The CAT 2024 exam analysis by T.I.M.E. coaching has been made available for exam Slots 1, 2 and 3, since the CAT 2024 exam was conducted successfully on November 24, 2024 (Sunday). The CAT 2024 exam analysis by TIME covers the following aspects: changes in CAT 2024 exam pattern (if any), section-wise topics and type of questions, CAT 2024 exam surprise elements (if any), slot-wise and overall CAT 2024 difficulty level analysis by experts, good attempts (overall and section-wise), TIME CAT score vs percentile predictions, TIME CAT 2024 cutoff predictions, and more. Let’s find out about the slot-wise CAT 2024 exam analysis by T.I.M.E coaching in detail below. 

Also Read: How Many Questions to Attempt in CAT for a 99 Percentile Score?

CAT 2024 Slot-wise Exam Schedule

CollegeDekho will publish the CAT 2024 exam analysis by TIME coaching for all three slots soon after the exam. Here is the slot-wise exam schedule for the CAT 2024 exam:

CAT 2024 Exam Analysis by T.I.M.E. 

A detailed breakdown of the CAT 2024 exam has been provided below for providing better understanding to the future CAT aspirants. Find a detailed CAT 2024 paper analysis for all three slots of the CAT 2024 exam:

CAT 2024 Slot 1 Exam Analysis by T.I.M.E.

No change has been observed in the CAT evaluation scheme and it is the same as that of the earlier years - 3 marks will be awarded for a correct answer and a penalty of a mark will be there for a wrongly marked MCQ. No negative marking is there in Non-MCQs. Overall, the difficulty level of the CAT 2024 in the morning slot was slightly on the lower side compared to that of all the slots of the CAT exams of the previous two years. The exam pattern for the first slot of the CAT 2024 exam has been provided below.

Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension

• To obtain an 85 percentile (sectional cutoff) in the VARC section, candidates must have attained a net score of 20-22.
• There were 24 questions in the VARC section in the morning slot, 16 questions in the Reading Comprehension section, and 8 questions in the Verbal Ability section. No major change was observed in the exam pattern or number of questions from the previous years.
• 4 RC passages were given in Slot 1, with four questions per passage and good number of questions were based on the overall passage. The questions were found to be on a slightly tougher side.
• There was a passage on ‘Unlikely Survival Story of Australia’s Bandicoots’ that was easy to read and the difficulty level of the questions was moderate.
• A passage was given on ‘Accessibility of Movie Content in the Modern Age’ that had contemporary content and was moderately difficult to read. However, the questions could have been attempted by a large section of aspirants.
• One of the most difficult passages in this section was the one on ‘Homo Economicus’ that had many questions with very closely-related options that were difficult to eliminate.
• Another difficult passage in this section was the one on ‘Crafts & Manufacturing’ with extremely close answer options and tricky questions. The passage was difficult to read as well.

• In the Verbal Ability section, 2 questions were asked from Odd Man Out and 3 questions from Para Summary and Sentence Placement.
• The difficulty level of the Sentence Placement questions were moderately high. Candidates must have attempted two of them accurately.
• The difficulty level of the Para Summary questions was high. The themes were difficult to read and the summaries were very brief and to the point.

The distribution of the questions in the Verbal Ability section has been given below –

Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning

• To obtain an 85 percentile (sectional cutoff) in the DILR section, candidates must have attained a net score of 16-18.
• There were 5 sets of DI in CAT 2024 Slot 1 with 3 of them having 4 questions each. 
• 2 sets of DI had 5 questions each that were difficult to comprehend. An ideal approach would have been not to attempt these sets.
• 2 of the sets had 4 questions whose difficulty level was moderate and were easy to attempt.
• There was a set on the ‘Candle-Stick Pattern of Stocks’ that many aspirants might have found daunting and felt discouraged to attempt it but it had some of the easiest questions in the whole section.
• A set was found on ‘Star Ratings of Bloggers’ of moderate to high difficulty level that required some logic and could have been solved pnly if one persisted in working it out.
• Aspirants attempting the passage on ‘Countries Visited’ and ‘Elections’ found it quite lengthy.
• The set on ‘Tournament’ was a very complicated one with high difficulty level that could have determined which candidates possess the best logical reasoning skills.
• In contrast to last year, the CAT 2024 Slot 1 paper also did have 2 sets that were quite doable with easy-to-answer questions that could have resulted in a high score and consequently higher cut-offs

