CAT 2025 Exam Analysis: Section-Wise Difficulty, Slot Comparison, and Expected Score Impact

The Common Admission Test (CAT) 2025 , conducted by IIM Kozhikode on November 30 , concluded successfully across three slots. Initial reviews from students and coaching institutes indicate that CAT 2025 was slightly tougher than last year , with DILR and QA emerging as the most challenging components of the paper.

This year’s exam maintained the standard format with questions from VARC, DILR and Quantitative Ability , carrying a total of 66–68 questions depending on slot-wise distribution. A consistent marking pattern was followed — +3 for correct answers and -1 for wrong attempts , with no penalty for unattempted questions .

🔷 CAT 2025 Slot-Wise Difficulty Summary

Day-end consensus shows Slot 3 was the hardest , especially in Quant, while Slot 2 appeared the most manageable overall.

📍 CAT 2025 SLOT 1 ANALYSIS

Overall: Moderately difficult and slightly tougher than last year

• Total Questions: 68

• VARC and QA similar to 2024 difficulty level

• DILR slightly elevated in complexity

➤ VARC (Slot 1)

The section included 24 questions with 4 RC passages — dense, but answerable. Central idea-based questions dominated , and Verbal Ability saw the return of Parajumbles , alongside Para Summary, Odd One Out and Sentence Placement questions.

RC Themes included:

• Economic Inequality
• Electronic Music
• Law & Mental Health
• Noise & Society

Difficulty: Moderate
Good Attempts: ~10–12

➤ DILR (Slot 1)

Slot 1’s DILR section was the trickiest among the three sections . Five sets were asked, of which Spider + Bar chart was the most scoring. Others involved time-consuming logic structures.

Good Attempts: 8–10

➤ Quantitative Ability (Slot 1)

QA remained predictable with heavy weightage on Arithmetic & Algebra . Geometry questions were manageable and fewer in number.

Topic Distribution:

• Arithmetic & Algebra → Majority

• Geometry → 3 Questions

• Modern Math → Low presence

• Numbers → Only 1 Question

Good Attempts: 11–12

📍 CAT 2025 SLOT 2 ANALYSIS

Overall: More balanced than Slot 1 — scoring opportunities available

Several institutes noted that Slot 2 followed CAT 2024-style sequencing , with two solvable DILR sets and moderate VARC. A notable RC passage was based on ChatGPT — highly discussed by test takers.

➤ VARC (Slot 2)

• Mixed RC + VA format continued

• At least two RC themes were predictable

• Reading passages slightly dense but answers were inferentially clear

Difficulty: Moderate
Good Attempts: ~12–14

➤ DILR (Slot 2)

• Five sets similar structure to Slot 1, but slightly less intimidating

• Involved scheduling , route mapping , and network-based logic

• No single “must-attempt” set, but two medium-level caselets helped score

Difficulty: Moderate