CAT 2024 Exam (Slot 1, 2 & 3) Live Updates: Answer Key, Question Paper Analysis, Pattern, Students Review

XAT 2025: November 30, 2024

CMAT 2025: December 13, 2024

MAT 2024: December 15, 2024

ATMA 2024: December 11, 2024

The next MBA entrance exam to focus on after CAT 2024 are SNAP and XAT. The SNAP 2024 Test 1 is scheduled on December 8, 2024. So, those who have registered for it must start focusing on it. Alongside, MBA aspirants can apply for XAT 2025, MAT 2024, ATMA 2024, CMAT 2025.

The CAT 2024 response sheet and answer key will be released by IIM Calcutta online. Candidates will have to download it from iimcat.ac.in website by using their login credentials.

IIFT will be accepting CAT score for MBA-International Business and MBA Business Analytics programme. IIFT registration process is currently underway and the last date to apply is December 5, 2024.

CAT cut off is the minimum percentile score required for Personal Interview round of the MBA colleges. The CAT cut offs are determined by institutes individually. 

Some of the top non-IIMs through CAT are:  Birla Institute of Management Technology, (BIMTECH), Greater Noida, BITSoM Mumbai, DMS, IIT-Delhi, FMS - University of Delhi, Goa Institute of Management (GIM), Goa, IBS, Hyderabad, Institute of Management Technology, Nagpur, Institute of Management, Nirma University (IMNU), Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS), Mumbai, International Management Institute, Delhi (IMI), K. J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research (SIMSR), Mumbai, Loyola Institute of Business Administration (LIBA), Chennai, Management Development Institute (MDI), Gurgaon, Prin. L. N. Welingkar Institute of Management Development & Research (WeSchool), Mumbai, S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR), Mumbai, Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management (SJMSOM), Mumbai, T. A. Pai Management Institute (TAPMI), Manipal, Vinod Gupta School of Management (IIT Kharagpur), Kharagpur, XIMB - Xavier University, Bhubaneswar and Xavier Institute of Management & Entrepreneurship, Bangalore (XIME),Bangalore.

CAT 2024 result can be expected by December 20, 2024 as the scorecards have been issued within a month of exam in the last two years.

CAT 2024 answer key objection window will be opened for 2-3 days for from the day of response sheet release. Candidates will be required to raise objection against the official CAT answer key 2024 within the same time frame.

Official CAT 2024 answer key release can be expected by the end of this week. IIM Calcutta has not shared the CAT 2024 answer key release date, however, since it is released within 3-5 days of the exam every year, one can expect it to be released by end of this week.

CAT score is valid for admission to PGP. MBA, MBA specialisations, EPGP, FPM, PhD, EPhD courses. Candidates can use their CAT 2024 score to take admission to the course of their choice as per their eligibility.

IIM admission criteria includes, CAT score, academic record, PI-WAT performance and work experience.

IIM admission has 3 stages:

• PI shortlisting through CAT score
• Conduct of PI round
• Final selection

Now, MBA aspirants should shift their focus on the following exams:

• SNAP: December 8, 15, 21, 2024
• MAT: December 7, 14 and 22, 2024
• XAT: January 5, 2025
• CMAT: January 25, 2025

IIM Calcutta will release the CAT 2024 response sheet and official answer keys in a few days from now. Candidates will be able to download their response sheet through login.

According to CAT 2024 analysis, about 102-106 score out of 204 will fetch 99+ percentile. About 85-90 raw score will fetch 99.50 percentile.

CAT score are normalized in order to ensure none of the candidate has an advantage or disadvantage over each other due to difference in difficulty level of slot 1,2 and 3. CAT follows the normalization process of GATE.

CAT score of every candidate across the sessions will be scaled and normalized to calculate CAT percentile. The CAT 2024 result will be prepared in percentiles, which is the candidate’s relative performance against rest of the candidates.

After the exam, now it is time to check what could be the cut offs for MBA admission. Candidates can check their performance through analysis and unofficial CAT answer keys, to know their performance.

In the CAT 2024 slot 3, there were more Arithmetic questions than Algebra questions. In previous sessions, the number of questions from both chapters were same. 

