The notification for CAT 2025 exam will be released in the month of June / July 2024. Registration will be started from August 2024 so the interested candidates can register for the exam. According to the information available the tentative date for CAT 2025 is 24th November 2024 which is conducted by IIM Calcutta. As the candidates want to take admission in the IIMs so their eligibility criteria is based on chances of getting admissions in this University will be based on the CAT exam along with the Interview round. It is a national level exam and it provides admission to the courses in the field of PG and fellow/ doctorate programmes of IIMs. Also the candidates who are getting qualified in this exam can apply for non- IIMs as well which is listed on the website.
There will be 3 slots/ sessions which were conducted for the CAT 2025 and the candidates can appear in the computer based test mode (CBT) for the exam.
This article provides the complete information regarding the CAT 2025 application form, exam dates, eligibility, exam pattern, syllabus etc.
CAT 2025 Overview
| Exam Name | CAT – Common Admission Test |
| Organizing Authority | IIM Calcutta |
| Exam Level | National level exam |
| Frequency of Exam | Once a Year |
| Exam Mode | Computer based test mode (CBT) |
| Exam Date | 4th week of November 2024 |
| Exam Shifts | 3 shifts / sessions
8:30am to 10:30am (Session 1) 12:30 pm to 2:30pm (Session 2) 4:30pm to 6:30pm (Session 3) |
CAT 2025 Exam Dates
Below table provides tentative information about exam dates of CAT 2025
| Events | Dates 2025 (Tentative) |
| Release of Notification | Last week of July 2024 |
| Registration starts | 1st Week of August 2024 |
| Last date to register | 2nd-3rd Week of September 2024 |
| Application correction family | Last week of September 2024 |
| Release of admit card | 4th Week of October 2024 |
| CAT 2025 Exam Dates | 4th Week of November 2024 |
| Release of answer Key/ response sheet | 1st Week of December 2024 |
| Challenging of answer Key | 1st Week of December 2024 |
| Result declaration | Last Week of December 2024 – First Week of January 2025 |
CAT 2025 Registration
For registration, candidate need to follow some steps which are mentioned below:
- The registration of CAT 2025 will start in a few days after the notification is released in July/ August 2024.
- Those candidates are interested; they can fill the form through online mode by providing the link.
- The last date for filling the application form will be till the second/ third week of September 2024.
- For any communication candidates must check that they have filled the correct email address and mobile number in the application or not.
- If the application process is not completed by the candidates in the single session then they can complete it in the multiple rounds.
- Once the application fees payment is done by the candidates then no other changes are allowed by the candidate in the application form.
- Before submitting the form it is the duty of the candidates that they ensure that all the details filled by them are correct. If any wrong information is found in the form then the form is going to be canceled at once.
- Those candidates belonging to the category such as SC/ ST and PWD category need to upload category certificates in the registration form. And once the registration is completed then no other changes will be entertained.
- After the registration process ends then only the candidates can change the correction in a few details that are allowed during the correction period.
CAT 2025 Registration Fees
- Candidates can fill the registration fee through online mode only.
- The candidates can pay the application fees through SBI ePay and Bill Desk mode facility.
- The fee will not be refunded to the candidates in any situation once it will be paid by them.
| Category | Application Fee |
| SC/ ST and PWD candidate | Rs. 1200 |
| All other applicants | Rs. 2400 |
How to Register for CAT 2025 Exam
Below is the detail of CAT registration process which is provided for the candidate:
- For the registration candidates must visit the online website
- The candidates need to click on the ‘New Candidate Registration’ option
- For completing the registration process they need to generate OTP
- The candidate needs to fill in the details such as Name, E-mail, DOB, mobile number etc and confirm it. Before submitting the application form candidates must ensure that all the details they fill in are correct as no changes will be done after submitting the entries.
- For filling the other details the candidates need to login with the user ID and password.
- For application form candidates need to fill in the personal, academic, work experience and other details.
- Candidates must enter their work experience, programmes, test city.
- Now after completing the process the candidates need to pay the application fee using the payment method which was provided to them.
- They can download their application form for further preference.
CAT 2025 Application Correction
The candidates who are registered can make changes in the details such as Photograph, Signature and test city can be edited after the registration window gets closed. For making the correction in the application form the candidate needs to enter the login details as it will be done through online mode.
After the last date of correction no changes will be accepted from the students side as the correction window will open in the month of September 2024.
