CAT 2026: Registration Closes Sept 22 — Exam Date, Fees, Pattern And 10-Week Plan

Ask anyone who has prepared for CAT 2026 what could go wrong, and they’ll probably mention a tough Quant section or a dense reading passage. The more common failure is less dramatic. Some people simply never finish the application. They open the form, mean to come back to it, and then the deadline passes. That risk is real this week. Registration has already been given one extra week, it now closes on September 22, 2026, and nobody sensible should count on a second reprieve.

If you’re applying from outside India, the clock is even easier to misread, because the deadline is set in Indian time and may fall in your middle of the night.

What follows answers, one at a time, the questions applicants in India and around the world are asking right now.

Quick Answer: CAT 2026 takes place on Sunday, November 29, 2026, as a computer-based test in three sessions. Online registration closes at 5:00 PM Indian time on September 22, 2026. The fee is ₹2,700, or ₹1,350 for reserved categories. The exam has 68 questions over two hours, with results expected in early January 2027.

Key Takeaways

• ☐ Submit your application before 5:00 PM IST, September 22, 2026, which is 11:30 AM UTC.
• ☐ Prepare your photograph, signature and any category documents before you open the form.
• ☐ Choose test cities you can actually reach on a Sunday morning, remembering the exam is held in India.
• ☐ Expect the admit card to become downloadable in early November.
• ☐ Treat the remaining ten weeks as practice time, not the time to learn new topics.

What Is CAT 2026, And Who Is Conducting It

CAT stands for Common Admission Test. It is the gateway exam for postgraduate management programmes at the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), the country’s best-known business schools. A long list of other management institutes in India also accepts CAT scores, which is why the test attracts a very large pool of applicants every year.

The exam isn’t run by one permanent body. Instead, the senior IIMs take turns organising it, and for this cycle IIM Indore is responsible for the whole process, from the first notice to the final scorecard.

For readers elsewhere, a useful comparison is the GMAT or GRE. All three measure reasoning, reading and quantitative ability. But CAT is tied to a single national system of schools and runs on just one day a year, while the GMAT and GRE are offered year-round, almost anywhere in the world. That single-day format is what makes the calendar so unforgiving.

What Is The CAT 2026 Registration Last Date, And Will It Be Extended Again

Registration opened in early August and was originally meant to close on September 15. The one-week extension has helped latecomers, but it shouldn’t be read as a pattern. Once registration shuts, test cities have to be allotted and admit cards prepared, and that work leaves little room for further delays.

If you’re outside India, convert the deadline carefully:

Location	Local deadline on September 22
India (IST)	5:00 PM
UTC / GMT	11:30 AM
United Kingdom (BST)	12:30 PM
UAE (GST)	3:30 PM
Pakistan (PKT)	4:30 PM
Singapore (SGT)	7:30 PM
US East Coast (EDT)	7:30 AM
US West Coast (PDT)	4:30 AM

The safest plan is to finish a day or two early. On the final afternoon, online portals slow down, payments fail more often, and uploads get rejected at the worst possible moment.

What Are The CAT 2026 Exam Date, Admit Card Date And Result Date

The CAT 2026 exam date is Sunday, November 29, 2026. The test is computer-based and spread across three sessions on the same day, at centres in cities throughout India.

Stage	Timing
Official notice published	Late July 2026
Registration opened	Early August 2026
Registration closes	September 22, 2026, 5:00 PM IST
Admit card available	Early November 2026, until exam day
Exam day	Sunday, November 29, 2026
Result	First week of January 2027 (expected)
Score valid until	End of December 2027

Don’t wait for a reminder about the admit card. Log in during the first week of November, and keep checking until yours appears. It shows your session, your exam centre’s address and your reporting time, and those details shape your travel plans, especially if you’re flying in from abroad.

The official guidance puts results in early January. In past years they have sometimes arrived a little sooner. Plan around January, and treat any earlier release as a bonus.

How Much Is The CAT 2026 Application Fee

₹2,700 for general, economically weaker section and non-creamy-layer OBC applicants (roughly US$30–33, depending on the exchange rate).
₹1,350 for SC, ST and applicants with disabilities (roughly US$15–17).

