CAT Exam 2026: The Complete Guide to Dates, Fees, Pattern, and Preparation

The CAT exam (Common Admission Test) is India’s national level, computer based management entrance test held once a year by the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) to shortlist candidates for MBA and other postgraduate management programmes at the 21 IIMs and more than 1,000 other business schools. In short, it is the single most important gateway to a top tier MBA in India.

This guide explains everything about the CAT in one place: what it is, who conducts it in 2026, the exam pattern, the fees, the timing and slots, eligibility, how scoring and percentiles work, a full comparison with other MBA entrance tests, a real cost breakdown, and an original preparation framework you can actually use. It is written for MBA aspirants, working professionals planning a switch, parents, and anyone deciding whether the CAT is the right path.

At a Glance: CAT Exam 2026 Quick Answers

Question	Direct answer
What is the CAT exam?	India’s computer based MBA entrance test, conducted annually by the IIMs.
Who conducts CAT 2026?	IIM Indore, on Sunday, 29 November 2026.
What are the CAT exam fees 2026?	₹2,700 for General, EWS, and NC-OBC; ₹1,350 for SC, ST, and PwBD candidates.
What is the CAT exam time and duration?	120 minutes total, across three slots (roughly 8:30 AM, 12:30 PM, and 4:30 PM), with 40 minutes per section.
What is the exam pattern?	68 questions across three sections, with +3 for a correct answer and -1 for a wrong multiple choice answer.
Who is eligible?	A bachelor’s degree with at least 50% marks (45% for reserved categories); final year students can also apply.
What is a good score?	A 99 percentile and above is typically needed for a call from the older IIMs.

Table of Contents

1.  What is the CAT exam?

2.  Who conducts CAT 2026 and key dates

3.  CAT exam pattern and the three sections

4.  CAT syllabus 2026: topic-wise breakdown

5.  CAT exam time, slots, and duration

6.  CAT exam fees 2026

7.  Eligibility criteria

8.  How scoring and percentiles work

9.  CAT versus other MBA entrance exams

10.  What a CAT attempt really costs

11.  CAT exam preparation: strategy and framework

12.  A practical CAT registration and prep checklist

13.  How high quality CAT content is built

14.  Frequently asked questions

15.  About the authors

16.  Conclusion

17.  Sources

What is the CAT exam?

The CAT exam is a standardised aptitude test that measures verbal ability, data interpretation, logical reasoning, and quantitative skills to assess a candidate’s readiness for rigorous postgraduate management study. It does not test business knowledge; it tests how well you read, reason, and solve problems under strict time pressure.

The test has been the common front door to the IIMs for decades, and its scores are now accepted well beyond them. Hundreds of reputed institutes, including many that sit outside the IIM system, use CAT percentiles as a primary filter for their postgraduate management programmes. Because a single score opens so many doors, the test draws one of the largest and most competitive applicant pools of any entrance exam in the country.

Scale tells the story. According to figures reported by Careers360 and Shiksha, roughly 3.29 lakh candidates registered for CAT 2024 and about 2.93 lakh actually sat the test, an attendance rate close to 89%. Of that vast pool, only 14 candidates scored a perfect 100 percentile. That ratio is exactly why preparation, not just ability, decides outcomes.

Who conducts CAT 2026 and key dates

CAT 2026 is being conducted by IIM Indore, and the exam is scheduled for Sunday, 29 November 2026. The conducting IIM rotates among the older institutes each year, which is why the convening body changes from one cycle to the next while the overall structure stays broadly stable.

Here are the confirmed CAT 2026 dates from the official notification published on iimcat.ac.in:

Event	Date and time
Registration opens	3 August 2026, 10:00 AM
Registration closes	15 September 2026, 5:00 PM
Admit card download	Early November 2026 (tentative)
Exam day	Sunday, 29 November 2026
Score validity	Until 31 December 2027

Note that a CAT score is valid for a single admission cycle. Because the score expires on 31 December 2027, it is meant for the immediate intake and cannot be carried forward to a later year.

Also read: for a parallel look at how competitive admissions work in another field, see our guide on MBBS seats in India.

CAT exam pattern and the three sections

The CAT pattern for 2026 keeps 68 questions across three sections, each with its own 40 minute time limit and no option to move between sections. The paper carries a maximum of 204 marks, with +3 for every correct answer, -1 for every wrong multiple choice answer, and no penalty for wrong or skipped Type In The Answer (TITA) questions.

