How Many Students Clear CAT Exam Every Year?
Wondering How Many Students Clear the CAT Exam Every Year? Among the total appearing students, only 10% of them can crack the CAT exam every year.
Are you curious about how many students clear CAT exam every year? Here’s what you need to know. The CAT exam does not have any passing marks, which means, to crack the exam, you need to meet the cutoff of your target B-school. Approximately 300,000+ aspirants are expected to appear in the CAT 2025 exam , scheduled to take place on November 30, 2025. Registration is closed, and aspiring students looking forward to getting admitted to some of the country's best public and private colleges, such as IIMs, IITs, or any other institutes, are preparing themselves for this challenging test. Therefore, students eager to know more about the total students appearing in the CAT exam every year can check the number stats, total examinees, etc.
Also Read: CAT Quant 2025 Expected Difficulty Level based on Previous Years' Analysis
Number of Students Clearing the CAT Exam
Every year, more than 300,000 people take the CAT exam, but only 30,000 to 10,000 of them clear it and make it to the top IIMs and other top MBA colleges in India . Accordingly, less than 10% of test candidates pass the exam.
How Many Students Give the CAT Exam?
Among 230,000 and 350,000 students who take the CAT exam each year, only 200,000 to 300,000 of the registered candidates show up. About 300,000 people are expected to take the 2025 CAT exam, according to data from the last four years.
Year | Total CAT Registrations | Total Students Appeared for the CAT Exam |
|---|---|---|
2025 | 3.5 lakh | 3 lakh |
2023 | 3.5 lakh | 2.88 lakh |
2022 | 2.55 lakh | 2.22 lakh |
2021 | 2.30 lakh | 1.90 lakh |
2020 | 2.30 lakh | 1.90 lakh |
Marks Required to Clear the CAT Exam
Depending on the requirements of the institute, the minimum score required to pass the CAT exam is subject to change. To ascertain eligibility, each institute, IIMs and non-IIMs alike, has a different CAT cutoff. A table with the CAT cutoffs for different institutes can be seen below:
College Name | CAT Cutoff 2025 (Expected) |
|---|---|
99-100 | |
99-100 | |
99 | |
97+ | |
97+ | |
97-98 | |
95+ | |
95+ | |
95+ | |
94 | |
94 | |
94 | |
94 | |
92 | |
92 | |
92 | |
90 | |
95 | |
95 | |
99 | |
94 | |
DMS, IIT Delhi | 98+ |
90+ | |
99+ | |
90+ | |
95+ | |
National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE) Mumbai | 95+ |
85+ | |
90+ | |
Department of Management Studies, IIT Madras | 95+ |
85+ |
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Some 200,000 to 300,000 aspirants are taking up this very challenging CAT exam every year. This is the kind of test that would only clear the most deserving and suitable candidates, with checks and assessments on logical reasoning, analytical aptitudes, mathematical expertise, and language skills. Of which, only about 2% candidates' marks are good enough to get through this assessment process with flying colours. For any queries regarding the total number of students appearing in the CAT exam every year, log on to our CollegeDekho Q&A Zone or contact our toll-free helpline number 18005729877.