Given below are the set-wise details of the DILR section:

Quantitative Ability

• To obtain an 85 percentile (sectional cutoff) in the QA section, candidates must have attained a net score of 15-17.
• The structure of the Quant section remained the same like that of last year, including the non-MCQs. A total of 22 questions were asked from the Quant section, with 8 non-MCQs. However, this year, the difficulty level of the Quant section was slightly lower than last year’s.
• ‘Arithmetic’ based questions dominated this section and this came as a relief for those candidates who face difficulties in attempting this section.
• Candidates could have solved quite a few of the questions by the process of reverse engineering (through the options provided).
• The difficulty level of this section ranged from moderate to high because of the questions asked from Algebra that were difficult to answer. It was not possible to answer these questions with a straightforward approach.
• This made it difficult for the candidates to reach the end of the section and answer the maximum number of questions. Due to the tediousness involved in some of the questions, it was not easy for candidates who had a lot of practice in QA to maximize their attempts in order to score high.

The distribution of questions in the QA section across topics has been provided below:

Candidates aiming for a 90 percentile should obtain a net score of 58-60 in CAT 2024 Slot 1.

CAT 2024 Slot 2 Exam Analysis by T.I.M.E.

Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension

• There were 24 questions in the VARC section - 16 from Reading Comprehension and 8 from Verbal Ability.
• No Para Formation questions were found in the VARC section this year.
• There was a surprise element in the VARC section which included the appearance of RC and VA questions in random order – an inter-mix of RC and VA questions was found. Hence, navigating this section was a bit difficult. The section began with a VA question for many of the test-takers.
• 4 RC passages were given in Slot 2, with 4 questions per passage, that included a good number of application and inference-based questions, and a thorough understanding of the author’s perspective was required to answer them.
• The difficulty level of the passage on ‘How Spices Changed the World’ ranged from easy-moderate in terms of readability. However, all the questions were quite challenging to answer since they were mostly application-based questions requiring significant amount of critical reasoning having very closely-related options. 
• The passage on ‘Externalities of Inventions’ was moderately difficult in terms of difficulty with not-so-difficult questions (except for one). 
• The passage on ‘Open Peer Reviews’ dealt with a complex subject making the difficulty level of the passage high. Since most of the questions were ‘Except’ questions that required careful analysis of multiple sentences, they were challenging and time-consuming.
• The difficulty level of the passage on ‘Human-Carnivore Interaction’ ranged from easy-moderate in terms of readability with a couple of very difficult questions with confusing options.

• The VA section had 2 questions on Odd Man Out and 3 questions each on Para Summary and Sentence Placement. TITA-type questions were found only from Odd Man Out. Both the questions on Odd Man Out were very difficult to answer since there was the connections between the sentences was not evident.
• The difficulty level of the Para Summary questions was moderate. Since the subjects were complex, answering the questions turned out to be time-consuming.
• No Para Formation questions were found in the VA section.

To obtain an 85 percentile (sectional cutoff) in the QA section, candidates must have attained a net score of 19-21 marks.

Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning

• The overall difficulty level of this section ranged from moderate to high. There were 5 sets of DI with 3 of them having 4 questions each. Out of these, 2 of the sets were doable and 1 set was complicated.
• The set on “Number Grid” was a Quant Based Reasoning set that had 5 questions with high difficulty level.
• The set on “Streets and Lakes” was a Routes and Networks set with 4 questions. The difficulty level of the set was low and three of the four questions were doable.
• The set on “Athletes and Coaches” was a Distribution set having 5 questions in which one had to determine which athlete was trained by which coach and the ratings given to the athletes by their coaches. The overall difficulty level was moderate.
• The set on “Store Ratings” was a 4-question Reasoning Based DI Set that had a bar graph which could be interpreted easily. However, some conditions in the passage could only be interpreted by applying Statistics concepts like mode, median, cumulative averages, etc. that raised the difficulty level of the set.
• The set on “Company PAT” was a 4-question Bubble Chart set in which two Bubble charts were given making the set difficult.