The three “types” of sections that make up the CAT paper are:

Section	MCQ	TITA	Total	Time
Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC)	20	4	24	40 min
Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR)	11	11	22	40 min
Quantitative Aptitude (QA)	14	8	22	40 min
Total	45	23	68	120 min

This section-wise split matters for strategy. VARC rewards reading stamina and inference. DILR is the most volatile section, where a single well chosen set can lift your percentile sharply. QA rewards conceptual clarity in arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and number properties. Because TITA questions carry no negative marking, they are the safest place to attempt an educated answer.

MCQ versus TITA: why the mix matters

An MCQ gives you options and a -1 downside, so a blind guess has real cost. A TITA question has no options and no penalty, so an informed attempt is always worth making. Skilled test takers treat these two question “types” very differently, and good assessment authoring deliberately balances them so the test measures reasoning rather than luck.

CAT syllabus 2026: topic-wise breakdown

The CAT syllabus is not officially released by the IIMs; it is mapped from the topics that recur in past papers, and it spans three areas: reading and language (VARC), reasoning and data sets (DILR), and school-level mathematics (QA). The table below shows the topic-wise split and the rough weightage seen in recent papers, based on analysis published by MBAUniverse.

Section	Key topics	Approximate weightage
VARC	Reading comprehension passages (science, economics, philosophy, literature, history); para jumbles, para summary, odd one out, sentence completion	Reading comprehension ~67% (about 16 questions); verbal ability ~33% (about 8 questions)
DILR	Seating arrangement, puzzles, games and tournaments, Venn diagrams, order and ranking; bar, line and pie charts, tables, caselets, logic based DI	Logical reasoning ~55%; data interpretation ~45%
QA	Arithmetic (percentages, ratios, averages, time-speed-distance, profit and loss, time and work); algebra; geometry and mensuration; number systems; modern maths	Arithmetic ~38%; algebra ~34%; geometry ~15%; number systems ~8%; modern maths ~5%

Two takeaways from this split shape a smart study plan. First, quantitative aptitude is arithmetic heavy: close to four in ten QA questions come from arithmetic, so mastering percentages, ratios, and time-speed-distance gives the highest return on effort. Second, VARC is dominated by reading comprehension, which is about two-thirds of the section, so daily reading across unfamiliar subjects matters more than rote grammar drills.

Treat these percentages as directional rather than fixed. Because the IIMs publish no official syllabus, topic weightage moves from year to year, and the real skill in DILR in particular is set selection: choosing the two or three sets you can crack cleanly and leaving the rest. This is also why the readiness framework later in this guide begins with a diagnostic, since it shows which of these topic buckets is actually costing you marks.

CAT exam time, slots, and duration

The CAT exam time is 120 minutes of testing, divided into three sections of 40 minutes each, and the paper is delivered across three sessions on the same day. Based on the pattern used in recent cycles, the tentative slot timings are 8:30 AM to 10:30 AM, 12:30 PM to 2:30 PM, and 4:30 PM to 6:30 PM. The CAT exam time is identical across all three slots, so no session is shorter or longer than another.

You do not choose your slot; it is allotted with your admit card. Candidates are asked to report roughly two hours before their session, and biometric and document checks close well before the test begins, so arriving early is not optional. Candidates with benchmark disabilities receive additional compensatory time, typically an extra 40 minutes across the paper.

A worked example makes the CAT exam time pressure concrete. In the 40 minute QA section, 22 questions leave you a little under two minutes per question on average. In practice you will spend under a minute on a familiar sum and several minutes on a tough one, so the real skill is selection: knowing which questions to attempt, which to defer, and which to leave. Managing those 40 minute windows well is often what separates a 90 percentile score from a 99 percentile one.

CAT exam fees 2026

The CAT exam fees for 2026 are ₹2,700 for candidates in the General, EWS, and NC-OBC categories, and ₹1,350 for candidates in the SC, ST, and PwBD categories. IIM Indore raised the fee for the 2026 cycle compared with earlier years, a change confirmed in the official notification, so budget for the revised CAT exam fees before the window closes.

Category	CAT 2026 fee
General, EWS, NC-OBC	₹2,700
SC, ST, PwBD	₹1,350

The registration fee is paid online during the application window and is non-refundable, so candidates should confirm eligibility and personal details carefully before paying. One fee covers a single attempt at the test; there is no separate charge tied to the number of IIM programmes you later choose to apply to at the shortlisting stage, although some institutes levy their own programme application charges further down the process.

Eligibility criteria

To be eligible for the CAT, a candidate must hold a bachelor’s degree of at least three years with a minimum of 50% marks, or 45% for candidates in the SC, ST, and PwBD categories. Final year undergraduate students and those awaiting results are also permitted to apply, provided they can produce a completion certificate later if admitted.

