Slot-Wise CAT 2021 Exam Analysis

The CAT 2021 exam had 66 questions in total and the exam was conducted in 3 slots, each slot being conducted for 120 minutes. The exam had 3 sections - VARC, DILR, and QA. The CAT 2021 exam was considered to be of moderately difficult. The candidates on this page can check out a complete and detailed analysis for the CAT 2021 exam analysis.

Get previous year CAT exam analysis here

Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension - Slot 1

The VA-RC section consisted of 16 Reading Comprehension questions and 8 Verbal Ability questions. As in the past several years, there were no direct Grammar or Vocabulary questions. The passages were difficult except for the one on The Thirst Empire – Chinese tea. The passage on Utopia and Dystopia was difficult. The other two passages on Marshmallow Theory – self-control and on the idea of personhood according to Classic Mayan civilization was at best medium.

Overall Comprehension was more difficult than the VA questions. Only 10 to 12 questions could be attempted with high accuracy. VA questions were as expected – 3 paragraph jumbles, 2 Odd sentence questions in TITA format, and 3 summary questions as MCQs. Summary questions were of medium difficulty level. In VA, 5 attempts with high accuracy was possible. An attempt of 15 to 17 questions with high accuracy (85-90%) will be a good performance in VARC. Overall the difficulty level was largely comparable to the first slot of CAT 2020.

Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning - Slot 1

The DI-LR section underwent a slight change in CAT-2021 with a total of 4 sets, out of which two sets had 6 questions while the remaining two had 4 questions each. Out of the two sets with 4 questions, both had 3 MCQ and 1 TITA. Out of the two sets with 6 questions, both had 4 MCQ questions and 2 TITA questions. Unlike the last few years, there were no Venn-diagram based sets.

There were two DI sets and two LR sets. Overall, this section was easier compared to last year’s DILR section of Slot1 and slightly tougher compared to Slot 2 and Slot 3. Overall, an attempt of 10 to 12 questions with high accuracy (85-90%) will be a good performance.

Quantitative Ability - Slot 1

This section was medium in terms of Level of difficulty and was dominated by Arithmetic (10 questions), followed by Algebra (5 questions). There were 4 questions on Modern Maths and 3 questions on Geometry. In Arithmetic, the questions were dominated by Time-Speed-Distance, Time and Work, Averages and Mixtures & Alligations.

There were 6 TITA Qs this year. Selecting the right questions to attempt was the key. Students should have been able to attempt about 14 questions in the given time with 85-90% accuracy.

Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension - Slot 2

The VA-RC section consisted of 16 Reading Comprehension questions and 8 Verbal Ability questions. The passages were difficult except for the one on Decline of Languages. The passages on Knowledge & Skepticism and On Nationalism & Colonialism in India were difficult. The other passage on the Relationship between Power and Truth was at best medium.

Overall Comprehension was more difficult than the VA questions. Passages were 500 to 600 words each as in the first slot. 11 or 12 questions could be attempted with high accuracy. VA questions were as expected – 3 paragraph jumbles, 2 Odd sentence questions in TITA format, and 3 summary questions as MCQs. VA was overall of medium difficulty.

Summary questions were of medium difficulty level. In VA, 4 attempts with high accuracy were possible. Overall, the difficulty level was largely comparable to the first slot though slightly more difficult. Overall, an attempt of 15 or 16 questions with high accuracy (85-90%) will be a good performance in VARC.

Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning - Slot 2

The DI-LR section underwent a slight change in CAT-2021 with a total of 4 sets, out of which two sets had 6 questions while the remaining two had 4 questions each. Out of the two sets with 4 questions, both had 3 MCQ and 1 TITA. Out of the two sets with 6 questions, both had 4 MCQ questions and 2 TITA questions. Unlike the last few years, there were no Venn-diagram based sets.

There were two DI sets and two LR sets. Overall, this section was easier compared to last year’s DILR section of Slot 1 and slightly tougher compared to Slot 2 and Slot 3. Overall, an attempt of 10 to 12 questions with high accuracy (85-90%) will be a good performance.

Quantitative Ability - Slot 2

This section was medium in terms of Level of difficulty and was dominated by Arithmetic (9 questions), followed by Algebra (5 questions). There were 3 questions on Modern Maths, 3 questions on Geometry and 2 questions on Numbers. In Arithmetic, the questions involved Percentages, Partnership, Time-Speed-Distance, Time and Work, Averages and Mixtures & Alligations.

There were 8 TITA Qs this year. Selecting the right questions to attempt was the key. Students should have been able to attempt about 13-14 questions in the given time with 85-90% accuracy.

Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension - Slot 3

The VA-RC section consisted of 16 Reading Comprehension questions and 8 Verbal Ability questions. Two of the four passages were abstract and difficult – the one on “how the concept of the unconscious entered language” and another on “Language as an instinct and its universality”. The other two passages on “how measurement of time influences entropy” and the next one on “how nanoparticles are finding practical application” were at best of medium difficulty.

Overall Comprehension was on par with the first two slots. 8 to 10 RC questions could be attempted with high accuracy. VA questions were as expected – 3 paragraph jumbles, 2 Odd sentence questions in TITA format, and 3 summary questions as MCQs. Summary questions were of medium difficulty level. In VA, 5 attempts with high accuracy were possible.

Overall the difficulty level was largely comparable to the first two slots of CAT 2021. In short, all three slots carried an almost equally difficult VARC section. Overall, an attempt of 15 or 16 questions with high accuracy (85-90%) will be a good performance in VARC.

Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning - Slot 3

The DI-LR section underwent a slight change in CAT-2021 with a total of 4 sets, out of which two sets had 6 questions while the remaining two had 4 questions each. Out of the two sets with 4 questions, one set had all 4 MCQ questions while the other set had 2 MCQ and 2 TITA. Out of the two sets with 6 questions, one set had 3 TITA questions, while the other set had 1 TITA question. Unlike the last few years, there were no Venn-diagram based sets.

There were two DI sets and two LR sets. Overall this section was comparable to slot-2 of CAT-2020. Overall, an attempt of 8 to 10 questions with high accuracy (85-90%) will be a good performance.

Quantitative Ability - Slot 3

This section was medium in terms of Level of difficulty and was dominated by Arithmetic (10 questions), followed by 4 questions each on Algebra and Modern Maths. There were 3 questions on Geometry and 1 question on Numbers. Students in general found questions on Algebra to be difficult.

There were 6 TITA Qs this year. Selecting the right questions to attempt was the key. Students should have been able to attempt about 10-11 questions in the given time with 85-90% accuracy.