
A 99th percentile in CAT 2026 will translate to 85-90 marks and will depend on the number of students and the difficulty level.
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To score in the 99th percentile in CAT 2026, you will have to keep your accuracy to about 29 questions.
| Percentile | Score |
|---|---|
| 99.9 | 100 |
| 99.5 | 93 |
| 99 | 86 |
| 97 | 71 |
| 95 | 64 |
| 90 | 51 |
| 80 | 38 |
| 70 | 30 |
| 60 | 23 |
| 50 | 19 |

Source: YouTube
To score 99th percentile in CAT 2026, you will have to keep your accuracy to about 29 questions. For the 99.5+ percentile. You will have to keep 32-33 questions correct.
| Percentile | No. of Questions |
|---|---|
| 99.9 | 40 |
| 99.5 | 32–33 |
| 99 | 29 |
| 97 | 29 |
| 95 | 22 |
| 90 | 18 |
| 85 | 16 |
| 80 | 14 |

Source: YouTube
Below is the section-wise analysis for the correct number of questions in the 99th percentile in CAT 2026.
99th percentile in CAT 2026 will require only 14 correct answers in the VARC section. This will calculate to a total of 42 marks in VARC.
| Percentile | No. of Correct |
|---|---|
| 99.9 | 18 |
| 99.5 | 15 |
| 99 | 14 |
| 97 | 12 |
| 95 | 11 |
| 90 | 9 |
| 85 | 7 |
| 80 | 6 |

Source: YouTube
99th percentile in CAT 2026 will require only 10 correct answers in the LRDI section. This will calculate to a total of 30 marks in VARC.
| Percentile | No. of Correct |
|---|---|
| 99.9 | 13 |
| 99.5 | 11 |
| 99 | 10 |
| 97 | 9 |
| 95 | 8 |
| 90 | 6 |
| 85 | 5 |
| 80 | 4 |

Source: YouTube
99th percentile in CAT 2026 will require only 9 correct answers in the QA section.
| Percentile | No. of Correct |
|---|---|
| 99.9 | 13 |
| 99.5 | 11 |
| 99 | 9 |
| 97 | 8 |
| 95 | 7 |
| 90 | 5 |
| 85 | 4 |
| 80 | 3 |

Source: YouTube
Ques. What is the pattern for VARC over the last few years?
Ans. The pattern for VARC is to practise reading passages with a time limit: 45 seconds per question. Complete one reading passage every alternate day. Practise 10-15 question everyday for parts of Speech, subject-Verb agreement, modifiers, and parallelism. After you feel confident, make sure to give sectional mocks and then full mocks for real-time experience.
Ques. How many marks are needed for 99th percentile in CAT 2026?
Ans. 99th percentile in CAT 2026 will translate to 86 marks in the total exam. To score in the 99th percentile in CAT 2026, you will have to keep your accuracy to about 29 questions. 99th percentile in CAT 2026 will require only 14 correct answers in the VARC section, 10 answers in LRDI, and 9 correct answers in the QA section. 99.5 percentile will correspond to 93+ marks, and 99.9 percentile will lead to 100 marks.
*The article might have information for the previous academic years, please refer the official website of the exam.