CAT 2024 response sheet can be released for all slots within a week. So, one can expect the official CAT 2024 answer key and response sheet to be out by December 1, 2024.

The CAT 2024 slot 3 question paper was overall moderate. VARC has 24 question, DILR had 22 questions and Quantitative Aptitude had 22 questions. There were no parajumbles again in VARC.

The third and last slot of CAT 2024 exam is over. The CAT 2024 slot 3 question paper is also expected to be on the same lines as slot 1 and slot 2. Detailed analysis will be shared here soon.

VARC

12 or 13 questions with 60% accuracy will fetch around 85% percentile

15 or 16 questions with 65-70% accuracy will fetch 95+ percentiles.

DILR

9 or 10 questions with 80% accuracy will fetch around 85 percentile.

13 or 14 questions with 85% accuracy will fetch 95 + percentiles.

Quantitative Aptitude

6 or 7 questions with 80% accuracy will fetch around 85 percentile

8 or 9 questions with 80% accuracy will fetch 95 + percentiles.

VARC:

12 or 13 questions in VARC with 60% accuracy will fetch around 85 percentile

17 or 18 questions with 70% accuracy will fetch 95+ percentiles

DILR:

10 or 11 questions with 80% accuracy will fetch 85 percentile score

14 or 15 questions with 85% accuracy will fetch 95 + percentiles.

Quantitative Aptitude:

7 or 8 questions with 80% accuracy will fetch 85 percentile

9 or 10 questions with 85% accuracy will fetch 95 + percentiles.

CAT 2024 slot 3 is underway and half time is over. The session will end at 6:30 pm. Shiksha will share CAT Slot 3 analysis 2024 here.

• Bar Graph - Frequency Distribution/ Average Based
• Two Scatter Plot (x/y axis- PAT/ES)
• Grid Based (Row/Column- Number Arrangement)
• Roots and Network (Maxima-Minima)
• Data Arrangement(7 Students, 3 Coaches/ Rating Based)

The Quantitative Aptitude questions of CAT 2024 slot 2 were overall moderate, on the same lines as slot 1. Maximum questions were asked from Algebra and Arithmetic.  Questions were based on Remainder, IndicesLog, Sequence & Series, Functions, Inequalities, Mod/Linear Equations, Quadratic EquationsTSD, T&W, SI-CI, PLD, Mixture, Averages, Ratios, Circle, Trapezium, Coordinate Geometry and P&C.

There were 4 RC passages in CAT 2024 question paper slot 2. The word limit for each was 400-450. Check the topics below:

• Spices Trade
• Peer Review
• Externalities
• Carnivore-Human Conflict

CAT 2024 slot 3 has started. It is the last session of this year’s CAT exam. It will get over at 6:30 pm. Candidates appearing in the third and final slot would be hoping for an easy test paper.

The official CAT 2024 answer key will be available in a week upon release by IIM Calcutta. Memory based CAT answer key 2024 is however available. Candidates can check the unofficial CAT answer keys here for some questions:

Q: One direct question from the Number System was 10 to the power 100 divided by seven, candidates had to choose the correct answer for the problem.

Correct Answer: 4

Q: S.P of product is fixed to ensure 40% profit. If product cost 40% less, and have been sold for INR 5 less, then profit would have been 50%, then the original S.P is:

• Option A: 5
• Option B: 10
• Option C: 20
• Option D: 14 (Correct Option)

Q: Two points A and B are 45 km apart. Anil started from A. Sunil started from B. They met each other after 1 hour 30 mins. and after meeting, they continued towards their destinations. Time taken by Anil to reach Point B was 1 hr 15 mins more than the time taken by Sunil to reach point A. Find speed of Anil

• Option A: 12 (Correct Option)
• Option B: 16
• Option C: 18
• Option D: 24

CAT 2024, Slot 2 was also of moderate difficulty. VARC required nuanced comprehension, DILR required problem solving skill along with calculation, and QA required time management.

To get a top college for MBA such as FMS, MDI, SPJIMR, IIFT, etc. candidates must score between 90-99 percentile. Having 95 + percentile score can get you a top non-IIM college.

Check the table below for CAT cut offs for IIMs. These are qualifying cut offs for PI round. Final cut offs will be higher. 

