Students are recommended to practice previous year CAT question papers as it will help their preparation process rapidly. The article gives students the CAT 2021 question papers in PDF form along with answer keys. The pattern of exams for the CAT Exam can change from year to year and it is important for candidates to be ready for a range of question types. Students will also benefit from working on older CAT question papers on a consistent basis to gauge whether they are ready for the exam.
The CAT is a national-level entrance exam conducted every year by one of the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs). Students who qualify and meet the minimum CAT cutoff criteria will be offered admission by IIMs and top B-schools to pursue Management programs e.g. MBA, PGDM, PGP and more. The following links are provided for students who will be able to find unsolved CAT 2021 question papers and start preparing for the exam. Students that have registered already will be able to get the CAT 2021 question paper for free with a simple click.
Also Get → CAT 2023 Question Paper with Answer Key Free PDFs
Download CAT Question Paper PDF 2021
Students planning to prepare for the CAT 2025 exam with the help of previous year question papers can directly download the question paper of 2021 academic year available in the table below. Along with the CAT 2021 question papers, students are also provided with answer keys below.
CAT Exam sections | Slot 1 | Slot 2 | Slot 3 |
Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC) | |||
Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR) | |||
Quantitative Ability (QA) |
CAT Paper Analysis 2021
Students are provided with CAT 2021 exam analysis below for all the sections including Quantitative Ability (QA), Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC), and Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR). Candidates are advised to go through the same and learn about the difficulty level of the exam to gain a better understanding of what to expect from the upcoming CAT examination. The CAT paper analysis will also help students identify the most crucial and repeated topics, highest weightage concepts and many more game changing factors. Refer to the following to find the CAT section wise paper analysis for 2021 academic year.
CAT 2021 VARC Analysis
Component | Details |
Total Questions | 24 |
Reading Comprehension (RC) | 16 Questions (4 passages × 4 questions each) |
Verbal Ability (VA) | 8 Questions (Para jumbles, Para summary, Odd one out) |
RC Themes | History, Sociology, Psychology, Literature |
Passage Length | Moderate (~450–600 words) |
Difficulty Level | Moderate to Difficult |
Good Attempts (with accuracy) | 16–18 questions |
CAT 2021 DILR Analysis
Component | Details |
Total Questions | 20 |
Number of Sets | 4 Sets (each with 5 questions) |
Types of Sets | Games & tournaments, Tables, Venn diagrams, Scheduling |
Difficulty Level | Moderate to High |
Set Selection Strategy | Crucial; 2 sets were manageable, 2 were tricky |
Good Attempts (with accuracy) | 10–12 questions |
CAT 2021 QA Analysis
Component | Details |
Total Questions | 22 |
Major Topics | Arithmetic (highest weight), Algebra, Geometry, Modern Math |
Arithmetic Coverage | Time & Work, Percentages, Ratios, TSD |
Difficulty Level | Moderate |
Calculation Intensity | Medium; manageable with practice |
Good Attempts (with accuracy) | 12–14 questions |
CAT 2021 Exam Highlights
The following table contains all the crucial information of CAT 2021. Students can read the same carefully to learn about things that mattered and will matter in the future.
Aspect | Details |
Total Number of Questions | 66 (VARC – 24, DILR – 20, QA – 22) |
Total Duration | 120 minutes (40 minutes per section) |
Exam Slots | 3 (Morning, Afternoon, Evening) |
Overall Difficulty Level | Moderate (slightly easier than CAT 2020) |
Most Difficult Section | VARC (due to tricky options and dense RCs) |
Easiest Section | QA (due to high arithmetic presence) |
Changes from Previous Year | Number of questions reduced from 76 (in 2020) to 66 |
Sectional Time Limit | Yes – 40 minutes per section |
Marking Scheme | +3 for correct, -1 for incorrect (MCQs); no negative for TITA |
Percentile for 99 percentile (Estimated) | VARC: 42+, DILR: 32+, QA: 36+ |
How to Solve CAT 2021 Question Paper for Better Preparation?
- Students should take the CAT 2021 question paper as a mock test and set a timer to solve it as real time required in the exam.
- Identify which type of questions and or topics from the CAT question paper took you the most time or had lowest accuracy.
- Re-solve the questions you left out or that you got incorrect , do this slowly and make sure you are trying to understand the logic and the approach.
- For RC and VA, focus on managing your ability to eliminate options logically instead of guessing and the explanation-based solution method.
- In DILR, you need to practice identifying which sets are doable first. Set selection in DILR is the difference between scoring and not scoring. Don't spend valuable time setting up the puzzle with the knowledge that you have no chance of solving it.
- For QA, take note if the mistakes occurred due to conceptual/knowledge gaps, or pure calculation errors and review based on that.
- For scoring, track your score and percentiles with CAT percentile calculators or benchmarks to reference your progress.
- Carry out the same steps weekly with other previous year papers to build overall consistency, speed and confidence.
Recommended: CAT 2024 Question Paper Download and Difficulty Analysis
