Common Admission Test 2025 ( CAT )
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 question papers are released within a week of the exam in the form of a PDF as a response sheet and answer key. Candidates who have appeared for the test are able to access the CAT question paper and answer key. The question paper of every slot is released on the same day along with candidate response sheet and official answer to all question. If any candidate needs previous year CAT question papers for preparation purpose, then they can download them from Shiksha website. We have hosted last five years' CAT question papers for aspirants to download and practice. These official CAT question papers are available for download free. You can download the CAT question paper PDFs at this link: https://www.shiksha.com/mba/cat-exam-question-papers Candidates must check and practice the latest CAT question paper to know the latest exam pattern and difficulty level.
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.
31 Jan '26 - 2 Feb '26
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10 Feb '26 - 13 Feb '26
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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 |
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:
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.
The key change in CAT question paper 2024 was increase in number of questions in DLIR section. Till 2023, the DILR section used to have 20 questions. In 2024, it had 22 questions. The time limit for it was the same and no other section had less questions. Which means, in CAT 2024, candidates had to attempt 68 questions instead of 66 to solve in the same time (120 minutes). DILR sectional time limit was 40 minutes as in previous years. There was no other change in CAT 2024, the difficulty level was same as previous years.
There are no straight forward vocabulary questions in CAT. Out of the total of 24 questions in VARC section, 12-14 questions are Reading Comprehension based and rest of them comprise parajumbles, para completion and odd sentence. CAT is the only MBA entrance exam, which does not have direct vocabulary and grammar questions. However, one needs to have strong vocabulary and grammar to be able to solve RC, parajumble, para completion and odd sentence questions.
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
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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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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Anything you would want to ask experts?Answered 5 days ago
CAT is one of the accepting exams for admission to MBA at ISMR Pune. However, it is not compulsory. Aspirants with a score in CMAT, MAT, XAT, MAH MBA CET, etc. can also get admission. Candidates selected based on their entrance exam scores also need to pass the personal interview round for admission
N
Guide-Level 15
Answered 5 days ago
No, CAT scores are not compulsory for admissions into MBA course at Chhatrapati Shahu Institute of Business Education and Research. The institute accepts other national/ state level management entrance exams too. The names of the accepted entrance examinations are: XAT/ MAT/ ATMA/ MAH MBA CET.
A
Contributor-Level 9
Answered 5 days ago
No, CAT scores are not compulsory for admissions into MBA course at GLA University, Mathura. The university also considers scores from other management entrance exam and one university level entrance exam too. The names of the other accepted entrance exams are: MAT/ XAT/ UPSEE.
C
Contributor-Level 10
Answered a week ago
No, CAT scores are not important for enrollment into Masters of Business Administration course at Chitkara University. Because CAT is not the only scores which are considered by the university, it also accepts the scores of MAT/ XAT/ NMAT/ CMAT.
K
Contributor-Level 10
Answered a week ago
Minimum qualifying cut off for IIM Ahmedabad is 95 percentile whereas for IIM Bangalore and IIM Calcutta, it is 85. However final cut offs for these three top IIMs are between 99 to 100 percentile.
S
Contributor-Level 6
Answered a week ago
GIBS is pretty flexible when it comes to entrance exams. They accept almost all the common management tests — CAT, XAT, MAT, CMAT, ATMA, State CET, and even GMAT. In my batch itself, we had students who came through different exams, not just CAT.
Honestly, that's one thing I liked about GIBS — they d
M
Contributor-Level 8
Answered a week ago
Yes, you can join Adarsh Institute of Management and Information Technology without appearing for CAT. This is because, the institute also accepts other tests. The accepted exams include CAT/ XAT/ MAT/ CMAT/ KMAT/ PGCET/ GMAT. Hence, if you have appeared for any of these, you can still apply.
M
Contributor-Level 10
Answered a week ago
Yes, Myra School of Business does offer CAT scores based Scholarships upto INR 1.5 lakh. In recognition of outstanding performance in CAT, MSB awards special scholarships as follows:
h
Contributor-Level 10
Answered 2 weeks ago
LISAA School of Design, Bangalore BDes admission is done based on performance in the in-house entrance test. LISAA CAT is conducted at the LISAA centres. Candidates need to connect with the admission team to set up a time slot. Besides, it is important that the eligibility criteria is fulfilled.
M
Contributor-Level 9
Answered 2 weeks ago
No, CAT is not mandatory for School of Business and Management, Christ University MBA admissions. Students can alternatively submit scores of other national-level management exams. These include MAT/ XAT/ CMAT/ ATMA and GMAT/ GRE are also accepted.
S
Contributor-Level 10
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.