Check the table below for CAT 2024 score vs percentile:

The CAT 2024 slot 2 is over and the third and last slot of this year’s CAT exam will begin at 4:30 pm. Candidates of slot 3 now have the idea of CAT 2024 question paper so they can quickly do some revision.

CAT 2024 slot 2 will get over at 2:30 pm. The slot 2 analysis will be shared here along with sectional break up and other detail.

In Quantitative Aptitude section of CAT 2024 slot 1, the questions were asked from Remainder, Indices, Log, Equations, Functions, Maxima-Minima, Sequence & Series, Algebraic Expression, TSD-, T&W-, SI-CI, Percentage, PLD, Mixture, Averages, Ratios, P&C, Circle, Cuboid/Square, Coordinate Geometry.

Following the CAT slot 1 analysis 2024, it can be said that the following number of attempt and scores can be considered good:

As slot 1 was overall moderate, not much change in the difficulty level of CAT 2024 slot 2 is expected. However, the details will be shared here in CAT slot 2 analysis 2024.

CAT 2024 slot 2 has begun. It will get over at 2:30 pm. The question paper of Slot 2 is expected to be on the same lines as slot 1.

Here's what candidates who appeared for CAT 2024 slot 1 have to say about the exam:

According to experts, a major change was noticed in CAT 2024. In the Slot 1 CAT question papere, the number of questions increased to 68. There were 22 questions in DILR instead of 20. 

• There was no parajumble in the CAT 2024 slot 1 paper
• In VARC there were 16 questions on RC, 3 on para summary and 2 on odd one out, 3 from parasummary
• There were 5 DI sets instead of 4, in DILR
• Number of algebra questions was very high in Quantitative Aptitude.

CAT 2024 slot 2 will be held from 12:30 pm to 2:30 pm. Candidates for slot 2 have started arriving at the test centres. The gates will close a 12:15 pm.

The students feel that the overall difficutly level of the first slot of CAT 2024 was moderate. Kanish from Noida, said the Quant was tough but rest two sections were okay.

As per CAT aspirants, Shiksha spoke to, the CAT 2024 slot 1 was overall moderate. LRDI section was easy but VARC section was tough as usual. Quantitative Aptitude had regular Math questions. 

The CAT 2024 question paper slot 1 was moderate to high difficulty level. The first impression suggests that there was no change in weightage of topics and the questions were similar to last year. Detailed CAT 2024 analysis is awaited.

CAT 2024 slot 1 is over now and candidates will soon come out of the test centres. The next slot will be held from 12:30 pm onwards, for which candidates have started gathering.

There are a total of 66 questions in CAT. So, for scoring 99+ percentile, candidates must aim to attempt 45 questions accurately. Based on the correct attempts, the raw score will be calculated and converted to scaled score. The CAT percentile will be arrived at by analysis the performance of all candidates against each other.

We will share CAT 2024 slot 1 analysis after sometime. The CAT exam analysis will contain, discussion of difficulty level, sectional weightage and number of good attempts in slot 1.

The first hour of CAT 2024 slot 1 is over. One more hour is left. The exam is being conducted at over 400 test centres across India.

The CAT score carries a weightage oof 25-60 points in IIM admission. In the top IIMs, the CAT score weightage is lower than PI-WAT score and in newer IIMs it is vice versa.

The total number of questions in CAT 2024 slot 1 will be 66. There will be 24 questions in VARC, 20 questions in DILR and 22 questions in Quantitative Aptitude. It is not mandatory to attempt all the questions.

The first slot of CAT 2024 exam has begun. The exam will get over at 10:30 am. First impression of the CAT 2024 slot 1 question paper will be shared here thereafter.

The CAT exam will be conducted under CCTV vigilance. Candidates will not be allowed to take any item other than admit card and photo ID inside the venue. There will be no arrangement to deposit bags at the test centres, thus candidates must not carry any or make their own arrangements.

Candidates have to show their CAT 2024 admit card and photo ID to gain entry inside the examination venue. Candidates will be frisked before entry.

Reporting time for CAT 2024 slot 1 is 7:00 am and candidates have started reaching the test centres. Entry will begin soon.

CAT 2024 exam will be conducted today at various test centres. Candidates will have to undergo identification process which will include document verification and frisking.

