The Common Admission Test (CAT) for admission to prestigious IIMs has a history of engineers performing better than others. Every year, among the top performers, the majority are engineers. It is so pronounced that IIMs have adopted measures to reduce the number of engineers in their admittees, such as favouring non-engineers as academic diversity or capping the number of engineering admits. So much so that sometimes an engineer with a 99%ile in CAT doesn't get admission, while a non-engineer with 85%ile can get into IIM Ahmedabad. Now the question is — why do engineers perform so well that it forces IIMs to tweak their admission policy?

Let's look at the data. In CAT 2024, 14 students scored a perfect 100 percentile, and 13 of them were engineers. Similarly, out of 29 aspirants who scored 99.99 percentile, 28 were engineers. There has been a slight change in CAT 2025, though engineers remain dominant performers. And if we deep dive further, of the 28 candidates who scored 99.99 percentile in CAT 2024, 85% were from top engineering colleges like IITs and NITs. Interestingly, all non-engineers who perform well are also from top colleges or universities in their respective fields — SRCC, DU, other central universities — or have cleared CA, CFA, or CS examinations. Those without such a pedigree have either done a startup or have significant work experience behind them. If you read between the lines, these students had already aced national-level competition — IIT-JEE, NEET, or other top college entrance exams — or had become competitive in some meaningful way before appearing for CAT. Aspirants who have performed very well in other competitive exams tend to perform well in CAT too. So while it looks like engineers dominate, in reality, it's the Matthew Effect.

If you are preparing for CAT 2026, approach it aggressively. CAT does not test your knowledge — given sufficient time, almost all questions can be solved by any graduate without special subject expertise. The real differentiator is how quickly you can get to the answer. So practise, and develop a personalised mindset to maximise your score. There may be areas where you have a natural edge. If you studied in English medium, chances are you can score well in VARC. If you are an engineer, QA and DILR sets are likely your strength. Lean into them. Here, practice matters more than knowledge. We at SarthiQ have a saying for CAT aspirants: CAT starts and ends with Mock. If you are preparing for CAT 2026, come prepare with us — we keep discussing, talking, and engaging with students to bring the best out of them.