What Is a Good CAT Percentile for IIMs and Top B-Schools?

Every IIM publishes minimum percentiles for each category in its admission policy. The range across the IIMs we track:

• PwD candidates have separate, lower thresholds in each policy.
• IIM Shillong sets sectional minimums only, with no overall minimum.
• Some figures are from 2026-28 policies (CAT 2025) where an IIM has not yet published its 2027-29 policy; the cut-offs page shows the batch for each.

No, and the IIMs say so themselves. A minimum decides who is considered; the percentile at which interview calls actually go out depends on the applicant pool and the composite score, and is usually higher.

The joint admission process shows the gap: the common minimum to register was 90 overall for General candidates, while IIM Ranchi and IIM Tiruchirappalli list 95.25 as the figure for interview shortlisting.

• IIM Calcutta: “the actual section-wise and overall percentile cut-offs may be much higher than the above-mentioned minimum percentiles”.
• IIM Bangalore: “The scores of those called for interviews were higher.”
• IIM Visakhapatnam: “These cut-offs are not for admission offers, but only for Phase 1 shortlist.”
• IIM Tiruchirappalli: achieving the cut-off percentile “is a necessary but not sufficient condition”.

Most IIMs set a minimum for each of the three sections as well as overall. A 97 overall with one weak section can fail a sectional minimum and rule you out.

IIM Ahmedabad's General minimum, for example, is 95 overall and 85 in each section.

Many policies also require a positive score in every section. Plan your preparation so no section is left behind.

Our percentile pages list, for each band, the institutes whose published General figure — minimum, shortlisting or previous-year final, labelled as such — is at or below it.

Work out your raw score first. Each correct answer earns 3 marks; a wrong multiple-choice answer costs 1, and a wrong typed-in (TITA) answer costs nothing. Percentiles then depend on how everyone else scored, so any estimate before results is only a guide.

The official result is “likely to be declared by the First week of January, 2027”.