The Common Admission Test (CAT) 2025 just got significantly tougher for aspirants targeting the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad.
As per a report by Career360, the premier B-school has raised its cut-off percentile for all categories for admission to the 2026–28 batch, marking one of the steepest hikes in recent years.
What’s changed?
For the general category, candidates will now need a minimum 95 percentile overall and 85 percentile in each section, compared to last year’s 80 overall and 70 sectional cut-off.
Similar hikes apply to other categories: the cut-off for NC-OBC (Non-Creamy Layer Other Backward Class) candidates has jumped from 75 to 90 overall, SC (Scheduled Caste) from 70 to 85, and ST (Scheduled Tribe) from 60 to 75.
Experts say the sharper cut-offs reflect the surge in CAT test-takers. In 2024, the exam recorded the highest-ever number of registered candidates with over 3.3 lakh aspirants applying for the exam.
IIM Ahmedabad will still follow its two-stage admission process. In the first stage, shortlisting for the Written Ability Test (WAT) and Personal Interview (PI) will be done based on a composite score (CS). This combines 65 per cent CAT performance and 35 per cent application rating (AR), which evaluates academic record (Class 10, Class 12, graduation), work experience, and gender diversity.
In the second stage, the final merit list will continue to give the highest weightage to the interview (50 per cent, followed by CAT score (25 per cent), WAT (10 per cent), and AR (15 per cent).
The CAT 2025 exam will be conducted by IIM Kozhikode on November 30, 2025, in three sessions. The paper will continue with three sections: Quantitative Ability, Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning, and Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension.
