CAT 2021 Exam Pattern can either be similar to CAT 2019 Exam Pattern or CAT 2020 Exam Pattern. It will be convened by one of the top six IIMs (IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta, IIM Lucknow, IIM Kozhikode or IIM Indore) for the year 2021. It is essential for aspirants to understand all the aspects of CAT 2021 Exam Pattern to formulate a section-wise detailed strategy for CAT 2021. CAT 2021 Exam Pattern is the first and the foremost step towards streamlining the action plan according to the CAT syllabus in order to score a 99%ile and maximize their chances of getting shortlisted by stalwart institutes like the top IIMs, FMS New Delhi, IMT Ghaziabad, SPJIMR Mumbai etc which have carved a niche for themselves in the domain of management education.
Some of the major points to keep in mind with regards to the CAT 2021 Exam Pattern are:
Check out: CAT 2021 Notification
Conducted in the final week of November every year, CAT exam is a national level management entrance test which is conducted across over 160+ cities for candidates aiming to pursue PGP/PGDM/MBA from top A listed B schools of the country.Other than being an aptitude screening paper, CAT (Common Admission Test) is also a strict assessment of your verbal, analytical as well as reasoning skills The CAT 2021 Exam Pattern will constitute 3 sections: Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC), Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR), Quantitative Ability (QA). The CAT Exam is held as a Computer Based Test (CBT) with duration of 3 hours. According to the CAT 2019 Exam Pattern, Each section of the CAT exam is expected to be allocated 60 minutes and there is no concept of carrying that time forward to other sections.
| Section | Number of Questions | Marks (Out of 300) | Marking Scheme (only for MCQs) | Time Allocated | Expected Level of Difficulty |
| Verbal Ability | 34 | 102 | +3/-1 | 60 minutes | Moderate to difficult |
| Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning | 32 | 96 | +3/-1 | 60 minutes | Moderate to difficult |
| Quantitative Ability | 34 | 102 | +3/-1 | 60 minutes | Moderate to easy |
| Total | 100 | 300 | - | 180 minutes | Moderate to difficult |
Alternatively, CAT 2021 Exam Pattern can also take the route of CAT 2020 Exam Pattern. CAT 2020 had added a new element to the table by reducing the exam duration from 60 minutes to 40 minutes per section and the number of questions reduced to 76 from 100, due to covid-19 crisis. In light of the same, CAT 2021 administrator (one of major 6 IIMs) can rely on last year’s passion as mentioned below:
Sections of Exam (in that order) |
No of questions |
Multiple Choice Questions |
TITA (Type in the answer questions) |
Important features |
VARC |
26 |
18 |
8 |
Four RC Passages with 18 multiple choice questions. Basic topics were para jumbles, para summary and odd one out. |
DILR |
24 |
18 |
6 |
Data Interpretation – 14 questions Logical Reasoning- 10 questions. (Sets of 4 and 6 questions) |
QA |
26 |
18 |
8 |
Focused on number system and arihmetics. Other contenders were logarithms geometry, roots and algebra |
Total |
76 |
54 |
22 |
Here are some key aspects of CAT 2020:
CAT 2020 was conducted by IIM Indore
The duration of the CAT 2020 exam was 2 hours i.e 120 minutes.
The exam was conducted in three slots i.e 8.30 AM to 10.30 AM , 12.30 PM to 2.30 PM and 4:30 and 6:30 PM.
The medium of instructions was English.
The questions were of 2 types I.e., Multiple choice and TITA.
The total marks were out of 300
Candidates received 3 marks for correctly answered questions and negative marking of 1/3 for incorrectly answered questions.
There was no negative marking for TITA (type in the answer) questions.
Also read: CAT 2021 Exam Date
In order to analyze the CAT Exam Pattern, we need to look at each section of the CAT exam individually.
In terms of topic-wise weightage, CAT 2021 VARC section pattern would be on the expected lines of CAT 2020. CAT 2020 VARC section was of 40 minutes time duration and the exact number of questions was 26, as determined by IIM Indore. Before CAT 2020, VARC usually consisted of 34 total questions where in 22-24 questions will be from Reading Comprehension and the remaining 8-10 questions will be from Verbal Ability topics. Reading Comprehension consists of questions based on unseen passages and Verbal Ability which consists of questions based on verbal reasoning, vocabulary and grammar. Verbal Ability roughly constitutes 33% of the total VARC section, which in turn constitutes 34% of the exam. As the VARC section faces unpredictable changes in terms of syllabus every year, it is appropriate to incorporate topics from previous year CAT question papers and combine the current as well as the previous syllabus to reach the 99%ile milestone. As there has been a slight modification in the VARC syllabus after CAT 2014, the level of difficulty of the section has also increased consistently. The level of difficulty of VARC is somewhere between easy to moderate, subject to minor fluctuations each year.
