There is a fair amount of confusion in the minds of most students as to how the IIMs send out interview calls – and what will be the cut-off score for getting an IIM call. This note helps you understand the whole process a lot more clearly.

The first thing that needs to be understood is that there is actually nothing like one single score, which constitutes the cut-off for all IIMs. Every year, each of the six IIMs has its own selection criteria. Therefore, the sectional cut-offs and overall score needed to get a call from, say, IIMC, will be very different from that needed to get a call from IIML. A score (sectional or overall), which would be more than adequate to get a call from one IIM, might not be sufficient to get a call from another IIM.

The next thing that needs to be kept in mind is that, according to the information given in the CAT 2007 bulletin, IIMA and IIMC would be sending interview calls purely on the basis of the CAT scores. IIMB and IIMI have clearly stated that, in addition to the CAT scores, they would be considering past academic record and work experience while sending interview calls. IIML and IIMK have not said anything on the subject. The weightages assigned to these criteria could well be different for each IIM. (It should also be noted that, for the final selection, all six IIMs use a combination of all the criteria.)

Experts at T.I.M.E. have analysed the performance of over 900 call-getters (where complete details were available) to work out what we believe would have been the ‘Sectional’ and ‘Overall’ scores needed to get a call from various IIMs in CAT 2006. The information provided by IIMA and IIMB regarding the cut-offs for various reservation categories, was used to identify which scores pertain to students belonging to the General Category.

The table below gives the Sectional scores that would have been needed in CAT 2006 to get a call from a particular IIM. As you will notice, it varies widely for various IIMs and that would explain why somebody could have got a call from, say, IIML but not from IIMI. Remember that, these are the lowest scores as observed from our data and getting a call below this score is highly unlikely. However, a higher score than this does not necessarily guarantee a call.

The sectional scores are, of course, only the first level filter. We also worked out the overall scores needed to get a call from an IIM. This means that, from among the students who managed to clear the sectional cut-off in all 3 sections, the students who also managed to clear the overall cut-off were identified. The overall cut-offs estimated for each IIM are given in the table below.

For IIMA and IIMC, these students would have got an interview call. For the other IIMs, the remaining criteria would be applicable for only these students. For them these scores would be a necessary requirement to get a call, but not a sufficient one . You will notice that, though IIMB had mentioned that their ‘Overall Cut-Off’ was 90 percentile, we could not find a single candidate in our sample who got an interview call below 95.9 percentile.

Given the fact that there are so many different factors that go into the sending of calls, it is hardly surprising that most people find it difficult to explain why Candidate A, with a certain set of scores, got a call and Candidate B with similar but not identical scores, did not.

For CAT 2007, the selection could be based on similar criteria but there could well be some differences in the detail. Our team of experts has estimated the 85, 90, and 95 percentile scores for each section in CAT 2007. These should be used to estimate the likelihood of clearing the sectional cut-offs for the various IIMs.

We have also estimated the Overall Score for getting 95 and 97.5 percentile in CAT 2007.

Once again, please remember that getting a higher score than indicated in this note, is most likely to be a necessary condition for getting an IIM call, but may well not be a sufficient condition once the IIMs use the other criteria in addition to your CAT score.

In case you would like to clarify any doubts regarding cut-offs, please join us for a chat at 5.00 p.m. on Saturday, November 24, 2007.

All the best!!