CAT Exam Analysis 2026 (Soon): Check Slot-Wise Analysis, Difficulty Level, Student Reactions
CAT exam analysis 2026 for Slot 1, 2 and 3 will be shared here once the exam is over. CAT 2026 exam will be conducted on November 29, 2026, in the computer based test format across various exam centres. The CAT 2026 exam analysis will include a detailed discussion on slot wise difficulty level, important topics and their weightage, sectional difficulty, number of good attempts, etc. Read the article below to know the previous year CAT exam analysis in detail.
CAT 2025 Exam Analysis
The difficulty level of the CAT 2025 exam was moderate. Check the section-wise difficulty level and analysis of CAT 2025 exam below:
| Section | Difficulty Level | Type of Questions |
| Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension | Moderate | 4 RCs with 4 questions each 2 Parasummary 2 Parajumbles 2 Odd one out 2 Paracompletion |
| Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning | Moderate to Difficult | 2 sets of 5 questions 2 sets of 4 questions |
| Quantitative Aptitude | Moderate | 8 questions on Algebra 7 questions on Arithmetic 2 questions on Geometry 4 to 5 questions on Number System 1 question on Modern Maths |
| Total | Moderate | 68 questions in total |
CAT Score vs Percentile
The CAT exam 2023 scores versus percentiles estimated on the basis of question paper and difficulty level is given in the following table.
| CAT Percentile | VARC Score | DILR Score | QA Score | Overall Score |
| 99.9 %ile | 51 | 46 | 48 | 122 |
| 99.5 %ile | 44 | 39 | 40 | 103 |
| 99 %ile | 40 | 34 | 33 | 90 |
| 98 %ile | 34 | 31 | 30 | 81 |
| 95%ile | 30 | 26 | 25 | 70 |
| 90%ile | 23 | 19 | 18 | 53 |
| 85%ile | 19 | 15 | 16 | 53 |
| 80%ile | 19 | 15 | 16 | 45 |
| 75%ile | ||||
CAT 2024 Analysis
According to the CAT exam 2024 analysis, the overall difficulty level was moderate. Slot 2 was the toughest among the three slots. The VARC section of the CAT question paper majorly had Reading Comprehension passages and QA section was dominated by Arithmetic and Algebra. DILR section was moderate in terms of difficulty level.
CAT Exam Analysis 2023
IIM Lucknow has succesfully completed conducting CAT 2023 exam on 26th November in 3 exam slots in various exam centres across India. Candidates can now check the detailed CAT exam analysis 2023 for slot 1, 2, 3 here. The CAT exam review will let you know about the exam difficulty level, weightage of topics, good attempts, changes in the exam pattern (if any), etc.
Also Check:
- CAT 2023 Exam Analysis for all shifts
- CAT 2023 Exam Analysis for Slot 1
- CAT 2023 Answer Key
- CAT Result 2023
- CAT Answer Key Release Date and Time
CAT Exam Analysis 2023 Slot Timing
CAT exam was held in three slots. The first slot is from 8:30 AM to 10:30 AM while the second slot shall be from 12:30 PM- 2:30 PM. Lastly, the 3rd and female slot shall be from 4:30 PM- 6:30 PM. Check the CAT exam slot 2023, timing in the table below.
| Exam Name | Exam Date | CAT Exam Time Slots | Start and End Timings |
| CAT 2023 Exam | 26th November 2023 | Slot 1 | 8:30 AM- 10:30 AM |
| Slot 2 | 12:30 PM- 2:30 PM | ||
| Slot 3 | 4:30 PM- 6:30 PM |
CAT 2023 Exam Analysis Highlights
CAT 2023 exam consists of Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC), Logical Reasoning & Data Interpretation (LRDI) and Quantitative Aptitude (QA) subjects. The difficulty level for each CAT exam slots will differ for each paper. The exam duration for CAT exam shall be of 120 minutes or 2 Hours. We have updated the major highlights of CAT exam 2023 below.
| CAT 2023 Particulars | Details |
| Total number of questions | 66 |
| Difficulty level | Moderate to Difficult |
| Good attempt | To be updated |
| Total marks | 198 |
CAT Exam Analysis 2023 Slot Wise Paper Review
The CAT exam shall be held in three slots, slot 1, 2 and 3. The questions asked, difficulty level, etc. for each of the slots will vary. Jagran Josh has provided you with the CAT exam analysis for VARC, DILR and Quantitative Aptitude by collating data from the leading CAT coaching institutes. This will let you know of the overall exam review and your chances of qualifying the examination.
