loses nothing. An unattempted question carries no marks. This negative marking means a blind guess on an MCQ costs more than leaving it blank.

No, a non-MCQ has no negative marking in CAT 2026. You can attempt one when you have a reasonable answer, because a wrong answer costs nothing. Read each question type on the screen before you answer.

VARC mainly tests reading comprehension and verbal reasoning. DILR gives sets of data and puzzles with several questions each. QA tests school-level mathematics. The IIMs do not publish a CAT syllabus, so these types come from past papers.

No, the organisers have not published an official CAT syllabus. Your practice should follow the question types in past papers and the official CAT mock test.

A beginner should begin CAT preparation from arithmetic and algebra part of QA, and then move to daily reading for VARC. DILR needs regular practice with sets. This order keeps the CAT syllabus manageable in the first fortnight. Each section gets the same 40 minutes, so give each of the three sections steady weekly time.

The IIMs state no class level. Past QA papers mostly test school-level mathematics, with some permutation, combination and probability.

VARC questions test comprehension and verbal reasoning. Past papers asked para jumbles, summary and odd sentence questions more than grammar rules.

Log in to iimcat.ac.in with your registered credentials and open the scorecard link to see the CAT result. Download the scorecard and keep a copy, because the IIMs use it at every stage.

The CAT 2026 score is valid until 31 December 2027. After that date, the organisers will not entertain scorecard queries.

A CAT percentile shows the share of test takers who scored the same as you or lower. A 95 CAT percentile means that 95 out of 100 candidates scored equal to or below you. IIMs and colleges use the percentile and not only the raw score.

About 2.58 lakh candidates appeared in CAT 2025, as per third-party media sources. Twelve candidates scored 100 percentile, nine of them non-engineers. The official documents carry no attendance figures for CAT 2025.

The organisers have not announced an answer key date for CAT 2026. Watch iimcat.ac.in after the exam. The CAT 2026 answer key page carries updates when they come.

Yes, candidates may also be informed by SMS. The scorecard on the CAT website is the official record.

The CAT cutoff differs for every IIM and every programme, and no IIM has published it for 2026 yet. See how one IIM shows its numbers on the IIM Ahmedabad cutoff page.

CAT has no official minimum percentile for all IIMs. Each IIM sets its own CAT cutoff, and it may also use your academics, work experience and other inputs. A high CAT percentile does not guarantee an interview call.

No IIM has announced a date for it. Each IIM publishes its shortlisting criteria on its own website.

Each IIM shortlists candidates on its own formula. The formula usually combines your CAT score with your academic record and work experience. The weights differ by IIM and by programme, so read the policy of every IIM you want.

No, a high score does not guarantee a seat. The Information Bulletin says that meeting the minimum eligibility does not ensure shortlisting. Reserved category candidates must also meet the minimum eligibility and a minimum level of performance. Programme fees also differ by IIM, as the IIM Ahmedabad fees page shows.

Yes, if it appears in the list of institutions on iimcat.ac.in. Those colleges run their own selection.

An IIM may ask for original mark sheets and the grade conversion certificate at the interview. It may also verify your category, EWS or PwBD certificate, because IIMs can check eligibility at several stages. Keep scanned and original copies of all these documents ready. Make sure they match the details in your CAT 2026 application.

The stages after CAT exam differ by IIM and by programme. Read the admission policy on the website of every IIM you applied to.

Solve one section at a time within 40 minutes, and check your accuracy after each attempt. Use a CAT previous year question paper only after you finish a topic from the CAT syllabus once. Note the questions you skipped, and find the reason before you attempt the next paper.

In earlier years, each session had its own paper. The official CAT 2026 documents do not mention this, so expect different papers in all three sessions of CAT exam date.

Use both. Past papers show the question types, and the official mock test lets you practise on the real test interface.