CAT Score vs Percentile 2024 : How to Calculate Percentile And Check Formula – Complete Guide

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MBA aspirants taking CAT 2024 should understand how the selection process works. The CAT result is given in percentile, which MBA colleges use for admission. This brings up questions like, "What is CAT percentile?", "How is it different from CAT score?", and "Which one is more important?"

The answer is simple: The CAT score is the total marks a candidate gets in the exam. The CAT percentile shows how a candidate performs compared to others. Both the score and percentile are important because they affect your chances of getting into top B-schools like IIMs. The CAT percentile is especially important in the first stage of IIM admissions, which includes the Written Ability Test and Personal Interview (WAT-PI). The CAT score helps calculate your percentile.

In short, the CAT percentile shows how well you did compared to others. The CAT scorecard will display both your score and percentile. With the release of the CAT 2024 answer key, candidates can now estimate their score.

So, how to calculate the CAT score and CAT percentile? In order to clear the CAT score vs percentile confusion, let’s understand it in detail.

The CAT question paper consists of 66 questions divided into three sections:

Quantitative Ability (24 questions)
Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (22 questions)
Logical Reasoning and Data Interpretation (20 questions)

The total marks for the CAT exam are 198. For each correct answer, three marks are awarded, while for each wrong answer, one mark is deducted. There is no negative marking for unanswered questions and non-MCQs.

The CAT score is the total score a candidate obtains in the paper. The sectional scores are added up and sorted to calculate the final total CAT score.

CAT Score Vs Percentile: What is CAT Percentile?

The CAT percentile shows the percentage of candidates who scored less than or equal to you. For example, a 99 percentile means you performed better than 99% of all test-takers. So, candidates above the 90 percentile are in the top 10%.

For instance, if 1,000 candidates take the exam and you rank first, your CAT percentile would be:
(999/1000) * 100 = 99.9

The CAT percentile reflects your performance compared to others, not your actual score.

CAT Score Vs Percentile: What is CAT Scaled Score?

The CAT exam is held in three sessions, each with slightly different question papers. To ensure fairness, a scaled score is calculated through a normalization process, which might differ from the raw score.

CAT 2023 Score Vs Percentile

Check the table below for an estimate of CAT 2023 score vs percentile, based on the number of correct answers.

CAT Score Vs Percentile 2024: What is Normalisation of CAT Score?

The CAT normalisation process is based on GATE scoring, assuming that candidates' abilities are distributed equally across all sessions. This process uses statistical equations to account for variations in the difficulty levels of the question papers across different sessions.

CAT 2024 Score Vs Percentile: How is Overall CAT Percentile Calculated?

The CAT percentile is mapped to the scaled score of each of the three sections and the overall scaled score. All six measurements are considered when reporting the CAT result. Each candidate's CAT scorecard will display both section-wise and overall scaled scores and percentiles.

It’s important to note that while the CAT percentile reflects your performance compared to other candidates, it is the CAT scaled score that is used to calculate the composite score for shortlisting candidates for the WAT-PI round at IIMs.

CAT Score Vs Percentile: CAT Composite Score Calculation

The composite score for each candidate is calculated based on several parameters. The factors used for CAT 2024 score and percentile calculation include:

CAT score (scaled)
Class 12 marks
Class 10 marks
Graduation score
Work experience
Gender diversity
Academic diversity

Below is the formula used by IIMs to calculate the CAT composite score.

CAT 2024: Expected Marks vs Percentile Estimation

Refer to the table for CAT 2024 estimates of marks vs percentile based on the number of correct answers, as suggested by IMS experts.

CAT Percentile	VARC score	DILR score	QA score	Overall score
99.9 %ile	48	36	40	102
99.5 %ile	44	32	30	89
99 %ile	40	28	27	80
98 %ile	36	25	23	71
95 %ile	30	19	18	57
90 %ile	25	16	15	49
85 %ile	21	13	12	40
80 %ile	19	11	10	36
75 %ile	17	10	9	31
70 %ile	15	9	8	29

*The above figures are estimation and not actual representation.

CAT 2023 Score Vs Percentile

Refer to the table below for the estimated CAT 2023 score vs percentile. These figures can help you analyze your performance based on the number of correct answers you provide in the CAT exam.

CAT Percentile	CAT Score (Scaled)
CAT Percentile	VARC	DILR	QA	Overall
100	61	50	50	143
99.99	58	42	44	120
99.50	44	31	29	85
99.00	40	28	26	77
97.00	33	22	23	63
95.00	29	19	18	55
90.00	24	16	14	46
85.00	21	14	12	34
80.00	18	12	10	40
70.00	13	8	7	32