CAT 2021 Analysis - Slot 1, 2 and 3

CAT 2021 Analysis Slot 1, Slot 2 and Slot 3

First thoughts

Given the slight pattern change this year, the uncertainty regarding the number of questions and difficulty level was palpable throughout the test center. Like IIMCAT had mentioned, there was a decrease in total number of questions, totalling to 66, with 24 in VARC, 20 in DILR and 22 in Quants.
A summary of facts, what has changed and what remained the same are listed at the bottom. Also available a tentative Score vs percentile table for each slot of CAT 2021 Exam.

VARC: Slot 3 VARC was a smidgen tougher than Slot 1 & Slot 2. The passages were tough, the questions were mildly tricky. There were new type of questions in RC such as narrative thread across the passage, what would you argue with the author etc. Slot 3 was pegged at a slightly tougher level than the other two slots. There were several questions with double negatives compounded the difficulty level. The VA part was not unusually tough, not very different from before. Para Summary questions carried negative marks (trend continues from last year).

People thought, given that for the same amount of time, we got to solve lesser questions would make life simpler in CAT 2021, boy were they wrong! Time crunch was felt throughout the paper.

There were 16 questions from the RCs and 8 from Verbal Ability. Within the verbal ability section, there were amost equal split between para jumble questions (3), pick the odd questions(2) and para summaries (3). Overall, there were 24 questions in the VARC Section.

DILR: DILR has been consistently tougher since 2015. We feel it has retained that state this year as well. There were 2 sets with 6 questions each, and 2 sets with 4 questions each, thereby adding the total number of questions for DILR to be 20.

There was one puzzle that was pure DI across all three slots of CAT 2021. And it was a very doable puzzle, meaning - You must have attempted that! Again, due to 40 minute time limit, puzzle selection became crucial. One could not attempt to maximise gains by smartly choosing only 6 set puzzles, as the puzzles were tricky, and if caught off guard could mean throwing away the entire section. Some puzzles were simple for a few questions, and had one tough question that involved lot of computing (if you were pressed for time, you could easily leave that one dreaded question and move on to another set).

The general consensus among aspirants has been that DILR was tougher in Slot 2 than Slot 3, and Slot 1 tougher than Slot 2.

Quant: The Quant section had about 10+ questions in arithmetic (as we guessed earlier), about 4 in Geometry. The rest were a couple of questions from logarithms, and inequalities. There were no (or very few depending on the slot) questions from Permutations and Probability, Number Theory, Trigonometry, Coordinate Geometry, Functions, Remainders, Set theory.

Questions were interesting. There were lots of questions from Percents, Profit and Loss, Ratios-mixtures, Pipes Cisterns, Sequences - all do-able, several straddled multiple topics and almost all were time-consuming. Overall, the Quant Section had 22 questions.

Facts:
Number of questions – 24, 20, 22
Usual mix of TITA MCQ
LRDI – 4 puzzles of 4, 6, 6, 4 questions
Some technical glitches, few organizational glitches – the usual

What Remained the same:
LRDI continues to be tough
Arithmetic dominates Quant
RC Passages very readable, questions carry a few double-negatives
Very few freebies. Anywhere.

What Changed:
RC had some different question-types: Narrative thread, Argue with the author
LRDI became less fun
Quant stays about fundamentals.
Quant becomes a little bit more about speed

  It was a pretty good mix of questions, as usual. The Quant section felt longish, DILR depended on puzzle selection, VARC was tricky, with many struggling for time. The questions were nice to solve though, provided you had a good hold on your fundamentals.

CAT 2021 Score Vs Percentile for Slot 1, Slot 2 and Slot 3

CAT 2021 Slot 1 percentile
CAT 2021 Slot 2 percentile
CAT 2021 Slot 3 percentile

CAT 2021 Analysis Slot 1, 2 and 3 by Experts Video

2IIM's Online Analysis for CAT 2021 Slot 1 and Slot 2

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2IIM's Online Analysis for CAT 2021 Slot 3

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2IIM's Online Analysis and Discussion for CAT 2021.

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