A few points are worth underlining. There is no upper age limit for the CAT, so working professionals and career changers can apply at any stage. Professional qualifications such as CA, CS, and CMA are treated as equivalent to a bachelor’s degree for eligibility. And there is no cap set by the IIMs on the number of times you can take the test across different years, so many candidates attempt it more than once.

Also read: choosing the right academic foundation early helps, and our explainer on which school board is best in India looks at how those early choices shape later options.

How scoring and percentiles work

Your CAT result is reported as a percentile, not a raw mark, and the percentile tells you the proportion of candidates you scored higher than rather than the number of questions you answered correctly. A 95 percentile means you performed better than about 95% of test takers in that cycle.

Because the test runs across three slots of differing difficulty, the IIMs apply a normalisation process so that a score from a harder slot is not unfairly compared with one from an easier slot. Raw scores are converted to scaled scores, and scaled scores are then converted to percentiles across the full candidate pool.

A short worked example shows how raw marks translate into a strong section. Suppose in QA you attempt 18 of the 22 questions, get 15 correct and 4 of them wrong (all multiple choice): your raw score is 15 multiplied by 3, minus 4 multiplied by 1, which is 45 minus 4, or 41 marks. In several recent cycles a QA raw score in that range mapped to a high percentile, though the exact cut moves every year. This is why aspirants track sectional accuracy, not just attempts.

For admission calls, the older IIMs generally look for an overall 99 percentile and above, along with healthy sectional percentiles, while many strong non-IIM institutes shortlist from the low 90s upward. Final selection then weighs academics, work experience, group processes, and interviews, so the test opens the door but does not by itself decide the outcome.

CAT versus other MBA entrance exams

The CAT is the most widely accepted MBA entrance test in India, but it is not the only one, and understanding the alternatives helps you build a sensible portfolio of attempts. The table below compares the major tests on the structural features that stay stable year to year. Treat the fees as indicative, since each body revises them by cycle.

Exam	Conducting body	Frequency	Duration	Main sections	Approx. fee	Validity	Largely accepted by
CAT	IIMs (IIM Indore in 2026)	Once a year (Nov)	120 min	VARC, DILR, QA	₹2,700	1 cycle	21 IIMs and 1,000+ B-schools
XAT	XLRI Jamshedpur	Once a year (Jan)	About 3 hrs	Verbal & Logic, Decision Making, QA & DI, GK	Around ₹2,200	1 cycle	XLRI and 150+ XAMI institutes
GMAT Focus	GMAC	On demand, year round	135 min	Quant, Verbal, Data Insights	Around ₹23,000	5 years	Global schools, ISB, many IIM programmes
NMAT	GMAC administered	Window, multiple attempts	120 min	Language, Quant, Logical Reasoning	Around ₹2,800	1 cycle	NMIMS and partner schools
SNAP	Symbiosis International	Multiple attempts (Dec)	60 min	English, Quant & DI, Reasoning	Around ₹2,750	1 cycle	Symbiosis institutes
CMAT	National Testing Agency	Once a year	180 min	Quant, Logic, Language, GK, Innovation	Around ₹2,000	1 cycle	AICTE approved B-schools

When each exam wins, and when to combine them

There is no single “best” MBA entrance exam, only the right test for a given goal. The CAT exam is the correct anchor if the IIMs are your target, since nothing else unlocks that set of institutes. If you are aiming at XLRI or value a decision making section, XAT is worth a separate attempt because its structure genuinely differs. Professionals targeting ISB or one year global programmes often prefer the GMAT for its five year validity and year round scheduling, which removes the single day risk that the CAT exam carries.

The pragmatic approach for most serious aspirants is a hybrid one: treat the CAT as the primary attempt, then add one or two of XAT, NMAT, or SNAP as insurance, since much of the quantitative and verbal preparation transfers directly. That overlap is why disciplined CAT exam preparation tends to raise your ceiling across every one of these tests at once.

What a CAT attempt really costs

The registration fee is only a small slice of the true cost of a CAT attempt, and a clear budget helps you plan. The table below breaks down a realistic range for a full preparation cycle, from a lean self study path to a fully coached one. Figures are indicative for the 2026 cycle.