To obtain an 85 percentile (sectional cutoff) in the QA section, candidates must have attained a net score of 16-18 marks.

Quantitative Ability

• The difficulty level of the QA section of CAT 2024 Slot 2 was slightly higher compared to Slot 1. 
• There were 1 easy, 13 moderately difficult and 8 difficult questions in this section.
• Some questions had a lot of text and as a result, took more time to get solved.
• 18 of the 22 questions in the section were from Arithmetic (12) and Algebra (6), with only four questions from Geometry (3) and Modern Maths (1). 
• To obtain an 85 percentile (sectional cutoff) in the QA section, candidates must have attained a net score of 13-15 marks.

Following is the distribution of questions in this section across different topics:

Candidates aiming for a 90 percentile should obtain a net score of 53-55 in CAT 2024 Slot 2.

CAT 2024 Slot 3 Exam Analysis by T.I.M.E.

Also Read:

Expected CAT 2024 Exam Pattern and Marking Scheme 

The CAT 2024 exam pattern is expected to be the same or similar to that of the CAT 2023 exam. Here are some of the important highlights of the CAT 2024 exam pattern:

CAT 2024 Marking Scheme 

Here’s a clear breakdown of how the marks are allocated for different question types in CAT 2024:

CAT 2024 Analysis by Other Top CAT Coaching Institutes 

The table provided below will help you know the CAT 2024 analysis provided by some of the top CAT 2024 coaching institutes in India like Career Launcher, Hitbullseye and IMS:

CAT 2023 Exam Analysis by T.I.M.E.

Here is the CAT 2023 exam analysis by T.I.M.E. for all the slots: 

CAT 2023 Morning Slot Analysis by T.I.M.E.

• Overall, the scheduled morning slot of the CAT 2023 exam proceeded without any difficulties or complications. 
• No change was observed in the overall structure of the exam. 
• However, the paper seemed more difficult than it did last year.
• In the VARC section, a good number of questions were based on strengthening/weakening of arguments and the type “which of the following are true EXCEPT”.
• The RC passages were based on Postcolonial and “Indian Ocean” Novels, Return of wolves, Geographical vs Cultural Influences on Human History, and The book “Affluent Society”. 
• Questions in the LRDI section were based on Blocks/Houses for sale (Quant Based Reasoning), Professors voting for Dean (Distribution), Restaurants and Gigs (Tables), and Consulates – Visa slots. This section was considered to be very difficult.
• Regarding the exam pattern, there were no noticeable surprises in this slot and the pattern remained the same as observed in the last couple of years.
• In contrast to the other two slots, candidates in the morning slot have encountered an unexpectedly high difficulty level, according to the student feedback that has been received so far.
• No change was observed in the evaluation scheme: 3 marks to be awarded for a correct answer and 1 mark to be deducted for a wrongly marked MCQ; no negative marking for Non-MCQs.

The CAT exam pattern 2023 in the first slot has been provided in the table below:

CAT 2023 Afternoon Slot Analysis by T.I.M.E.

Overall, the afternoon slot was easier than the morning slot, but the difference in difficulty was not significant. Regarding difficulty, almost every section was close to the morning slot. For those who took the afternoon slot, there was a small surprise in the VARC section.

• A question on Odd Man Out was highlighted as mandatory in the VARC section. There was a * symbol beside the question number in the Question palette.
• There were 4 RC passages with 4 questions per passage. 
• Questions on hypothesis and application questions with additional layers of reasoning dominated the question paper.
• Candidates also noticed a good number of questions on “which of the following are true EXCEPT” and questions with double negatives of the nature “all of the following weaken … EXCEPT.”
• Compared to the morning slot paper, the afternoon slot's DILR section was a little bit easier. The question pattern was identical to that of the morning slot paper.
• In the QA section, there were two doable sets, and the students could not process a lot of information in these sets. Because of this, students who selected these sets based on a large amount of information were able to achieve high scores.
• Between the morning and afternoon slots, there was essentially no difference in the distribution of questions in the QA section across topics or in terms of their level of difficulty.
• There were 3 from Numbers and 2 from Quadratic Equations in the afternoon slot.
• This paper contained no questions from Modern Maths. Like the morning slot, the majority of the questions asked the student to do more than just substitute values in formulas.