CAT 2023 Exam Analysis by Career Launcher
CAT slot 1 exam was difficult this year. CARC section was easier than the last year while QA was found to be difficult. The section wise CAT exam difficulty level for slot 1 are as follows:
| CAT sections | Slot 1 | Slot 2 | Slot 3 |
| VARC | Difficult | To be updated | To be updated |
| DILR | Difficult | To be updated | To be updated |
| Quantitative Aptitude | Difficult | To be updated | To be updated |
| Overall | Difficult | To be updated | To be updated |
CAT 2023 Slot 1 VARC question-wise Breakup by Career Launcher
The VARC section, as analysied by Sumit Singh Gandhi (Rahul), founder of CATKing was a mix of inference-based questions, with a focus on reading comprehension from diverse topics such as philosophy, history, languages, and knowledge perception. The Verbal Ability segment included a variety of question types, challenging candidates with parajumbles, paragraph summary, and paragraph completion exercises. Check the CAT VARC slot 1 paper review as per Career Launcher below.
| Passage Number | Passage Topic/ Area | No. of Questions | Difficulty Level | Description/ Doable |
| 1 | Wolf → Environmentalists vs Farmer | 4 | Easy read | 400 words 2- Fact based- Doable 2- Inference based |
| 2 | Philosophy → Change in Work Culture | 4 | Difficult read, Easy to solve | 400 words 4 Doable |
| 3 | Indian Ocean-based Geographical Literature | 4 | Difficult read | 400 words 3 Doable |
| 4 | Human Behavior | 4 | Easy read | 450 words 2 - Doable |
| Total |
| 16 |
|
|
CAT 2023 Slot 2 VARC question-wise breakup
CAT 2023 VARC section for slot 2 is updated in the following table below.
| VARC Topics | No. of Questions |
|---|---|
| Reading Comprehension | 16 |
| Verbal Ability - Para jumbles | 2 |
| Verbal Ability - Summary | 2 |
| Verbal Ability - Paracompletion | 2 |
| Verbal Ability - Odd one out | 2 |
CAT 2023 Slot 3 VARC question-wise breakup
CAT 2023 VARC section for slot 3 is in the following table below.
| Passage Number | Passage – Topic/ Area | No. of Questions | Difficulty Level | Description/ Doable |
| 1 | Romantic Aesthetics/ Philosophy | 4 | Difficult to comprehend/read | 400-450 words 3- Doable, 1- Difficult |
| 2 | Cultural Property Law → Exploration of Sites | 4 | Easy to Moderate | 400-450 words 2- Doable, 2- Moderate - Difficult |
| 3 | Nutmeg Curse→ Environment Degradation | 4 | Moderate | 400-450 words 3- Doable, 1- Difficult |
| 4 | Rational Thinking | 4 | Moderate | 400-450 words 2 - Doable, 2- Moderate - Difficult |
| Total | 16 | Moderate | Easier than CAT 2022 | |
CAT 2023 Slot 1 DILR question-wise breakup
The question wise break up of CAT DILR section has been updated below for slot 1 exam.
- The DILR section had 20 questions that were distributed across 4 sets with 5 questions each.
- The number of non-MCQs or TITA questions was 6.
