CAT 2026 Notification Released: Exam Date, Registration, Fees and Everything You Need to Know

If you've been refreshing official CAT 2026 website every few hours this week, you can finally stop. The CAT 2026 notification is out, and it answers every question that lakhs of MBA aspirants across India — including here in Punjab and the Tricity — have been asking since June: When is the exam? How much is the fee? When does registration open? And how do I actually prepare in time? Let's go through it section by section, starting with the announcement itself and then moving into what it means for your preparation.

CAT 2026 Notification: The Big Announcement

IIM Indore has released the CAT 2026 notification, sticking to the pattern the IIMs have followed for years now — announcing it on the last Sunday of July. This isn't just a date being confirmed. It's the document that decides the rules for the next four months: your eligibility, your fee, your registration window, the exam pattern, and every institute that will accept your score.

Here's what it confirms:

If your plan was "I'll start preparing seriously once the notification is out" — that day is here. Read on for the dates you need to act on first.

CAT 2026 Registration: Dates You Cannot Afford to Miss

Don't treat registration as something you'll "get to later." Some of our students Every year, some candidates lose their preferred test city — or miss the deadline altogether — because they left it too late. Mark these dates down before you do anything else:

• Registration begins: 3 August 2026, 10:00 AM
• Last date to apply: 15 September 2026, 5:00 PM •
• Correction window (photo/signature/image errors):Late July to early August 2026 •
• Admit card release: First week of November 2026

Register early, not just to be organised, but because test centres are allotted on a first-come, first-served basis. You can list up to six preferred cities in order of priority — apply in the last week and you may not get your first choice. Now that you know when to apply, let's look at what it will cost you.

CAT 2026 Application Fee

Here's the fee structure expected for CAT EXAM 2026:

• General / EWS / NC-OBC category: Rs. 2,700
• SC / ST / PwD category: Approximately Rs. 1,350

Pay online through debit card, credit card, net banking, or UPI — the fee is non-refundable once submitted. Before you hit submit, check your category, documents, photograph, and city preferences one more time. A mistake here creates problems later at the admission stage, not now. With the fee sorted, the next question most students ask is whether they even qualify.

CAT 2026 Eligibility Criteria: Who can apply?

 A lot of final-year students aren't sure if they can apply yet. Here's the answer: •

• You need a Bachelor's degree from a recognised university with a minimum of 50% marks (or equivalent CGPA)
• If you belong to the SC, ST, or PwD category, this comes down to 45% marks
• Final-year students waiting on results can also apply. You'll submit proof of your degree at the time of admission, not registration.
• Candidates with CA, CS, or CMA qualifications are eligible too.
• There's no upper age limit, so working professionals looking to switch into management are just as welcome as fresh graduates.

If you've completed graduation, or you're about to, CAT is open to you, no matter which stream you came from. Once you know you're eligible, the next thing to understand is what you'll actually be tested on.

CAT 2026 Exam Pattern: What Will You Face on Exam Day?

Know the pattern before you start preparing, not after. It changes how you plan your study time.

CAT is split into three sections, each with a fixed 40-minute time limit. You cannot move to another section once your time on the current one is up, so managing time within each section matters as much as your overall speed.

1. VARC (Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension): reading comprehension passages, para jumbles, sentence correction, vocabulary-based questions.
2. DILR (Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning): data sets, tables, graphs, and logical puzzles, all under time pressure.
3. QA (Quantitative Ability): arithmetic, algebra, geometry, number systems, and modern math.

Two scoring rules to keep in mind:

• -1 mark for every wrong answer on MCQs.
• No negative marking on TITA (Type-In-The-Answer) questions, where you type your answer instead of picking from options.