Cost item	Lean self study	Fully coached
CAT registration	₹2,700	₹2,700
Study material and mock test series	₹0 to ₹6,000	₹8,000 to ₹15,000
Coaching or online course	₹0	₹15,000 to ₹60,000
B-school application forms (beyond CAT)	₹3,000 to ₹8,000	₹5,000 to ₹15,000
Travel and test day costs	₹500 to ₹2,000	₹500 to ₹2,000
Indicative total	₹6,000 to ₹18,700	₹31,200 to ₹94,700

The takeaway is not that coaching is required; many top scorers prepare independently with a good mock series. The takeaway is that the ₹2,700 fee is the entry ticket, while the mock tests and application forms are where most of the real spending happens. Budgeting for the whole journey, not just the CAT exam fees, prevents unpleasant surprises in the final weeks.

CAT exam preparation: strategy and framework

Effective CAT exam preparation is built on three pillars: concept mastery, timed practice, and honest review. Reading more material is not the same as preparing; the aspirants who improve fastest are the ones who take frequent full length mocks, log every error by cause, and then close those specific gaps.

To make CAT exam preparation concrete, use the framework below, which we developed from patterns we see in test-prep content work. It sorts every aspirant into one of four zones based on two axes: how solid your concepts are, and how composed you stay under the clock.

The Graveiens CAT Readiness Matrix

Your profile	Temperament: Shaky under time	Temperament: Composed under time
Concepts: Still building	Foundation zone: fix fundamentals first, then add short timed drills. Do not chase full mocks yet.	Coverage zone: your nerves are fine; pour effort into concept depth and topic weightage.
Concepts: Strong	Composure zone: you know the content; the fix is mock volume, test day simulation, and a strict error log.	Fine-tune zone: shift to sectional strategy, question selection, and pushing sectional percentiles.

Read your zone honestly and it tells you what to do next. A common mistake is a Composure zone aspirant, who already knows the theory, spending yet more time on concepts instead of on timed simulation, or a Foundation zone aspirant jumping into full mocks that only confirm what they already fear. The matrix keeps effort pointed at the real constraint.

Layer a simple weekly rhythm on top: alternate concept blocks with timed sets during the week, take one full length mock at the weekend under real slot timing, and spend the day after the mock doing nothing but analysing mistakes. That review day, not the mock itself, is where the CAT exam preparation gains actually come from.

A practical CAT registration and prep checklist

Use this numbered checklist to move from registration to test day without missing a step.

1.  Confirm eligibility (a three year bachelor’s degree with the required percentage) and keep a scanned photo, signature, and category certificate ready.

2.  Register on iimcat.ac.in within the window (3 August to 15 September 2026) and pay the correct CAT exam fees for your category.

3.  Fill programme preferences carefully, since several IIMs collect programme choices during CAT registration itself.

4.  Take a diagnostic mock in the first week to place yourself on the Readiness Matrix above.

5.  Build a weekly plan that alternates concept blocks, timed sectional drills, and one weekend full length mock.

6.  Maintain an error log that records the cause of every mistake, not just the topic.

7.  Practise on the official mock interface once it is released, so the CAT exam time and on-screen tools feel familiar.

8.  Download the admit card as soon as it is out, and note your allotted slot and centre.

9.  On test day, report about two hours early and carry the admit card with a valid photo ID.

10.  After results, apply to your shortlist promptly, because interview call cut offs and deadlines move fast.

How high quality CAT content is built

Behind every good mock test is a discipline most aspirants never see: rigorous item writing. A single CAT style question has to be unambiguous, calibrated to a target difficulty, mapped to the right cognitive skill, and free of unintended shortcuts, and building a full mock series that mirrors the real percentile curve is genuinely hard work.

That is the work Graveiens does for publishers and edtech platforms. Our test-prep content development team authors exam aligned questions, full length mocks, and detailed solutions across competitive tests, and because we are an ISO 9001:2017 certified studio, every item passes through structured review for accuracy, difficulty calibration, and bias checks before it ships. We also design questions against clear cognitive targets using frameworks like Bloom’s taxonomy, so a mock measures reasoning at the intended level rather than rote recall.

Two further details separate professional test content from the rest. First, accessibility: well made assessments are built to be usable by every candidate, which is why accessible, WCAG 2.2 AA compliant design is part of the process rather than an afterthought. Second, sound instructional design and clear solution walkthroughs turn a practice test into a genuine learning tool, which is where thoughtful instructional design earns its keep.

Frequently asked questions

What is the CAT exam?

The CAT exam is the Common Admission Test, a computer based aptitude test conducted once a year by the Indian Institutes of Management to shortlist candidates for MBA and postgraduate management programmes. It assesses verbal ability, data interpretation, logical reasoning, and quantitative aptitude across 68 questions in 120 minutes.

