All About CAT 2026: Dates, Eligibility, Pattern and Fees

CAT 2026 will most likely be held on Sunday, 29 November 2026, with IIM Indore conducting it. If you hold a graduation degree, or you will be in your final year by then, you can sit for it no matter which graduation stream you come from. This guide covers the essentials: the exam date, registration, eligibility, pattern, marking, test centres, results and the admission process, so you can plan your year with a clear head.

CAT 2026 at a Glance

What Is CAT?

CAT is India's largest MBA entrance exam, run by the Indian Institutes of Management. A different IIM conducts it each year. IIM Kozhikode ran CAT 2025 and IIM Indore is set to conduct CAT 2026. It's held once a year, on the last Sunday of November.

For scale, CAT 2025 drew about 2.95 lakh registrations and roughly 2.58 lakh candidates sat the paper, close to 86% attendance. That's a big field, but one weak attempt isn't the end of the road. You can write CAT every year, with no cap on attempts.

Key Dates and Timeline (Expected)

The official CAT 2026 notification is expected in the last week of July 2026. Going by the usual cycle:

• Notification release: Last week of July 2026
• Registration opens: First week of August 2026
• Registration closes: Third week of September 2026
• Admit card: Late October 2026
• Exam day: Sunday, 29 November 2026
• Provisional answer key: Within about two weeks of the exam
• Results: Late December 2026 or early January 2027

These dates follow past trends. The official notification confirms them.

Registration and Application Fees

• Register online, only at iimcat.ac.in.
• Fee (CAT 2025): ₹2,600 for General, OBC and EWS, and ₹1,300 for SC, ST and PwD. The CAT 2026 fee will be confirmed in the notification.
• One form, all IIMs: you apply to every IIM through the same CAT application. There are no separate IIM forms.

Eligibility Criteria

You're eligible if you meet any one of the following:

• A bachelor's degree (minimum 3 years) with at least 50% marks (45% for reserved categories), or
• You're in the final year of your degree when the exam is held, or
• You hold a recognised professional degree (CA, CS, and the like) with the required percentage.

A few points that trip people up:

• No age limit. Anyone eligible can apply.
• Any stream, engineer or not.
• Freshers welcome. No work experience is required.
• Online or offline degree both work, as long as it's from a recognised institute in India.

Exam Pattern

CAT is a two-hour test with 68 questions across three sections:

Question types: most are multiple-choice (MCQs). The rest are TITA, short for type-in-the-answer, where you type the value or option into a box with no options to pick from.

Marking scheme:

• +3 for every correct answer
• -1 for every wrong MCQ
• No negative marking on TITA questions, so never leave one blank
• Total marks: 204

Section order: sections come in a fixed order. VARC first, then DILR, then Quant, with 40 minutes each. Once a section's time is up, you can't go back to it. Within a section, every question is visible from the start and you can attempt them in any order. You don't have to attempt all of them.

Exam Mode, Test Centres and Slots

• Computer-Based Test (CBT) at designated centres. You can't take it from home.
• Centres and cities: CAT 2025 ran at 339 centres across about 170 cities. You pick five preferred cities on the form and you get one of them or the nearest available.
• Three slots, morning, afternoon and evening, assigned at random. Each slot gets a different paper, and scores are normalised for difficulty, so your slot won't put you ahead or behind.
• At the centre, you get a desktop, a mouse and rough sheets.

After the Exam: Answer Key and Results

• Provisional answer key comes out within about two weeks, and you can raise objections.
• Results are usually declared in late December or early January.

Admission and Interview Process

• IIMs: you apply through the CAT form itself.
• Non-IIMs: each college has a separate form on its own website and some close before CAT. FMS Delhi is the classic case, so track those deadlines.

Shortlists usually weigh five things: your academic record, your CAT score, work experience, extracurriculars and diversity (such as gender or academic background). Every college sets its own weights.

If you're shortlisted, the next stage can include a Written Ability Test (WAT) or essay, a Group Discussion (GD), a Statement of Purpose (SOP) and a Personal Interview (PI). The IIMs mostly use WAT and PI. Each B-school picks its own mix.

Score Validity and Attempts

• Validity: a CAT score is valid for one admission cycle (one year).
• Attempts: there's no limit. You can take CAT every year.

Alternatives to CAT

CAT isn't the only way into a good MBA college. Other options include XAT, SNAP, NMAT and CMAT, and many B-schools run their own entrance tests too. More attempts across the season means less pressure on any single morning.

How Hard Is CAT, Really?

Less than its reputation suggests. CAT sits at a moderate difficulty. Around half the marks is usually enough for a 99 percentile, which tells you the paper isn't about solving everything. It's about choosing the right questions and managing your time.

Here's the math that makes the point. Get 34 questions right and 6 wrong, and you score 96 (34 times 3, minus 6). That's a 99 percentile or better in most years, even though you left 28 questions untouched. Build the habit of smart selection early and the exam feels very different.

Frequently Asked Questions

When is CAT 2026?

CAT 2026 is expected on Sunday, 29 November 2026, conducted by IIM Indore. The official notification, usually out in late July, confirms the exact date.

Who can apply for CAT 2026?

Anyone with a three-year graduation degree and at least 50% marks (45% for reserved categories). Final-year students qualify too. There's no age limit, no work experience requirement and your stream doesn't matter.

How many questions are in CAT and how long is it?

68 questions in 120 minutes. Three sections, VARC, DILR and Quant, with 40 minutes each and a fixed order.

How many marks do you need for a 99 percentile?

In most years, around half the total, roughly 100 out of 204, is enough for a 99 percentile. It shifts a little each year and across slots, so treat it as a target, not a guarantee.

Can you take CAT more than once?

Yes. CAT runs once a year and there's no limit on attempts. Each score is valid for one admission cycle.

Does a high CAT score guarantee an IIM seat?

No. A strong score gets you shortlisted. The final call also depends on your written test, group discussion, interview and overall profile.