The CAT exam pattern 2023 in the second slot have been provided in the table below:

CAT 2023 Evening Slot Analysis by T.I.M.E.

• The Quant section was more difficult than the first two slots. There were no simple questions in this section, and over half of the questions fit into the category of difficult questions. 
• The majority of the questions revolved around algebra and arithmetic, which was also the case in the previous slots.  
• This paper contained no questions on Modern Maths questions.
• The overall diffiiculty of the VARC section was moderate to difficult.
• Unlike the afternoon slot, there were no mandatory questions in this slot.
• There were also a lot of "all...if true/weaken...EXCEPT" questions in this slot.
• Inference-based questions comprised the majority of the questions.
• There were two questions on sentence placement, para summary, odd man out, and para formation in the verbal ability section.
• The overall difficulty level of the DILR section was high to extremely high. Compared to last year's DILR section, this was more difficult.
• Quant Based Reasoning sets comprised three of the four sets. There were no sets entirely based on LR.
• Two sets could be answered, and even these two required a significant amount of effort and time. Two sets in this slot required students to know specific statistical terms beforehand, just like one of the sets in the morning slot.

The CAT exam pattern 2023 in the first slot have been provided in the table below:

CAT 2022 Exam Analysis by T.I.M.E.

CAT 2022 Slot 1 Paper Analysis by T.I.M.E.

Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension

Here's the distribution of the questions in the Reading Comprehension part:

Check the distribution of questions in the Verbal Ability part in the table below:

Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning

Here's the distribution of the questions in the Logical Reasoning & Data Interpretation part:

Quantitative Ability

Check the distribution of questions in the Quantitative Ability part in the table below:

CAT 2022 Slot 2 Paper Analysis by T.I.M.E.

Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension

Here's the distribution of the questions in the Reading Comprehension part:

Check the distribution of questions in the Verbal Ability part in the table below:

Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning

Here's the distribution of the questions in the Logical Reasoning & Data Interpretation part:

Quantitative Ability

Check the distribution of questions in the Quantitative Ability part in the table below:

CAT 2022 Slot 3 Paper Analysis by T.I.M.E.

Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension

Here's the distribution of the questions in the Reading Comprehension part:

Check the distribution of questions in the Verbal Ability part in the table below:

Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning

Here's the distribution of the questions in the Logical Reasoning & Data Interpretation part:

Quantitative Ability

Check the distribution of questions in the Quantitative Ability part in the table below:

CAT 2022 Cutoff Analysis by T.I.M.E.

The cut-offs across all slots of CAT 2022 are expected to be as below.

VARC Percentile

DILR Percentile

QA Percentile

CAT 2021 Exam Analysis by T.I.M.E.

The CAT exam 2022 will follow similar trends as the CAT 2021 exam. Here is the sectional exam analysis of the CAT 2021 exam by T.I.M.E. institute:

CAT 2020 Exam Analysis by T.I.M.E.

Check out the slot-wise paper analysis of CAT 2020 released by T.I.M.E. below.

CAT 2020 Slot 1 Paper Analysis by T.I.M.E.

Given below is the overall analysis of CAT 2020 as provided by T.I.M.E. institute.

CAT 2020 Slot 2 Paper Analysis by T.I.M.E.

Following is an analysis of Slot 2 of T.I.M.E.

CAT 2020 Slot 3 Paper Analysis by T.I.M.E

Given below is an analysis of Slot 3 of CAT 2020.

Source: T.I.M.E.

List of Colleges Accepting CAT 2024 Scores

Candidates applying for MBA admissions through CAT 2024 can check out the list of top colleges accepting CAT 2024 scores and their required expected cutoffs for the same:

If you have any questions about the CAT 2024 analysis, you can post them on the CollegeDekho QnA Zone. For help regarding MBA admission 2025, fill out the Common Application Form (CAF) or contact our counsellors on our student helpline number 18005729877.