CAT 2026 Exam Date: 29 November Schedule, Admit Card and Key Dates

Quick Answer

The CAT 2026 exam date is Sunday, 29 November 2026. IIM Indore runs the computer-based test for all IIMs, in three sessions spread across the day. Registration closed on 22 September and the admit card has been available since 6 November. Last year the result arrived on 24 December, and every official notice appears on iimcat.ac.in. 

CAT 2026 at a Glance

Before the details, one housekeeping rule. The CAT 2026 official website is iimcat.ac.in, and every date in this guide traces back to it or to the admission policies of the IIMs themselves. Individual IIM sites echo the notices, but the portal is where registration and admit cards sit, along with scorecards.

Think of this table as the cheat sheet you tape above your desk, next to the coffee. The schedule below explains how each date fits together: 

CAT 2026 Schedule and Important Dates

The full CAT 2026 exam schedule reads like a relay race, with each stage handing the baton to the next:

• 26 July: the notification and information bulletin go live, with advertisements alongside.

• 3 August: registration opens at 10 am.

• 22 September: the extended registration window closes at 5 pm.

• 6 November: admit card download begins.

• 29 November: test day, in three sessions.

• Second week of January 2027: IIMs are expected to publish their shortlists, once results are out.

• April and May 2027: admission status appears in the second week of April, and acceptance formalities close by the first week of May.

CAT 2026 Exam Date, Time and Shift

The CAT date in India is rarely a mystery. The IIMs have favoured the last weekend of November for years, and 2026 follows suit with Sunday, 29 November. It is a single-day exam, so there is no choosing between dates.

CAT 2026 Exam Date and Time / Slot Timing

The exam date and time depend on the session allotted, and the three slots follow a familiar spread from morning to evening:

Inside each slot, the paper is split into three sections that run for 40 minutes apiece. Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension opens it, Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning follows, and Quantitative Ability closes it. Once a section's clock expires, the screen moves on without asking, and a correct multiple-choice answer earns 3 marks while a wrong one costs 1. Typed-in answers carry no such penalty, which makes them a pleasant exception in an otherwise strict paper.

CAT 2026 Exam Date and Shift

Nobody gets to pick a shift, however politely they ask. Allotment depends on the test city and seat availability, and the admit card prints the session, so the CAT 2026 exam date and shift reach you together. Session timing matters less than it sounds: scores from the three shifts are scaled onto a common footing before percentiles are worked out, so an early start earns no advantage and a late one carries no penalty.

Is CAT 2026 done?

Not yet. Registration is over and admit cards are out, but the exam itself is still ahead on 29 November, and the countdown is now measured in days rather than months. Anyone planning to say the CAT is done should wait until the evening session ends, and even then the answer key and the result both remain.

Is the CAT exam twice a year?

No. CAT is held once a year, on one day, and one IIM takes charge on behalf of the rest: IIM Kozhikode in 2025, IIM Indore in 2026. Miss the November sitting and the next opportunity arrives a year later, which is precisely why the registration window deserves respect.

CAT 2026 Registration: Dates, Fees and Last Date

The CAT 2026 notification went live on 26 July 2026, with the information bulletin and eligibility rules published alongside the advertisements. The CAT 2026 registration date followed a week later, when the portal opened at 10 am on 3 August.

Registration was a single online form, and it rewarded the organised:

• Create an account with a valid, unique email address and mobile number, which must stay active throughout the selection process.

• Fill in academic details, upload the category certificate where applicable, and rank test cities in order of preference.

• Tick the IIM programmes of interest, because the same form feeds every participating institute.

• Pay the fee once, and the form is complete.

What is the last date of CAT form 2026?

The CAT 2026 last date to apply was 22 September 2026, at 5 pm. The window had been due to close on 15 September, but the CAT 2026 registration last date extended by a week, which gave late starters a second chance. The CAT 2026 application form date has now passed, so the only forms left in play are the admit card and the response sheet.

CAT 2026 Registration Fees

CAT 2026 registration fees follow the rule printed in every recent bulletin: pay once, whatever the number of IIMs on your list, and no refund under any circumstances. Fees have risen steadily, from 2,200 rupees for general candidates in 2021 to 2,600 in 2025, with the concessional categories paying exactly half in each of those years.

Scores can also be used by listed non-IIM institutions, though the IIMs play no part in how those institutions select their students.

Treat the fee as a single entry ticket rather than a per-college toll. Adding one more IIM to the list costs nothing extra, so there is little reason to apply narrowly.

Eligibility and the Correction Window

• A bachelor's degree with at least 50 per cent marks qualifies a candidate, and the bar drops to 45 per cent for the SC and ST categories as well as PwBD candidates.

• Final-year students and candidates awaiting results may apply, as may holders of CA, CS, CMA or FIAI qualifications.

• Reserved-category certificates had to be uploaded during registration, and a missing upload meant a rejected application.

• PwBD candidates are encouraged to apply for a UDID card and upload it with the application.

• Category cannot change after registration, so the application form correction window, where one opens, never covers that field.

CAT 2026 Admit Card, Login and Test Cities

CAT 2026 Admit Card Download Date / Link

The CAT 2026 admit card download date was 6 November, and the link stays live until test day. It sits on the home page of iimcat.ac.in under the Admit Card tab.

