“I have attempted ‘x’ questions and expect ‘y’ of them to be right. What percentile can I expect? Do I stand a chance of getting an IIM call?  Which other colleges should I apply to?”

These have always been the most frequently asked questions after the CAT. The answers to these questions have always been probabilistic. However, this year, lack of information on how the IIMs plan to calculate percentiles and the absence of valid student performance data for the CAT(s) conducted over eleven days, make the estimation of percentiles and the subsequent choice of B-schools all the more uncertain and difficult.

However, we appreciate your need to take a decision on which B-schools you should apply to based on your ‘perceived’ CAT performance. We would therefore like to help you apply to the right set of B-schools by following the steps given below:

Step 1: Calculate your score assuming that each question carries 3 marks with 1 mark deducted for every incorrect response
Step 2: Refer to the following table to ascertain your chance of getting a GD-PI call from various B-schools i.e. how you fare vis-a-vis the ‘Indicative good score’ as well as other parameters used by various institutes(as per last year data)

Important Note:

  1. The ‘Indicative Good Scores’ have been estimated on the basis of feedback received from various test-takers and reflect the least overall score a student should get to be eligible for a call.The student will also have to clear sectional cut-offs, if any
  2. Getting more than the ‘Indicative Good Score’ IS NOT sufficient to get a call, other parameters like acads and work ex are also be considered for the GD-PI calls
  3. The ‘indicative good score’ may slightly vary – as per the scoring assumption, level of difficulty of the test and the normalisation procedure to be used.
  4. The students should ideally apply to institutes they are ‘keen’ to join unless they feel that they are far away from the ‘Indicative Good Score’
  5. This is an indicative listing to aid students in their decision making process. However, IMS is not responsible for decisions taken by students on the basis of this information.
S. No Institute City CAT 2009 CAT 2008 selection criteria (as disclosed by various institutes)
Indicative good score Overall Cut-off Percentiles Sectional Cut-offs,
if any		 Parameters for GD-PI call
1 IIM, Ahmedabad Ahmedabad 100+ 98+ VA -94.5 %ile, PS&DI – 94 %ile SSC – 8 marks; HSC – 8 marks; CAT 6 marks
2 IIM, Bangalore Bengaluru 90+ 90+ DI -90 %ile, PS&VA – 85 %ile SSC- 15; HSC – 10; grad marks – 15;work ex – 5 CAT -20
3 IIM, Calcutta Kolkata 100+ 98.96+ approx 95.5 percentile CAT – 100
4 IIM, Lucknow Lucknow 90+ 90+ 85 percentile SSC- 5; HSC – 5; grad marks – 5;work ex – 5 CAT -30
5 IIM, Indore Indore 100+ 98+ - 80 percentile CAT-95; Work ex – 5
6 IIM, Kozhikode Kozhikode 100+ 98.9+ VA -93 %ile, PS&DI – 92 %ile CAT-90; Work ex – 10
7 RGIIM, Shillong Shillong 70+ 72+ - 60 percentile Individual cut-offs for: normalised SSC/HSC/grad marks and CAT overall/sectional
8 NITIE Mumbai 85+ 98+ 70 %ile – PS, DI&VA – 65 %ile
9 Management Development Institute Gurgaon 85+ 97+
10 InstituteofManagementTechnology Ghaziabad 80+ 96+ 70 percentile
11 Bharathidasan Institute of Management Trichy 80+ 95+
12 Great Lakes Institute of Management Chennai 80+ median – 96.8 %ile
13 International Management Institute New Delhi 75+ 93+
14 T A Pai Management Institute Manipal 75+ 92+
15 Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management New Delhi 75+ 91+
16 ForeSchoolofManagement New Delhi 75+ 90+ Approx 60+ percentiles
17 Mudra Institute of Communication Ahmedabad Ahmedabad 75+ 90+
18 Nirma Institute of Management Ahmedabad 75+ 90+ 50 percentile for 90-95 range, none for 95+
19 S P Jain Institute of Management & Research Mumbai 70+ 85+ graduation minimum 50 %, profile based selections
20 UniversityBusinessSchool Chandigarh 70+ 85+
21 K J Somaiya Insti’ of Mgmt Studies & Research Mumbai 70+ 89+ – freshers
70+ 82+ – work ex >1 yr
22 Indian Institute ofForestManagement Bhopal 70+ 85+
23 PraxisBusinessSchool Kolkata 70+ 85+ profile based selections – acads, extra-curriculars, work ex (if any)
24 AllianceBusinessAcademy Bangalore 65+ 80+
25 Indian Institute of Social Welfare & Business Management Kolkata 65+ 80+
26 Institute for Financial Management & Research Chennai 65+ 80+
27 InstituteofManagementDevelopment and Research Pune 65+ 80+
28 Prin L N Welingkar Institute of Management Development & Research Mumbai 65+ 61.5/130 100(test)+10(Acads)+20(Work ex)

This article is taken from the IMS website.