CAT Negative Marking: Rules, Marks Deduction & Scheme

Does CAT negative marking apply to every question? No, it applies only to MCQs. CAT has negative marking of 1 mark for each wrong MCQ answer. A wrong TITA (Type In The Answer) answer costs nothing. This split is the most misunderstood part of the CAT marking scheme, and it should change how you guess on exam day. CAT 2026 is on 29 November 2026, so you have time to practise CAT negative marking in mock tests.

Still checking dates and eligibility? Read the CAT 2026 overview first, then come back to this guide on CAT negative marking.

What Is CAT Negative Marking?

CAT negative marking is a penalty of 1 mark for every wrong MCQ answer. It does not apply to TITA questions or to questions you leave unattempted. A correct answer earns 3 marks, whether it is an MCQ or a TITA. So yes, CAT has negative marking, but CAT negative marking covers only one type of question.

The CAT negative marking scheme is stated on the official CAT website, iimcat.ac.in. The CAT 2026 Information Bulletin does not restate it.

A simple "CAT has negative marking" answer misleads you. It makes you too careful on TITA and too casual on MCQs. The rest of this guide shows how to treat each type under CAT negative marking.

What Is the CAT Marking Scheme?

The CAT marking scheme gives 3 marks for every correct answer, whether it is an MCQ or a TITA. It takes away 1 mark for a wrong MCQ. It gives 0 for a wrong TITA answer and for any question you skip.

Every question carries equal marks, so a TITA is worth as much as an MCQ. An unattempted question earns 0 in both types.

Has the CAT Marking Scheme Changed in Recent Years?

No change has been reported. The same +3/-1/0 CAT marking scheme is reported across CAT 2022 to CAT 2025, and the official CAT website states the same rule for CAT 2026. Check iimcat.ac.in again before the exam, in case IIM Indore announces anything new.

What Are the Total Marks in CAT 2026?

IIM Indore has not published the total marks for CAT 2026. If the paper has 68 questions, as in CAT 2025, the total is 204 marks, which is 68 × 3. Treat 204 as a calculation and not as an official figure.

How Does CAT Exam Negative Marking Work in Each Section?

CAT exam negative marking works the same way in VARC, DILR and QA. Each section runs for exactly 40 minutes, and you cannot move between sections. What changes from section to section is the number of questions, not the CAT negative marking rule.

IIM Indore has not published the question count for CAT 2026. These numbers are the CAT 2025 pattern. DILR had 20 questions in CAT 2023 and 22 in CAT 2024, so plan for a small range and not one fixed number. The CAT 2026 exam pattern page compares the last four years.

Is CAT Negative Marking Sectional?

No, CAT negative marking is not sectional, and there is no separate penalty for each section. The same -1 for a wrong MCQ applies in VARC, DILR and QA. Only the time limit is separate, because each section has its own 40 minutes and unused time does not carry over.

Does Negative Marking in CAT Apply to TITA Questions?

No, negative marking in CAT does not apply to TITA questions. A wrong TITA answer scores 0 marks, the same as leaving it blank. Negative marking in CAT applies only to MCQs, so your result on a TITA question is either +3 or 0 and there is no risk in trying.

• Attempt every TITA question where you can reach even a rough answer.
• Skip a TITA only when time runs out, not because you fear losing marks.
• Expect a fair share of TITA questions. Coaching platforms report roughly 16 to 20 TITA questions in recent papers. The IIMs do not publish this count.

What Happens If You Leave a TITA Question Blank?

A blank TITA scores 0, which is the same as a wrong answer. You gain nothing by skipping it, and you lose nothing by trying. That is why a blank TITA is a missed chance and not a safe choice.

How Much Does One Wrong Answer Cost Under CAT Negative Marking?

Under CAT negative marking, a wrong MCQ costs you 1 mark compared with skipping it. It leaves you 4 marks behind compared with answering it correctly. For a guessing decision, use skipping as the base. The real question under CAT negative marking is whether your chance of being right is high enough.

The break-even point is 25%. With four open options, a guess has a 1 in 4 chance of +3 marks and a 3 in 4 chance of -1 mark. That works out to 0.75 minus 0.75, which is zero. Every option you rule out moves the odds in your favour.

When Should You Guess Under the CAT Negative Marking Scheme?

Guess on an MCQ only when you can rule out at least one option for a clear reason. A blind guess among four options gains nothing on average under the CAT negative marking scheme, and it uses time you could spend on another question.

