Last Year CAT Exam Paper: The CAT exam paper is not just a test but it is the complete roadmap that every CAT aspirant studies carefully before facing the actual CAT exam. Every year there are 3 lakhs+ candidates who appear for the CAT exam, but only few aspirants manage to crack it. It is important for every candidate to analyze last year CAT exam paper in detail. Analyzing the CAT previous year question papers help students understand the CAT exam paper pattern, help to identify difficulty level and high-weightage topics and a proper preparation strategy that actually works.
In this blog, we will be covering a complete analysis of last year CAT exam paper covering topic-wise distribution as well as preparation tips from the last year cat exam paper to get a strategy for the upcoming CAT 2025. By carefully understanding the CAT paper pattern, aspirants can build confidence level, attempt CAT questions more strategically as well as improving the proper time management.
Along with covering the last year CAT exam paper in detail, candidates should also focus on the changes in CAT question paper, difficulty level and distribution in number of questions across various topics. Analyzing the CAT exam paper in detail gives you proper clarity on the types of RCs asked in VARC section, distribution in the number and types of questions across Quantitative Aptitude topics like Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry and more. The DILR is one of the toughest section that students would give their maximum time in solving DILR sets as well as puzzles. In fact, DILR sets which were were vcoming before CAT 2014 were relatively easier in comarison to the sets coming onwards CAT 2017.
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Last Year CAT Exam Paper Pattern Overview
The last year CAT exam paper follows a three sections structured format that are DILR (Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning), VARC(Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension) and Quantitative Aptitude (QA). Properly understanding the CAT exam paper pattern is important for CAT aspirants so that it will manage time, strategize their exam attempt, as well as focus on the high-weightage section. In addition to that, each section has a mix of MCQs and non-MCQs (TITA) with a total of 68 questions that came in the last year CAT exam.
In the last year CAT exam paper that is CAT 2024, VARC (Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension) section covers 24 questions in total, DILR (Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning) section covers 22 questions as well as QA section covers 22 questions. So, in CAT 2024 overall 68 questions were asked. Checking the time distribution in the last year CAT exam paper is an important task for every serious candidates who are preparing for the CAT exam because without having a proper time management it looks quite unstrategic to secure good rank in CAT 2025. In terms of time distribution in the last year CAT exam paper, sectional timing includes 40 minutes across each CAT sections (VARC, DILR & QA) whereas overall exam duration is 2 hours or 120 minutes.
Last Year CAT Exam Paper – CAT 2024 Exam Pattern
Listed below is the detailed table mention that covers complete information about the exam pattern of CAT 2024.
| CAT 2024 Sections | Total Questions | Time Limit |
| VARC | 24 | 40 mins |
| DILR | 22 | 40 mins |
| QA | 22 | 40 mins |
| Total | 68 | 120 mins |
Section-Wise Analysis of Last Year CAT Exam Paper
In this section we are covering the last year CAT exam paper analysis slot-wise for VARC, QA and DILR. The VARC (Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension) section covers 24 questions last year, the DILR (Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning) section covers total 22 questions and the QA (Quantitative Aptitude) section also covers 22 questions in total. So, overall there are 68 questions in CAT 2024.
Last Year CAT Exam Paper – Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC)
This section covers the topic-wise distribution of questions in three different slots. For slot 1, Reading Comprehension section in VARC covers overall 16 questions, para completion covers 3 questions, para summary also covers 3 questions and odd one out have 2 questions and similar pattern goes for other two slots in the last year CAT exam paper. For the detailed information about this, check the table mentioned below:
VARC – Slot-Wise Question Distribution in CAT Previous Year Paper
| Topics | Slot 1 | Slot 2 | Slot 3 |
| Reading Comprehension (RC) | 16 | 16 | 16 |
| Para Completion | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Para Summary | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Odd One Out | 2 | 2 | 2 |
Last Year CAT Exam Paper – Quantitative Aptitude (QA)
This section again covers the distribution of questions across three different slots in QA. For the first slot arithmetic section covers approx. 7-8 questions, modern math covers 2-3 questions, 6-7 covered by algebra in the CAT 2024 (last year CAT exam paper), number system covers 1-2 questions and lastly geometry had 2-3 question in CAT 2024. For further details about two other slots check the table mentioned below:
QA – Slot-Wise Question Distribution in CAT Previous Year Paper
| Topics | Slot 1 | Slot 2 | Slot 3 |
| Arithmetic | 7-8 | 7-8 | 7-8 |
| Modern Math | 2-3 | 2-3 | – |
| Algebra | 6-7 | 4-5 | 6-7 |
| Number System | 1-2 | 2-3 | 1-2 |
| Geometry | 2-3 | 2-3 | 2-3 |
Last Year CAT Exam Paper – Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR)
The DILR section of CAT 2024 covers 22 questions to be solved in 40 minutes which is divided into 3 sets of 4 questions each and 2 sets of 5 questions each.
| DILR Section | Number of Sets |
| CAT 2024 DILR Section | Total 22 Questions (3 sets of 4 questions and 2 sets of 5 questions) |
Advantages of Solving Last Year CAT Exam Paper
Solving the last year CAT exam paper is one of the most important parts of preparation for every CAT aspirant to identify the most important topics from each section VARC, DILR and QA, improving speed and accuracy along with proper time management. This whole approach gives a proper environment of the actual exam that also boosts confidence of students before the CAT 2025 exam.
