CAT 2023 Slot 1 Question Paper with Solution: PDF Download

Common Admission Test 2026 ( CAT )

Vipra Shrivastava
Updated on Aug 5, 2026 09:17 IST

By Vipra Shrivastava, Senior Manager - Content

CAT 2023 slot 1 question paper with solutions PDF is available below. IIM Lucknow conducted the CAT 2023 exam across three slots nationwide. All three slots of CAT 2023 featured a 66-question, 120-minute format with a 40-minute sectional time limit. Candidates preparing for upcoming MBA entrance exams can use the CAT 2023 slot 1 question paper with solutions to understand the exam structure and difficulty level.

Overall, CAT 2023 Slot 1 was moderate to difficult. VARC was moderate with clear options in RC passages. DILR comprised 4 sets of 5 questions each, ranging from moderate to challenging. Quantitative Ability was calculation-intensive and heavy on Arithmetic and Algebra. An overall attempt of 38 to 42 questions with strong accuracy was considered a safe zone.

Table of contents
  • CAT 2023 Slot 1 Questions with Solutions
  • CAT 2023 Slot 1 Question Paper: MCQ & TITA Weightage
  • CAT 2023 Slot 1 Question Paper: Topic-wise Weightage

CAT 2023 Slot 1 Questions with Solutions

Find sample questions that appeared in the CAT 2023 slot 1 exam below:

Section I: Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC)


Q1. Five jumbled up sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5), related to a topic, are given below. Four of them can be put together to form a coherent paragraph. Identify the odd sentence and key in the number of that sentence as your answer.

  1. In English, there is no systematic rule for the naming of numbers; after ten, we have "eleven" and "twelve" and then the teens: "thirteen", "fourteen", "fifteen" and so on.
  2. Even more confusingly, some English words invert the numbers they refer to: the word "fourteen" puts the four first, even though it appears last.
  3. It can take children a while to learn all these words, and understand that "fourteen" is different from "forty".
  4. For multiples of 10, English speakers switch to a different pattern: "twenty", "thirty", "forty" and so on.
  5. If you didn't know the word for "eleven", you would be unable to just guess it – you might come up with something like "one-teen".

Q2. The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3 and 4) given below, when properly sequenced, would yield a coherent paragraph. Decide on the proper sequencing of the order of the sentences and key in the sequence of the four numbers as your answer.

  1. What precisely are the “unusual elements” that make a particular case so attractive to a certain kind of audience?
  2. It might be a particularly savage or unfathomable level of depravity, very often it has something to do with the precise amount of mystery involved.
  3. Unsolved, and perhaps unsolvable cases offer something that “ordinary” murder doesn’t.
  4. Why are some crimes destined for perpetual re-examination and others locked into permanent obscurity?

Section II: Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR)


Direction for Questions 3 to 7:

The schematic diagram below shows 12 rectangular houses in a housing complex. House numbers are mentioned in the rectangles representing the houses. The houses are located in six columns – Column-A through Column-F, and two rows – Row-1 and Row-2. The houses are divided into two blocks - Block XX and Block YY. The diagram also shows two roads, one passing in front of the houses in Row-2 and another between the two blocks.

Block XX   Block YY  
Column-A Column-B Column-C   Column-D Column-E Column-F  
A1
B1
C1
A2
B2
C2
ROAD
D1
E1
F1
D2
E2
F2
Row-1
Row-2
 
ROAD
 

Some of the houses are occupied. The remaining ones are vacant and are the only ones available for sale.

The following information is also known:

  1. The maximum quoted price of a house in Block XX is Rs. 24 lakhs. The minimum quoted price of a house in Block YY is Rs. 15 lakhs, and one such house is in Column-E.
  2. Row-1 has two occupied houses, one in each block.
  3. Both houses in Column-E are vacant. Each of Column-D and Column-F has at least one occupied house.
  4. There is only one house with parking space in Block YY.

Q3. How many houses are vacant in Block XX?

Q4. Which of the following houses is definitely occupied?

  1. A1
  2. B1
  3. D2
  4. F2

Q5. Which of the following options best describes the number of vacant houses in Row-2?

  1. Exactly 3
  2. Either 3 or 4
  3. Either 2 or 3
  4. Exactly 2

Q6. What is the maximum possible quoted price (in lakhs of Rs.) for a vacant house in Column-E?

Q7. Which house in Block YY has parking space?

  1. F1
  2. E1
  3. E2
  4. F2

Section III: Quantitative Ability (QA)

Q8. The salaries of three friends Sita, Gita and Mita are initially in the ratio 5 : 6 : 7, respectively. In the first year, they get salary hikes of 20%, 25% and 20%, respectively. In the second year, Sita and Mita get salary hikes of 40% and 25%, respectively, and the salary of Gita becomes equal to the mean salary of the three friends. The salary hike of Gita in the second year is

  1. 26%
  2. 30%
  3. 28%
  4. 25%

Q9. The number of all natural numbers up to 1000 with non-repeating digits is

  1. 738
  2. 648
  3. 504
  4. 585

CAT 2023 Slot 1 Question Paper: MCQ & TITA Weightage

Check the section-wise weightage of MCQs and TITA questions in CAT 2023 slot 1 question paper below:

Section Name Total Questions Number of MCQs Number of Non-MCQs (TITA Questions)
Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC) 24 20 4
Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR) 20 14 6
Quantitative Ability (QA) 22 16 6
TOTAL 66 50 16

CAT 2023 Slot 1 Question Paper: Topic-wise Weightage

Check the table below for topic-wise weightage in the CAT 2023 slot 1 question paper:

Topic Weightage (No. of Questions)
VARC
Reading Comprehension (4 Passages) 16
Para Summary 2
Para Completion / Sentence Insertion 2
Sentence Arrangement (Para Jumbles) 2
Odd Sentence Out 2
DILR
Visa Applications (Time & Sequence) 5
College Elections (Faculty & Departments) 5
Housing Complex (12 Rectangular Houses & Pricing) 5
Restaurant Ratings (Mean, Median, Mode) 5
Quantitative Aptitude (QA)
Arithmetic 9
Algebra 8
Geometry & Mensuration 3
Modern Math (Permutations & Combinations) 1
Number System 1
qna

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