CAT Attempts vs Percentile 2023
Increasing your accuracy while solving questions will increase your CAT percentile but it impacts the time you take to solve each question. So, where does the sweet spot lie in the CAT attempts vs percentile 2023 analysis? Find out here.
The CAT attempts vs percentile 2023 analysis is a crucial statistic that candidates require to ascertain their percentile score after the CAT 2023 exam but before the CAT result 2023, which was announced on December 21, 2023. One of the most useful but uncommon pieces of advice that experts share with CAT aspirants is not to try attempting every single question in the CAT exam. Such a suggestion may be hard for many students to follow since leaving no question unanswered is the typical examination strategy followed by everyone.
However, since the CAT is a competitive exam, the approach to solving the CAT question paper should also be different than average exams. Many candidates also use this information to devise an examination strategy to earn them a 99-100 percentile score. In this article, we have provided all the necessary information on and around the CAT 2023 attempts vs percentile analysis. Aspirants can also find details on the CAT 2023 exam pattern, marking scheme, score calculation, and other aspects of the exam.
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CAT 2023 Attempts vs Percentile Analysis
The following CAT attempts vs percentile 2023 analysis provides a rough estimate to the candidates on how many questions they need to attempt to reach their goal. We have considered the previous year's trends and mathematical estimations while creating the analysis. It is also important to note that an error margin of +/- 5 marks must also be included when calculating the CAT 2023 percentile
CAT Score for 99 Percentile & Above
The table below shows the number of accurate CAT attempts needed to achieve the 99 percentile range and above in CAT 2023:
CAT 2023 Sections | Accuracy Level | Good Attempts | Raw Score | Scaled Score | Expected Percentile Score in CAT 2023 |
Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC) | 85 | 14-16 | 36-40 | 45-55 | 99+ |
Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR) | 85 | 12-14 | 32-34 | 44-50 | 99+ |
Quantitative Ability (QA) | 85 | 14-16 | 36-40 | 46-54 | 99+ |
Overall | 85 | 42-48 | 104-114 | 135-159 | 99-99.5 |
CAT Score for 95-98 Percentile
The table below shows the number of accurate CAT attempts needed to achieve the 95-98 percentile range in CAT 2023:
CAT 2023 Sections | Accuracy Level | Good Attempts | Raw Score | Scaled Score | Expected Percentile Score in CAT 2023 |
Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC) | 85 | 13-15 | 34-38 | 40-45 | 95-98 |
Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR) | 3-30 | 8-10 | 26-30 | 32-36 | 95-98 |
Quantitative Ability (QA) | 85 | 14-16 | 35-40 | 40-44 | 95-98 |
Overall | 85 | 35-41 | 95-100 | 112-125 | 95-98 |
CAT Score for 90-94 Percentile
The table below shows the number of accurate CAT attempts needed to achieve the 90-94 percentile range in CAT 2023:
CAT 2023 Sections | Accuracy Level | Good Attempts | Raw Score | Scaled Score | Expected Percentile Score in CAT 2023 |
Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC) | 90 | 11-13 | 29-35 | 36-40 | 90 - 94 |
Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR) | 90 | 7-9 | 17-22 | 22-28 | 90 - 94 |
Quantitative Ability (QA) | 85 | 10-12 | 26-32 | 32-48 | 90 – 94 |
Overall | 85 | 28-34 | 72-89 | 90-116 | 90 - 94 |
The following graph depicts the CAT 2022 attempts vs percentile analysis for different levels of accuracy. The analysis for CAT 2023 is expected to be similar.
The perks of increasing accuracy are apparent in the above graph. Following are some of the major inferences which can be drawn.
Inference No. 1 | The difference between the number of attempts at 70 percentile is much smaller as compared to the difference between the two at 99+ percentile. | |
Inference No. 2 | For a 99+ percentile score, the difference between 70% and 80% accuracy is much higher as compared to the difference between 80% and 90% accuracy. |
Hence, we can make the following deductions from this given information.
Deduction No. 1 - From Inference No. 1, it can be seen that the benefit of increasing accuracy in CAT 2022 is much higher when aiming for a higher percentile. Thus, a candidate aiming for a 90+ percentile score will benefit more from increasing his/her accuracy as compared to a candidate aiming for a 70 percentile score.
Deduction No. 2 - From Inference No. 2, it can be seen that there are limits to the benefits you get from increasing accuracy in CAT 2022. If you increase your accuracy by over 90%, this difference will drop further. Since time is limited, it is better to try and maintain accuracy between 80 - 90% while also maintaining a good speed in CAT 2022.
Note: The CAT attempts vs percentile 2023 is expected to be similar to that of CAT 2022.
CAT 2023 Attempts vs Percentile: Section-Wise Analysis
Based on the information given above, here is a section-wise breakdown of the CAT attempts vs percentile 2023 analysis. The analysis for CAT 2023 will also follow a similar pattern. Candidates can use the information below to adjust their examination strategy.