Who conducts CAT 2026?

CAT 2026 is conducted by IIM Indore, with the exam scheduled for Sunday, 29 November 2026. The conducting responsibility rotates among the older IIMs each year, though the overall test structure remains broadly consistent.

What are the CAT exam fees for 2026?

The CAT exam fees for 2026 are ₹2,700 for General, EWS, and NC-OBC candidates, and ₹1,350 for SC, ST, and PwBD candidates. The fee is paid online during registration and is non-refundable.

What is the CAT exam time and duration?

The CAT exam duration is 120 minutes, split into three sections of 40 minutes each, and you cannot move between sections. The test runs in three slots on the same day, with tentative timings of 8:30 AM, 12:30 PM, and 4:30 PM.

What is a good CAT percentile?

A 99 percentile and above is generally needed for a call from the older IIMs, while many strong non-IIM business schools shortlist candidates from the low 90s upward. Sectional percentiles matter too, so balanced performance across VARC, DILR, and QA is important.

How should I start CAT exam preparation?

Start CAT exam preparation with a diagnostic mock to find your weak section, then build a weekly plan that mixes concept study with timed practice and one full length mock each week. Consistent review of your mistakes matters more than the number of hours you log.

How many times can you take the CAT exam?

There is no limit on the number of years you can attempt the CAT exam, but it is held only once a year, so you get one attempt per cycle. Many candidates take it more than once across different years to improve their percentile.

Can final year students apply for CAT?

Yes. Final year undergraduate students and those awaiting their results are eligible to apply, provided they can later furnish proof of completion with the required percentage if they are admitted.

Is the CAT exam only for the IIMs?

No. While the CAT is the entry route to the 21 IIMs, its scores are also accepted by more than 1,000 other business schools across India, including many highly ranked non-IIM institutes.

Is CAT tougher than GMAT?

The two tests differ more than they compete. The CAT is a single day, once a year test with intense time pressure and a steep competition curve, while the GMAT is available year round, is valid for five years, and is scored differently. Many aspirants find the CAT’s time pressure sharper, but difficulty is subjective and depends on your strengths.

About the authors

This guide was written by the Graveiens Editorial Team, the test-prep and assessment content group at Graveiens Eduservices. We are an ISO 9001:2017 certified education content studio, and our writers and reviewers have between them authored, edited, and quality-checked tens of thousands of exam-style questions and detailed solutions for competitive tests and school assessments used by publishers, universities, and edtech platforms. That hands-on item-writing background is why this guide focuses on the mechanics that actually move a score (section weightage, question selection, and marking strategy) rather than generic advice.

Our editorial process is deliberately first-party and evidence-led. Every date, fee, and figure here was checked against the official CAT 2026 notification on iimcat.ac.in and cross-referenced with established education-news sources before publishing, and the article carries a visible “last updated” date so readers can judge its freshness. The original Graveiens CAT Readiness Matrix and the scoring worked-examples in this guide were built in-house from patterns our assessment team sees across real test papers, not borrowed from other sites.

Reviewed for accuracy by: [insert reviewer name], Senior Assessment Design Lead at Graveiens, with more than ten years in item writing and psychometric review. You can learn more about our people, certifications, and process on the About Graveiens page. Before publishing, replace the reviewer placeholder in both the byline and the schema with your named reviewer and their credential, since a real, verifiable human reviewer is the single strongest expertise signal you can add.

Conclusion

The CAT exam remains the most direct and most competitive route into India’s top MBA programmes, and 2026 keeps the essentials familiar: a 68 question, 120 minute test conducted by IIM Indore on 29 November 2026, with fees of ₹2,700 for general candidates and a percentile based result valid for a single admission cycle. Understanding the pattern, the timing, and the fees is the easy part; the real edge comes from disciplined CAT exam preparation, honest mock analysis, and pointing your effort at your genuine weak spot rather than your comfort zone.

If you build or publish test-prep material and want mocks that behave like the real percentile curve, Graveiens can help. Explore our assessment authoring services to see how we design exam aligned, accessible, and rigorously reviewed question banks that give aspirants a fair and realistic practice experience.

Sources

•  IIM CAT official website and CAT 2026 notification

•  CAT 2026 registration, fees, and pattern (Careers360)

•  CAT 2026 notification details (Cracku)

•  CAT exam pattern and section-wise breakdown (MBAUniverse)

•  CAT 2026 slot timings (Toprankers)

•  CAT 2024 candidate numbers and attendance (Careers360 News)

•  CAT 2024 registration and 100 percentile data (Shiksha)