Two points matter more than the amount. First, you pay once, however many IIM programmes you select, so being cautious with your selections saves you nothing. Second, the fee isn’t refundable. Check your category, programme choices and personal details before you pay, because correcting them afterwards may not be possible.

Applicants paying with an international card should do a small test transaction or confirm with their bank first. Cross-border payments to Indian gateways are sometimes declined for security reasons, and you don’t want to discover that on deadline day.

Who Is Eligible For CAT 2026

The CAT 2026 eligibility rules are refreshingly simple:

• ☐ A bachelor’s degree with at least 50% aggregate marks, or an equivalent grade point average
• ☐ 45% for applicants in reserved categories
• ☐ Students in the final year of their degree can apply, as can graduates awaiting results
• ☐ Recognised professional qualifications in fields like accounting and company secretarial work are accepted
• ☐ No age limit and no cap on attempts

Graduates of universities outside India can generally apply, provided the degree is recognised as equivalent. If your university uses a grading system unfamiliar in India, such as honours classifications or a four-point GPA, work out a clean percentage equivalent before you begin. Keep the official conversion document handy, as you may be asked to show it later.

One caveat: meeting the minimum only lets you sit the exam. Each IIM applies its own filters afterwards, looking at academics, work experience and other factors alongside your score, so an eligible applicant is not automatically a competitive one.

How Do You Fill The CAT 2026 Application Form Without Errors

Most application problems are small, avoidable mistakes. Work through the form in this order:

• Use an email address and phone number you’ll still have in mid-2027. Applicants abroad should make sure the number can receive Indian SMS verification codes, or confirm another way to verify.
• Type your name and date of birth exactly as they appear on your passport or national ID
• Convert your grades to a percentage before you start, not halfway through the form
• Resize your photograph and signature to the required dimensions in advance
• Rank your five preferred test cities with care, since only one will be allotted
• Tick every IIM programme you might want
• Review the full preview before paying
• Save the confirmation page as a PDF, and keep a printed copy too

✅ Do	❌ Don’t
Pick cities close to where you’ll actually be staying in November	Choose a city because it sounds convenient on the map
Scan documents flat and clearly	Upload a tilted or shadowed phone photo
Use a payment method you’ve tested	Try an unfamiliar card at the last minute
Keep copies of everything you submit	Assume you can retrieve it all later

A short window to correct some details has been offered in past cycles, but treat that as a safety net, not a plan.

What Is The CAT 2026 Exam Pattern

No official change has been announced, so the CAT 2026 exam pattern is expected to follow the format of the last two years:

Section	Questions	Marks	Time
Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC)	24	72	40 minutes
Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR)	22	66	40 minutes
Quantitative Aptitude (QA)	22	66	40 minutes
Total	68	204	120 minutes

The sections appear in a fixed order, each with its own 40-minute timer. When the timer runs out, the section closes and you move on for good. You can’t return to an earlier section or carry spare time forward.

This matters more than most people expect. On the GMAT or GRE you have some flexibility in how you use your time. On CAT, every section is its own sprint, and finishing Quant early doesn’t buy you extra minutes for a difficult reading passage.

How Does CAT 2026 Marking Work, And When Should You Skip A Question

The scoring rules are simple to remember:

• +3 for each correct answer
• −1 for each wrong multiple-choice answer
• No penalty for a wrong type-in-the-answer (TITA) response
• Zero for questions you leave blank

TITA questions carry no risk, so attempt every one where you have a reasonable approach, even if you’re unsure.

Multiple-choice questions need more judgement. A wrong answer takes away a third of what a right one earns, so pure guessing tends to lose marks over a full paper. If you can rule out two options with confidence, a guess becomes a fair bet. If you can’t rule out anything, move on and spend the time on something you can solve.

In the DILR section, selection beats speed. Spend the first few minutes looking over all the sets, choose the ones you understand, and see them through. A set you abandon halfway scores nothing, however long you spent on it.

