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For candidates who are going to write the CAT 2026 exam, the first question that arises is what the CAT scores will be for the 96 percentile. The question that arises in the mind of the candidate is how many marks one needs to score in the CAT to get the 96 percentile. This article will lead to calculating the possible score after completing the CAT exam. This year, the CAT 2026 will take place on November 29, 2026. Read this article to learn what the 96 percentile in CAT 2026 means and how many marks it is.
Also Read: CAT Colleges Rank-Wise: Top B-Schools Accepting CAT Scores
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If you scored 96 percentile in CAT 2026, you might be wondering how many marks this corresponds to. The CAT percentile indicates your performance compared to other test takers, but the exact scores vary each year depending on the difficulty level and the overall performance of the candidates.
The CAT question paper will have a total of 68 questions, for a total score of 204. The VARC section has 24 questions, and the LRDI and QA sections have 22 questions each. CAT 2026 is scheduled for November 29, 2026, so before the exam and result there cannot be an actual CAT 2026 marks versus percentile table.
96 Percentile In CAT 2026 | Expected Marks for 96 Percentile in CAT 2026 |
96.9% | 69.8+ |
96.8 | 69.3+ |
96.7 | 68.8+ |
96.6 | 68.4+ |
96.5 | 68+ |
96.4 | 67.7+ |
96.3 | 67.3+ |
96.2 | 67+ |
96.1 | 66.7+ |
96 | 66.3+ |
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Let us look at the section-wise marks and the probable percentile for that. These would be crucial for candidates to understand how many CAT marks for the 96 percentile will be required in expected CAT 2026 Slot 1 Score Range.
CAT 2026 Percentile | CAT VARC Score | CAT LRDI Score | CAT QA Score | Overall CAT Score |
99 | 39-40 | 31-32 | 30-31 | 90 |
95 | 31-32 | 24-25 | 23–24 | 66 |
90 | 25-26 | 19-21 | 17-18 | 56-57 |
85 | 22-23 | 16-18 | 14-15 | 45-46 |
80 | 20-21 | 13-14 | 12-13 | 40-41 |
70 | 16-17 | 11-12 | 10-11 | 35-36 |
Data by Careers360
Also Read: CAT Colleges Rank-Wise: Top B-Schools Accepting CAT Scores
Let us look at the section-wise marks and the probable percentile for that. These would be crucial for candidates to understand how many CAT marks for the 96 percentile are needed in the CAT 2026 Slot 2.
CAT Percentile | CAT VARC Score | CAT LRDI | CAT QA Score | Overall CAT Score |
99 | 41-42 | 27-28 | 28-29 | 87 |
95 | 33-34 | 22-23 | 22-23 | 63 |
90 | 26-27 | 18-19 | 16-17 | 55-56 |
85 | 23-24 | 15-17 | 13-14 | 44-45 |
80 | 21-22 | 12-14 | 11-12 | 39-40 |
70 | 17-18 | 11-12 | 10-11 | 35-36 |
Data by Careers360
CAT Percentile | CAT VARC Score | CAT LRDI | CAT QA Score | Overall CAT Score |
99 | 39-40 | 32 | 33-35 | 90 |
95 | 31 | 24 | 24 | 72 |
90 | 26 | 19-20 | 21-22 | 60 |
New: CAT Marks for 99 Percentile: How Many Marks Should I Score in CAT to Get 99 Percentile?
One of the best ways to get an idea of how the CAT marks for the 96 percentile have differed over the years is to look at the scaled marks for the past year along with the scaled score of CAT 2026. This will also help the candidate to understand the difficulty level of the CAT 2026 compared to previous years.
CAT Percentile | Scaled Score 2023 | Scaled Score 2024 | Scaled Score 2025 | Scaled Score 2026 |
100 CAT Percentile | 145.83 | 138.59 | - | To be Announced |
99.95 CAT Percentile | 115 | 106.95 | 112+ | To be Announced |
99.90 CAT Percentile | 109.9 | 101.43 | 102-104 | To be Announced |
99.50 - CAT Percentile | 92.87 | 84.29 | 88-90 | To be Announced |
99 CAT Percentile | 83.64 | 76.02 | 76-78 | To be Announced |
98 CAT Percentile | 73.88 | 68.68 | - | To be Announced |
97 CAT Percentile | - | - | 65-67 | To be Announced |
96.6 CAT Percentile | 65.40 | 59.99 | - | To be Announced |
95.5 CAT Percentile | 59.75 | 56.41 | - | To be Announced |
95 CAT Percentile | - | - | 54-56 | To be Announced |
93 CAT Percentile | 53 | 52.35 | - | To be Announced |
90 CAT Percentile | 48.44 | 45.16 | 44-45 | To be Announced |
85 CAT Percentile | 41.32 | 42.29 | 38-40 | To be Announced |
80 CAT Percentile | 36.02 | 41.19 | 34-35 | To be Announced |
70 CAT Percentile | 28.5-29 | 38.94 | 29-30 | To be Announced |
There are three sections in the CAT 2026 examination: Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC), Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR), and Quantitative Aptitude (QA). 68 questions will be divided into these three sections, each correct answer carrying 3 marks with them. The candidate would get 40 minutes for each of the sections. Each section would contain several non-MCQ questions along with primarily MCQ questions.
Section | Number of Questions | Time Allotted | Marks (+3 for every correct answer and -1 for every wrong answer) |
Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC) | 24 | 40 | 72 |
Logical Reasoning and Data Interpretation (LRDI ) | 22 | 40 | 66 |
Quantitative Aptitude (QA) | 22 | 40 | 66 |
Total | 68 | 120 | 204 |
Read Also: CAT Score Calculator: Estimate Your Raw and Scaled Scores Instantly
To understand how many marks one should score in CAT 2026 to get the 99 percentile, one needs to understand how the raw score is calculated. The RAW CAT score is determined according to the following process:
Example: Let us assume that one of the applicants has attempted 58 questions out of 68 questions. Out of these, they have answered 48 correctly. Out of 10 wrong answers, 8 wrong answers are from MCQ, and 2 are from non-MCQ, so the RAW CAT Score would be
Moreover, being a competitive exam, the CAT also provides the percentile apart from the RAW CAT score. Percentile shows how one candidate has scored better than other candidates. For instance, last year 76.02 marks fetched one a percentile of 99, which in turn implies that one candidate has scored better than 99% of the appearing candidates. To calculate the percentile of a candidate, the following process is taken:
Percentile = [1-{One’s CAT Rank / Number of Candidates appeared for the test}] * 100
CAT Percentile Predictor can be a handy tool for the applicants to get a glimpse of what they can expect as a percentile. They need to calculate the RAW score and then put it in the calculator tool mentioned above to get a sneak peek at the expected percentile.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
The scaled score for 96 percentile is expected to be in the range of 59 to 65 for the CAT 2026 exam.
The CAT 2026 exam has three sections. The CAT VARC section will include 24 questions with a weightage of 72 marks. These will be followed by the DILR section and QA section. The DILR and QA sections comprise 22 and 22 questions, respectively, and they contain 66 marks each.
The difficulty level of CAT 2026 is expected to be moderate to hard, looking into the past trends. However, with the proper preparation, the candidates will be able to clear it.
Applicants can try the Careers360 Percentile to know their CAT percentile. Upon putting the CAT Raw score in the predictor tool.
Looking at the past trends, scoring 120 will gain the candidate's 90 percentile. However, this score can vary according to the difficulty level of the examination each year.
To calculate the the CAT Raw Score one need to follow these steps
Raw Score = 3 * (number of correct answers given by the candidate) - 1 * ( number of wrong answers given by the candidate)
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