• The 85% Core: CAT and the PI round hold equal weightage (42.5% each). This means a stellar interview can effectively "rescue" a slightly lower CAT score, and vice-versa.

• Academic Profile (10%): This is your cumulative score for your undergraduate and high school performance. It is a "fixed" asset at this stage, so don't lose sleep over it focus on the areas you can still control.

• Work Experience (5%): The scoring here is usually duration-based. It’s a smaller bucket, but it’s often the differentiator between two otherwise similar candidates.

Since you are sharing this with aspirants, explain the "Panel-Level Variation" note:

Colleges normalize PI scores to account for the fact that some interview panels are inherently "tougher" or more generous than others. They use the global mean and panel mean to ensure no candidate is unfairly penalized for being assigned to a stricter panel.