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Vipra Shrivastava
Senior Manager - Content
Updated on Sep 29, 2024 13:33 IST

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.

Last Year CAT paper practice

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.

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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.

Q:   What is the structure of CAT question paper?

A:
The CAT question paper structure has remained unchanged since 2014 when there were only two sections. 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. The latest CAT question paper structure is: Total questions: 66 Number of sections: 3 Order of sections - 1. VARC 2. DILR 3. Quantitative Aptitude Sectional time limit: 40 minutes VARC questions: 24 DILR questions: 20 Quantitative Aptitude questions: 22.

Q:   Which CAT slot has the toughest question paper?

A:
There is no pattern to which CAT question paper can be the toughest. The CAT question paper of every slot has unique questions. The examination body strives to maintain the same difficulty level of the paper across all slots but it may happen that a question can be more difficult from another. It is seen that, to keep the uniqueness of the question paper intact, the examination authority also changes the topic wise weightage a little bit across the exam slots. In most of the previous years, it is seen that the morning slot of the CAT exam is tougher than the rest two. However, candidates must not worry about the difficulty level of the slots as, the scores of all the candidates are normalised on a common scale to root out the possibility of advantage or disadvantage to any student due to difference in difficulty level. To know how the CAT scores are normalised, read this article: https://www.shiksha.com/mba/articles/understanding-cat-normalization-process-blogId-9386.

Q:   What are the benefits of solving CAT question papers?

A:
Solving the CAT question paper is very important from preparation point of view. Since CAT is a speed based test where candidates have to read long passages, tables and charts, do multiple calculations and solve tricky puzzles, one needs to have prior practice of the same. The CAT mock tests serve this purpose. However, to know what type of passages and puzzles are there in the CAT exam, you need to solve previous years' question papers. Some of the benefits of solving previous years' CAT question paper are: 1. With the help of previous year's CAT question paper, you can understand the latest CAT exam pattern and marking scheme 2. Practicing CAT question papers improves speed and accuracy in solving the questions, which is critical to a speed based exam like CAT 3. Practicing CAT question papers improves time management skills as you would get to know which type of questions take how much time. 4. When you practice CAT question papers, you gain confidence that you can solve all types of CAT questions. This confidence helps in performing better in the exam.

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.

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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

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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.

Q:   From where can I download CAT question papers?

A:
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.

Q:   How many RC questions does CAT have?

A:

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. In CAT 2022, there were four RC passages each having four questions. The ideal attempt was estimated at 13. 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.

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

Read More:

About the Author
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Vipra Shrivastava
Senior Manager - Content

Vipra is a massive Breaking Bad fan. When not watching crime drama series, she spends time in updating the list of places she wants to visit and people she wants to meet, but she is happiest in the company of dogs. ... Read Full Bio

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