How many marks are required for 100 Percentile in CAT exam?

Is it tough to score 100 percentile in CAT 2025? - There is no doubt to it that securing a score of 100 percentile is a dream of every CAT aspirant but it is also a tough nut to crack. If we go through the previous years’ trends, only 10 or 11 candidates are able to secure 100 percentile in CAT Exam while the number of test takers is way too high. Almost 2.3 lakh candidates appear in the MBA entrance exam every year and those who qualify with flying colors stand very less in number.

Though, securing 100 percentile in CAT Exam is difficult but achieving the ideal score puts you in a position where you can choose the best MBA college from a pool of IIM and Non-IIM colleges in the country. Also Read - Is CAT Exam Tough?

“What does 100 percentile in CAT mean?”- It means that the candidate has performed better than all the other CAT test takers. In better words, it represents the comparison of a candidate's relative performance to the other test takers of the CAT. For example, if a candidate gets 99.99 percentile in CAT Exam, it means that that candidate’s performance is better than 99.99% candidates who took the examination.

Calculate Your Expected CAT Exam Percentile:

What Does CAT Percentile Mean? How to Calculate CAT Percentile?

The CAT examination authority uses the CAT Normalization Process to calculate the final marks of candidates and then the final CAT Score is converted into CAT Percentile. There is a formula which is applied to calculate the percentile. The percentile of every candidate is calculated based on their raw score. Read in Detail - CAT Normalization Process.

Firstly, the raw scores of all the candidates across each section is taken and then normalized to bring them on a common scale. After the normalization process, the final score obtained is then converted into percentile on the basis of the below mentioned formula:

P = (R/N) × 100

where,

• P = CAT Percentile score
• R = Rank of the candidate on the basis of scaled CAT score or the total number of test takers ranking below that particular candidate.
• N= Number of candidates who took CAT exam (all three sessions)

For example, if there are 1000 candidates who take the CAT Exam and one candidate secures a scaled score of 196 out of 198 marks and the rest of the 999 candidates secured any marks below 196. Then CAT Percentile of the students with highest marks will be calculated as below:

999/1000 * 100 = 99.9 percentile.

Thus, the candidate obtains 99.9 percentile.

How Many Candidates Get 100 Percentile in CAT Exam?

Looking at the previous trends, on an average almost 9 to 11 candidates get to score 100 percentile in CAT Exam every year. Below mentioned is the number of candidates who scored 100 percentile in previous CAT Exam.

What are the Admission Chances after Getting 100 Percentile in CAT Exam?

Candidates who secure 100 percentile in CAT Exam need not worry about their chances of admission. They are, by all means, most likely to get admission to any of the top management institutes in the country. They will definitely get interview calls from the top IIMs such as IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta or IIM Lucknow. 100 percentile CAT Score is the highest CAT Cutoff for shortlisting candidates for Personal Interview (PI) for Top IIMs (for general category candidates).

The only factors that determine their possibility of getting the final admission call from the top management colleges are candidates’ academic record and their performance in WAT - PI rounds conducted by the institutes.

Candidates with 100 percentile are not only privileged to get admission to the top IIMs but they can actually get any Business school they wish to pursue their MBA degree from. Being the top rankers with a good profile, all the top management institutes will be more than willing to accept their candidature.

Can I Get Admission to Foreign University If I Score 100 Percentile in CAT Exam?

The answer to this question is ‘No’. Candidates with 100 percentile will not be able to apply to foreign universities since the CAT Exam Score is not accepted internationally. CAT is a national level management entrance exam and is only accepted by Indian MBA Institutes.

CAT 2023 Marks vs Percentile

Mentioned below is the conversion of marks to their respective percentile in CAT 2023 exam:

Read in Detail - CAT Score vs Percentile

CAT Cutoff 2025 (Expected)

Check the CAT 2025 expected cutoff below.

Expected CAT Cutoff 2025 for IIMs

Expected CAT Cutoff 2025 for Non IIMs