CAT 2021 Analysis by Career Launcher: Slot 1, 2 and 3
Common Admission Test 2025 ( CAT )
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CAT 2021 exam analysis by Career Launcher for slot 1, slot 2 and slot 3 is available. Know the total number of good attempts, slot wise difficulty levels and expected cut offs in CAT analysis 2021.
CAT 2021 exam difficulty level was moderate to tough
IIM Ahmedabad conducted the CAT 2021 exam was today and as expected there was not much change in the exam from last year. CAT 2021 analysis by Career Launcher is now available for Slot 1 and Slot 2. According to the analysis, the CAT 2021 question paper was of moderate difficulty level. Read below in-depth CAT 2021 analysis by Career Launcher, which includes section-wise distribution of topics, difficulty levels, number of good attempts, sectional cut off and expected scoring pattern.
Section-wise, the level of difficulty of VARC can be considered moderate as it was similar to last year’s VARC section. DILR too was on the same lines as CAT 2020, i.e. moderate to difficult. It was due to lesser choices in sets. Quantitative Ability was the easiest section this year as well. As per CAT 2021 analysis by Career Launcher, an overall raw score of around 99 should fetch a 99%ile in CAT 2021.
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- CAT 2021 Exam Analysis Highlights
- SLOT 1 CAT 2021 Analysis: Section Wise
- SLOT 2 CAT 2021 Analysis: Section-Wise
- SLOT 3 CAT 2021 Analysis
CAT 2021 Exam Analysis Highlights
Given below is the section-wise difficulty level of the first slot of CAT 2021 exam:
| CAT 2021 Sections |
Questions |
Difficulty Levels |
Score for 99 percentile |
|---|---|---|---|
| Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC) |
24 |
Moderate to Tough |
37-39 |
| Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning & (DILR) |
20 |
Moderate |
27-30 |
| Quantitative Aptitude (QA) |
22 |
Easy |
40-42 |
| Total/Overall |
66 |
Moderate |
97-99 |
Also Read:
SLOT 1 CAT 2021 Analysis: Section Wise
CAT 2021 Analysis: Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC)
In VARC section, there were a total of 24 questions to be attempted in 40 minutes. The difficulty level was moderate to high.
There were four Reading Comprehension (RC) passages with four questions each. The word-limit of each passage was 470-500 words. Two RC were easy to read while two were difficult to read. In each of the RCs, two questions were doable. Since there were four passages, two would have been an ideal attempt whereas four would have been a risk.
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In Verbal Ability, Para Summary had short answers but the options were tricky. Summary questions had very close options. Two Para Jumbles were easy. Five questions were non-MCQs (all in Verbal). All the TITA (Non MCQ questions) in this section should have been attempted.
According to CAT 2021 analysis by Career Launcher, overall, a score of 24-25 can be considered enough for an 85%ile ad 35-38 marks can be considered ideal for a 99%ile.
CAT 2021 VARC Question-wise Breakup:
| VARC Topics |
No. of Questions |
Ideal Attempt |
|---|---|---|
| Reading Comprehension |
16 |
12 |
| Verbal Ability - Parajumbles |
3 |
2 |
| Verbal Ability - Summary |
3 |
2 |
| Verbal Ability - Parajumbles (Odd-sentence out) |
2 |
1 |
CAT 2021 Analysis: Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR)
The DILR section of CAT 2021 had 20 questions distributed across 4 sets (4+4+6+6). The questions were moderate to difficult. In this section too, there were five non-MCQs. In 40 minutes, only two Sets were manageable. Bar Chart was purely DI based and was easy. Other three were time consuming. One set was a mixed bag of DI and LR and was doable.
According to CAT 2021 analysis by Career Launcher, a score of 27-30 marks can be considered ideal for a 99+ percentile in DILR.
