CAT is conducted for admission to MBA programmes offered by 20 IIMs and other top B-schools in India. CAT 2017 was conducted by IIM Lucknow in two slots- morning and afternoon slot.
Shiksha got in touch with a few MBA aspirants appearing for CAT to know their pre and post exam reactions.
Post- Exam Reactions
Priyanjit Biswas
“This was my second attempt at CAT, and last year I had scored 99.4 percentile. Overall, CAT 2017 was easy. As compared to last year, this year QA and VA were easier, however, DI LR was difficult last year too, and this year again it was difficult. The toughest section of the exam was DILR. There weren’t any surprises in the paper, the only exception being that number of RCs questions had increased. The actual paper wasn’t different from the mock tests, and no technical glitches were reported.”
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Gaurav Gupta
“I appeared for CAT last year too. The difficulty level of the exam was similar to last year’s. There was no change in the exam pattern. English passages were readable, but the options were tricky. The DI-LR was tough. Maths was doable with 9-10 difficult questions. There was no technical glitches.”
Rahul Manna
“This was my first CAT attempt, and I found the exam easy. VA had around 10 questions, out of which 7 were non MCQs and 3 MCQs. RC had 24 questions. The toughest section was DILR and the questions were majorly based on reasoning. Apart from that, overall I would say that I am expecting a decent percentile.”
Ruchika Bhartiya
This was Ruchika’s second attempt at CAT. While all the candidates found LR-DI on the tougher side, she felt that the section was doable. This is what she had to say, “The overall difficulty level of the paper was moderate. QA was easy, and Quant was easy to moderate. LR-DI was subjective and toughest amongst all the sections, but at the same time the sets were doable, and by making the right choice of questions, one could easily clear off the cut-off. The pattern of the exam was more or less on the same alignment as last year’s. The actual paper was easier than the mocks. No technical glitches were reported during the exam.”
Dikshita Singla
“I appeared for Slot 1 and this was my first attempt at CAT. The overall difficulty level of the exam can be termed as moderate. Quant and VA were easy, but DI-LR was difficult. There were no surprises in the exam, in fact as compared to the mocks, the actual paper was easier. The QA section in the actual paper was a little different but easier than what I had attempted in the mocks. I am expecting somewhere around 90 percentile.”
Shivani Garg
“I had appeared for CAT 2016 too, and this was my second attempt. I found English and Maths easy. LR-DI was very tough. As compared to last year, this year’s paper was relatively easier.”
Rohith
Rohith too appeared for CAT 2016, and this was his second attempt. He told us, “The difficulty level of the exam was similar to last year’s, i.e. moderate to difficult. Quant was difficult, VA was easy, and there was no experimentation with the exam pattern. I am expecting around 95%.”
Pre-Exam Reactions
Shivi
“This is my first attempt at CAT and I am very nervous about the same. Though I have practised a lot of mock tests, but I am hoping that I am able to solve questions accurately within time limit.”
Vaani
“I appeared for CAT last year too, but decided to give it another try as I was not very satisfied with my scores. This year, I am confident about my preparation, and am targeting the IIMs.”
Dhananjay
“I started my preparations in January and am certainly hoping to score above 90 percentile. I am a little weak in Quant, but I will try my level best to solve as many questions as I can in limited time.”
Shubham
“I am attempting CAT for the first time, but I am confident that will be able to well in the exam. Rest, let’s hope that the paper is easy so that I have higher chances of scoring well.”
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CAT scores are used for admission to 20 Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and various other top B-Schools. Are you eligible for the IIMs? To know more, click on the image beside. |
| “Got a question about top MBA exams? Ask students who have already made it to top B-Schools.” |
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Student Forum
Answered 2 days ago
Some frequent traps in CAT exam are:
- Confusing the counts of original and new members in replacement vs. inclusion problems.
- Weighting by values instead of quantities or frequencies in weighted average setups.
R
Contributor-Level 7
Answered 2 days ago
Yes. Most CAT-level problems involving replacements, group additions, or combinations are designed to test logical shortcuts rather than heavy calculations.
N
Contributor-Level 7
Answered 2 days ago
Direct questions on Averages typically range from 1 to 2 per slot in the CAT exam. However, the concept appears across several other topics, including Mixtures & Alligations, etc.
R
Contributor-Level 7
Answered 3 days ago
Candidates can refer to How to Prepare for Logical Reasoning for CAT by Arun Sharma and DILR for CAT by Nishit K. Sinha.
P
Contributor-Level 10
Answered 3 days ago
Yes, Routes and Networks is an important topic for CAT DILR. It tests logical thinking, visualisation and the ability to analyse connections and pathways.
P
Contributor-Level 10
Answered 3 days ago
CAT does not have a fixed number of questions from Routes and Networks. The topic may appear as part of a DILR set, usually comprising 4-5 questions.
P
Contributor-Level 10
Answered 3 days ago
Many top scorers spend the first 8-10 minutes tackling independent VA questions, including Odd One Out and Para Summary, before settling into long RC passages.
Candidates preparing for CAT must devise a exam day plan based on how they perform during mocks.
V
Contributor-Level 7
Answered 3 days ago
In most of the recent CAT exam sessions, Odd One Out questions have appeared as TITA (Type In The Answer) questions with no negative marking.
L
Contributor-Level 7
Answered 3 days ago
Candidates can refer to How to Prepare for Logical Reasoning for CAT by Arun Sharma and DI & LR for CAT by Nishit K. Sinha.
P
Contributor-Level 10


