CAT Score vs Percentile 2026: What Your Marks Convert To
CAT does not publish a fixed marks-to-percentile table — your raw score is normalised across the three exam slots before a percentile is assigned. Careers360’s expected mapping for CAT 2026, based on past-year patterns, puts 99.9 percentile at roughly 102–106 marks and 90 percentile at roughly 44–48 marks, depending on slot. These are expected figures, not official ones.
Expected marks vs percentile (CAT 2026)
| Percentile | Slot 1 (expected marks) | Slot 2 | Slot 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 99.95 | 115+ | 110+ | 112+ |
| 99.9 | 103–106 | 102–105 | 102–104 |
| 99.5 | 90–92 | 89–91 | 88–90 |
| 99 | 78–82 | 77–79 | 76–78 |
| 95 | 56–58 | 55–57 | 54–56 |
| 90 | 45–48 | 44–46 | 44–45 |
This table (Careers360, updated 23 September 2026) only extends down to 90 percentile. If your target is the 40–90 percentile range this site focuses on, the number that matters is your percentile, not a marks estimate — see which colleges each percentile band opens up directly, once your scorecard is out.
Why marks don’t convert to percentile directly
CAT is held across three shifts, and question difficulty is never identical between them. IIM Indore adjusts raw scores through a normalisation process before ranking candidates, so two people with the same raw score in different slots can land on different percentiles. See how CAT normalisation actually works for the full explanation.
Frequently asked questions
What marks are needed for 99 percentile in CAT 2026?
Careers360’s expected range is 76–82 marks depending on slot. This is a prediction based on past-year patterns, not an official figure.
Does CAT convert marks to percentile using a fixed formula?
No single public formula exists because of normalisation across slots. Percentile is calculated from your normalised score’s rank among all candidates who appeared.
Is 60 marks a good score in CAT?
Based on the expected table above, 60 marks sits below the 90-percentile band (44–48) but the exact percentile depends on your slot and cannot be confirmed until results are declared.
Sources & methodology
Marks-to-percentile figures are expected, not official, and apply to CAT 2026 only.