CAT 2025 Eligibility Criteria
Below are some eligibility criteria 2024 which candidates need to fulfill before filling the exam form such as Qualification, Marks, appearing and IIMs Criteria.
- Qualification: The candidates must hold a bachelor degree with them or having the same degree from any recognized institute / college are eligible to apply.
- Marks: Those candidates who need to apply for this exam must obtain at least 50% aggregate marks in the qualifying exam under the General/ EWS/ OBC-NC category and 45% aggregate are required for the SC/ ST/ PWD category.
- Appearing: Those candidates in the final year of graduation in 2024 are also eligible to apply.
- IIMs Criteria: The eligibility criteria of the candidates for IIMs will be verified at the various stages during the selection process. So for getting admission in the IIMs only basic eligibility is not considered.
CAT Reservation Criteria
Below are some CAT reserved criteria as legally prescribed by the authority.
| Category | Seat Reservation |
| ST | 7.5% |
| SC | 15% |
| OBC-NC | 27% |
| EWS | 10% |
| PWD | 5% |
CAT 2025 Exam Pattern
Below are some points related to the CAT exam pattern 2025. Kindly check it;
- Exam Date: The exam will be conducted in the fourth week of November 2024
- Exam Mode: The exam will be conducted through online mode that is CBT (Computer based test)
- Exam Sessions/ Shifts: The exam will be organized in 3 sessions such as 8:30am to 10:30 am (1 session), 12:30 pm to 2:30pm (2nd session) and 4:30pm to 6:30pm (3rd Session)
- Exam Duration: Duration of paper will be 120 min and 160 min for PWD are allotted
- Time Alloted Section Wise: The candidates are provided 40 min for each section and for the PWD candidate the total duration will be provided as 53min and 20 seconds. While answering questions in the section no one can switch to another section.
- Number of Sections: There will be 3 sections such as Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (Section 1), Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (Section 2) and Quantitative Ability (Section 3)
- Total Questions: There will be 66 questions in the CAT paper
- Type of Questions: There will be both subjective and objective questions in the paper
- Total Marks: Total paper is of 198 marks
- Marking: 3 marks will be awarded as for each correct answer
- Negative Marking: For incorrect answer there will be no negative marking
Below table provided the section wise marking:
| Sections | No. of Questions |
| Verbal ability and reading comprehension | 24 |
| Quantitative Ability | 22 |
| Data interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR) | 20 |
| Total | 66 |
CAT 2025 Syllabus
CAT 2025 syllabus will be prepared from Analytical Reasoning, Quantitative Skills and Verbal Skills etc. It will be made available through online mode.
For each sections students can get some important topic below:
- Verbal Skills: Sentence completion, Reading Comprehension, Grammar, Word meaning, Synonyms and antonyms, Jumbled Sentence etc.
- Analytical Reasoning: Analogies, Number series, Blood relation, Coding- decoding, VerbaL logic, Visual reasoning etc.
- Quantitative Skills: Time and Work, Geometry, Complex numbers, quadratic equation, Logarithm, Functions, Probability, LCM and HCF etc.
CAT 2025 Admit Card
Those who are registered are able to download their admit card in the fourth week of October 2024 as they are available on the online website. For downloading the admit card candidates need to fill in the details such as login ID and password and for the exams No slot booking will be done. The 2025 admit card is compulsory for the candidate on the day of the exam and follows all the instructions given in it. If the candidates find any error in the admit card then they can contact the authority for the issue.
CAT 2025 Result
The candidates will be able to download their CAT 2025 results in the second week of January 2024 as they declare the result online and receive result details through the SMS. Overall result of the students contains information such as name, login details, DOB, scores, category etc.
The CAT scorecard will be accepted till 31st December 2025 for one year.
CAT 2025 Admission/ Selection Procedure
If the candidates are having qualifying percentile then they will be considered as eligible for the selection procedure. And other factors are based on past academic performance, gender, relevant work experience, academic diversity.
For shortlisting the candidate based on various factors such as Group discussion, Written ability Test (WAT) and Personal Interview round.
At the time of admission the candidates are required to bring their marksheet, degree certificates, reservation category certificates, CAT scorecard etc. for the verification purpose.
CAT 2025 Cut-off
The CAT 2025 cut-off will be different from other institutes as it will be published by various other institutes according to their admission policy. The Cat cut-off will be released for various category such as General, EWS, OBC-NC, ST, SC and DAP
For the admission candidates need to qualify for total and sectional cut-off marks.
The cut-off score will be based on various subjects and the PI process.
