The Common Admission Test (CAT) 2022 examination was held on November 27, 2022 across three shifts at various test centres in the country. This article contains complete CAT paper analysis for the 2022 academic year. The CAT 2022 exam contained three sections, Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC), Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR), and Quantitative Ability (QA).
There were a total of 66 questions, 24 in VARC, 20 in DILR, and 22 in QA, each section was divided with a 40 minute time limit. The CAT exam was designed to test candidates’ understanding ability, logical reasoning, data interpretation ability, and quantitative ability. The exam has the same composition as the previous year, CAT 2021, however, each session was different from each other in terms of easy, moderate, or difficult, especially in the DILR and QA sections.
As per CAT 2022 paper analysis, most candidates found the CAT VARC section moderate in difficulty, DILR section was quite challenging with the long questions which sometimes require more than 10 minutes to solve them, and the VA section in QA varied with respect to easy to moderate to difficult sections, depending on the session taken. This CAT 2022 paper analysis provides a complete overview of the different types of questions, difficulty level by sections; the distribution of topics in QA and DILR; as well as an average score percentiles to help future candidates understand the exam more thoroughly.
Also Check: CAT Question Paper Analysis 2024
CAT Paper Analysis 2022
Aspirants may find out the CAT paper analysis for 2022 academic year below separately for each section. Students will also be able to know about slot wise CAT difficulty level by going through the following.
CAT VARC Analysis:
Slot | Difficulty Level | Remarks |
Slot 1 | Moderate | RC passages were manageable; VA had tricky para jumbles |
Slot 2 | Moderate | RC slightly denser; VA similar to Slot 1 |
Slot 3 | Moderate | Consistent level across slots; no major surprises |
CAT DILR Analysis:
Slot | Difficulty Level | Remarks |
Slot 1 | Difficult | Sets were lengthy and time-consuming |
Slot 2 | Moderate to Difficult | Marginally easier but required careful set selection |
Slot 3 | Moderate | Comparatively more approachable; some sets less calculation-heavy |
CAT QA Analysis:
Slot | Difficulty Level | Remarks |
Slot 1 | Moderate | Arithmetic-dominant with few tricky Algebra questions |
Slot 2 | Moderate to Difficult | Mix of Arithmetic and Geometry; required accuracy |
Slot 3 | Difficult | More challenging Algebra and Numbers questions |
CAT 2022 Paper Analysis | Highest Weightage Topics
The following table comprises CAT highest weightage topics of 2022 academic year. Students may go through the same and read section wise important topics carefully to boost their overall CAT 2025 preparation.
Section | Topic | Approx. Weightage | Key Details |
VARC | Reading Comprehension (RC) | 16 questions (4 passages) | Covered diverse themes like philosophy, science, society; questions mostly direct |
Para Jumbles | 3 to 4 questions | Required logical flow; moderate level | |
Summary Questions | 2 to 3 questions | Focused on identifying main ideas of short paragraphs | |
Odd Sentence Out | 1 to 2 questions | Logic based; tested understanding of sentence flow | |
DILR | Games and Puzzles | 1 to 2 sets (8 to 10 questions) | Rule based logic problems with constraints |
Graphs and Tables | 1 to 2 sets | Calculation intensive; involved ratios, averages, etc. | |
Venn Diagrams or Set Theory | 1 set (4 questions) | Group based logic; intersections and exclusions | |
Arrangement and Scheduling | Occasionally asked | Ordering or time based set problems | |
QA | Arithmetic | 8 to 10 questions | Included Time Speed, Percentages, Profit and Loss, Averages |
Algebra | 4 to 6 questions | Equations, inequalities, functions | |
Geometry and Mensuration | 2 to 3 questions | Triangles, Circles, Coordinate Geometry, Area based questions | |
Number System | 1 to 2 questions | Basic divisibility, remainders, factors |
CAT 2022 Marks Vs Percentile
The CAT paper was of different difficulty in the three slots of 2022 and this has a direct impact on the scores required for various percentiles. According to the CAT paper analysis 2022, candidates needed to score around 101 marks to achieve the 99.5 percentile in Slots 1 and 2, but 98 marks were required in Slot 3. Marks required to achieve the 99 percentile was around 88-92 marks depending on the slot.
Marks that cause the candidate to get a percentile of between 95 and 97 ranged from 66-80. Slot 3 did generally require a slightly lower score for the same percentile due to higher difficulty level - this illustrates how the scoring of CAT is normalized. Check the table underneath for the full CAT marks versus percentile criteria for the 2022 academic year.
Percentile | Slot 1 Score | Slot 2 Score | Slot 3 Score |
99.5th | 101 | 101 | 98 |
99th | 90 | 92 | 88 |
97th | 80 | 80 | 77 |
95th | 66 | 66 | 63 |
90th | 53 | 53 | 50 |
85th | 45 | 45 | 42 |
80th | 40 | 40 | 37 |
Note: Students are also advised to go through the CAT 2022 question papers to prepare for the upcoming exam. This will help them enhance their overall preparation level for next CAT examination.