CAT 2021 DILR Question - wise Breakup:
| Subject |
Topics |
No. of Questions |
Ideal Attempt |
|---|---|---|---|
| Data Interpretation + Logical Reasoning |
Smoothies- DI |
4 |
1-2 |
| Bar Graph |
4 |
3-4 |
|
| Arrangement - Researchers, Publishing |
6 |
2-3 |
|
| Arrangement - Friends, Strangers, Acquaintances |
6 |
2-3 |
Also Read:
CAT 2021 Analysis: Quantitative Aptitude (QA)
As expected, the level of difficulty of the Quantitative Aptitude section of CAT 2021 was similar to that of CAT 2018 and CAT 2020. It had 22 questions which included eight non-MCQs. Arithmetic dominated this section of CAT 2021.
According to CAT 2021 analysis by Career Launcher, a score of 40-42 would be ideal for a 99+ percentile in the QA section of CAT 2021.
CAT 2021 QA Questions- wise Breakup:
| Topics |
No. of Questions |
Ideal Attempt |
|---|---|---|
| Arithmetic |
11 |
7-9 |
| Algebra |
5 |
2 -3 |
| Geometry & Mensuration |
3 |
2 |
| Number System |
2 |
1-2 |
| Modern Math |
1 |
0-1 |
SLOT 2 CAT 2021 Analysis: Section-Wise
The CAT 2021 Slot 2 pattern continued to be along the same lines as the morning slot with 66 questions.
In terms of section-wise level of difficulty, VARC of Slot 2 was slightly difficult compared to VARC of Slot 1. DILR was similar to Slot 1 DILR i.e. moderate to difficult in terms of LOD. QA of Slot 2 was slightly lengthy as compared to QA of Slot 1.
An overall raw score of around 97-98 should fetch a 99%ile in CAT 2021 Slot 2.
CAT 2021 Paper Pattern & Section-wise expected score for 99%ile+
| Section Name |
Total Questions |
Score for 99%ile |
|---|---|---|
| Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC) |
24 |
37-39 |
| Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR) |
20 |
29-32 |
| Quantitative Ability (QA) |
22 |
39-42 |
| Total |
66 |
~97-98 |
CAT 2021 Analysis: VARC
According to CAT 2021 analysis by Career Launcher, the CAT 2021 VARC section of Slot 2 was slightly tricky and was slightly more difficult as compared to VARC of Slot 1.This was a slightly lengthy section too. The TITA (Non MCQ questions) should have been attempted, as usual.
Overall, a score of 37-39 can be considered enough for a 99+%ile. CAT 2021 VARC Question-wise Breakup:
| Topic |
No. of Questions (MCQ/non-MCQ) |
Ideal Score/ Attempt |
|---|---|---|
| Reading Comprehension |
16 (4+4+4+4) |
12 (with 8-9 correct attempts) |
| Verbal Ability - Parajumbles |
3 |
7 (with 5 correct attempts) |
| Verbal Ability - Summary |
3 |
|
| Verbal Ability - Parajumbles (Odd-sentence out) |
2 |
CAT 2021 Analysis: DILR
According to CAT 2021 analysis by Career Launcher, the DILR section of slot 2 was similar to slot 1 in terms of level of difficulty. Again, the number of non-MCQs was five. Two Sets (of four questions) were doable in the given time frame.
A score of 29-32 marks can be considered ideal for a 99+ percentile in DILR.
CAT 2021 DILR Question - wise Breakup:
| Section |
Topic |
No. of Questions |
Ideal Attempt |
|---|---|---|---|
| Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning |
Bar Chart (DI) |
4 |
4 |
| Games & Tournament |
4 |
4 |
|
| Ravi the delivery man |
6 |
3-4 questions of 1 out of the 2 sets could be attempted if a student focused on only 1 set. |
|
| Assignment (Value perception of different products) |
6 |
CAT 2021 Analysis: Quantitative Aptitude (QA)
According to CAT 2021 analysis by Career Launcher, the QA section of CAT 2021 Slot 2 was on a higher difficulty level than slot 1. Out of 22 questions, about 15 could easily be attempted in the set time-limit. There were eight non-MCQs like in slot 1. The section was dominated by Arithmetic..
