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IIM Kozhikode has officially released the CAT 2025 answer key. It happened on December 4. If you took the exam, you can now log in and see exactly how you performed. This isn’t just a list of answers; it is your specific response sheet. You get to see the questions, the answer you marked, and the correct answer provided by the authorities. This is the moment where the speculation ends and the actual calculation begins. You need to head over to the official website, iimcat.ac.in, right now to access it.
The release was scheduled for 11 AM, but these things sometimes fluctuate by a few minutes. The important part is that the link is active. You will need your User ID and Password to get in. Once you are inside, you can download the PDF of your response sheet. Do not just look at it on the screen. Download it. Save it. You might need it later for reference, especially if you plan to challenge a question. The objection window is open for a very short time, so speed matters here.
CAT 2025 Answer Key: Important Dates
Time is tight. The objection management tab is live immediately upon the release of the answer key. You usually have about three to four days to file any complaints. According to the latest updates, the window to raise objections closes on December 6, typically around 5 PM. Do not wait until the last hour. Servers get slow, payments fail, and panic sets in. If you think a question is wrong or an answer key is incorrect, you have until that deadline to submit your proof.
Here is the breakdown of the timeline you are working with:
- Answer Key Release Date: December 4, 2025
- Objection Window Start: December 4, 2025
- Objection Window End: December 6, 2025
- CAT 2025 Result Declaration: Expected in the second week of January 2026
It is strictly a digital process. You cannot send an email or a letter. Everything happens through the candidate login portal.
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How to Download CAT 2025 Answer Key
Getting your hands on the key is straightforward, but people still mess it up by going to third-party sites. Go directly to the source. Here is how you do it properly:
- Open your browser and type in iimcat.ac.in.
- Look for the “Registered Candidate Login” button. It is usually prominent on the homepage.
- Enter your User ID and Password. If you forgot your password, use the “Forgot Password” link immediately. Do not lock your account by guessing too many times.
- Once logged in, look for a tab labeled “Candidate Response” or “Objection Form”.
- Click on the text that says “Click here to download your response sheet”.
- The HTML file will open. Save this as a PDF.
Sometimes the site crashes because two lakh people are trying to log in at once. If that happens, just wait ten minutes and try again. Refreshing frantically only makes it worse.
CAT 2025 Objection Window
This is where things get technical. If you find a discrepancy, you can challenge it. But IIM Kozhikode does not make it free. There is a fee involved to discourage people from spamming the system with useless objections. The fee is typically INR 1200 per question. That is a lot of money if you are wrong. If your objection is accepted and the answer key is changed, they usually refund the money. If you are wrong, the money is gone. So, be absolutely sure before you pay.
To raise an objection, you go to the “Objection Form” tab next to the response sheet tab. You select the Question ID—make sure it matches exactly—and the type of objection. Is the answer key wrong? Is the question ambiguous? Was there no correct option? You have to select the reason and, most importantly, upload supporting documents. You cannot just say “I think this is wrong.” You need proof, like a calculation or a reference from a standard textbook.
Common mistakes here include selecting the wrong Question ID or failing to pay the fee before the window closes. If the payment does not go through, the objection is not registered. Check your bank statement to be sure.
Calculate Score: Marking Scheme
Once you have the sheet, do not wait for the official result to know where you stand. Calculate your raw score immediately. The marking scheme is rigid:
- +3 marks for every correct answer.
- -1 mark for every incorrect answer in MCQs (Multiple Choice Questions).
- 0 marks for unattempted questions.
- No negative marking for TITA (Type In The Answer) questions.
This is why TITA questions are valuable; you could guess without penalty. To calculate, count your correct MCQs and multiply by 3. Count your wrong MCQs and multiply by 1. Subtract the negatives from the positives. Then add the score from your correct TITA answers. That is your raw score.
Remember, this is the raw score. The final CAT result will give you a scaled score and a percentile. The scaling process normalizes scores across the three different slots (morning, afternoon, evening) to account for varying difficulty levels. So, if your slot was harder, your raw score might get bumped up. If it was easier, it might go down slightly. But the raw score gives you a very good baseline to compare against previous years’ cutoffs.
What Happens After the Objection Window?
After December 6, the window shuts. The expert committee at IIM Kozhikode sits down and reviews all the valid objections. If they find that a question was indeed incorrect, they revise the answer key. This becomes the “Final Answer Key”. The results are calculated based on this final key, not the provisional one you are looking at today. Usually, the final key is released just a day or two before the actual results in January.
If a question is dropped because it was flawed, marks are usually awarded to everyone who attempted it, or the total marks are adjusted. The policy varies slightly year to year, but generally, they try to be fair.
Live Updates and Student Reactions
The initial reaction from students checking the CAT 2025 key suggests that the VARC section was tricky for many. Quant seems to have been moderate but lengthy. When you look at your response sheet, do not panic if you see a lot of red. Accuracy matters more than attempts. A lot of students attempt 50 questions but get 20 wrong, tanking their score. If you attempted 35 and got 30 right, you are in a much better position.
Check social media or forums to see what others are saying about specific questions. Often, if a question is wrong, the community spots it quickly. This crowdsourcing can help you decide if you should spend that INR 1200 on an objection. If ten other people are already objecting to the same question, you might not need to, but the safest bet is to do it yourself if you are confident.
Keep your response sheet safe. You will need it to compare against the final answer key later. For now, get the download done, do your math, and see if you clear the cutoffs for the IIMs you are targeting.
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