3.3 lakh applicants have registered for CAT this year. This is a 30% increase from last year and is the highest number of registrations in CAT history. Prof. Sanjeet Singh of IIM Lucknow has stated that “ Registrations this year are the highest in the history of CAT, ever since it was started in 1977. In fact, it never touched the 3-lakh mark before. In absolute numbers, an increase of 75000 applications, year-on-year is a record in itself.”
The high number of applicants this year will result in a higher required minimum percentile cutoff for shortlists as the top IIMs usually shortlist 4x to 10x of the number of seats present. For example, out of the 2.2. lakh students that appeared for CAT 2022, 2200 people were in the top 1%, i.e. 99%ile and above. If, this year, 3 lakh people take CAT, 3000 people will make it to the 99%ile.
Note: your percentile indicates the percentage of people higher than whom you’ve scored. For example, if you get the 90%ile, it means that you scored better than 90% of people who took the exam.
It remains to be seen, however, how many people out of the 3.3 lakh registered applicants actually turn up for the exam and how the number will affect the required minimum percentile for cutoffs. Last year, out of the 2.5 lakh registered applicants, 2.2 lakh people appeared for the exam.