CAT Previous Year Cutoffs for IIM Ahmedabad, Bangalore & Calcutta: Category-Wise & Sectional Analysis

The best management institutions in India, the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA), Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB), and Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIMC) follow a systematic, two-tier cutoff process for screening candidates for their prestigious PGP/MBA programs. The first tier includes formal cutoff criteria based on minimum eligibility cutoffs (Level 1). Candidates need to obtain certain minimum scores in each individual section (VARC, DILR, QA) as well as overall percentiles to qualify for consideration. 

Though these basic overall cut-off criteria seem quite achievable ranging somewhere between 75 to 95 percentiles for candidates belonging to General category (85 percentile for IIMB and IIMC, and 95 percentile for IIMA) these only make a candidate eligible for consideration and not sure about an interview invitation. The second tier includes cutoff criteria based on actual selection calls (Level 2). These cutoff criteria are based on a composite score formula that involves ranking candidates taking into account CAT performance and other strong profile indicators, such as class 10, class 12, graduation marks, work experience, and gender/diversity.

IIM Ahmedabad Previous Year CAT Cutoff

The minimum qualifying cutoffs of IIM Ahmedabad have been set on the basis of extremely stringent criteria. The general category had a minimum CAT percentile of 95.34, while the cutoff for the EWS category was 96.41. The cutoffs for the reserved categories were 90.66 for NC-OBC, 85.83 for SC, 75.83 for ST, and 77.48 for PwD.

IIM Bangalore Previous Year CAT Cutoff

The lowest percentiles recorded for admission into IIM Bangalore reveal different cutoff percentages based on reservations. The cut-off percentages for the candidates in the general category were from 94.06 percent onwards, followed by 86.1 for EWS. Other categories have the following cutoff percentages; NC-OBC has 75.57, SC has 73.04, ST has 66.82, and PwD has 60.16.

IIM Calcutta Previous Year CAT Cutoff (Approx)

For IIM Calcutta's prestigious MBA course, there are tough cutoffs in real practice due to the stiff competition among different categories. The general category candidates need to have around 99.71 CAT percentiles to get a call whereas the cutoff for EWS was around 99.03. The cutoffs of some other categories are given below:

CAT Cutoffs for IIM Ahmedabad, Bangalore & Calcutta: Strategic Takeaways for Aspirants

• Get Sectionals Right: Always ensure that you do not sacrifice your weaker section to improve your percentile in others. An aspirant with a 99.8 percentile overall and 74 percentile in either QA or DILR cannot get through the first stage selection in any of the three institutes.

• Coachify

• Profile Optimisation is Key: Whereas IIMC values good test performance, IIMA and IIMB value consistent academic merit and diverse profiles. It helps non-engineering and female applicants to gain more points for gender and academic diversity at Ahmedabad and Calcutta.

• Shoot for 99.5+: With the growing number of students taking the exam, general aspirants should aim for a 99.50+ percentile.

Factors Affecting the CAT cutoffs

• Total Number of Test-takers: Increasing applicant numbers raise seat competition levels, and therefore increase overall cutoffs needed to get into good B-schools.   

• Difficulty level of the exam: A difficult question paper will reduce overall scores, resulting in lower raw scores being needed for particular percentiles.   

• Number of Seats: The total number of seats across all programs influences applicant ratio, whereby larger batches mean lower cutoffs, while fewer seats translate to higher cutoffs.

• Mandatory Reservation Policy: Statutory reservation of seats among OBC, SC, ST, EWS, and PwD categories means that cutoffs have been defined in tiers for different applicants.   

• Minimum Section Percentiles: Mandatory minimum percentiles for VARC, DILR, and QA sections ensure that overall high scores cannot cover for a low-scoring section.

• Overall Shortlisting Parameters: Weighings given by institutes for past academics, graduation, gender ratio, and work experience change overall cutoff percentiles.

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