- Understand and get familiar with the last year CAT exam paper covers the proper distribution of questions across VARC, QA and DILR sections.
- By analyzing the CAT exam paper it is easy for the aspirants to allocate time equally to each section based on their difficulty level.
- Helps in identifying important topics that frequently asked topics as well as high-weightage areas from CAT 2024.
- Practice from the CAT previous year question paper helps reduce mistakes and improve answer precision level.
Comparison of Last Year CAT Exam Paper with CAT Previous Year Papers
It is very crucial for CAT aspirants to know the actual distribution of questions and difficulty level in last year CAT exam paper along with CAT previous year papers. This is a fact where difficulty level in CAT 2024 question paper was moderate in comparison to other CAT previous year papers. The detailed informatiion about the same is mentioned in the table below:
| Sections | CAT 2024 Difficulty Level | CAT 2023 Difficulty Level | CAT 2022 Difficulty Level | CAT 2021 Difficulty Level | CAT 2020 Difficulty Level |
| Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC) | Moderate | Moderate to Difficult | Moderate | Moderate to Difficult | Moderate to Difficult |
| Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR) | Moderate | Easy to Moderate | Difficult | Difficult | Difficult |
| Quantitative Ability (QA) | Moderate | Difficult | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate |
| Overall | Moderate | Difficult | Moderate-Difficult | Moderate-Difficult | Moderate-Difficult |
Why Analyzing Last Year CAT Exam Paper is Important?
Analyzing the last year CAT exam paper helps aspirants gain a proper understanding of the CAT exam paper pattern including sectional weightage, difficulty level as well as the type of questions. By studying the CAT last year paper, candidates can identify the important topics across sections like VARC, DILR as well as QA.
By carefully analyzing the past papers allows aspirants to check their strong and weakened topics. By attempting and reviewing the proper solutions of every question, students can understand which area requires more practice, cover problem solving techniques, as well as improve time management. Overall this approach not only helps in boost confidence but also help in identifying insights that is maximum needed to increase scores in CAT 2025.
Important Topics Based on the Last Year CAT Exam Paper
| Sections | Key Topics (CAT 2024) |
| VARC | Reading Comprehension (4 Passages) |
| Para Summary | |
| Para Completion | |
| Odd One Out | |
| DILR | 3 Sets × 4 Questions |
| 2 Sets × 5 Questions | |
| QA | Arithmetic |
| Algebra | |
| Geometry | |
| Numbers | |
| Modern Math |
Conclusion: Last Year CAT Exam Paper
The analysis of the last year CAT exam paper (CAT 2024) covers the overall structure of the CAT exam that remains consistent, topic-wise distribution as well as the difficulty level of the exam. With CAT VARC section students able to cover various Reading Comprehensions depending on different genres, DILR section tests the overall data interpretation through different puzzle sets, and the QA section covers Algebra, Arithmetic and other important parts which need a balanced exam preparation strategy. So if you are a serious CAT aspirant, it is important to practice as well as revise the last year CAT exam paper to maximize the performance in the upcoming CAT exam paper.
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Last Year CAT Exam Paper FAQs
The CAT exam paper pattern keeps the same with the three sections VARC, DILR and QA whereas the difficulty level and topic distribution might seem changes so solving the CAT exam previous year question papers is very important for the preparation.
There are total 68 questions were there in CAT 2024 exam which divides 24 questions in VARC, 22 questions in DILR as well as 22 questions in QA.
The important divisions in QA part of CAT 2024 are Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry, Numbers as well as Modern Math.
Analyzing and solving the last year CAT exam paper helps in understanding the paper pattern and overall types of questions coming in different sections across VARC, LRDI and QA. So a serious candidate should solve the last year CAT exam papers so that they will prepare themselves for the upcoming CAT 2025 exam.
The difficulty level in CAT 2024 was overall moderate whereas VARC (Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension), QA (Quantitative Aptitude), as well as LRDI (Logical Reasoning & Data Interpretation) all were coming with moderate difficulty level.
Solving the last year CAT exam paper is one of the most important parts of preparation for every CAT aspirant to identify the most important topics from each section VARC, DILR and QA, improving speed and accuracy along with proper time management. This whole approach gives a proper environment of the actual exam that also boosts confidence of students before the CAT 2025 exam