- Given below is the CAT Slot 1 DILR exam review as per CAreer Launcher.
| Set Number | Topic | No of Questions | Difficulty Level | Description/ Doable |
| 1 | College Elections (LR) | 5 | Moderate - Difficult | 2- Doable, 3- Tough |
| 2 | Visa Applications (LR) (Time & Sequence set) | 5 | Moderate | 3- Doable, 2- Tough |
| 3 | 12 Houses (LR-DI) Rectangular diagram (3*2) | 5 | Moderate - Difficult | 2- Doable, 3- Tough |
| 4 | Restaurant→ Rating (Mean, Median, Mode) | 5 | Moderate | 3- Doable, 2-Tough |
| Total | 20 | Moderate - Difficult | Similar to CAT 2022 |
CAT 2023 Slot 2 DILR question-wise breakup
The question wise breakup of DILR section of CAT 2023 slot 2 is now updated after the completion of the exam.
| Subject | Topics | No. of Questions |
|---|---|---|
| Data Interpretation + Logical Reasoning | DI (5 firms – Funds raised in consecutive years) | 5 |
| DI (Draw Competition) | 5 | |
| LR (3 friends visited a park. Many rides. Scheduling questions.) | 5 | |
| DI (Nine Boxes – sudoku type puzzle) | 5 |
CAT 2023 Slot 3 DILR question-wise breakup
The question wise difficulty level of CAT 2023 Slot 3 DILR is updatedbelow.
| Set Number | Topic | No of Questions | Difficulty Level | Description/ Doable |
| 1 | Girls / Boys (LR Caselet) Tests | 5 | Moderate- Difficult | 2- Doable, 3- Tough |
| 2 | Caselet→ Window/ Split AC | 5 | Difficult | 0- Doable, 5- Tough (Time Consuming) |
| 3 | Route Based Diagram | 5 | Easy | 5- Doable, 0- Tough |
| 4 | Online Sites (Mean, Median, Mode, Max/Min) | 5 | Easy-Moderate | 4- Doable, 1-Tough |
| Total | 20 | Moderate - Difficult | 8-10 Questions Doable | |
CAT 2023 Slot 1 Quantitative Aptitude Questions-wise breakup
The questions asked in the CAT 2023 exam in quantitative aptitude in slot 1 has been updated below in the table.
- CAT slot 1 exam for QA had 22 questions to be attempted in 40 minutes.
- The section had 6 non-MCQs or TITA questions.
- A majority of questions were from arithmetic section followed by algebra.
| Topic | Description/ Doable | Total Questions | Difficulty Level |
| Number System | Surds-1, | 1 | Easy |
| Algebra | Log-1 Equations-3 Surds-1 Sequence & Series-2 | 8 | Moderate- Difficult |
| Arithmetic | TSD-2 T&W-1 Ratio-1 SI CI-1 PLD-1 Mixture-1 Clock-1 | 9 | Easy- Moderate |
| Modern Math | P&C-1 | 1 | Easy |
| Geometry & Mensuration | Triangle-1 Quadrilateral- 1 Coordinate Geo Circle - 1 | 3 | Moderate |
| Total | 22 |
CAT 2023 Slot 2 Quantitative Aptitude Questions-wise breakup
The QA section of CAT 2023 slot 2 has been updated after the completion of the exam.
| Topics | No. of Questions |
|---|---|
| Arithmetic | 7 |
| Algebra | 8 |
| Geometry & Mensuration | 3 |
| Number System | 1 |
| Modern Math | 2 |
CAT 2023 Slot 3 Quantitative Aptitude Questions-wise breakup
The QA section of CAT 2023 Slot 3 has been updated below after the completion of the exam.
| Topic | No. of Questions |
|---|---|
| ERPV | 2 |
| Percentages, Profit & Loss | 3 |
| Functions | 1 |
| Time & Distance | 1 |
| Numbers | 1 |
| Geometry | 3 |
| Progressions/Series | 2 |
| Quadratic Equations | 1 |
| Averages Mixtures & Alligations | 2 |
| Coordinate Geometry | 1 |
| Permutations & Combinations | 1 |
| Logarithms | 1 |
| Time and Work | 2 |
| Indices | 3 |
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