CAT 2025: Section-wise analysis shows shift in difficulty level; weightage, question count trends outlined

The Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Kozhikode will conduct the Common Admission Test (CAT) 2025 on November 30. With CAT 2025 a month away, candidates can review past years’ exam data to understand the paper structure, section-wise CAT exam difficulty level trends, and percentile trends used in admissions to top IIMs.

The CAT exam pattern has remained largely consistent since 2020, with three sections—Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC), Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR), and Quantitative Aptitude (QA). The total duration of the test is 120 minutes, with 40 minutes allotted to each section.

Analysis of past CAT papers shows that Reading Comprehension has consistently dominated the VARC section, while DILR has varied the most in difficulty, often affecting overall scores. QA has remained balanced, with arithmetic-based questions forming the largest share. The section-wise difficulty trend over recent years is summarised below.

CAT 2025: Shift in section-wise questions count

In previous CAT exams, Reading Comprehension has consistently carried the highest weightage within VARC, while DILR has shown the widest variation in difficulty, often influencing overall percentile outcomes.

QA has followed a steady pattern, with arithmetic-based questions increasing in recent years and accounting for about 35–40% of the section, followed by algebra, geometry, and modern math.

The CAT 2025 exam is expected to have 68 questions—multiple choice and non-MCQ types distributed across three sections. As per the marking scheme, each correct answer will have 3 marks, and each incorrect MCQ response attracts a penalty of 1 mark. There is no negative marking for non-MCQs.

Over the past five years, the CAT exam pattern has undergone key structural changes. In 2021, the paper had 66 questions — VARC (24), DILR (20), and QA (22). From 2023 onwards, the count rose slightly to 68, with DILR increasing to 22 questions. The year-wise and section-wise CAT exam pattern change is given in the table below.

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CAT Exam 2025: Topic-wise weightage analysis across sections

From 2020 to 2024, the Reading Comprehension section of the CAT exam formed about two-thirds of VARC. DILR moved from data and reasoning sets to more graph-based and Games and Tournaments questions.

Arithmetic has remained the dominant area in QA, contributing around 40% of the section, followed by Algebra, Geometry, and a limited questions from Number Systems and Modern Maths. The section-wise and topic-wise CAT weightage is given in the table below.