CAT 2026: Exam Dates, Application, Syllabus, Result & Cutoff

IIM Indore is conducting the Common Admission Test 2026 on behalf of the Indian Institutes of Management. IIM Indore confirmed this in its own 26 July 2026 press release. That press release also named Prof. Aditya Billore as CAT 2026 Convener. CAT is the entrance exam for the MBA and PGP programmes at all 21 IIMs. More than 1,000 other B-schools across India also accept it. About 2.58 lakh candidates appeared for CAT 2025. They compete for a core MBA and PGDM seat count across every IIM. Compiled estimates put this seat count at roughly 7,500. Still, no single IIM-wide seat count is officially published in one place. That ratio is the real starting fact, not the exam's reputation.

CAT 2026 registration opened on 3 August 2026 and closes on 15 September 2026. A reader sees that window closing within days, not months. A candidate who has not yet registered has a narrow, dated deadline in front of them, not a general one.

Unlike NMAT or SNAP, CAT offers exactly one attempt per year. IIM Indore runs it on a single day, in three sessions, at roughly 170 test cities. There is no retake window and no adaptive re-scoring mid-exam. Every IIM works from whatever a candidate scores in that one three-hour slot on 29 November 2026.

CAT 2026 runs on a fixed, published calendar rather than a rolling window. Every stage sits on its own confirmed or notified date.

Three of these dates are firm because IIM Indore has already fixed them in writing. These are registration close, admit card download opening, and the exam date itself. The result date is different. The Information Bulletin states an expectation: the first week of January 2027. In its own words, results "are likely to be declared by" then. Treat it as the notified target, not a locked date, until IIM Indore confirms it closer to the time.

The full stage-by-stage calendar, including counselling windows once results are out, sits on the CAT 2026 dates and schedule page.

IIM Indore's own CAT 2026 Information Bulletin and Press Release confirm the duration directly. They also confirm the three sections and their order, and the 40-minutes-per-section, no-switching rule. They do not state a total question count or a marking scheme for 2026. The 68-question count and the +3/-1 marking shown above repeat across recent CAT cycles. Every major coaching platform reports the same figures. But they are its best current estimate, not a confirmed 2026 rule.

A bachelor's degree with a minimum of 50 percent marks qualifies a general-category candidate for CAT 2026. SC, ST and PwBD candidates need 45 percent. Neither figure moves for age, since CAT sets no upper age limit at all.

Reservation under CAT 2026 follows the statutory pattern, per IIM Indore's Information Bulletin. Seats are reserved as follows: 15% for SC, 7.5% for ST, 27% for NC-OBC, up to 10% for EWS and 5% for PwBD candidates. Each IIM applies this within its own admission process rather than through one shared CAT-wide seat count.

Eligibility to sit CAT and eligibility for a seat are not the same test. Meeting the 50 percent bar gets a candidate into the exam hall. Converting a score into a call takes a separate, higher bar. The CAT 2026 cutoff page covers that bar.

Registration for CAT 2026 opened on 3 August 2026 and closes on 15 September 2026 at 5:00 PM. Every candidate applies directly on iimcat.ac.in. No offline form exists.

The CAT 2026 registration page carries the full fee breakup by category and the photo and signature specification. It also covers what can still be corrected after submission.

IIM Indore's Information Bulletin fixes this precisely. Candidates can download the admit card from 4 November 2026 until the exam itself on 29 November 2026. That is a 25-day window, not a single release day.

1. Log in to the candidate account created at registration, on iimcat.ac.in.
2. Open the admit card section from 4 November 2026 onward.
3. Download the admit card and check the printed name, photograph, exam city, date and session.
4. Carry the printed admit card with a valid original photo ID to the test centre. IIM Indore's past cycles have refused entry without both.

The CAT 2026 admit card page carries the full download steps. It also covers what to do if a printed detail is wrong.

IIM Indore's own Press Release confirms this directly. CAT 2026 runs three sections, in this order: VARC then DILR then QA. Each section runs on its own fixed 40-minute clock, for 120 minutes total. Candidates get exactly 40 minutes per section and cannot switch to another section while working within one.

Every recent CAT cycle has used the same marking scheme. It gives +3 for a correct MCQ, -1 for an incorrect one, and no penalty on TITA questions. Every major coaching platform reports this same scheme for CAT 2026. Neither the section-wise question count nor the marking scheme appears in IIM Indore's CAT 2026 Information Bulletin or Press Release. The duration and section structure above the table are the only exam-pattern figures those two documents state directly.

