|
Section |
No. of Questions |
No. of non-MCQ questions |
Time (in minutes) |
Difficulty Level CAT 2025 |
Ideal Score (Attempts) for CAT 2025 |
Ideal Score for CAT 2024 |
Ideal Score for CAT 2023 |
Ideal Score for CAT 2022 |
|
VARC |
24 |
4 |
40 |
Moderate |
12-13 (net correct) |
41 |
37 |
39 |
|
DILR |
22 |
10 |
40 |
Moderate - Difficult |
8-9 (net correct) |
38 |
27 |
29 |
|
QA |
22 |
9 |
40 |
Moderate |
8-9 (net correct) |
33 |
26 |
33 |
|
Total |
68 |
23 |
120 |
Moderate |
25-27 (Net Correct) |
95 |
76 |
84 |
On the day of the CAT 2025 exam, after each slot, we will help you with the CAT 2025 First Impression & Detailed Exam Review being made live here. Our CAT experts will also discuss the Paper Pattern, CAT 2025 Difficulty Level, CAT scores vs. Percentile for all the slots.
|
Section |
No. of questions |
Questions |
Non MCQ Questions |
Difficulty level |
Number of Doable Questions |
No of Questions |
|
VARC |
24 |
4 Passages * 4 Questions 2 Parajumbles, 2 Parasummary, 2 Paracompletion, 2 Odd one out |
4 |
Easy-Moderate |
12-13 (net correct) |
24 |
|
DILR |
22 |
2 Sets * 5 Questions 3 Sets * 4 Questions |
11 |
Moderate |
8-9 (net correct) |
22 |
|
QA |
22 |
Algebra - 7, Arithmetic- 8, Geometry- 3 , Number System- 4, Modern Maths- 0 |
8 |
Difficult |
8-9 (net correct) |
22 |
|
Total |
68 |
23 |
Moderate-Difficult |
25-27 (net correct) |
68 |
The overall overall analysis of CAT 2025 - Slot 2 paper with section-wise marking scheme and difficulty level of the exam is given below for your reference:
|
Section |
No. of questions |
Questions |
Non MCQ Questions |
Time in Minutes |
Difficulty Level |
No. of Doable Questions |
|
VARC |
24 |
4 Passages * 4 Questions 2 Parajumbles, 2 Parasummary, 2 Paracompletion, 2 Odd one out |
4 |
40 |
Moderate |
2 RC + 4 VA (10-12) |
|
DILR |
22 |
2 Sets * 5 Questions 3 Sets * 4 Questions |
10 |
40 |
Moderate - Difficult |
2-2.5 sets |
|
QA |
22 |
Algebra - 7, Arithmetic- 8, Geometry- 3 , Number System- 4, Modern Maths- 0 |
7-8 |
40 |
Moderate |
6-7 Qs |
|
Total |
68 |
|
22-23 |
120 |
Moderate |
24-28 |
Students can look for the CAT 2025 detailed exam analysis and analyse their performance. Following is a brief analysis of CAT 2025 for each section.
|
Section |
No. of questions |
Questions |
Difficulty Level |
|
VARC |
24 |
4 Passages * 4 Questions 2 Para summary, 2 Para Jumble 2 Para completion, 2 Odd one out |
Moderate |
|
DILR |
22 |
2 Sets * 5 Questions 3 Sets * 4 Questions |
Moderate - Difficult |
|
QA |
22 |
Algebra - 8, Arithmetic- 7, Geometry- 2, Number System- 4-5, Modern Maths- 1 |
Moderate |
|
Total |
68 |
Moderate |
The CAT 2025 exam pattern is expected to be similar to CAT 2024. The notification for CAT 2025 was released on July 27th, 2025, and the exam is scheduled for November 30th, 2025. Thus, it’s high time for the aspirants to gear up their CAT preparation to get admission into their dream B-schools.
