CAT Cut Offs 2022 for IIMs and Top MBA Colleges

The Common Admission Test (CAT) is India's most renowned national-level entrance examination. The CAT exam for MBA enables candidates to gain acceptance to top management institutes, including all 20 IIMS. On November 27, IIM Bangalore held three sessions of the CAT 2022 exam in 150 cities across India. Following the release of CAT results, several IIMs declared their minimum CAT Cut-off.

CAT Cut-Off 2022

The IIM Cut-off is the minimum score or percentile that a candidate must obtain to proceed in the next steps of the selection process for Indian Institutes of Management - the premier educational campuses - in India. It is the most crucial criterion to consider before deciding whether to pursue management studies at an IIM, as the cut-off determines the acceptance of students to PGDM/MBA admissions.

Once the CAT results are released in the second week of January 2023, the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and other top MBA colleges will release the CAT cut-off 2022. Candidates require the minimum score or the CAT cut-off for the MBA selection process. The CAT 2021 cut-off ranged from 95 to 100 percentile for all candidates.

Factors Affecting the CAT Exam Cut-Off

Every year, various factors influence the cut-off. Some factors influencing the CAT Cut-Off 2022 are as follows:

• Number of Applicants: The more the number of applicants, the higher the cut-off.
• Exam Difficulty Level: The cut-offs are usually low if the exam has a high difficulty level. On the other hand, if the CAT exam has an easy or moderate difficulty level, the cut-offs are expected to be higher.
• Amount of Available Seats: The total number of seats available for admission.

CAT Cut-off for Top MBA Colleges

Institution Name	CAT Cut-off (Percentile)
Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi	99 percentile
SJMSOM (IIT Bombay)	98 to 99 percentile
National Institute of Industrial Engineering, Mumbai	97 to 99 percentile
IIT DMS (Department of Management Studies)	96 to 99 percentile
SP Jain Institute of Management and Research	95 to 99 percentile
Xavier Institue of Management Bhubhaneshwar	91 percentile
Management Development Institute (MDI) Gurgaon	97 to 99 percentile
Institute of Management Technology (IMT) Ghaziabad	95 to 97 percentile
Institute for Financial Management and Research, Chennai	80 and above percentile
Loyola Institute of Business Administration (LIBA), Chennai	80 and above percentile

Qualifying Cut-Off v/s Final Cut-Off

The authority will announce the minimum qualifying CAT cut-off 2022 for all 20 IIMs to shortlist candidates for the final selection round. Candidates should understand the distinctions between the qualifying and final cut-off before proceeding to the cut-off requirements. The difference between the two types of cut-off is as follows:

Qualifying Cut-off for CAT

• The qualifying cut-off is the fixed eligibility cut-off for appearing in the WAT-GD-PI round.
• The qualifying CAT exam cut-off for all IIMs stays above the 90 percentile, except for IIM Ahmedabad, where the qualifying cut-off was 85 percentile in recent years.
• The qualifying cut-off will be out after the announcement of the CAT result. 
• Meeting the qualifying cut-off does not guarantee a spot in the WAT/GD-PI round.
• In their notification of admission criteria and selection process for that academic year, each IIM announces the qualifying CAT cut-off percentiles.

Final Cut-off for CAT

• The final cut-off is the shortlist cut-off established by the IIMs for candidate selection.
• The final CAT exam cut-off for all top IIMs stays as high as the 99+ percentile and 95+ percentile for new IIMs.
• The final cutoff will be out after the announcement of the CAT result. 
• Meeting the final CAT cut-off does not imply that the candidate is automatically accepted. 
• IIMs or other top MBA institutes do not officially announce the final CAT cut-offs.  

Estimated CAT Cut-off for IIM 

The final CAT cut-off for IIM, for general category students, is typically in the 99 to 100 percentile range. The MBA cut-off may be slightly lower (at the 97 to 98 percentile) for students from the reserved categories. 

IIMs	CAT Cut-off (Percentile)
Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad	99 to 100
Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore	99 to 100
Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Calcutta	99
Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Kozhikode	97 to 98
Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Lucknow	97 to 98
Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Nagpur	97 to 98
Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Amritsar	95 to 96
Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Sambalpur	95 to 96
Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Trichy	94 to 95
Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ranchi	94 to 95
Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Raipur	94 to 95

Qualifying Cut-off CAT Cut-off for IIM

CAT qualifying marks for IIMs may range from 75 to 90 percentile. The minimum qualifying marks are required for applicants to appear in the Written Ability Test (WAT) and Personal Interview (PI) rounds. They also need to fulfil the final admissions cut-off.

IIMs	Qualifying CAT Cut-off
Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad	85
Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore	85
Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Calcutta	85
Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Kozhikode	85
Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Lucknow	90
Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Nagpur	85
Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Amritsar	90
Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Sambalpur	93
Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Trichy	93
Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ranchi	90
Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Raipur	93

Conclusion

Candidates taking the CAT 2022 exam may refer to the top tips to crack the CAT exam for some advice on individual preparation. 

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