CAT 2023 Score Vs Percentile: CAT Guru Arun Sharma Drops Scores for Top Percentile; Check New Revised CAT 2023 Score Vs % Prediction

With the release of Actual CAT exam paper on December 5, IMS Learning had revised its CAT Score Vs Percentile estimates lower than earlier predictions. Now, Arun Sharma, India’s foremost CAT expert, has also revised his estimates which are also lower than his earlier predictions. This is good news for MBA Aspirants as lower CAT 2023 scores will fetch high percentile! MBAUniverse.com presents a complete analysis on CAT 2023 Score Vs Percentile changes.

Held on November 26, CAT 2023 exam has created a lot of commotion and anxiety in MBA aspirants. Soon after the exam, recognizing that CAT 2023 was a much more difficult paper than previous years, leading CAT coaching institutes like IMS Learning and Arun Sharma’s Mindworkzz released their expected CAT Score Vs Percentile predictions, where a low score of 78-80 was sufficient for 99 percentile. A few days later, upon the release of actual CAT paper and answer keys by IIM Lucknow on December 5, even these low estimates have undergone changes! First, IMS Learning revised their estimates, which are lower than earlier predictions. Following suit, on December 13, Arun Sharma has also revised estimates, which too are lower than earlier predictions. This is good news for MBA Aspirants as lower scores will fetch high percentile! Check this MBAUniverse.com analysis of latest CAT 2023 Score Vs Percentile predictions..

But before we review the recent changes, let’s review what happened on the CAT Day.

CAT 2023 Score Vs Percentile - CAT Day (Nov 26) Predictions by IMS, CL, Arun Sharma

Soon after the exam, based on ‘memory questions’ and expert experiences, leading CAT coaching institutes like IMS, Career Launcher and Arun Sharma’s Mindworkzz released their expected CAT Score Vs Percentile predictions, where the consensus was that to get 99% scores, a score between 77-81 was sufficient. This was substantially lower than last year. Refer table 1 below.

Table 1: CAT Day (Nov 26) Predictions by IMS, CL, Arun Sharma

CAT 2023 Percentile	IMS Learning (IMS)	Carrer Launcher (CL)	Arun Sharma
99 %ile	77-81	78-80	79-80
95%ile	56-59	57-58	55-56
90%ile	48-50	46-48	47-48

Taking into account the higher difficulty level of CAT 2023, These predictions were much less than last year’s estimates for CAT 2022. Take for instance the predictions made by IMS learning for two years:

Table 2: CAT Percentile Predictions by IMS Learning for CAT 2023 Vs CAT 2022

Percentile	CAT 2023	CAT 2022
99 %ile	77-81	91-92
95%ile	56-59	66-67
90%ile	48-50	53-54

CAT 2023 Score Vs Percentile – Big Changes after Release of CAT Paper & Response Sheet (Dec 5)

The above CAT Day predictions were based on personal exam taking experiences of CAT experts, and the ‘memory questions’ that their students share after the exam. While these estimates are generally accurate in a normal paper, with all its twists and turns, CAT 2023 is not a normal paper!

So, after now with the release of Actual CAT exam paper and official answer keys on December 5, CAT Experts have taken a closer look at the real paper, and their correct answers, and have shared their revised estimates for their CAT 2023 Score Vs Percentile. MBAUniverse.com was the first platform to publish these details. 

Arun Sharma revised CAT predictions on December 13 – Lowers Scores for 99%, 99%  
Arun Sharma told MBAUniverse.com, “Yes, after looking at the actual paper, particularly for Slot 2 which I took, I will make change to my predictions.” He added, “My perception on CAT score Vs Percentile predictions has changed after release of CAT response sheet and official answers. I anticipate a further drop in Score required to get 99%.”

Table 3: Arun Sharma’s Revised Predictions (Dec 13)

Overall Percentile	Marks
99 %	73-74
98 %	63-64
95 %	51-52
92 %	42-43
90 %	40-41

Arun Sharma said these were estimates based on analysis of difficulty level of past papers, and actual scores vs percentile trends of many of his students. Confident of his predictions, Sharma said, “I have fortunately been right in CAT Score Vs Percentile calls in previous years. I hope to get it right this year too! However, students should take these as estimates, and wait for the actual results.” 

 How do these new predictions differ from earliest estimates made on exam day? Well, they differ significantly! 

Table 4: Arun Sharma’s Earlier CAT Percentile Predictions Vs Revised Predictions

Percentile	Score Required as Predicted on CAT Exam Day - November 26	Revised Score on December 13
99%	78-80	73-74
90%	53-54	51-52

Other percentile bands are expected to undergo similar downward changes. Arun Sharma also share Sectional Scores required for various percentiles. Check table 5.

