CAT 2025: Exam Date, Registration, Eligibility, Syllabus
Common Admission Test (CAT) 2025 is expected to be conducted by the Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode tentatively in the last week of November. CAT exam date 2025 is yet to be announced. Along with the CAT entrance exam date 2025, the authorities are also likely to release registration details. CAT 2025 registration process may tentatively begin in August 2025 on its official website: iimcat.ac.in.
Aspiring students who wish to pave their way to the best management colleges across India, including IIMs and IITs, are required to apply for the CAT exam 2025. As per the CAT minimum qualification criteria, aspirants should hold 3 years of Bachelor’s degree in any discipline from a recognised university with a minimum 50% marks (45% for reserved category). Continue reading to learn about CAT 2025 in detail, from important dates to registration process, and preparation tips.
IIM Entrance Exam 2025: CAT Overview
The notification for CAT entrance exam is expected to be released in the last week of July, 2025 on its official website: iimcat.ac.in. In the meantime, aspirants are advised to refer to CAT past year papers, syllabus and exam pattern to understand the nature of the exam thoroughly.
| Particular | Details |
| CAT Full Form | Common Admission Test |
| Conducting Authority | One of the Indian Institutes of Management (on a rotational basis) |
| CAT 2025 Exam Date | Last week of November 2025 (tentatively) |
| Frequency of Conduct | Once a Year |
| Medium of Paper | English |
| CAT Official Website | iimcat.ac.in. |
| Types of Questions | Objective Type
Subjective Type |
| Interview | Conducted after qualifying CAT exam |
| Marking Scheme | Negative marking of score 1 |
| Exam Duration | 120 Minutes (2 Hours) |
Also Read: IIM Explained – Full Form, Colleges, Ranking, Curriculum, Fee, more
What is CAT 2025?
The CAT full form is Common Admission Test. It is a computer-based test (CBT) conducted once a year. Commonly known as IIM CAT, it is a single-tier exam, followed by an interview. Annually, CAT is conducted across India at various exam centres in each state. The purpose of the CAT exam is to test your aptitude skills in data interpretation, logical reasoning, quantitative ability, and verbal ability.
CAT Exam is for What Purpose?
CAT is a national-level exam conducted by IIM for admission to various management courses. It is a standard exam for Master of Business Administration (MBA) admissions to Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) across India. With the CAT entrance exam, you qualify for various participating institutes based on further interviews and group discussion rounds. IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta, and IIM Indore are the top institutes for an MBA or PGDM programme after CAT.
CAT Exam Date 2025
Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) one by one rotationally organise the CAT exam annually. For 2025, IIM Kozhikode is expected to conduct the CAT exam. It may tentatively release CAT notifications in July 2025. Here are other important expected key dates:
| Event | Tentative Dates |
| CAT Exam 2025 Notification Date | July 2025 |
| CAT 2025 Registration Date Start | August 2025 |
| CAT 2025 Registration Last Date | September 2025 |
| CAT Exam Form Correction Date | September 2025 |
| Admit Card Release Date | November 2025 |
| CAT 2025 Exam Date | November 2025 |
| Declaration of CAT Results | December 2025 |
CAT Eligibility Criteria 2025
Satisfying the CAT exam eligibility criteria is essential to apply for the exam. Here is the basic academic eligibility that you need to fulfill for CAT 2025 as per the previous year. Explore at a glance:
✅ General and Non-Creamy Layer OBC (NCL-OBC) category candidates must have a bachelor’s degree in any discipline with a minimum of 50% marks.
✅ Candidates belonging to reserved categories (SC/ST/PwD) can apply for CAT with a minimum of 45% marks in graduation.
✅ Students who are in the final year of their graduation can also register for the CAT exam. However, if they fail to meet the minimum marks criteria by the time of enrollment, their admission may be cancelled.
✅ Individuals with professional qualifications such as CA, CS, FIAI, or ICWS can also appear for the exam.
✅ The CAT 2025 exam does not follow any age restriction criteria.
CAT 2025 Registration Process & Fee
The authorities of CAT exam 2025 are expected to release registration forms in August at: iimcat.ac.in. Make sure to submit the CAT exam form before the CAT 2025 registration last date, tentatively in September. Here is how you can register for the CAT exam 2025:
✔️ Visit the official website of CAT 2025 and click on the “Registration” link.
✔️ Fill out your name, date of birth, mobile number, and email address.
✔️ Receive the login credentials after verifying your registration via OTP sent to you via email or SMS.
✔️ Log in to the official website with the User ID and password you received as credentials.
✔️ Fill out the CAT 2025 application form with essential personal and academic details.
✔️ Upload the scanned copies of the required documents in the form.
✔️ Pay the registration fee through online banking, UPI payments, debit/credit cards, etc., to submit the form.
✔️ Download a copy of the submitted form for future reference.
CAT Application Fee
The CAT exam application fee 2025 varies, depending on reserved and unreserved category candidates. Here is the registration fee for CAT as per the previous year:
| Category | Registration Fee |
| General and OBC | INR 2,500 /- |
| SC/ST/PwD | INR 1,250 /- |
IIM CAT Admit Card 2025
After submitting the exam form before the last day, the CAT 2025 admit card will tentatively be released in November. The admit card for CAT 2025 will become available on its official website. The admit card for the CAT entrance exam will include all important information for the exam date such as name, allotted exam centre, date & time, test day instructions and more. Here are the steps to download the admit card for CAT 2025:
✅ Visit CAT official website: iimcat.ac.in.
✅ Log in with your credentials: User ID and Password.
✅ Navigate to “CAT Exam Admit Card 2025”.
✅ Click on the “CAT Hall Ticket Download” link to save the admit card to your device.
✅ Take a printout of the CAT 2025 hall ticket to carry to the exam centre.
Note: Candidates are advised to verify the details mentioned on the hall ticket to avoid chaos on the exam day. In case of any discrepancy, connect with the authorities before the exam date.
IIM CAT Exam Centres 2025
The CAT entrance exam in 2025 is expected to be conducted in 150+ cities across India. Each state has been assigned several exam centres for the ease of candidates. The official CAT exam centre list 2025 would be out along with the registration announcement, likely in July or August 2025. Here are the tentative exam centres for CAT 2025 based on previous year trends.
| CAT Exam Centres | CAT Exam Centres |
| Port Blair | Guntur |
| Kurnool | Nellore |
| Tirupathi | Vishakapatnam |
| Vizianagaram | Arrah |
| Darbhanga | Gaya |
| Patna | Dibrugarh |
| Jorhat | Silchar |
| Itanagar – Naharlagun | Bhilai Nagar |
| Raipur | Chandigarh |
| New Delhi | Ahmedabad |
| Gandhinagar | Mehsana |
| Surat | Vadodara |
| Panaji | Hamirpur |
| Bilaspur (HP) | Ambala |
| Dhanbad | Hazaribagh |
| Ranchi | Jammu |
| Kannur | Ernakulam |
| Kottayam | Kozhikode |
| Trivandrum | Belagavi (Belgaum) |
| Hubli – Dharwad | Kalaburagi (Gulbarga) |
| Mysuru (Mysore) | Shivamogga (Shimoga) |
| Leh | Kavaratti |
| Gwalior | Indore |
| Sagar | Satna |
| Shillong | Ahmednagar |
| Aurangabad | Bhiwandi |
| Jalgaon | Kolhapur |
| Nagpur | Nanded |
| Navi Mumbai | Palghar |
| Raigad | Satara |
| Thane | Vasai |
| Aizawl | Kohima |
| Berhampur | Bhubaneswar |
| Dhenkanal | Rourkela |
| Puducherry | Amritsar |
| Jalandhar | Ludhiana |
| Patiala | Ajmer |
| Jaipur | Jodhpur |
| Sikar | Udaipur |
| Karimnagar | Warangal |
| Coimbatore | Madurai |
| Tiruchirappalli | Tirunelveli |
| Agartala | Agra |
