The popular writer Dale Carnegie said, "The past is where you learned the lesson. The future is where you apply the lesson."
So, now that you are prepping up for the upcoming CAT exam, you must study previous year CAT question papers. The main aim of the actual CAT exam papers is to give you a clear picture of its pattern, question types, and difficulty level. At the same time, you can check your progress and analyze your performance in different topics. Here, you can download CAT exam question papers of the past 10 years and beyond.
CAT Previous Year Papers: An Overview
The pattern of CAT exam question papers of 2017-21 has been different from the past CAT exams. CAT 2022 is expected to be on the similar pattern as of 2021. The composition of CAT 2021 Question Paper was as mentioned below:
CAT 2021 Exam Pattern
| Number of Sections |
3 |
| Total Number of Questions |
66 |
| Number of choices per question (MCQs) |
4 |
| Marks per question |
+3 |
| Negative Marking |
-1 |
| Negative marking for Non-MCQs |
NIL |
CAT Previous Year Papers: Evolution & Analysis
The exam pattern and format of CAT exam has evolved widely over the last ten years. From reduction in number of sections to the reduction in number of questions and time limits, CAT has witnessed several changes from 2011 onwards. Thereafter, the on-screen calculators were provided from 2015 and also, Non-MCQs questions were introduced. Overall, the difficulty level of the exam has stayed on higher side, with the verbal section giving 70% weightage to reading comprehension passages, quantitative section laying great emphasis on arithmetic and algebra-based questions and their applications. Lastly, the reasoning and data interpretation is comparatively manageable if you are good with shortcuts and have practiced enough sets.
As for the Non-MCQs, they feature in all sections of CAT and take up almost 30% of the weightage.
CAT Previous Years Question Papers
This pdf is curated by our topmost faculty and experts with years of experience in mentoring and training students for CAT and other entrance tests.
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Why to solve CAT Previous Year Papers?
The previous years papers are extremely beneficial for students aspiring to get admission in a top B-school. Listed below are the different ways in which these papers will guide you in your exam preparation.
- They help in the understanding the question pattern in complete detail.
- By solving previous year question papers, you can strategize your preparation and manage time.
- You get an idea of the type of questions and level of difficulty. This widens the scope of your study material, boosts your confidence, and enhances your test performance.
- It helps you in identifying the important topics and knows which of the topics have been repeated. Also, you will know about your weak areas and focus on making them your strength so as to secure a good percentile.
- You get to the feel of a real exam experience provided you solve them in a given time restraint.
- Also with practice, you develop new problem-solving techniques. Since the papers are accompanied by solutions, you also learn some new and smarter ways to solve different questions.
Here, you can access the actual CAT papers of last decade and more.
CAT Exam Question Papers
Here, you can login and take the test based on the actual CAT papers of last few years.
| Download PDF |
Description |
Mock Test |
| Actual CAT 2021 Slot I-II-III |
Actual CAT 2021 Question Paper Slot I |
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| Actual CAT 2021 Question Paper Slot II |
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| Actual CAT 2021 Question Paper Slot III |
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| Actual CAT 2020 Slot I-II-III |
Actual CAT 2020 Question Paper Slot I |
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| Actual CAT 2020 Question Paper Slot II |
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| Actual CAT 2020 Question Paper Slot III |
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| CAT 2019 Actual Paper |
Actual CAT 2019 Question Paper Slot I |
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| Actual CAT 2019 Question Paper Slot II |
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| CAT 2018 Actual Paper |
Actual CAT 2018 Question Paper Slot I |
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| Actual CAT 2018 Question Paper Slot II |
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| CAT 2017 Actual Paper |
Actual CAT 2017 Question Paper Slot I |
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| Actual CAT 2017 Question Paper Slot II |
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The above given papers show a marked difference from the CAT previous year papers of 2008 and before. This is because of the different exam structure and number of questions. However, they still prove beneficial as the difficulty level remains nearly the same.
Solving CAT Previous Year Question Papers will strengthen your preparation for
CAT 2022. After solving the paper, remember to go through its solutions and analysis. It is important to reflect on your performance so as to improve further and attain a good score in the exam.
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