CAT Score Calculator

Understanding the CAT Exam Scoring System

The Common Admission Test (CAT), conducted annually on a rotational basis by the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), is India’s premier management entrance examination. Over three lakh aspirants compete for seats in flagship Post Graduate Programmes (PGP/MBA) across the 21 IIMs and premier non-IIM institutions like FMS Delhi, SPJIMR Mumbai, and IIT management schools.

Following the release of the official response key and candidate response sheets, calculating your exact sectional raw scores allows you to project your scaled score and shortlisting chances before official scorecards are declared.

Official Marking Scheme and Question Distribution

The standard CAT examination structure consists of 66 questions across three timed 40-minute sections, totaling 198 marks:

Section	Total Questions	MCQs (Negative Marking)	TITA (No Negative)	Maximum Marks
Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC)	24	~16–18	~6–8	72
Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR)	20	~14–16	~4–6	60
Quantitative Aptitude (QA)	22	~14–16	~6–8	66
Overall Total	66	~44–50	~16–22	198

Sectional Scoring Formula

For each individual section:

$$\text{Raw Score} = (\text{Correct Answers} \times 3) - (\text{Incorrect MCQs} \times 1)$$

Key scoring principles:

• Correct Responses: $+3$ marks across all question types.
• Incorrect MCQs: $-1$ mark penalty.
• Incorrect Non-MCQs (TITA): $0$ penalty (no negative marks).
• Unattempted Questions: $0$ marks.

Worked Candidate Example

Consider an aspirant who attempted questions across the three sections with the following breakdown:

1. VARC Section:

   • Correct: $12$
   • Incorrect MCQs: $3$
   • Score: $(12 \times 3) - (3 \times 1) = 36 - 3 = \mathbf{33\text{ marks}}$ (out of 72)

2. DILR Section:

   • Correct: $10$
   • Incorrect MCQs: $2$
   • Score: $(10 \times 3) - (2 \times 1) = 30 - 2 = \mathbf{28\text{ marks}}$ (out of 60)

3. QA Section:

   • Correct: $14$
   • Incorrect MCQs: $4$
   • Score: $(14 \times 3) - (4 \times 1) = 42 - 4 = \mathbf{38\text{ marks}}$ (out of 66)

• Total Composite Raw Score: $33 + 28 + 38 = \mathbf{99\text{ marks}}$ out of 198 ($50.0%$).

A raw score of 99 marks in typical CAT exam cycles comfortably secures an overall percentile well above the 99.5th percentile mark, guaranteeing interview calls across older IIMs (Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Lucknow, Kozhikode, and Indore), subject to sectional cutoffs.

From Raw Score to Scaled Score and Percentile

Raw scores are not the numbers that appear directly on admission cutoffs. The IIM testing agency uses an Equipercentile Scaling methodology:

• Mean and standard deviation are calculated across all testing slots (Slot 1, Slot 2, Slot 3).
• Test forms with higher difficulty distributions receive upward normalizations.
• Individual sectional percentiles and composite ranks determine call shortlists for the Personal Interview (PI) and Analytical Writing Test (AWT) rounds.

To compare scores across other national entrance exams, explore our gate calculator and jee marks calculator.