Verbal Ability and Reading comprehension will be one of the major sections of CAT 2021 examination. To know how to improve Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension for CAT, harken back to the past when the traditional concept of "diverse reading” was practiced. The more you read, the more enlightened you would be regarding VARC preparation. In this coming topic, we would discuss everything there is to know about Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension for CAT separately and together.In the verbal section, the CAT exam pattern of the last 3 years indicates that the section consists of two primary components:
Many aspirants were caught out by the difficulty level of the section in CAT 2020 which should be a warning for CAT 2021 aspirants. This section of the CAT Exam Pattern should not be written off simply based on the lower difficulty level in some of the previous years.
Reading Comprehension:
Verbal Ability:
Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning is the second section of the CAT Exam. One can access the questions pertaining to the DILR only if he/she completes the VARC section. This section consists of Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning Questions. The DILR section comprises some different topics every year, and therefore is deemed to be highly uncertain. The questions asked in this section are in “set” format. This means, the questions will be represented pictorially I.e in form of caselet, charts or graph and will contain 4 to 5 parts that a candidate needs to solve in order to receive full marks. As far as other sections of CAT are concerned, you can decide within half a second which question you should skip and which one you should attempt. However, DILR is a time taking section. If you started a question and are at it for 10 minutes, anxiety kicks in and you feel like quitting and moving on to the next question. However, keep in mind that there are high chances of you cracking that set in the very next minute and getting all five questions right! So, it is not advisable to quit a problem without analyzing it throughout DILR. If you feel you are not able to solve the set at all, you need to make a firm decision within 3-4 minutes. Else, the entire test-taking flow will be disturbed.
DILR has always been one of the trickiest sections to crack. However, there is some sunshine hidden behind dark clouds in this section. A net score of 45-50 can help you fetch a 99%ile and an approximate score of 35—40 can help you fetch a dominating 95%ile! This section, namely constitutes 1/3rd of CAT, but practically, it single handedly dominates CAT! Anyone solving 2-3 sets out of all the sets can take you between 90-95 percentile! Why does this happen? This happens because DILR is the most unpredictable section. The questions at first seem tricky, but as the candidate progresses with the question and connects the missing dots, everything becomes fairly simple.
Also read: How to improve DILR for CAT?
This has been the most challenging section according to the CAT exam pattern for the last 3 years. As the name suggests, the section consists of two parts:
Data Interpretation Section:
Logical Reasoning Section:
This section usually puzzles candidates. But, getting a high percentile in this section can be relatively easy as the aspirant only needs to solve 16 questions correctly in order to break into the 99%ile bracket. This has been the CAT exam pattern like for at least the past three years. However, the amount of effort that is needed to break down each set before solving the questions means that most people struggle with time when solving this question.
Another important factor that each candidate must keep in mind is the proper selection of questions. This is because with the difficulty of the sets and the time taken to organize the data, the number of questions that each candidate can attempt is very limited and spending your time on the wrong questions can lead to dire consequences for the score in this section.
Also Read: CAT Score vs Percentile
This is the section that most candidates prepare for the most. This is because the CAT exam pattern and syllabus for this section is the most fleshed out amongst all the other sections.
It is the section which can make or break the exam for most candidates. It consists of 23 to 27 MCQs while the other questions are in the form of TITA questions. There is no specific division in terms of topics which carry higher weights compared to its compatriots. Thus, candidates have to go through the entire syllabus in order to be confident of scoring well in this section.
The CAT exam pattern and syllabus for the Quantitative Aptitude section consists of:
In the past, the CAT used to be famed for their difficult QA section but recently the IIMs have reduced the difficulty level of this section in order to accommodate non-engineers. This has also led to higher scores and cutoffs in this section. But recently, there has been a dip in the complexity of QA questions. The questions have been witnessed to be fairly simple in terms of difficulty, only thing being that they are scattered throughout the section. Here is an informative video for you to understand in detail how to identify the easy QA questions which would lead you to a 95-99%ile :
Also check: How to prepare for CAT QA
CAT syllabus has remained more or less constant since inception, siding aside a few variations. CAT 2021 syllabus is also expected to take after CAT Syllabus 2020. The official syllabus has not been released by the test administrator yet.
Ahead of the CAT exam, the institute conducting the CAT Exam will launch a CAT 2021 Mock Test in order to familiarize the students with the exam interface but not necessarily the CAT 2021 Exam Pattern. It will also help the students identify the placements of the timer and the on-screen calculator so that there is no time wastage in that aspect.
The level and number of questions is usually no indicator of the actual CAT paper since they are generally found to be extremely easy compared to the actual CAT exam questions.
Also check : Importance of CAT Mocks
Looking at the CAT 2019 paper analysis will give us a better idea about the CAT exam pattern and syllabus.
CAT 2019 shook the candidate’s confidence right from the start due to the increase in difficulty of the VARC section. The DILR section was challenging but not the most difficult seen in recent times. The QA section was not as difficult as the previous year due to which the overall difficulty of CAT 2019 was considered to be slightly lower than that of CAT 2018.
Looking at the CAT 2019 paper analysis will give us a better idea about the CAT exam pattern and syllabus.
