How many candidates register for CAT, and how many actually sit the exam? This page compares CAT registrations with candidates who appeared from 2021 to 2025, along with the attendance rate for each year.
Overview
This page compares the number of candidates registered for the Common Admission Test (CAT) with the number who appeared from 2021 to 2025. Registration is the number of candidates who signed up; appeared is the reported number who actually took the exam. Attendance rate is calculated as appeared ÷ registered × 100.
Registered candidates vs candidates appeared
Attendance rate trend
Year-wise data table
| CAT year | Registered | Appeared | Did not appear | Attendance rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 229,969 | 191,660 | 38,309 | 83.3% |
| 2022 | 255,501 | 222,184 | 33,317 | 87.0% |
| 2023 | 328,000 | 288,000 | 40,000 | 87.8% |
| 2024 | 329,000 | 293,000 | 36,000 | 89.1% |
| 2025 | 295,000 | 258,000 | 37,000 | 87.5% |
Published sources often round the figures for 2023–2025 to the nearest thousand. Attendance percentages in this page are calculated from the displayed counts, so they are approximate.
Key findings
- Highest registration in this five-year period: 2024, with approximately 3.29 lakh candidates.
- Highest number appeared in 2024, at approximately 2.93 lakh candidates.
- Registrations increased sharply from 2022 to 2023 and remained almost flat in 2024.
- Registrations declined by about 10.3% from 2024 to 2025.
- Attendance rate was highest in 2024 at 89.1% and lowest in 2021 at 83.3% among these years.
- Registration totals alone do not determine CAT difficulty, percentile cut-offs or admission chances.
Method
Attendance rate (%) = (Candidates appeared ÷ Candidates registered) × 100.
Did not appear = Candidates registered − Candidates appeared.
Sources for verification
- Careers360 — CAT registration and attendance trends: careers360.com/mba/articles/cat-registration
- Careers360 — How many candidates will appear for CAT 2026? (historical figures): careers360.com/mba/articles/how-many-candidates-will-appear-for-cat-2026
- Shiksha — CAT registration numbers vs appeared candidates: shiksha.com/mba/cat-exam-registration?id=47507
- 2IIM — CAT previous-year papers and exam resources: online.2iim.com/CAT-question-paper/
Data quality note: Figures for 2021 and 2022 are shown as published counts; later-year figures are commonly reported as rounded estimates. This is a descriptive chart report based on published educational sources, not a forecast.
CAT 2026 Registration Trends FAQs
How many candidates registered for CAT 2025?+
About 2.95 lakh candidates registered for CAT 2025 and about 2.58 lakh appeared, an attendance rate of about 87.5%.
Which year had the highest CAT registrations?+
Among 2021-2025, CAT 2024 had the most registrations at about 3.29 lakh, and the most candidates appeared that year too, about 2.93 lakh.
Do more registrations make CAT tougher?+
Not on their own. Registration totals do not decide the difficulty of the paper, percentile cut-offs or your admission chances.
More on CAT 2026
Source & Disclaimer
Official source: iimcat.ac.in
Information on this page is compiled from the official CAT notification at iimcat.ac.in and trends from earlier cycles. Dates marked Expected are estimates, not official announcements. Please confirm all details on the official website.