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Updated on
May 6, 2023

CAT Question Papers & Answers: Download PDF Free with Pattern & Percentile Predictions

 

CAT Previous Year Papers are the best guide and best preparation tool to prepare as per exact CAT question pattern. Giving high importance to CAT papers, the CAT toppers and experts are of the view that by attempting more and more CAT Previous Years (Past) Solved Question Papers, your CAT preparation comes to a final stage and you are well aware about the topics and question pattern according to which you should approach the test paper on CAT exam day.  

 

Shared below are the CAT 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018 and 2017 Question Papers with answers Slot wise. You can download free the CAT Previous Year Question Papers Pdf with Answers. Apart from the actual CAT Previous Year Question Papers Pdf with Answers, these CAT question papers Pdf download will let you know the key changes in CAT question paper pattern, marking scheme, good attempt to score high percentile among other relevant details to help you improve your percentile in CAT. Before you proceed to download CAT Previous Year Question Papers, please note the following information about CAT exam conducted by IIMs:

  • CAT 2020, CAT 2021, CAT 2022 Exams Conducted in 3 Slots of 2 hrs Duration each
  • CAT 2015 to CAT 2019 Exams Conducted in 2 Slots of 3 hrs duration each
  • IIMs started releasing CAT Question Paper Pdf from CAT 2017 exam onwards

With this information, proceed to Download CAT Previous Year Question Papers with Answers slot wise and year wise

CAT 2022 QUESTION PAPER WITH ANSWER KEYS: DOWNLOAD PDF FREE

CAT 2022 Slot-1 Question Paper with Answers PDF

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CAT 2022 Slot-2 Question Paper with Answers PDF

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CAT 2022 Slot-3 Question Paper with Answers PDF

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CAT 2022 Question Paper with Answer Keys: Download PDF Free
CAT 2022 Question Paper PDF with answers for download is given below Slot wise. The CAT question paper download is free. Key highlights of CAT 2022 Question paper are:

CAT 2022 Question Paper Highlights
Number of Questions
Good Attempts for 95 Percentile
Total Questions
66
35-41
Section-1: VARC
24
13-15
Section-2: DILR
20
  8-10
Section-3: QA
22
14-16

Check Detailed CAT Exam Analysis

DOWNLOAD CAT 2021 QUESTION PAPER PDF WITH ANSWERS SLOT WISE

CAT 2021 Slot-1 Question Paper with Answers PDF

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CAT 2021 Slot-2 Question Paper with Answers PDF

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CAT 2021 Slot-3 Question Paper with Answers PDF

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CAT 2021 Question Paper with Answer Keys: Download PDF Free
CAT 2021 Question Paper PDF with answers for download is given below. The CAT question paper download is free. Key highlights of CAT 2021 Question paper are:

CAT 2021 Question Paper Highlights
Number of Questions
Good Attempts for 95 Percentile
Total Questions
66
36-42
Section-1: VARC
24
14-16
Section-2: DILR
20
  7-10
Section-3: QA
22
15-16

Check Detailed CAT Exam Analysis

DOWNLOAD CAT 2020 QUESTION PAPER PDF WITH ANSWERS SLOT WISE

CAT 2020 Slot-1 Question Paper with Answers PDF

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CAT 2020 Slot-2 Question Paper with Answers PDF

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CAT 2020 Slot-3 Question Paper with Answers PDF

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CAT 2020 Question Paper with Answer Keys: Download PDF Free
CAT 2020 Question Paper PDF with answers for download is given below slot wise. The CAT question paper download is free. Key highlights of CAT 2020 Question paper are:

CAT 2020 Question Paper Highlights
Number of Questions
Good Attempts for 95 Percentile
Total Questions
76
33-39
Section-1: VARC
26
13-15
Section-2: DILR
24
  8-10
Section-3: QA
26
12-14

Check Detailed CAT Exam Analysis

DOWNLOAD CAT 2019 QUESTION PAPER PDF WITH ANSWERS SLOT WISE

CAT 2019 Slot-1 Question Paper with Answers PDF

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CAT 2019 Slot-2 Question Paper with Answers PDF

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CAT 2019 Question Paper with Answer Keys: Download PDF Free
CAT 2019 Question Paper PDF with answers for download is given below slot wise. The CAT question paper download is free. Key highlights of CAT 2019 Question paper are:

CAT 2019 Question Paper Highlights
Number of Questions
Good Attempts for 95 Percentile
Total Questions
100
56-60
Section-1: VARC
34
21-22
Section-2: DILR
32
13-14
Section-3: QA
34
22-24