Table 5: CAT 2023 Sectional Score Vs Percentile Predictions by Arun Sharma

CAT 2023 Sections	VARC	DILR	Quant
99	26	25	25
90	11	11	9

Outlining the factors that have led to lower Scores, Arun Sharma told MBAUniverse.com, “I had already concluded that Quant and DILR sections were tough, but after looking at the actual paper, I think even Verbal Section was not as easy as I thought it to be. The answers are too close to each other, and you don’t feel in full control of the paper especially under time pressure.” He added, “Hence I have decided to reduce the Cut Off Score Required.”

IMS Learning Makes Important Changes on Dec 6
Earlier, IMS Learning, known to make in-depth and accurate prediction, also Revised CAT 2023 Score Vs Percentile and shared with MBAUniverse.com on December 6. Slot wise Details follow.

• Slot 1: Big Downward Revision for almost all percentiles in DILR Section. For example: while a score of 36 was required for getting 99.9% in estimates released on Nov 26, a score of just 32 will fetch the same percentile as per the new estimates. Similarly, while a score of 32 was required for getting 99.5% in estimates released on Nov 26, a score of just 27 will fetch the same percentile as per the new estimates. This is good news for MBA Aspirants as lower scores will fetch high percentile.
• Slot 2: Big Downward Revision for almost all percentiles in VARC Section. For example: while a score of 50 was required for getting 99.9% in estimates released on Nov 26, a score of just 45 will fetch the same percentile as per the new estimates. Similarly, while a score of 46 was required for getting 99.5% in estimates released on Nov 26, a score of just 40 will fetch the same percentile as per the new estimates. This is good news for MBA Aspirants as lower scores will fetch high percentile.
• Slot 3: Surprisingly, there is a Big Upward Revision in VARC Section for almost all percentiles. For example: while a score of 46 was required for getting 99.9% in estimates released on Nov 26, a much higher score of 54 will fetch the same percentile as per the new estimates. Similarly, while a score of 42 was required for getting 99.5% in estimates released on Nov 26, a much higher score of 47 will fetch the same percentile as per the new estimates. 

Here are the snapshots of changes across slots and sections:

Table 6: Slot wise & Section wise Changes in CAT 2023 exam

Section Name	Slot 1	Slot 2	Slot 3
Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC)	No Significant Change	Big Downward Revision for almost all percentiles	Big Upward Revision for almost all percentiles
Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR)	Big Downward Revision in Scores Required for almost all percentiles	No Significant Change	No Significant Change
Quantitative Aptitude (QA)	No Significant Change	Downward Revision for 99.9%; No Significant Changes in Rest	Downward Revision for 99.9% & 99.5%; No Significant Changes in Rest

• Downward Revision means that the Scores Required for say 99% have been reduced. In other words, the difficulty level is estimated now to be higher than earlier estimates. This is good news for MBA Aspirants as lower scores will fetch high percentile.
• Upward Revision means that the Scores Required for say 99% have been increased. In other words, the difficulty level is estimated to be lower now than earlier estimates. This is bad news for MBA Aspirants as higher scores are required to fetch high percentile.

Table-7: IMS Learning Revised CAT 2023 Score Vs Percentile for Slot 1: A Comparison     

Percentile	Score Released On	VARC	DILR	QA
99.9	December 6	49	32	37
	November 26	48	36	40
99	December 6	39	24	28
	November 26	40	28	27
95	December 6	29	17	20
	November 26	30	19	18
90	December 6	24	14	17
	November 26	25	16	15

Source: IMS Learning 

Table-8: IMS Learning Revised CAT 2023 Score Vs Percentile for Slot 2: A Comparison        

Percentile	Score Released On	VARC	DILR	QA
99.9	December 6	45	39	35
	November 26	50	38	40
99	December 6	37	30	26
	November 26	42	30	26
95	December 6	28	21	19
	November 26	32	20	18
90	December 6	24	18	15
	November 26	26	17	14

Source: IMS Learning

Table-9: IMS Learning Revised CAT 2023 Score Vs Percentile for Slot 3: A Comparison     

Percentile	Score Released On	VARC	DILR	QA
99.9	December 6	54	38	36
	November 26	46	36	40
99	December 6	43	29	26
	November 26	38	28	26
95	December 6	33	22	19
	November 26	28	19	18
90	December 6	28	19	16
	November 26	23	16	14

Source: IMS Learning 

It is clear from the above that both IMS Learning and Arun Sharma have responded proactively to the answer key release and have updated their estimates for the benefit of student community.

MBAUniverse.com will also publish the updated CAT 2023 Score Vs Percentile by other leading CAT Experts and Coaching companies soon. So, it you took the CAT Exam, stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more updates on CAT Score Vs Percentile.

Meanwhile, check following tools:

• CAT PERCENTILE PREDICTOR 2023: CAT Percentile predictor by MBAUniverse.com is a free and simple to use tool to predict your CAT Percentile and Score based on your CAT 2023 exam performance. Read more and Register Now.
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