| Bareilly | Ghaziabad |
| Greater Noida – Noida | Jhansi |
| Lucknow | Mathura |
| Moradabad | Muzaffarnagar |
| Varanasi | Dehradun |
| Roorkee | Asansol |
| Burdwan | Durgapur |
| Kalyani | Kolkata |
| Kakinada | Faridabad – Gurugram |
| Rajahmundry | Jamshedpur |
| Vijayawada | Srinagar |
| Bhagalpur | Kollam |
| Muzaffarpur | Thrissur |
| Guwahati | Bengaluru |
| Tezpur | Mangaluru (Mangalore) |
| Bilaspur | Udupi |
| Silvassa | Bhopal |
| Anand | Jabalpur |
| Rajkot | Ujjain |
| Madgaon | Amravati |
| Shimla | Boisar |
| Cuttack | Mumbai |
| Sambalpur | Nashik |
| Bhatinda | Pune |
| Mohali | Solapur |
| Bikaner | Ukhrul |
| Kota | Balasore |
| Hyderabad | Meerut |
| Chennai | Prayagraj |
| Salem | Haldwani |
| Vellore | Bankura |
| Aligarh | Hooghly |
| Gorakhpur | Siliguri |
| Kanpur |
CAT 2025 Syllabus
The CAT syllabus 2025 involves three main sections: Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC), Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR), and Quantitative Aptitude (QA). Here is the general overview of the CAT exam syllabus 2025:
CAT VARC Syllabus
| Fill in the Blanks | Multiple Usages of the Same Word |
| Jumbled Paragraphs | Sentence Completion |
| Article Usage | Reading Comprehension |
| Subject-Verb Agreement | Idioms |
| Phrase Modifiers | Parts of Speech |
| Verbal Reasoning | Paragraph Completion & Inference |
| Foreign Language Words used in the English language | Prepositions |
| Grammar | Analogies |
| Verbal Logic | Errors in Tenses |
| Types of Clauses | Sentence Correction |
| Syllogisms | Antonyms |
| One Word Substitution |
CAT DILR Syllabus
| Blood Relations | Assumptions |
| Data Structures | Proposition |
| Syllogism | Family Tree |
| Direction Sense | Data Sufficiency |
| Bars & Line Graphs | Tables |
| Series | Data Arrangement |
| Seating Arrangement | Clocks & Calendars |
| Venn Diagram | Pie-charts |
| Sets & Caselets | Binary Logic |
| Puzzles | Coding Decoding |
| Averages & Weighted Averages | Statements |
| Deductive Reasoning |
CAT Syllabus for Quantitative Aptitude
| Profit & Loss | Means, Mode, Median |
| Ratios & Proportions | Percentages |
| Logarithms | Binomial Theorem |
| Inequations | Work and Time |
| Inequalities | Pipes and Cisterns |
| Geometry | Simple & Compound Interest |
| Mensuration | Partnerships (Accounts) |
| Geometry Progressio | Probability |
| Algebra | Surds and Indices |
| Quadratic & Linear Equations | Number System |
| Maxima and Minima | Speed Distance Time |
| Boats and Streams |
IIM CAT Exam Pattern 2025
Aspirants preparing for the upcoming Common Admission Test for admission to top MBA colleges in India, it is advisable to refer to the CAT 2025 exam pattern. The CAT exam shall include three main sections: VARC, DILR, and QA. The number of questions may vary year-on-year. However, you would get 40 minutes to solve each section. Each question in the exam holds a weightage of 3 marks. There is a penalty of one mark for each wrong answer, which only applies to MCQs.
| Particulars | Description |
| Types of Questions Asked | MCQs and Non-MCQs |
| Medium of Paper | English |
| Negative Marking | -1 for each wrong answer (only for MCQs) |
| CAT Total Marks | 204 (may vary by no. of questions) |
| CAT Exam Duration | 120 Minutes (40 minutes for each section) |
| CAT No. of Questions | 66-68 (may vary based on past year trends) |
CAT Exam Result 2025
IIM CAT 2025 exam results are likely to be released in December 2025. The CAT 2025 exam link shall become available on its official website: iimcat.ac.in. You would need to log in to the website with your credentials to access results. Here is how you can download the CAT 2025 result:
✅ Visit the official CAT website: iimcat.ac.in.
✅ Log in to the website with your CAT ID and password.
✅ Navigate to the “Scorecard” tab and click on it.
✅ Download the CAT exam result and save it to your device for future reference.
Colleges Accepting CAT Exam Scores
IIM CAT offers you admission to IIMs, various IITs, and many esteemed management colleges across India. Here are the top colleges accepting CAT exam scores 2025:
- IIM Ahmedabad
- IIM Bangalore
- IIM Calcutta
- IIM Kozhikode
- IIM Mumbai
- IIM Lucknow
- IIM Indore
- Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), Delhi
- SP Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR), Mumbai
- IIFT Delhi
- Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai
- BIMTECH, Greater Noida
- ICFAI Business School (IBS) Hyderabad
- Welingkar Mumbai
IIM CAT Exam Cut-off 2025
Prestigious B-schools in India are expected to release CAT 2025 cut-offs with the result declaration, tentatively in December 2025. Cut-offs are the minimum qualifying marks for your admission to your desired college, depending on CAT scores. Here are the expected cut-offs as per past year trends:
| College Names | CAT 2025 Expected Cut-Offs |
| IIM Ahmedabad | 99-100% |
| IIM Bangalore | 99-100% |
| IIM Calcutta | 99% |
| IIM Lucknow | 97-99% |
| IIM Kozhikode | 97-98% |
| IIM Indore | 97-99% |
| IIM Shillong | 90-92% |
| IIM Mumbai | 95-99% |
| FMS Delhi | 98.20% |
| SPJIMR | 85-90% |
| IMT Ghaziabad | 90-99% |
CAT Preparation Tips
CAT may be a tough nut to crack; however, not impossible. With sheer dedication and some effective tips, you can prepare for the CAT exam efficiently. Here are the tips:
| ✔️ Understand the syllabus thoroughly and memorise it.
✔️ Make a weekly learning routine and adhere to it. ✔️ Divide your time equally or accordingly to each section of the exam. ✔️ Be consistent with your schedules. ✔️ Include solving previous year questions (PYQs) in your weekly plan. ✔️ Solve previous year papers (PYPs) after completing the entire syllabus. ✔️ Practice mock tests to enhance your accuracy and speed. ✔️ Get adequate sleep and a healthy diet to avoid diseases. ✔️ Focus on understanding the concepts rather than memorising them. |
Conclusion
CAT is one of the toughest academic exams across the nation. Nearly 3 lakh students take the CAT exam every year. As a mandatory qualifying exam for admission to Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), various esteemed colleges accept CAT exam scores widely for admission to their management courses, especially MBA. However, cut-off marks vary for each college. Since CAT 2025 is expected in November 2025, you have sufficient time to cover the CAT exam syllabus thoroughly. Mentioned above are the effective preparation tips that you can follow while preparing for CAR. Make sure once the registration process begins, you fill the form as soon as possible, as it generally lasts for around a month only.
FAQs
Q1. What is the date of the CAT exam in 2025?
The CAT exam 2025 is expected to be held on November 30, 2025. However, the official CAT 2025 exam dates are yet to be announced by the IIMs authorities, tentatively IIM Kozhikode.
Q2. Which IIM is making CAT 2025?
IIM Kozhikode is expected to conduct the CAT exam for 2025.
Q3. When to apply for the CAT exam 2025?
The registration process for the CAT 2025 exam is tentatively beginning in August 2025. After the announcement of the CAT 2025 exam dates, apply as fast as possible to avoid last-minute chaos.
Q4. What is the pattern of CAT exam 2025?
The CAT exam pattern 2025 is expected to be as same as CAT 2024, comprising a total of 68 questions. However, there may be possibilities that the DILR section may contain only 20 questions instead of 22, resulting in 66 total questions.