Check Detailed CAT Exam Analysis

DOWNLOAD CAT 2018 QUESTION PAPER PDF WITH ANSWERS SLOT WISE

CAT 2018 Slot-1 Question Paper with Answers PDF
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CAT 2018 Slot-2 Question Paper with Answers PDF
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CAT 2018 Question Paper with Answer Keys: Download PDF Free
CAT 2018 Question Paper PDF with answers for download is given below slot wise. The CAT question paper download is free. Key highlights of CAT 2018 Question paper are:

CAT 2018 Question Paper Highlights
Number of Questions
Good Attempts for 95 Percentile
Total Questions
100
58-62
Section-1: VARC
34
22-23
Section-2: DILR
32
14-15
Section-3: QA
34
22-24

Check Detailed CAT Exam Analysis

DOWNLOAD CAT 2017 QUESTION PAPER PDF WITH ANSWERS SLOT WISE

CAT 2017 Slot-1 Question Paper with Answers PDF

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CAT 2017 Slot-2 Question Paper with Answers PDF

cat question paper

CAT 2017 Question Paper with Answer Keys: Download PDF Free
CAT 2017 Question Paper PDF with answers for download is given below slot wise. The CAT question paper download is free. Key highlights of CAT 2017 Question paper are:

CAT 2017 Question Paper Highlights
Number of Questions
Good Attempts for 95 Percentile
Total Questions
100
59-62
Section-1: VARC
34
23-24
Section-2: DILR
32
13-14
Section-3: QA
34
23-24

Check Detailed CAT Exam Analysis

CAT Previous Year Question Papers Book
CAT Previous Year Question Papers Book with year wise CAT Previous Year Question Papers with Solutions has been released by top CAT preparation experts Arun Sharma and published by McGrawHill. The kindle and paper back editions of CAT previous Year Question Papers Book along with CAT previous Year Question Papers PDF with answers are available at Amazon. Check here the latest edition prices of CAT previous Year Question Papers Book with CAT question papers PDF

 

Actual CAT Questions from the Exam
To help you understand the different type of questions and consistent key changes in CAT exam pattern, shared below are the actual CAT questions from all the three sections, as appeared in CAT exams over the years:

 

CAT 2022 Questions for Practice

Section: VARC 

 

The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.

It’s not that modern historians of medieval Africa have been ignorant about contacts between Ethiopia and Europe; they just had the power dynamic reversed. The traditional narrative stressed Ethiopia as weak and in trouble in the face of aggression from external forces, so Ethiopia sought military assistance from their fellow Christians to the north. But the real story, buried in plain sight in medieval diplomatic texts, simply had not yet been put together by modern scholars. Recent research pushes scholars of medieval Europe to imagine a much more richly connected medieval world: at the beginning of the so-called Age of Exploration, there is evidence that the kings of Ethiopia were sponsoring their own missions of diplomacy, faith and commerce.

  1. Medieval historical sources selectively promoted the narrative that powerful European forces were called on to protect weak African civilisations such as Ethiopia, but this is far from reality.
  2. Historians were under the illusion that Ethiopia needed military protection from their neighbours, but in fact the country had close commercial and religious connections with them.
  3. Medieval texts have documented how strong connections between the Christian communities of Ethiopia and Europe were invaluable in establishing military and trade links between the two civilisations.
  4. Medieval texts have been ‘cherry-picked’ to promote a view of Ethiopia as weak and in need of Europe’s military help with aggressive neighbours, but recent studies reveal it was a well-connected and outward-looking culture.

The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3 and 4) below, when properly sequenced, would yield a coherent paragraph. Decide on the proper sequencing of the order of the sentences and key in the sequence of the four numbers as your answer:

  1. Some company leaders are basing their decisions on locating offices to foster innovation and growth, as their best-performing inventors suffered the greatest productivity losses when their commutes grew longer.
  2. Shorter commutes support innovation by giving employees more time in the office and greater opportunities for in-person collaboration, while removing the physical strain of a long commute.
  3. This is not always the case: remote work does not automatically lead to greater creativity and productivity as office water-cooler conversations are also very important for innovation.
  4. Some see the link between long commutes and productivity as support for work-from-home scenarios, as many workers have grown accustomed to their commute-free arrangements during the pandemic.

[1] 2143

[2] 1234

[3] 4321

[4] 2314

 

Answers: VARC

Q No.
Q 1
Q 2
Correct Ans
4
1

Section: DILR

There are 15 girls and some boys among the graduating students in a class. They are planning a get-together, which can be either a 1-day event, or a 2-day event, or a 3-day event. There are 6 singers in the class, 4 of them are boys. There are 10 dancers in the class, 4 of them are girls. No dancer in the class is a singer.

