IIM Entrance Exam for MBA: CAT 2025, Eligibility Criteria, Preparation Tips

Updated on Mar 04, 2025 00:10

Students aspiring for getting admitted to any of the reputed IIMs for MBA course, may not be aware of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) admission process well. Here we have all the required information for you to go through the IIM Entrance Exam and the entire selection process starting from the IIM entrance exam for MBA.

There are several steps for candidates to cross before gaining admission to an IIM MBA/PGP program. The most significant step is to crack CAT entrance exam and get selected for the following written tests and interview rounds. Candidates are finally shortlisted based on their performance in all the stages of the selection process including CAT, GD & PI, as well as their academic and professional experience (if any). This article elaborates the process of IIM entrance exam for MBA and the several stages of its selection criteria.

The very first step for the aspirants of IIM MBA Admission 2025-26 is taking the CAT exam. Notably, it requires a great deal of dedication and perseverance to secure a qualifying rank at these prestigious IIMs through the CAT entrance exams. Every year a very few students get admission to their dream IIM colleges through all India entrance exam, among all that devoted with their energy and effort for their preparation.

IIM Entrance Exam: CAT 2025

IIM entrance exam also is known as Common Aptitude Test, commonly called as CAT, is conducted for selection of IIM MBA aspirants. The exam is held every year in the last week of November. CAT 2025 is going to be held in November 30, 2025.

It is very important for students to crack the CAT as the first step towards IIM admission process for MBA/PGP courses. You need to score above the cutoff percentile in CAT 2025 to be eligible for admission to an IIM MBA. Based only on your qualifying rank you will receive a call from the respective IIMs. Therefore, it is imperative to take your CAT preparation seriously. Check CAT 2025 Expected Cutoff

Each IIM college hold their individual interviews and admission processes based on the released CAT results. Hence, the admission process details vary from one IIM to another. However, candidates must remember the IIM admission processes are based on a Composite Score for selections to the WAT/PI stage, but it is not limited to the CAT scores and WAT/GD and PI rounds. Each IIM offers variable weightages to parameters such as:

Work experience
Class 10th marks
Class 12th marks
CAT score
WAT/PI score

CAT 2025 Eligibility Criteria

CAT 2025 eligibility criteria is the same as the IIMs MBA/PGP courses eligibility criteria. However, following are the basic requirements of CAT eligibility criteria to meet for the aspirants seeking IIM MBA admission through CAT entrance exam:

Graduation with 50% for general, EWS, and NC-OBC categories and 45% for SC, ST, and PwD categories.
Candidates in their final year of graduation can be eligible to appear for the CAT exam. However, it is to be noted that in case of failure to provide the necessary academic credentials at the time of admission, the candidature will be rejected.
To get selected for the IIM interview call, candidates must meet the CAT cutoffs requirements
To get finally selected you will need to qualify through all the weightage points, right from your academic career, CAT score, WAT/PI performance, and work experience (for the candidates with professional backgrounds).

CAT Preparation Tips

The tips given in the below section are to be a few steps ahead of your competitors for admission into your dream B-schools:

Revise your Maths and English knowledge of class 8 to class 10 levels, along with practicing of application-oriented exercises.
You can get formal training to prepare along with good study material from any reputed coaching institute.
You need to master a few topics that hold higher weightage in the CAT exam; for example, Arithmetic, Algebra, Numbers for Quant, and Reading Comprehension for VARC.
Try to give a sectional test every week to full proof your preparation for each section so that you can score higher than the sectional cut-offs.
Finally, try to give as many mock exams as possible to test your preparedness and understanding of the paper. Write a mock test every 15 days and do a qualitative analysis of these mocks for at least 5-6 hours.

CAT 2025 Reservation Criteria

CAT 2025 reservation criteria schemes are provided by Government of India. There are different percentage of reservation criteria for different social and economic class of people for admission to the IIMs in the CAT exam, such as SC, ST, OBC, EWS, and PwD. Candidates selected through CAT exams can avail of reservation benefits during the IIM admission process

Check the details about CAT exam reservation for different categories:

Category	Reservation Percentage
SC (Scheduled Caste)	15%
ST (Scheduled Tribe)	7.5%
NC-OBC (Non-Creamy Other Backward Classes)	27%
EWS (Economically Weaker Section)	10%
Persons with Disabilities (PwD)	5%

CAT 2025 Exam Fees

CAT 2025 exam fees cost different to two different categories of applicants. The CAT Registration fees for the general category is INR 2500/- , and for SC, ST and PwD candidates INR 1250 /-.