Is There An Official CAT 2026 Syllabus

No. There is no formal CAT 2026 syllabus, and that surprises applicants used to exams with a published list of topics. The exam tests ability more than stored knowledge, though its question types have stayed fairly consistent over the years:

• VARC: mostly reading comprehension, with passages on economics, science, society and philosophy, plus sentence-ordering, summary and odd-one-out questions
• DILR: puzzle-like sets built on tables, charts, seating arrangements, schedules, tournaments and networks
• QA: heavy on arithmetic (percentages, ratios, time and work, profit and loss), then algebra, geometry, number properties, and counting and probability

For international applicants, the maths is roughly high-school level, similar in scope to the quantitative parts of the GMAT or GRE. The difference is the time pressure and how the questions are framed. Practising with authentic CAT-style material matters more than piling up textbooks.

How Many IIMs Accept CAT 2026 Scores

There are now more than twenty IIMs, and the newest, in Guwahati, is only beginning to take in students. That’s why different guides give slightly different totals.

The practical rule: check the programme list inside the CAT 2026 application form. The institutes you can select there are the ones you can apply to this cycle.

Readers outside India often ask whether CAT is the only route in. It depends on who you are. Indian citizens generally need CAT for the flagship programmes. Many IIMs also run separate admission tracks for foreign nationals and overseas applicants, often based on GMAT or GRE scores rather than CAT. If you hold a non-Indian passport, look at each IIM’s international admissions page before assuming CAT is required.

Many management schools outside the IIM system also use CAT scores, each with its own separate application, so a single sitting can open several doors.

Can You Still Prepare For CAT 2026 In About Ten Weeks

Yes, if you use the time well. Ten weeks won’t turn a beginner into a top scorer, but it is enough to improve accuracy, build stamina and remove the mistakes that cost marks.

Phase	Dates	What to focus on
Close the gaps	Sept 20 – Oct 10	Fix two weak Quant areas, one reading passage a day, one full mock each week
Build endurance	Oct 11 – Nov 7	Two full mocks each week, sectional drills in between, a same-day review of every mock
Sharpen and settle	Nov 8 – Nov 28	Three mocks a week at your session’s time of day, light revision, nothing new in the last week

A few habits help more than extra study hours:

• ☐ Review every mock on the same day, while you still remember why you made each choice
• ☐ Log errors by topic, not by test, so patterns show up
• ☐ Read serious long-form writing every day, in any field, to build reading stamina
• ☐ If you’re travelling from another time zone, start shifting your sleep and mock times toward Indian time at least a week before the exam

What Should You Carry On CAT 2026 Exam Day

Keep it simple:

• ☐ A printed copy of your admit card
• ☐ An original, valid photo ID that matches your registered name. For applicants travelling from abroad, this is usually a passport.
• ☐ Original category or disability certificates, if they apply to you
• ☐ Approved scribe documents, if you’ve been granted one

Leave phones, smartwatches, notes and bags at home or wherever the centre tells you to store them. Rough paper is supplied at the centre, and a basic on-screen calculator has been part of the interface in recent years.

Visit the centre the day before if you can. Unfamiliar streets and weekend transport have made more candidates late than the exam itself.

What Happens After The CAT 2026 Result

Your percentile is a ticket to the next stage, not an admission offer. Each IIM draws up its own shortlist by combining your score with sectional results, academic record, work experience and other factors. Shortlisted applicants then face a mix of written tasks, discussions and personal interviews, and some institutes now run these rounds online as well as in person.

Some institutes, including many outside the IIM system, need a separate application after the result. Those forms and their deadlines are easy to miss if you’re watching only the headline announcements. Make a single calendar for every one of them as soon as your score arrives.

Your Next Steps

• Today or tomorrow: finish and submit your CAT 2026 application on the official CAT portal. Don’t count on another extension.
• Right after submitting: save your confirmation and registration details somewhere safe, away from your email inbox.
• This weekend: take one full, timed mock to measure where you stand.
• Next week: tackle the two weakest areas that mock reveals.
• Early November: download your admit card, check the centre, and book travel if you’re coming from another city or country.
• After the exam: list every application deadline before results come out, so January is about decisions rather than paperwork.

Schedules can change, so check the latest official announcement before acting on any date.

Frequently Asked Questions