A score of 39-42 would be ideal for a 99+ percentile in the QA section of CAT 2021 Slot 2.
CAT 2021 QA Questions-wise Breakup:
| Topic |
No. of Questions (MCQ/non-MCQ) |
Ideal Attempt |
|---|---|---|
| Number System |
2 |
1-2 |
| Algebra |
5 |
2 -3 |
| Arithmetic |
11 |
7-9 |
| Modern Math |
1 |
0-1 |
| Geometry & Mensuration |
3 |
2 |
SLOT 3 CAT 2021 Analysis
The CAT 2021 Slot 3 pattern continued to be along the same lines as the morning and afternoon slot. An overall raw score of around 94-96 should fetch a 99%ile in CAT 2021 Slot 3.
CAT 2021 Paper Pattern & Section-wise expected score for 99%ile+
| Section Name |
Total Questions |
Score for 99%ile |
|---|---|---|
| Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC) |
24 |
36-39 |
| Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR) |
20 |
30-33 |
| Quantitative Ability (QA) |
22 |
34-36 |
| Total |
66 |
92-95 |
CAT 2021 Analysis: VARC
According to CAT 2021 analysis by Career Launcher, the VARC section of the third slot followed the same pattern as slot 1 and slot 2. Out of 24 questions, five questions were Non-MCQs (all in Verbal). The RC passages were around 500 words each. There were four passaged out of which two passages were easy to read whereas the other two passages were difficult to read. Three passages would have been an ideal attempt.
Overall, a score of 36-39 can be considered enough for a 99%ile in VARC Slot 3. All the TITA (Non MCQ questions) should have been attempted, as usual.
CAT 2021 VARC Question-wise Breakup:
| Topic |
No. of Questions (MCQ/non-MCQ) |
Ideal Score/ Attempt |
|---|---|---|
| Reading Comprehension |
16 (4+4+4+4) |
12-14 |
| Verbal Ability - Parajumbles |
3 |
2-3 |
| Verbal Ability - Summary |
3 |
1-2 |
| Verbal Ability - Parajumbles (Odd-sentence out) |
2 |
2 |
CAT 2021 Analysis: DILR
According to CAT 2021 analysis by Career Launcher, the DILR section of slot 3 was slightly easier than DILR of slot 2 and similar to DILR of slot 1. The DILR section had 20 questions distributed across four sets (4+4+6+6). The number of non-MCQs was five. Slot 3 had two easy sets and two difficult sets.
A score of 30-33 marks can be considered ideal for a 99+ percentile in DILR.
CAT 2021 DILR Question - wise Breakup:
| Subject |
Topic |
No. of Questions |
Ideal Attempt |
|---|---|---|---|
| Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning
|
Bar Chart |
4 |
3-4 |
| Pure & Impure Solutions |
4 |
3-4 |
|
| Javelin Tournament |
6 |
2-4 |
|
| Review of Academic Qs |
6 |
2-4 |
CAT 2021 Analysis: Quantitative Aptitude (QA)
According to CAT 2021 analysis by Career Launcher, the Quantitative Aptitude section of CAT 2021 Slot 3 was lengthy and calculation intensive. Like slot 1 and slot 2, QA section of slot 3 also had eight non-MCQs. QA section of slot 3 was also dominated by Arithmetic and Algebra.
A score of 34-36 would be ideal for a 99+ percentile in the QA section of CAT 2021 Slot 3.
CAT 2021 QA Questions- wise Breakup:
| Topic |
No. of Questions (MCQ/non-MCQ) |
Ideal Attempt |
|---|---|---|
| Number System |
- |
- |
| Algebra |
6 |
2-3 |
| Arithmetic |
11 |
7-8 |
| Modern Math |
1 |
1 |
| Geometry & Mensuration |
4 |
2 |
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