The full section-wise breakdown and time-management approach sit on the CAT 2026 exam pattern page.

CAT mixes two question formats inside every section. One is multiple-choice questions with four options. The other is non-MCQ, or TITA, questions, where a candidate types the answer directly instead of picking one. Roughly 47 of the 68 questions run as MCQs and 21 as TITA in the recent pattern. The exact split shifts slightly section to section and year to year.

CAT reports a scaled score, not a raw one. Two candidates with the same number of correct answers can still land on different scaled scores. This happens if their overall session was easier or harder than another candidate's. IIM Indore normalises scores across sessions and slots for this reason.

IIM Indore's own CAT 2026 Press Release names the three sections, VARC, DILR and QA, and their fixed order. Neither the Press Release nor the Information Bulletin publishes a topic-by-topic syllabus with weightage, though. Coaching platforms compile what circulates online as a "CAT syllabus" from past papers. This includes sub-topics like reading comprehension, para-jumbles, arithmetic and data sufficiency. IIM Indore itself does not issue this list.

The full topic-wise breakdown, weightage and preparation order sit on the CAT 2026 syllabus page.

IIM Indore's Information Bulletin sets the result expectation at the first week of January 2027. That is a little over a month after the 29 November exam date. That is a notified target, not a date fixed and published in advance the way the exam date itself is.

The CAT scorecard reports a percentile for each section and an overall percentile. It does not report a rank list or a raw score out of 204. Percentile compares a candidate's scaled score against every other candidate's in that testing year. The same raw score can convert to a different percentile from one year to the next. This depends on how the full applicant pool performed.

The CAT 2026 result page carries full scorecard detail and how percentile is calculated from the scaled score. It also covers what to check for errors.

Two different numbers get called "CAT cutoff," and mixing them up is the single biggest misread on this exam. One is a published shortlist minimum. Each IIM sets it for the specific batch that CAT 2026 actually feeds into: the 2027-29 batch. That is not the 2026-28 batch that CAT 2025 candidates applied against. The other is an unofficial, estimated percentile that coaching sources publish. It describes what it actually takes to get called for interview.

IIM Ahmedabad has already published its CAT-2026-linked minimums, in its Admission Policy for the PGP 2027-29 batch (dated September 2026). These are official, category-wise, and specific to this exact cycle:

IIM Ahmedabad also publishes exactly how the percentile is used past that minimum. A candidate who clears the minimum gets a raw composite score. This score is 35 percent normalised application rating plus 65 percent normalised CAT-2026 percentile. This composite score, not the percentile alone, actually ranks candidates for interview.

Other IIMs set their own minimums on their own schedule. IIM Bangalore's own currently published admission-procedure document is explicitly scoped to the 2026-28 batch. That batch is built on CAT 2025, not CAT 2026. IIM Bangalore had not published a CAT-2026-linked version for the 2027-29 batch on its own site. Treat any "IIM Bangalore CAT 2026 cutoff" figure circulating online with that in mind. Check the institute's own current admission page before relying on it.

The CAT 2026 cutoff page carries full category-wise and IIM-wise detail. It is refreshed as each IIM publishes its own 2027-29-batch criteria.

Clearing a percentile threshold is the first gate, not the only one. Every IIM builds a composite score after CAT. This score combines the CAT percentile with a mix of academic and other factors. These include Class 10 marks, Class 12 marks, undergraduate performance, work experience, gender diversity, and a Written Ability Test and/or Personal Interview (WAT-PI). The exact formula and weightage differ from one IIM to another, and none publish an identical version of it.

CAT itself ends at the scorecard. Each of the 21 IIMs runs shortlisting, WAT-PI calls, and the final offer separately. So do the other institutes that accept the score. Each institute uses its own calendar and its own weightage table.

Institute-wise selection weightage and WAT-PI process detail sit on the CAT 2026 colleges page.

IIM Indore does not release an official CAT question paper or answer key to the public after the exam. Some other Indian entrance exams do release these. Coaching platforms and candidate memory reconstruct what is available online as a "CAT previous year paper." This reconstruction is cross-checked across multiple sources for accuracy, but it is not an IIM-issued document.

These reconstructed papers are still useful for practice. The section split, question formats and difficulty pattern they capture are drawn from a real recent CAT. Treat them as a practice resource, not as a verified record of exactly what appeared on a given exam day.

The CAT previous year question paper page shows where to find cross-checked previous year papers. It also shows how to use them for timed practice.