CAT 2019 shook the candidate’s confidence right from the start due to the increase in difficulty of the VARC section. The DILR section was challenging but not the most difficult seen in recent times. The QA section was not as difficult as the previous year due to which the overall difficulty of CAT 2019 was considered to be slightly lower than that of CAT 2018.
The DILR section was on expected lines in terms of the CAT Exam Pattern (32 Questions with 8 sets) but the level of difficulty was somewhat easier compared to previous years. There were 3 easy sets that each student should have solved in order to perform well in the section. With proper selection, candidates had sufficient time to solve up to 4 sets.
QA was also slightly easier than last year. You could have found more sitters this year than in CAT 2018. The paper had a good number of questions on Arithmetic from topics like Percentages, TSD, Time and Work, etc. Among Algebra, Geometry, and Numbers, the paper had more questions on Algebra and Geometry than on Numbers. There was no surprise in terms of the Exam Pattern as there were 34 questions with around 12 TITA type questions.
More info available here
CAT 2020 was much crazier than our expectations and turned the candidate’s confidence upside down. The examination was divided into 3 slots I.e Morning Slot, Afternoon Slot and Evening slot. The LOD (level of difficulty) kept on increasing as per the progression of slots. Here is the perceived level of difficulty for all the three slots :
CAT 2020 Slot 1< CAT 2020 Slot 2 < CAT 2020 Slot 3
The CAT 2020 slot 3 which was conducted from 4:30 PM to 6:30 PM was the most difficult slot out of all the 3 slots. The VARC section was slightly more difficult than CAT 2019 and so was the DILR section. The QA section was fairly doable; however, the questions were really tricky to understand and could be only aced by a candidate who practiced all the QA variations in addition to taking sectional mocks 2-3 times in a week.
All in all, CAT 2020 was under the same breath as that of CAT 2016-18 after a slightly easier version of the paper was released in CAT 2019. Here is a section wise analysis of CAT 2020 for your better understanding:
The VARC section of CAT 2020 was slightly higher than that of 2019. The questions involving the first section of CAT I.e VARC were 23 in number and ranged from moderate to slightly difficult in terms of LOD. Reading Comprehension dominated the section completely with 6-7 questions focused on Verbal Ability I.e Para Jumble, odd one out and Para Summary. The questions following an RC passage were rarely fact based and more inferential. As per our deduction, the CAT 2020 slot 1 cut off for 99 percentile would hit somewhere around 40-42. In terms of exam pattern, questions in all three slots of CAT resembled each other.
The DILR section’s LOD (level of difficulty) jogged back to CAT 2016, leaving the students absolutely flabbergasted. Data Interpretation, which is one of the candidate’s major hopes to ace the DILR section, showed no mercy this year. The section was highly complicated with 24 questions, broken down into 5 sets with either 6 questions or 4 questions in each set. The Venn Diagram and Arrangement topic constituted a fair share of the DILR section, along with an extremely difficult table set on missing information in all the three slots. A raw score of 30-32 on 100 would lead a candidate to 99%Ile in the CAT 2020 DILR section.
The questions constituting the QA section were easier but tricky. Again, the level of difficulty kept on increasing as per the slot progression. However, the questions were light handed on geometry and heavy handed on arithmetic, which was a respite for the candidates as most of the candidates start their CAT QA preparation with arithmetic topics. There were questions related to profit and loss, simple interest and compound interest, time and speed, ratio and proportions, logarithms, coordinate geometry and Algebra. The number of sitters were comparatively less as compared to the CAT 2019 questions. Overall, the section was moderately easier and a score of 40-45 would fetch a 99%ile and a call from the IIMs.
Also Explore: How to prepare for CAT in 1 month
The overall paper was slightly difficult compared to the previous year. A major reason for this is the fact that while the Verbal Ability and DILR section was more difficult than the QA section being easier than made up for it. The overall cut off for the 99%ile decreased to 100-102 in slot 2 and 3 and 105-110 in slot 1 due to the rise in the difficulty level of the overall CAT Paper.
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Before this format, the CAT exam had gone through several different CAT exam patterns and syllabus. Looking at these can also help in preparing in case there is a change in the pattern: Here is a detailed analysis of the CAT 2014 – CAT 2018 exam which would help you draw correct inferences in order to prepare whole heartedly for upcoming exam:
CAT 2014 Detailed Analysis |
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CAT 2015 Detailed Analysis |
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CAT 2016 Detailed Analysis |
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CAT 2017 Detailed Analysis |
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CAT 2018 Detailed Analysis |
The CAT Exam Pattern gives the candidate a brief idea on how to prepare for the exam:
This milestone-based approach to the CAT preparation will allow the aspirant to focus on the right areas as the exam draws near.
Read in detail: CAT Preparation tips
Also read: How to start preparing for CAT?
As you can see, CAT is completely capable of shifting the paradigm of the CAT exam pattern and has done so over the years. In order to counter this, the candidates need to prepare for each topic in the syllabus and hone their test taking skills. With the help of these two skills in their armory, any curveball thrown by CAT would not be much more than a temporary hesitation on the part of the candidate.