Some of the major points to keep in mind with regard to the CAT exam pattern are:
|
CAT Exam Components |
CAT Paper Pattern |
|
No. of Questions |
68 |
|
Number of Sections |
3 |
|
Sections |
VARC, DILR and QA |
|
Exam Duration |
2 hours |
|
Time Allotted per Section |
40 minutes |
|
Slots for Exam |
3 Shifts |
|
Mode of Exam |
Computer-Based Exam |
|
Medium of Instruction |
English |
|
Types of Questions |
MCQ and TITA |
Similar to the previous year's exam pattern, the marking scheme for the MCQ and TITA questions is different. Here is an overview of the marking scheme for CAT 2025
|
CAT 2024 Question Type |
For Correct Answers |
For Incorrect Answers |
|
Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) |
+3 |
-1 |
|
Type in the Answer (TITA) |
+3 |
0 |
The provided CAT Exam Analysis for past years allows candidates to compare and understand the changes in exam trends over the years. You can go through the CAT Exam Analysis mentioned below to understand the exam better.
|
CAT Exam Sections |
Total Number of Questions |
Time Allotted |
|
Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC) |
24 |
40 Minutes |
|
Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR) |
22 |
40 Minutes |
|
Quantitative Ability (QA) |
22 |
40 Minutes |
|
Overall |
68 |
120 Minutes |
IIM Kozhikode is responsible for the smooth conduct and execution of the CAT 2025 exam. With the release of the official CAT notification 2025, a few changes may be predicted in the recent CAT Exam Pattern. Here are some of them listed below that candidates should be aware of:
The duration of the CAT 2025 exam will be 120 minutes, with each section having a sectional time limitation of 40 minutes, after which candidates will not be able to submit answers for that particular section. Therefore, effective time management and test-taking strategies are crucial before appearing for the actual exam. All serious CAT takers should buckle down with their preparation, practice CAT previous year papers, and start attempting mocks on a regular basis if they want to ace CAT 2025.
Here we have provided a detailed CAT exam analysis for previous years covering details such as slot wise analysis, difficulty level of each slot, and key highlights.
The overall difficulty of CAT 2024 was higher than that of CAT 2023. The exam followed the exam pattern of CAT 2023, with 66 questions to be answered in 120 minutes. The distribution of questions across the sections also remained the same, with 24 questions in VARC, 20 questions in DILR, and 22 questions in QA. Each section had to be attempted in 40 minutes.
Among the 3 slots, there was only a marginal difference in the level of difficulty.
|
Section (CAT 2024) |
Most Difficult |
Moderately Difficult |
Least Difficult |
|
VARC |
Slot 2 |
Slot 1 |
Slot 3 |
|
DILR |
Slot 1 |
Slot 2/3 |
- |
|
QA |
Slot 1 |
Slot 2 |
Slot 3 |
DILR was a comparatively easier section of CAT 2024 with time-consuming but doable questions. Ideally, a CAT score of above 90 will be considered a good score to achieve a percentile of 99%, as it was 84 in CAT 2023.
Detailed CAT Exam Analysis 2024CAT 2023 was held on 26th November 2023 in three slots. As per expectations, the exam pattern was the same as last year. The only surprise in the exam was that the VARC section of slot 2 had a mandatory VA question that was absent in the other two slots.
Based on the data provided by CAT takers, we have revised the data to match the trends displayed. Here are a few observations and a revised comparison of slots and expected overall & sectional percentiles.
The overall difficulty of CAT 2023 was higher than that of CAT 2022. The exam followed the exam pattern of CAT 2022, with 66 questions to be answered in 120 minutes. The distribution of questions across the sections also remained the same, with 24 questions in VARC, 20 questions in DILR, and 22 questions in QA. Each section had to be attempted in 40 minutes.
Among the 3 slots, there was only a marginal difference in the level of difficulty.
|
Section (CAT 2023) |
Most Difficult |
Moderately Difficult |
Least Difficult |
|
VARC |
Slot 1 |
Slot 2 |
Slot 3 |
|
DILR |
Slot 3 |
Slot 1 |
Slot 2 |
|
QA |
Slot 3 |
Slot 2 |
Slot 1 |
DILR was the most difficult section of CAT 2023 and the easiest was VARC. Ideally, a CAT score of 84 was required to get a 99%ile in CAT 2023.