IIM Entrance Exam: CAT 2025 Cut-offs (Expected)

IIM CAT 2025 cut-offs for different categories are presented in the table below:

IIM	General	OBC	EWS	SC	ST
IIM Ahmedabad	80	75	80	70	60
IIM Bangalore	85	75	75	70	65
IIM Kozhikode	85	75	75	65	55
IIM Kolkata	85	75	75	70	65
IIM Lucknow	90	82	82	65	60
IIM Mumbai	85	75	75	70	65
IIM Indore	90	80	90	60	50
IIM Raipur	92	74	70	54	40
IIM Rohtak	95	78	90	55	30
IIM Udaipur	92	74	70	54	40
IIM Kashipur	92	74	70	54	40
IIM Trichy	92	74	70	54	40
IIM Ranchi	92	74	70	54	40
IIM Shillong	75	75	75	60	50
IIM Visakhapatnam	80	70	72	45	35
IIM Jammu (Male)	90	72	68	52	37
IIM Jammu (Female)	87	70	65	50	34
IIM Nagpur	90	76.5	80	60	40
IIM Amritsar	85	75	85	55	40
IIM Bodh Gaya	92	74	70	54	40
IIM Sambalpur	74	74	70	54	40
IIM Sirmaur	92	74	70	54	40

New IIMs Entrance Exam - Common Admission Process

The ten new IIMs follow an admission process that is different from the older IIMs. After the candidates are selected based on CAT ranking, the new IIMs conducts Common Admission Process (CAP) as a standardized selection process for these nine new IIMs. The final selection at the ten new IIMs is based on only Personal Interview session under CAP.

You need to note some key points mentioned below:

Candidates applying for CAT exam need to have selected at least one CAP-participating IIMs for MBA/PGP programme.
The nine IIMs participating in CAP are IIM Bodh Gaya, IIM Jammu, IIM Kashipur, IIM Nagpur, IIM Raipur, IIM Ranchi, IIM Sambalpur, IIM Sirmaur, IIM Tiruchirappalli and IIM Udaipur.
CAP is only consisting of a Personal Interview (PI). There is no Writing Ability Test (WAT) under this admission process.
The invitations of admission are made separately by the IIMs after the final processes of CAP have concluded.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Ans. The admission process of IIMs begins with the CAT entrance exam, followed by the further rounds that includes GD, PI, and WAT of the shortlisted candidates.

The below steps explain the admission procedure in detail for your dream MBA course:

Stage 1: You need to apply for the CAT entrance exam as the first step to get admission to an IIM.

Stage 2: With all due preparation candidates need to appear for the CAT entrance exam.

Stage 3: Candidates scoring the qualifying ranks at CAT are selected by the IIMs to participate for further selection rounds.

Stage 4: The last round of IIM admission process consists maximus weightage. This round includes various sessions, such as Group Discussion (GD), Personal Interview (PI), and Written Ability Test (WAT).

Stage 5: The final selection of IIM MBA students are made based on the weightage scores from each selection rounds and the academic and professional records.

Ans. IIM and IIT are equally tough to secure admission. CAT is considered to be one of the toughest management entrance exams to qualifying through the set cut-offs. To put it straight, IIMs have about 20,000 seats for around 2,50,000 candidates appearing the entrance tests every year, setting out an intense competition for admission to IIMs.

Ans. The older IIMs (21 colleges) accept only CAT scores from the applicants of its full-time MBA/PGP programmes. However, the 10 newer IIM colleges, namely IIM Bodh Gaya, IIM Jammu, IIM Kashipur, IIM Nagpur, IIM Raipur, IIM Ranchi, IIM Sambalpur, IIM Sirmaur, IIM Tiruchirappalli and IIM Udaipur, follows a different admission process after candidates are shortlisted through CAT results. These newer IIMs follows CAP or common admission procedure, where no written ability test or WAT is taken.

Ans. Excelling in the CAT exam is essential to qualify for admission to IIMs. However, candidates should also prioritize a strong academic record and thorough preparation for the WAT/PI rounds to enhance their admission prospects. Each IIM follows a distinct selection process, ensuring a diverse and capable cohort that makes them premium institutions in global business education.

Ans. The primary difference between the admission process for older IIMs (like IIM Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta) and newer IIMs is the significantly higher CAT cut-off percentile required for the older institutions, reflecting their established reputation and stronger alumni network.

Apart from CAT cutoffs, the weightage of other factors like academic background, work experience, extracurricular activities during the GD and PI session holds key to admission to the older IIMs. While a comparative lower rank at the CAT exam followed by a personal interview is considered to be good to get admitted at the newer IIMs.

It is also to be noted, that While older IIMs individually formulates the weightage score for the each category of selection process, the newer IIMs follows Common Admission Process (CAP), that seeks only a interview session with the candidates post selection through CAT score.

Ans. Although not mandatory, candidates with work experience have an edges over others in IIM MBA application with their acquired practical skills and real-world insights. Usually, IIMs consider 30-36 months of work experience as the optimal duration for admission. However, candidates without experience can still gain entry into IIMs for MBA. It is to be noted that the required work experience varies depending on the type of MBA program.