CAT doesn't follow a fixed syllabus, so don't chase formula lists. Consistent practice and clear concepts will take you further than memorisation ever will. This is exactly why we push every batch through previous years' papers early rather than late — you can find the last several years' sets on our CAT previous year papers page, and if you want section-specific strategy, we've written these up in detail:

• How to score a 99 percentile in CAT Quant
• How to score a 99 percentile in CAT VARC
• How to score a 99 percentile in CAT DILR

If you are a CAT aspirant from Tricity (Chandigarh, Panchkula, Mohali), read this

• CAT Coaching in Chandigarh - An Honest Guide

With the pattern clear, let's talk about why this notification changes things for you right now.

Why This Notification Matters to You Right Now

A notification release can feel like routine news. It isn't. It's the starting gun for your entire MBA preparation. It tells you exactly how many days are left, how the paper is structured, and who's eligible to sit for it — which means you can now build an actual study plan instead of a vague one.

CAT scores are accepted by more than 1,300 MBA and PGDM colleges across India, including every IIM. With lakhs of students competing for a limited number of seats, small gains in your preparation strategy translate directly into a better percentile. So don't just read this notification. Act on it. Here's where to start.

What Should You Do Right Now?

Work through this in order over the next few days:

1. Register the moment the window opens on 3 August. Don't wait for the last week.
2. Pick your test cities carefully, keeping exam-day travel in mind.
3. Build a study timetable that covers VARC, DILR, and QA together, not just your strongest section.
4. Start solving previous years' papers now, so you know the real difficulty level and time pressure before you're sitting in the exam hall.
5. Get coaching if self-study isn't giving you direction. Most students who struggle with CAT aren't short on intelligence — they're short on structure, mock tests, and someone pointing out exactly where they're losing marks.

That last point is where our own experience comes in.

Preparing for CAT 2026 with Aptitude360

My name is Amit Jaiswal, Founder and Lead Faculty at Aptitude360, and I've been teaching CAT preparation since 2011 — 15+ years now, and over 10,000 students trained across CAT, UPSC, IPMAT, CUET, and CRT. Based in Sector 34A, Chandigarh, we've guided CAT aspirants across Chandigarh, Mohali, Panchkula, and the wider Punjab region through exactly this cycle, year after year, from the day registration opens to the last mock test before the exam.

What that preparation actually looks like:

• CAT coaching in online, offline, and hybrid formats — see our CAT coaching in Chandigarh page for batch details — so you can fit it around college, a job, or however your day is already structured.
• Faculty who teach to CAT's actual pattern, not outdated question banks, covering VARC, DILR, and QA with a focus on the concepts that keep showing up year after year.
• Regular mock tests and sectional tests that replicate the real 40-minute-per-section format, so exam day doesn't feel unfamiliar.
• One-on-one doubt-solving, so a weak topic doesn't stay weak until it's too late to fix.
• A Sector 34 location that's easy to reach by bus from across the Tricity, with food, PG, and library options nearby for the long study sessions ahead.

One thing I tell every new batch: the students who improve fastest aren't necessarily the ones who are best at math to begin with — they're the ones who stop avoiding their weak section. If Quant has always felt out of reach because you came from a non-maths or non-commerce background, that's a gap we specifically work on closing, not around.

If you just found out you're eligible, or you've been aiming for an IIM seat for a while now, this is the point where preparation needs to turn into a plan. Aptitude360 can help you build that plan for CAT 2026.

Final Thoughts

The CAT 2026 notification has confirmed everything you need to know — the exam date, registration window, fee, eligibility, and pattern. There's no more guesswork left. What decides your result now is how consistently you prepare over the next four months.

Don't let this notification become just another piece of news you scrolled past. Register on time, build your study plan, and if you need support along the way, Aptitude360 in Sector 34A, Chandigarh, is ready to help you prepare for CAT 2026 the right way.

Your CAT 2026 journey starts today.

Last but not least, test yourself by attempting previous-year CAT papers in quiz format to assess your current preparation level

Best wishes from the entire Aptitude360 family. Wishing you success, confidence, and an outstanding CAT score!