Detailed CAT Exam Analysis 2023|
Expected Percentiles |
VARC Score |
DILR Score |
QA Score |
Overall Score |
||||||||
|
Slot 1 |
Slot 2 |
Slot 3 |
Slot 1 |
Slot 2 |
Slot 3 |
Slot 1 |
Slot 2 |
Slot 3 |
Slot 1 |
Slot 2 |
Slot 3 |
|
|
99 |
40 |
40-42 |
38-40 |
25-27 |
25-26 |
27-28 |
25-28 |
28-30 |
27-28 |
80-81 |
82-83 |
78-80 |
|
95 |
28-30 |
30-33 |
28-30 |
18-20 |
18-20 |
18-20 |
20-22 |
20-22 |
18-20 |
55-56 |
57-58 |
57-58 |
|
90 |
22-24 |
24-26 |
24-25 |
15-17 |
14-15 |
15-17 |
15-17 |
15-17 |
15-17 |
45-48 |
46-48 |
46-48 |
|
85 |
20-22 |
20-22 |
20-22 |
13-14 |
12-13 |
12-14 |
12-14 |
12-14 |
12-14 |
39-41 |
40-43 |
40-41 |
|
80 |
18-20 |
18-20 |
18-20 |
11-12 |
10-11 |
10-11 |
10-12 |
10-12 |
10-11 |
35-37 |
36-39 |
36-37 |
* As soon as the CAT Answer Key is out, fill in the score calculator to get your exact overall percentile along with a predicted sectional percentile.
As per the expectations, CAT 2022 followed the pattern of 66 questions to be solved in 2 hours with 40 minutes allotted to each section.
The marking scheme remained the same: +3/-1 for MCQs, and +3/0 for non-MCQs. The overall level of difficulty for CAT 2022 slot 3 was difficult with respect to CAT 2022 Slot 1 and Slot 2. Thus, the LOD across the three sections of the three slots varied slightly:
An overall raw score of around ~84 could fetch a 99%ile in CAT 2022.
CAT 2022 Paper Pattern & Section- score wise for 99%ile+
|
Section Name |
Total Questions |
Time Limit |
Score for 99%ile |
|
Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC) |
24 |
40 Minutes |
39 |
|
Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR) |
20 |
40 Minutes |
29 |
|
Quantitative Ability (QA) |
22 |
40 Minutes |
33 |
The overall difficulty level for CAT 2021 was moderate. An overall raw score of around 97-99 was good enough to fetch a 99%ile in CAT 2021. CAT 2021 followed the CAT 2020 exam pattern of reduced time (2 hours) with 40 minutes allotted to each section. However, the number of questions under each of the sections reduced. CAT 2021 had 66 questions to be attempted in 2 hours with the section-wise distribution of questions as follows: VARC: 24 questions in 40 minutes; DILR: 20 questions in 40 minutes; QA: 22 questions in 40 minutes.
|
Section |
No of questions |
Non MCQ Questions |
Time in Minutes |
Difficulty Level |
Ideal Score/Attempts for 99 %ile |
|
VARC |
24 |
5 |
40 |
Moderate |
35-38 (15-18) |
|
DILR |
20 |
5 |
40 |
Moderate |
28-30 (10-12) |
|
QA |
22 |
8 |
40 |
Easy |
39-42 (15-17) |
|
Total |
66 |
18 |
120 |
97-99 (42-48) |
Many students and early slot-wise reviews indicate that in CAT 2025 Slot 2, DILR was relatively tougher than the other two sections. While VARC and QA were generally perceived as moderate and manageable, DILR- with its arrangement-heavy sets and time-management pressure, leaned toward moderate to difficult for many test-takers.
CAT 2025 Slot 1 followed the expected pattern with 68 questions in total- 24 in VARC, 22 in DILR, and 22 in QA. Each section had a mix of MCQs and TITA questions, aligned with the pattern seen in recent years.
Good attempts in CAT 2025 Slot 1 depend on accuracy and section-wise difficulty. Generally, VARC (16-18), DILR (8-10), and QA (12-14) are considered strong attempts for a competitive percentile, assuming high accuracy
According to early Slot 2 feedback, CAT 2025 Slot 2 was perceived as moderately challenging overall, similar in structure to Slot 1. Some sections and question-sets were manageable, while others demanded good time management.