• Four options open: Skip the question, or come back if time is left.
• One option ruled out: Guess. The expected return turns positive at about +0.33 marks.
• Two options ruled out: Guess. The expected return is about +1 mark.
• Be honest about your elimination. If you remove the correct option by mistake, every guess from the rest loses a mark. Rule out an option only when you can say why it is wrong.

Partial working in QA and DILR often removes one or two options, which is how most candidates make CAT negative marking work for them. Elimination is harder in some VARC questions. Decide question by question, not section by section. To get faster at ruling out options, start with the topics in the CAT 2026 syllabus where you are strongest.

Example: Same Knowledge, Different Guessing

To see CAT negative marking in action, take two candidates who both reach 12 MCQs they cannot solve fully. Candidate A guesses all 12 blind. On average, 3 are right and 9 are wrong, so the net result is 9 marks minus 9 marks, which is zero. Candidate B guesses only after ruling out one option in each. On average, 4 are right and 8 are wrong, so the net result is 12 minus 8, which is +4 marks.

These are averages, and real results will vary from paper to paper. The point is that CAT negative marking can turn the same 12 questions into 0 or +4 marks, depending on how you guess.

How Do Attempts and Accuracy Change Your CAT Score?

Accuracy decides your score more than the number of attempts. The table below uses the CAT marking scheme of +3/-1 and assumes every attempt is an MCQ.

Forty attempts at 90% accuracy give 104 marks. Sixty attempts at 60% accuracy give only 84. More attempts help only when accuracy stays high. A wrong TITA answer costs nothing, so your real score can be a little higher than these figures. These numbers are a worked illustration and not a percentile.

Is 60 or 70 a Good Score in CAT?

A raw score of 60 or 70 cannot be called good or poor on its own. The IIMs use percentile and not raw marks, and no marks-to-percentile table exists for CAT 2026. IIM Indore works out percentile only after every candidate has written the exam. If the paper has 68 questions, 60 and 70 marks are about 29% and 34% of 204. Use the table above to see which attempts and accuracy give a score like that under CAT negative marking.

How Many Marks Give a 99 Percentile in CAT?

There is no fixed number of marks for a 99 percentile. The marks change every year with paper difficulty and the candidate pool, and scores from different sessions are scaled before percentile is worked out. The same is true for 40 marks or any other score. Do not trust a table that promises exact marks for a percentile before the CAT 2026 result is out.

Common Mistakes Aspirants Make with CAT Negative Marking

Most aspirants lose marks to CAT exam negative marking in the same few ways.

• Guessing blind to attempt more. More attempts do not raise your score if the extra answers are break-even guesses.
• Leaving TITA blank. A TITA has no penalty, so a blank is a free mark you gave up.
• Eliminating without a reason. A wrong elimination turns a good guess into a losing one.
• Panic-guessing in the last minutes. Each section ends at 40 minutes with no carry-over, and under CAT negative marking a rushed blind guess adds risk and no gain.
• Judging a mock only by attempts. Under CAT negative marking, accuracy on your MCQ guesses matters more than the total number of questions you touched.

How to Practise CAT Negative Marking in Mock Tests

Practise negative marking in CAT before exam day, because the guessing rule is hard to follow under time pressure. After every mock, track your MCQ guesses and your TITA attempts separately.

1. Note every MCQ you guessed. If fewer than 1 in 4 of those guesses is correct, CAT negative marking is costing you marks.
2. Count the TITA questions you left blank. Ask for each one whether time or fear stopped you.
3. Keep the section clock. Use 40 minutes per section with no going back, as in the real paper.
4. Use official and past material. The official mock test is expected from 12 November 2026 on iimcat.ac.in. Until then, solve the CAT previous year question papers. These are recreated by coaching platforms from candidate memory and are not official.

What Should You Do After the CAT 2026 Exam?

Check the answer key before you estimate your score, if one is released. In recent years, the IIMs gave each candidate a provisional answer key and a response sheet through the candidate login, with a short window to raise objections. IIM Indore has not announced this process for CAT 2026, so watch iimcat.ac.in. The CAT 2026 answer key page explains what is confirmed and what is only a past pattern.

Use this formula to estimate your raw score. It applies CAT exam negative marking only to wrong MCQs:

Raw score = 3 × (correct MCQ + correct TITA) − 1 × (wrong MCQ)

For example, 30 correct answers and 8 wrong MCQs give 90 − 8 = 82 marks. A raw score that already includes CAT negative marking is still not your percentile. IIM Indore converts scores to scaled scores and percentiles after all candidates have written the exam. The CAT 2026 result page explains how the scorecard works.

CAT Negative Marking: FAQs