By: Education Desk Written by Sheen KachrooNew Delhi | January 2, 2026 01:46 PM IST 4 min readWith the admission season for the upcoming batch underway, understanding how much weightage each IIM assigns to CAT scores offers insight for aspirants strategising their applications. (Image: AI generated)The Common Admission Test (CAT) remains the gateway to India’s management institutes, although its role in final admissions varies significantly across campuses. While the older IIMs balance CAT scores with academic records, personal interviews, many of the newer IIMs still place a heavier reliance on the MBA test performance.With the admission season for the upcoming batch underway, understanding how much weightage each IIM assigns to test scores offers insight for aspirants strategising their applications.Read | Inside the minds of educators who still write CATThis breakdown highlights the weightage of the IIM Common Admission Test scores in the final admission list, shedding light on how the evaluation process is evolving across the country’s top B-schools. Here is the table of the IIM Common Admission Test scores weightage:Read | CAT score vs percentileAll numbers written in the table are in percentage form.Name of IIMCAT Score WeightageOther weightage (WAT, Profile, Experience & others)Interview weightageIIM Ahmedabad65–WAT: 10–AR: 1550IIM Bangalore55–Class 10th board score: 10–Class 12th board score 10–Bachelor’s score: 10–Work experience / Professional course: 10–Gender diversity: 540IIM Calcutta56–Class 10th marks: 10–Class 12th marks: 15–Gender Diversity Factor:448IIM Lucknow60–Class 12th scores: 10–Graduation scores: 10–Work Experience: 10–Diversity Factor: 540IIM Kozhikode50–Class 10th scores: 15–Class 12th scores: 20–Work Experience: 5–Diversity Factor: 10-5%35IIM Indore35–Class 10th scores: 39–Class 12th scores: 20–Diversity Factor: 650IIM Shillong40–AR: 10–Gender: 1040IIM Rohtak60A weightage of 20% will be given to Academic diversity and Gender diversity20IIM Nagpur45–Academic Performance: 6–Work Experience: 9 –Academic Diversity: 5–Gender Diversity: 1025IIM Raipur50— Class 10th: 20–Class 12th scores: 20–Work Experience Score: 15–Gender Diversity Score (female/transgender candidates): 7–GD Score: 5–Profile Score: 5Story continues below this ad–Academic Diversity Score: 323IIM Trichy47–WAT: 520IIM Udaipur60— Academic Profile: 9–Work experience: 9–Diversity: 7–Profile: 2025IIM Kashipur33— Class 10th: 5–Class 12th scores: 5–Graduation: 5–Professional qualification: 5–Work experience: 12–Diversity factor: 10 (inclusive of DFa and DFb)25IIM Jammu42–Profile: 28–Academic Profile: 10–Work Experience: 10 –Diversity (Gender): 8 30IIM Bodh Gaya45–Personal Appearance: 25–Profile: 30–Academic Profile: 14–Work Experience: 1620IIM Sirmaur50–Academic: 15–Work Experience: 20–Gender: 525IIM Sambalpur40–Class 10th scores: 3— Class 12th scores: 3–Graduation: 4–Work Experience: 20–Gender Diversity: 1060IIM Amritsar50–Work experience: 10–Gender diversity: 10–Academic diversity: 1070IIM Visakhapatnam25–Class 10th scores: 10–Class 12th scores: 10–Bachelors: 10–Diversity: 10 {Gender (Female & Transgender)}–Work Experience: 1048The above table highlights that at one end of the spectrum, IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Ranchi place the highest premium on the entrance exam, with the Common Admission Test score accounting for 65 per cent of the total selection weight. They are followed closely by IIM Lucknow, IIM Rohtak, and IIM Udaipur, all of which assign a 60 per cent weightage.Read More | Four months of preparation to 99 percentile, how engineers Prateek Pradhan and Naitik Singhal cracked CATStory continues below this adConversely, several institutes adopt a more holistic or profile-based selection approach, where the Common Admission Test score is just one of many components. IIM Visakhapatnam stands out with the lowest reliance on the exam at only 25 per cent, followed by IIM Kashipur at 33 per cent and IIM Indore at 35 per cent.Read | Top Business Schools in India 2025-26Most other institutes, including the IIM Bangalore (55%) and IIM Calcutta (56%), maintain a middle ground, ensuring that while the CAT score remains the primary driver of the application, the candidate’s performance in the subsequent selection rounds carries nearly equal importance. © IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd