Last year CAT question paper is the key source of preparation at this juncture. With the exam due in about 2 months, you need to know how was the CAT last year question paper. There are six key benefits of it. Know here and download CAT 2023 question paper PDFs with solutions.
Why practice CAT last year papers
Any candidate who is preparing for the CAT 2024 exam, must get hold of CAT last year paper and solve it now. It is an important exercise as last year CAT paper will provide you insights and experience of the latest exam pattern and difficulty level. It will also provide an insight into topic-wise break up so that you can strategise accordingly to optimise exam performance.
With the CAT 2024 exam date getting closer, it is time for you to start focusing on the exam day strategy and you can do so only if you can anticipate the question paper. That is possible only if you know what was the last year CAT paper was like.
CAT 2023 question paper was of medium to high difficulty level. There were maximum questions from Arithmetic and Algebra which were moderate. Reading Comprehension and Data Interpretation questions were difficult in the CAT last year question paper. The exam was held in three slot and CAT exam last year papers of all three slots had the same topic wise composition and weightage. The difficulty level however varied a bit.
CAT previous year question paper
Here’s a brief overview of the last year’s CAT exam paper. The time limit for solving the questions was 40 minutes per section. Overall, there were not much surprises and the CAT question paper 2024 can be expected to be of the same difficulty level.
| CAT Exam Sections |
Number of Questions |
Difficulty Level |
|---|---|---|
| Quantitative Aptitude (QA) |
24 |
Easy to Moderate |
| Logical Reasoning & Data Interpretation (LRDI) |
20 |
Moderate to High |
| Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC) |
22 |
Moderate |
Commonly asked questions
Till 2014, there were only two sections in CAT. Quantitative Aptitude was clubbed with Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning was clubbed with Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension. In 2015, the Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning were clubbed together and Quantitative Aptitude and Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension made two individual sections. Since 2015, the sectional segregation has remained the same but the number of questions have come down from 100 to 66. The exam duration has also been reduced. Until 2019, the CAT exam was of 180 minutes and the total number of questions were 100. However, in 2020, the question paper structure was revised due to COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, the total number of questions came down to 76. In 2021 and 2022, the number of questions were further lowered to 66. For the last two years, CAT is conducted for 2 hours, and the number of questions is 66. In CAT 2024 however, the number of questions were increased to 68.
The latest CAT question paper structure is: Total questions: 68 Number of sections: 3 Order of sections - 1. VARC 2. DILR 3. Quantitative Aptitude Sectional time limit: 40 minutes VARC questions: 24 DILR questions: 22 Quantitative Aptitude questions: 22.
Difficulty level in CAT exam is not specific to any of the three slots. The difficulty level across slots may vary every year. Know how the CAT scores are normalised: https://www.shiksha.com/mba/articles/understanding-cat-normalization-process-blogId-9386.
CAT question papers are released within a week of the exam in the form of a PDF as a response sheet and answer key. Response sheet hosts CAT exam questions and answers.
The CAT VARC section is dominated by RC questions. Out of 24 questions about 14-16 are based on Reading Comprehension passages and the rest of them are based on parajumbles, para completion, etc.
CAT has about 12-16 RC question. Since, it is not mandatory to solve all the questions, candidates can maximize their scores by leaving out the questions related to the passage they find the toughest. There is negative marking in CAT so candidates must ensure that they mark only the correct options or do not mark any option at all.
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Why You Should Solve Last Year CAT Paper?
Now, let’s discuss the main point. Why you should solve last year CAT paper. There are six key reasons behind the need for solving last year’s CAT question paper. They are listed below:
- CAT previous year question paper help in understanding the latest CAT exam pattern, sectional weightage, topic-wise weightage and difficulty level. This in turn helps you in making a CAT exam day plan.
- If you know the possible topic-wise distribution and difficulty level, it will be easy for you in the last few days of preparation to focus on topics that can fetch marks
- Practicing CAT last 10 years question papers improves speed and accuracy as well as help you master all types of questions- easy, moderate, tough, tricky and lengthy.
- Practicing CAT exam paper improves time management skills. You will know how much time to spend on reading questions, calculations, making notes or taking a decision of skipping a question.
- Practicing CAT exam last year papers (all three slots) give you confidence of cracking CAT, in which the competition is high and scoring 99 percentile is not everybody’s cup of tea.
- Just like CAT mock tests or sample papers helps in discovering tricks and shortcuts to solving the questions faster, previous years CAT papers too will help you in that.
Also Read:
| CAT Syllabus 2024 | CAT preparation tips 2024 | CAT mock test 2024 |
Shiksha provides free last year CAT paper with solution. Use the CAT last year paper PDF to prepare for the exam which is to be held on November 24, 2024. You can download the CAT last year paper PDF below:
CAT Question_Paper 2023 with Solutions PDF- Slot 1
CAT Question Paper 2023 with Solutions PDF - Slot 3
CAT Question Paper 2022 with Solutions PDF – Slot 1
CAT Question Paper 2022 with Solutions PDF – Slot 3
Practice Shiksha CAT Mock Tests
Shiksha has prepared free CAT mock tests for aspirants to practice and check their control on the exam. The questions used in these mock tests are on par with actual CAT questions.
| CAT_Mock_Test_Set_1 | CAT_Mock_Test_Set_1_Solutions |
| CAT_Mock_Test_Set_2 | CAT_Mock_Test_Set_2_Solutions |
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Student Forum
Anything you would want to ask experts?Answered 4 hours ago
Yes, PIBM Guwahati Campus accepts valid scores from national-level management entrance exams such as CAT, MAT, CMAT, XAT, and ATMA for MBA admissions. Candidates are shortlisted based on their entrance exam scores, academic performance, and overall performance in the institute's selection process, m
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Beginner-Level 5
Answered 3 days ago
Yes, you can get admission to the MBA programme at Manipal University Jaipur, but not through direct admission without meeting the admission criteria.
For the regular MBA, you generally need:
A bachelor's degree with at least 50% marks.
A valid CAT/MAT/CMAT/XAT/GMAT score.
Selection is based on your aca
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Beginner-Level 3
Answered 4 days ago
As a current student at DBS Global University, I can say that yes, the university accepts a valid CAT score for MBA admissions. If you meet the eligibility criteria, then you can apply through your CAT score, and you do not have to take the universities entrance exam. The best thing about DBS, is t
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Beginner-Level 5
Answered 5 days ago
SAGE University, Indore has not mentioned any other accepted entrance exams other than SEE for MBA courses. Generally, CAT is an accepted entrance exam for MBA courses. Therefore, candidate should get confirmation by asking this from admission desk.
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Contributor-Level 10
Answered 5 days ago
No, CAT score is not mandatory to get a seat at CSMU for MBA. While the college accepts CAT scores, it also accept scores from other tests like MAT, CMAT, and MHT-CET. If a candidate have not taken any national entrance paper, they can simply sit for the institutional CSMU-CET exam. Seat will be bas
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Contributor-Level 8
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No, CAT is not compulsory to get admission in TITE - Templecity Institute of Technology and Engineering. The college accepts entrance exams such as: OJEE/ATMA/CAT/MAT. Candidates wishing to get admission into this programme should have passed graduation with at least 50% marks.
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Contributor-Level 10
Answered a week ago
No, CAT is not compulsory to get admission in MBA at College of Engineering, Pune. The college consider svalid score of entrance exams such as:
- MAH-CET (The primary state-level exam considered for Maharashtra students)
- CAT
- CMAT
- XAT
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Contributor-Level 10
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Yes, personal interview round for MBA admission is mandatory for all candidates regardless of which exam they apply through. Candidates applying through CAT result for PP Savani University can only skip SLMET written test during MBA admission process.
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Xavier Institute of Management and Informatics does accepts CAT scores for admission in MBA programme. However, it is not compulsory. Aspirants can also get admission based on their qualifying exam scores and performance in the PI round.
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Guide-Level 15
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Candidates preparing for CAT may not need to prepare for KLMAT Management separately, as the syllabus is the same and the test structure is also similar. However, one should make sure they practice KLMAT sample papers from a month before the exam as the question type and difficulty level will be dif
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Vipra Shrivastava is MA in English Literature from Delhi University with extensive experience in content writing of over 14 years. She has been handling content for Management, Accounting and Commerce streams for 8
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