With 70% Accuracy
Target Percentile | No. of Attempts | |||
VARC | DILR | QA | Total | |
70 %ile | 11 | 9 | 9 | 29 |
80 %ile | 15 | 12 | 13 | 40 |
90 %ile | 22 | 18 | 20 | 60 |
99+ %ile | 30 | 29 | 29 | 88 |
With 80% Accuracy
Target Percentile | No. of Attempts | |||
VARC | DILR | QA | Total | |
70 %ile | 9 | 7 | 8 | 24 |
80 %ile | 12 | 10 | 11 | 33 |
90 %ile | 18 | 16 | 17 | 51 |
99+ %ile | 25 | 23 | 24 | 72 |
With 90% Accuracy
Target Percentile | No. of Attempts | |||
VARC | DILR | QA | Total | |
70 %ile | 8 | 6 | 6 | 20 |
80 %ile | 10 | 9 | 9 | 28 |
90 %ile | 16 | 13 | 14 | 43 |
99+ %ile | 22 | 18 | 20 | 60 |
CAT Attempts vs Percentile 2023 - Role of Accuracy
Accuracy plays a major role in deciding your percentile based on your number of attempts. The number of attempts drops drastically with the increase in accuracy. However, one should also keep in mind that the time taken per question also increases to maintain high accuracy.
Also Read: What is a Good Score in CAT 2023?
CAT 2023 Score Calculation
What is CAT Score?
The CAT score is the overall grade a student receives based on the exam's marking scheme. Simply said, a candidate's CAT score is the sum of his or her marks in Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension, Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning, and Quantitative Ability portions. Here's the CAT 2023 score calculator formula:
CAT Score = (No. of Correct Answers) * 3 - No. of Incorrect Answers |
What are CAT Scaled Scores/Marks?
The CAT exam is administered across many sessions (two or three). To ensure fairness and justice in performance comparison, the question papers for each session are slightly different from one another, and a scaled score is produced through the normalization process. This scaled score could vary in both ways from the raw score.
What Is CAT Percentile?
The CAT percentile, along with a few other factors, shows a student's position in the exam compared to the other students who took it simultaneously. The position of a candidate among all CAT applications, which is used to determine the candidate's ranking, is indicated by the CAT percentile, to put it simply. It is a unit used to determine or assess the proportion of students on the merit list that are above or below you.
How to Calculate CAT Percentile?
The CAT exam's percentiles are the same as those on other tests. The percentiles just serve as a visual depiction of how many test takers fall short of you. The following is a general formula to compute the percentile:
CAT Percentile = [1 - All India Rank (Total Candidates in the Exam)] * 100% |
What Is CAT Composite Score?
The final score determined by IIMs for admission to their programs is called the composite score. The composite score for a candidate is determined by taking into account a variety of factors in addition to their CAT score.
Two applicants with identical on-paper scores may have different composite scores depending on several factors. The following additional factors are taken into account when calculating a composite score:
Class 10th Marks
Class 12th Marks
Graduation Percentage/ Grade
Work Experience
Academic Background
Gender Diversity
The formula for calculating the CAT Composite Score used by the IIMs is as follows:
The calculation of the CAT 2023 scores of a candidate takes place in 3 steps.
Step 1: Raw Scores of a candidate are calculated based on the number of correct and incorrect attempts by using the marking scheme.
Step 2: Since CAT 2023 is conducted in multiple shifts, the scaled scores of a candidate are calculated after normalizing for any difference in difficulty level across shifts.
Step 3: Finally, the CAT 2023 percentile of a candidate can be calculated. Scaled Scores are used when calculating the percentile of a candidate.
We have explained both the scaled score calculation and normalization process of CAT 2023 in more detail in the following articles.
CAT 2023 Score vs Percentile (Expected)
Here are the expert-estimated CAT overall and section-wise scores for the 99th percentile. Candidates can clearly understand the sectional and total CAT scores by glancing at this table.
Percentile | VARC Score | DILR Score | QA Score | Overall Score |
99.5 %ile | 44 | 35 | 40 | 101 |
99%ile | 34 | 26 | 36 | 96 |
98%ile | 32 | 28 | 30 | 90 |
95%ile | 32 | 20 | 29 | 81 |
90%ile | 29 | 17 | 26 | 72 |
85%ile | 24 | 15 | 20 | 59 |
80%ile | 20 | 12 | 15 | 47 |
CAT 2023 Exam Pattern & Marking Scheme
Candidates can check out the CAT exam pattern 2023 in the table below:
CAT 2023 Sections | Total MCQs (Negative Marking) | Total Non-MCQs (No Negative Marking) | Total Questions | Maximum Marks |
Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC) | 21 | 3 | 24 | 72 |
Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR) | 14 | 6 | 20 | 60 |
Quantitative Ability (QA) | 14 | 8 | 22 | 66 |
Total | 48 | 18 | 66 | 198 |
CAT 2023 Marking Scheme
You get 3 marks for every correct answer in CAT 2023 and 1 mark is deducted for every incorrectly answered MCQ. There is no negative marking for non-MCQs or TITA questions. Hence, your accuracy has a major role to play in deciding your CAT 2023 percentile.
Also Read:Important Topics for CAT
Colleges Accepting CAT 2023
The following articles can be checked for a list of colleges accepting CAT 2023 for admission to their MBA/PGDM courses.
After understanding the CAT Attempts vs Percentile 2023, let us find out which is the best college for you based on the CAT 2023 Cut Off by using the following tools.
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If you need help with admissions, fill out the Common Application Form (CAF) or call our helpline number 1800-572-9877.