The card carries the session and reporting time, plus the centre address, so it deserves a proper read rather than a glance. A second printed copy in the bag costs almost nothing.

CAT 2026 Login

The CAT 2026 login uses the user ID and password created at registration, and the same credentials later open the response sheet and scorecard. One account is all anyone needs, so resist the urge to register twice.

A small tip on credentials: the email address and mobile number given at registration receive every alert, so a dead inbox is the quickest way to miss a notice.

CAT 2026 Test Cities / Exam Centre

CAT runs across roughly 170 test cities, and applicants nominate five in order of preference. The system allots one of them or, in the rare case of a clash, a nearby city. The admit card names the exact exam centre, so a dry run to the venue the day before is cheap insurance.

CAT 2026 Exam Day Guidelines

• Carry the printed admit card along with the photo ID named on it.

• Reach the centre well before the reporting time printed on the admit card.

• Expect an on-screen calculator and a scribble pad for rough work, and leave personal devices at home.

• Sections run for 40 minutes each, and the clock moves on whether or not you do.

• Sleep properly the night before, because a rested mind outscores a crammed one.

Five Slip-Ups That Cost Aspirants Dearly

Most CAT heartbreak has nothing to do with Quant. It comes from small administrative stumbles that the official notices warn about every year:

• Skipping the category certificate upload, which gets the whole application rejected.

• Declaring the wrong category, since no change is entertained after registration.

• Assuming that meeting the minimum eligibility guarantees a shortlist, when the IIMs state plainly that it does not.

• Ignoring emails and SMS alerts from the portal.

• Turning up with an ID that does not match the admit card.

After the Exam: Answer Key, Result and Score Validity

Last year's calendar shows how the weeks after the exam usually unfold, and the CAT 2026 schedule is likely to mirror it.

At what time does the CAT answer key release?

The IIMs announce the day but not a clock time. In 2025 the provisional key and response sheets appeared on 4 December, four days after the exam, and the objection window opened at 12 noon on 8 December before closing at 11:55 pm on 10 December. The CAT 2026 answer key date should land in the first week of December, with objections the following week.

Once the key is public, the response sheet becomes a rehearsal of the result. Candidates download it, line it up against the key and estimate a raw score, though the figure on the scorecard will be a scaled one. A disputed answer must be raised inside the objection window, and objections sent by any other route are ignored.

CAT 2026 Result Date and Score Validity

The 2025 advertisement promised results in the first week of January and delivered them on 24 December. For 2026, IIM Ahmedabad has said its shortlists will follow the results by the second week of January 2027, which places the CAT 2026 result date in late December or the first days of the new year. The scorecard reports a scaled score together with sectional and overall percentiles, and those percentiles are what shortlisting formulas consume. Scores come with an expiry date: the CAT 2025 score is valid until 31 December 2026, so a CAT 2026 score should run to 31 December 2027 on the same logic.

Between result day and the final offer lies a long corridor of interviews and writing tests, and each IIM sets its own weights. IIM Calcutta, for example, gives the CAT score 56 of 85 points at the shortlisting stage, which shows how much of the first filter rests on a single sitting.

Will CAT 2026 be tough?

Tough is the wrong yardstick, because CAT does not grade against a fixed paper. Percentiles measure you against everyone else who sat the same exam, so a brutal Data Interpretation set hurts the whole room equally. What does stay fixed is the bar that IIMs set afterwards. IIM Ahmedabad, for instance, asks general and EWS candidates for at least the 95th percentile overall and the 85th in each section for its 2027-29 batch, and gives CAT 65 per cent of the composite score.

The practical reading: aim for balance across all three sections rather than brilliance in one. A strong Quant score cannot rescue a weak Verbal section when sectional cutoffs apply, and with only 40 minutes per section there is no going back to fix anything.

Difficulty also has a habit of arriving unevenly. One year the Verbal section bites, another year Logical Reasoning does, and the aspirants who panic are usually the ones who rehearsed only their favourite section. Mock tests under the real 40-minute clock are the closest thing to a vaccine, and reviewing every wrong answer afterwards is the booster shot.

CAT 2027: When to Register and Next Year's Dates

When to register for CAT 2027?

Registration has opened in the first days of August for three cycles running, and closed in mid-September, with 2026 stretching to 22 September after the extension.

CAT 2026 Exam Date for 2027 Aspirants (Next Cycle)

For anyone aiming at the next round, the pattern points to the last Sunday of November, which falls on 28 November 2027. Notification would then arrive in late July and registration in early August, so the preparation clock effectively starts in the spring. Aspirants who wait for the notification before opening a book usually find that August arrives faster than expected.

A sensible rhythm is to finish the syllabus by the time registration opens, spend the next two months on mock tests, and keep the final fortnight for revision rather than fresh topics. The exam rewards calm far more than cramming. Those who treat 2026 as a dress rehearsal can also sit CAT 2027 with the full scoring pattern already familiar, which is a quiet advantage worth having.

Key Takeaways

• CAT 2026 is on Sunday, 29 November, in three sessions, with IIM Indore as organiser.

• Registration closed on 22 September after a one-week extension from 15 September.

• Admit cards have been downloadable since 6 November through iimcat.ac.in.

• One payment covers every IIM, and the fee is not refundable.

• Answer key and result follow the 2025 rhythm: early December and late December.

• Scores expire on 31 December of the following year, and percentile cutoffs decide shortlists.

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