 

Some students are not interested in attending the get-together. Those students who are interested in attending a 3-day event are also interested in attending a 2-day event; those who are interested in attending a 2-day event are also interested in attending a 1-day event.

 

The following facts are also known:

  1. All the girls and 80% of the boys are interested in attending a 1-day event. 60% of the boys are interested in attending a 2-day event.
  2. Some of the girls are interested in attending a 1-day event, but not a 2-day event; some of the other girls are interested in attending both.
  3. 70% of the boys who are interested in attending a 2-day event are neither singers nor dancers. 60% of the girls who are interested in attending a 2-day event are neither singers nor dancers.
  4. No girl is interested in attending a 3-day event. All male singers and 2 of the dancers are interested in attending a 3-day event.
  5. The number of singers interested in attending a 2-day event is one more than the number of dancers interested in attending a 2-day event.

How many boys are there in the class?

[1] 50

[2] 64

[3] 75

[4] 48

Which of the following can be determined from the given information?

  • ​The number of boys who are interested in attending a 1-day event and are neither dancers nor singers.
  • The number of female dancers who are interested in attending a 1-day event.

[1] Only II

[2] Neither I nor II

[3] Both I and II

[4] Only I

 

What fraction of the class are interested in attending a 2-day event?

[1] 7/10

[2] 2/3

[3] 9/13

[4] 7/13

 

What BEST can be concluded about the number of male dancers who are interested in attending a 1-day event?

[1] 4 or 6

[2] 6

[3] 5 or 6

[4] 5

 

How many female dancers are interested in attending a 2-day event?

[1] 1

[2] Cannot be determined

[3] 2

[4] 0

 

Answers: DILR

Q No.
Q 1
Q 2
Q 3 Q 4 Q 5
Correct Ans
1
1
4 3 4

Section: Quant 

Trains A and B start traveling at the same time towards each other with constant speeds from stations X and Y, respectively. Train A reaches station Y in 10 minutes while train B takes 9 minutes to reach station X after meeting train A. Then the total time taken, in minutes, by train B to travel from station Y to station X is

[1] 6

[2] 10

[3] 15

[4] 12

 

The largest real value of a for which the equation |X + a| + |x − 1| = 2 has an infinite number of solutions for x is

 [1] 0

[2] 2

[3] 1

[4] −1

 

Let a and b be natural numbers. If a2 + ab + a = 14 and b2 + ab + b = 28, then (2a + b) equals

[1] 10

[2] 7

[3] 8

[4] 9

 

In a class of 100 students, 73 like coffee, 80 like tea and 52 like lemonade. It may be possible that some students do not like any of these three drinks. Then the difference between the maximum and minimum possible number of students who like all the three drinks is

 

[1] 52

[2] 53

[3] 48

[4] 47

 

Answers: Quant

Q No.
Q 1
Q 2
Q 3 Q 4
Correct Ans
3
3
3 4

CAT 2018 Questions for Practice

Section: Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC)

 

Question 1:

Direction: The passage given below is followed by four summaries. Choose the option that best captures the author‘s position.

 

Artificial embryo twinning is a relatively low-tech way to make clones. As the name suggests, this technique mimics the natural process that creates identical twins. In nature, twins form very early in development when the embryo splits in two. Twinning happens in the first days after egg and sperm join, while the embryo is made of just a small number of unspecialized calls. Each half of the embryo continues dividing on its own, ultiately developing into separate, complete individuals. Since they developed from the same fertilized egg, the resultingindividuals are genetically identical. 

  1. Artificial embryo twinning is low-tech unlike the natural development of identical twins from the embryo after fertilization.
  2. Artificial embryo twinning is low-tech and is close to the natural development of twins where the embryo splits into two identical twins.
  3. Artificial embryo twinning is low-tech and mimetic of the natural development of genetically identical twins from the embryo after fertilization.
  4. Artificial embryo twinning is just like the natural development of twins, where during fertilization twins are formed.

Question 2:

 

Direction: The passage given below is followed by four summaries. Choose the option that best captures the author‘s position.

 

Production and legitimation of scientific knowledge can be approached from a number of perspectives. To study knowledge production from the sociology of professions perspective would mean a focus on the institutionalization of a body of knowledge. The professions-approach informed earlier research on managerial occupation, business schools and management knowledge. It however tends to reify institutional power structures in its understanding of the links between knowledge and authority. Knowledge production is restricted in the perspective to the selected members of the professional community, most notably to the university faculties and professional colleges. Power is understood as a negative mechanism, which prevents the nonprofessional actors from offering their ideas and information as legitimate knowledge.