Extra time of 13 minutes per section will be provided to PwD candidates. For non-PwD candidates the sectional time limit will be 40 minutes only. No extra time will be given to any other candidate under any circumstances.

CAT 2024 exam is of 2 hours. In every exam slot, candidates will get 2 hours to complete the test. These 2 hours will be divided into 40 minutes for each section.

The CAT 2024 question papers of slot 1, slot 2 and slot 3 will have different set of questions but the difficulty level will be almost same. There can be only slight difference in the difficulty level. 

IIMs accept CAT score for admission to PGP, MBA, EMBA, PhD, EPhD, FPM and EPFM courses. Check the table below for campus wise courses.

CAT is the most popular MBA entrance exam in India. It is accepted by not only the IIMs and top B-Schools but several other Tier 2 and Tier 3 MBA colleges across India. Over 1300 MBA colleges in India accept CAT score for MBA admission.

CAT is a high difficulty level exam, so one can expect this year’s test to be of high difficulty too. However, since the exam is being conducted by IIM Calcutta, it can be slightly easier than last year.

There will be MCQs and non-MCQs in CAT 2024. Non-MCQs will be less in number and will appear in Quantitative Aptitude section only.

Apart from CAT 2024 admit card, candidates will have to carry any of the following IDs in original:

• PAN card
• Driving License
• Voter ID
• Passport
• Aadhaar Card (with photo)
• E-Aadhaar card
• Ration card
• Identification Affidavit

Candidates must affix the same passport size photo on their CAT 2024 admit card which they uploaded in the CAT application form 2024.

Digital copy of the CAT admit card 2024 will not be accepted by the examination authority for identification. Thus candidates must ensure they carry two copies of their admit card in A4 size sheet.

Yes, 2 hours are enough. It is not mandatory to attempt all 66 questions. If you aim to solve 2/3 of the total questions with maximum accuracy, it will get you a good score and percentile. So, use the time carefully.

CAT 2024 admit card can be downloaded from the iimcat.ac.in website till the exam day, November 24, 2024.

• Choose only those questions which you are sure of solving accurately
• Do not spend too much time on a question
• Keep saving your answers and keep an eye on the timer
• Use mental calculation to solve QA questions quickly
• Do not do guess work as there is negative marking in CAT

• For every correct option 3 marks will be awarded
• For every incorrect option 1 mark will be deducted
• For unanswered questions, 0 mark will be awarded

This year, a total of 3.29 lakh applications were received by IIM Calcutta. It is expected that a majority of the applicants will appear for CAT 2024. The exact number of test takers will be announced on exam day.

In the last few minutes before the CAT 2024 exam, candidates can go through the short notes and important formulae as part of revision. They should not make effort to study a new chapter which was left behind earlier. In the last few minutes before exam, keep calm.

Electronic items of any kind, stationary, bags, wallets, etc. are not allowed at the CAT test centre. So, candidates must make sure they do not carry the same.

CAT candidates are required to carry only –

• Two copies of CAT 2024 admit card on A4 size sheet
• Photo ID card (original copy)

CAT takers must not wear jackets, hoodies or caps. They should also not wear outfits with pockets. Candidates wearing accessory or jewelry with metal will not be allowed inside the test lab. Closed shoes are prohibited. Candidates can wear socks.

CAT Quantitative Aptitude section includes Arithmetic, Geometry, Algebra, Trigonometry and Mensuration.

The CAT DILR syllabus includes, Puzzles, Pie Charts, Tables, Bar Graphs, Coding-Decoding, Series, Family Tree, Blood Relations, Syllogism, etc.

VARC section of CAT syllabus includes Reading Comprehension, Parajumbles and Odd Sentence. There are usually no grammar or vocabulary questions in CAT.

The questions will be asked from Verbal Ability, Reading Comprehension, Quantitative Aptitude, Logical Reasoning and Data Interpretation. The main focus will be on Reading Comprehension and Arithmetic.

There is no change in the CAT exam pattern. However, since IIM Calcutta is conducting the CAT 2024, one can expect the question paper to be of moderate difficulty level.

CAT 2024 exam will be held in over 170 cities across India. The exam will be conducted at over 400 test centres equipped with computer labs.