Common Admission Test (CAT) Notification 2026 has been released on the official website iimcat.ac.in. The Indian Institute of Management (IIM) will start the registration process for CAT 2026 from 10 am on August 3, 2026. Eligible candidates can submit their application form before 5 pm on September 15, 2026.CAT is a national-level entrance exam for 21 Indian management schools and several other leading business schools, including Delhi Management School (FMS), SP Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR), Management Development Institute Gurgaon (MDI), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT).
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The detailed CAT 2026 notification is available on the official website for candidates to check.
CAT 2026 exam date and admission ticket
The CAT 2026 exam will be held in three sessions on Sunday, November 29, 2026, in nearly 170 exam cities across the country.Admission tickets will be released online on November 4, 2026. On the day of the exam, candidates can download their admission ticket from the official website.According to the official notification, the CAT 2026 results are expected to be announced in the first week of January 2027. CAT 2026 scores are valid until December 31, 2027.
CAT 2026 Eligibility standard
Candidates applying for CAT 2026 must:
- Hold a bachelor’s degree from a recognized university or institution with at least 50% marks.
- Candidates belonging to the Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Persons with Disabilities (PwD) categories must secure at least 45% marks.
- Final year undergraduate students are also eligible to apply.
- There is no upper age limit for taking the exam.
CAT 2026 exam pattern
The exam pattern is expected to remain the same as CAT 2025.The test paper has 68 questions in total and is divided into three parts:
- Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC): 24 questions
- Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR): 22 questions
- Quantitative Ability (QA): 22 questions
Each section is limited to 40 minutes and candidates are not allowed to switch between sections during the exam.About 70% of the questions are Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ) and the remaining 30% are Type In Answer (TITA) questions. Negative 1 point applies only to incorrect MCQ responses.
CAT 2026 Registration Fee
The application fee is:
- Rs 2,700 for general category candidates.
- 1,350 for SC, ST and PwD category candidates.
Candidates are advised to always check the official website of CAT for the latest updates regarding the exam and admission process.