Mumbai: Maharashtra emerged as the state with the highest number of toppers in the Common Admission Test (CAT) 2024 exam, results for which were released late on Thursday. With five students securing a perfect score of 100 percentile, another five achieving 99.9 percentile, and three scoring 99.8 percentile, Maharashtra's remarkable performance highlights the state's rising prominence in national educational assessments.

A total of 3.29 lakh candidates had registered for the CAT 2024 exam, including 1.19 lakh females, 2.10 lakh males, and 14 transgender candidates. Of the 2.93 lakh candidates who appeared for the exam, 1.07 lakh were female, 1.86 lakh were male, and 9 were transgender candidates. Results for all these candidates were released on December 19.

The CAT 2024 exam was held on November 24, 2024, across 389 test centres nationwide. The exam lasted for 120 minutes, with 40 minutes allocated to each of the three sections: Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension, Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning, and Quantitative Ability.

In 2024, the CAT exam was conducted by Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Calcutta, which had released the response sheets and provisional answer key on November 29, 2024. Candidates were allowed to raise objections between December 3 and December 5. The final answer key was released earlier this week, marking the completion of the assessment process.

The IIMs will now release their shortlists for subsequent admission processes based on CAT 2024 scores, alongside other criteria specific to each institution’s admissions policies. In addition to the IIMs, 86 non-IIM institutions will also use CAT 2024 scores for admissions into their management programmes this year.