  1. Professions-approach aims at the institutionalization of knowledge but restricts knowledge production as a function of a select few.
  2. Professions-approach focuses on the creation of institutions of higher education and disciplines to promote knowledge production
  3. The study of knowledge production can be done through many perspectives.
  4. The professions-approach has been one of the most relied upon perspective in the study of management knowledge production. 

Section: Quantitative Ability (QA)

 

Question 1:

Train T leaves station X for station Y at 3 pm. Train S, traveling at three quarters of the speed of T, leaves Y for X at 4 pm. The two trains pass each other at a station Z, where the distance between X and Z is three-fifths of that between X and Y. How many hours does train T take for its journey from X to Y?

 

A)    10                          B) 17               C) 15                           D) 20

 

Question 2:

Point P lies between points A and B such that the length of BP is thrice that of AP. Car 1 starts from A and moves towards B. Simultaneously, car 2 starts from B and moves towards A. Car 2 reaches P one hour after car 1 reaches P. If the speed of car 2 is half that of car 1, then the time, in minutes, taken by car 1 in reaching P from A is

 

A)    12                          B) 11               C) 9                             D) 13

 

Answers: VARC

Q No.
Q 1
Q 2
Correct Ans
3
1

 

QUANT

Q No.
Q 1
Q 2
Correct Ans
C
A

Click here to attempt the complete CAT Question Paper

 

CAT Previous Year Paper-2: CAT 2018 Slot-2 Question pattern & Cut off percentile
The slot-2 CAT question paper 2018 was held in afternoon session on November 25, 2018 from 2.30 PM to 5.30 PM. Reporting time for the exam was 1 PM

Section
No. of MCQs
No. of non-MCQs
Total Questions
Total Marks
Score Cut off for 95%
Section I – Verbal & Reading Comprehension (VARC)
27
7
34
102
58-60
Section II – Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR)
24
8
32
96
30-32
Section III – Quantitative Aptitude (QA)
22
12
34
102
57-59
Total
73
27
100
300
142-145

Actual CAT Questions from CAT 2018  Slot-2 Question Paper
You can attempt actual CAT question paper as appeared in Slot-2 on November 25, 2018. A few questions from VARC and Quant sections with answers are given below. DILR questions and all other questions in CAT previous year question paper can be attempted by clicking on the link given below the following questions: 

 

Section: Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC)

 

Question 1:
Five sentences related to a topic are given below. Four of them can be put together to form a meaningful and coherent short paragraph. Identify the odd one out.

  1. Much has been recently discovered about the development of songs in birds.
  2. Some species are restricted to a single song learned by all individuals, others have a range of songs.
  3. The most important auditory stimuli for the birds are the sounds of other birds.
  4. For all bird species there is a prescribed path to development of the final song,
  5. A bird begins with the subsong, passes through plastic song, until it achieves the species song.

Q.02   

Five sentences related to a topic are given below. Four of them can be put together to form a meaningful and coherent short paragraph. Identify the odd one out. Choose its number as your answer and key the number in:

  1. Our smartphones can now track our diets, our biological cycles, even our digestive systems and sleep-patterns.
  2. Researchers have even coin ed a new term, ―orthosomnia‖, to describe the insomnia brought on by paying too much attention to smartphones and sleep-tracking apps.
  3. Sleep, nature‘s soft nurse, is a blissful, untroubled state all too easily disturbed b y earthly worries or a guilty conscience.
  4. The existence of a market for such ap ps is unsurprising: shift work, a long-hours culture and blue light from screens have conspired to rob many of us of sufficient rest.
  5. A new threat to a good night‘s rest has emerged – smart-phones, with sleep-tracking apps.

Section: Quantitative Ability (QA)

 

Question 1:

On a long stretch of east-west road, A and B are two points such that B is 350 km west of A. One car starts from A and another from B at the same time. If they move towards each other, then they meet after 1 hour. If they both move towards east, then they meet in 7 hrs. The difference between their speeds, in km per hour, is

 

A)    45              B) 50                           C) 55               D) 60  

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Question 2:

Points A and B are 150 km apart. Cars 1 and 2 travel from A to B, but car 2 starts from A when car 1 is already 20 km away from A. Each car travels at a speed of 100 kmph for the first 50 km, at50 kmph for the next 50 km, and at 25 kmph for the last 50 km. The distance, in km, between car 2 and B when car 1 reaches B is

 

A)    5                B) 10                           C) 15               D) 20

 

Answers: VARC

Q No.
Q 1
Q 2
Correct Ans
3
1

QUANT

Q No.
Q 1
Q 2
Correct Ans
B
A

Click here to attempt the complete CAT Question Paper   

 

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