CAT Eligibility Criteria 2025: Qualification & Reservation

CAT 2025 Eligibility Criteria: The Indian Institute of Management (IIM) conducting body prescribes the eligibility criteria for Common Admission Test (CAT) in its notification. The official notification for the year 2025 has not issued yet.

The eligibility for CAT has remained unchanged for several years, and it won’t change this year. Candidates planning to appear for the exam can check the CAT eligibility from the official website, iimcat.ac.in, or directly from this page.

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The eligibility criteria include several factors such as educational qualification, age limit, reservation, etc. To be eligible, candidates must hold a bachelor’s degree in any stream with a minimum of 50% aggregate marks. If applicants apply for the exam without satisfying the mandatory eligibility norms, then they will be disqualified from the entrance exam. Check out the article to know more about the eligibility criteria.

CAT Eligibility Criteria 2025

Candidates applying for the IIM CAT exam must satisfy all the necessary management exam eligibility criteria. They must have completed a bachelor’s degree from a well-recognized college. Work experience has its points in an interview, but this is not a basic criterion. During the selection process at IIMs, the concerned authorities will verify the candidate’s eligibility at various stages.

The eligibility criteria may vary based on the candidate’s category. Let’s have a look at the below tabular representation of the overview of eligibility criteria:

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CAT Eligibility Criteria 2025: Academic Qualification

IIM lays out certain eligibility conditions of academic qualifications that every applicant must meet before applying for CAT 2025.

• Candidate must have completed a bachelor’s degree program in any stream from any university recognised by the Ministry of HRD, India.
• The minimum percentage required for a bachelor’s degree in General and OBC category candidate is 50%.
• Candidates in the reserved category must attain a minimum of 45% in the bachelor’s course.
• For candidates who are awarded grades or CGPA, the grades will be according to the process certified by the university.

Let’s look at the table below that represents the academic educational qualification details.

Note: Applicants in their final year of graduation have to submit a certificate from the Registrar/Principal of their particular Institution or University. This certificate certifies that they fulfilled all of the criteria for equivalent qualification as of the date the certificate is issued.

Number of Attempts: A candidate can appear for the CAT exam as many times as he/she wishes to i.e. No restriction on the number of attempts.

CAT Eligibility 2025: Admissible Degrees

Candidates must have the following degree, and then they can apply for CAT 2025. Let us look at the table below for seeking admission into the Business school and IIMs.

CAT Eligibility Criteria with Backlogs

CAT aspirants with an academic backlog during graduation can apply and register for CAT 2025 without issues. It is to be noted that the candidate’s score or percentage equivalent to grades/ CGPA will be based on the practice followed by the respective University/ Institution. Suppose a University or Institution has no scheme to convert Grade/ CGPA into equivalent marks. In that case, the percentage score will be calculated by dividing the candidate’s CGPA by the maximum possible CGPA and multiplying the result by 100.

IIM CAT 2025 Eligibility: Reservation Criteria

The admissions selection factors for IIMs will vary from institution to institution. They adhere to the limitations on reservations imposed by the Indian government. Check the table below to learn about the CAT eligibility requirements for the reserved categories:

CAT Reservation Policy for Persons with Disability

PwD applicants have to show a PwD certificate given by an appropriate authority. This is one of the important eligibility requirements that PwD candidates must meet. Individuals with different types of disabilities who are eligible for PwD reservations include:

• Low-vision/ blind candidates,
• Candidates with hearing impairment,
• Candidate with a locomotive disability or cerebral palsy.

CAT 2025 Exam Eligibility Criteria for Final Year Students

Often it is observed that candidates hold this common doubt that is the final year students eligible to appear for the CAT exam. Candidates who are in the final year of the program and are awaiting the results can also apply. The final-year applicants for bachelor’s degrees are allowed to attend the exam, and they must clear the same with the required percentage.

To comply with CAT exam eligibility criteria, candidates need to furnish some additional documents, which include:

• Candidates who do not possess their final degree certificate with the total grade obtained must provide an additional document with the Principal’s signature verifying that the candidate currently has over 50% marks in the course.
• After the candidate’s admission to B-schools, the candidate will be required to furnish their final certificate from graduation to continue their studies.

If a foreign candidate is studying in the final year of graduation or post-graduation, they must only fill out the form making sure that they satisfy the eligibility criteria of CAT.

CAT Eligibility 2025: Important Points

Some important points regarding CAT 2025 eligibility criteria are as under:

• Candidates must ensure they fulfil all the eligibility criteria before applying for the exam.
• The eligibility criteria are just the minimum requirements to appear for CAT 2025. The participating institutes might have their own set of requirements for selecting candidates.
• Meeting the minimum eligibility criteria doesn’t guarantee that IIMs will shortlist one.
• If the authorities find any candidate’s information is wrong or misleading at any stage of the selection process, his/her candidature will be cancelled.
• The authorities will not allow any change in the category of the candidates after the registration is over. So, candidates must be careful while filling up the CAT application form.

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FAQs on CAT Exam Eligibility Criteria 2025

Following are the frequently asked questions and their answers related to CAT Eligibility 2025:

We hope this article on CAT Eligibility Criteria 2025 has helped you. Stay tuned to Embibe for more updates on CAT 2025!