CAT 2023 Slot 3 Exam Analysis: Review, Difficulty Level Questions Asked, Good Attempts, Expected Cut Off

CAT Exam Analysis 2023 Slot 3 was conducted on 26th Nov by BYJU’S Exam Prep Experts. The CAT 2023 paper threw a lot of surprises this year. While Slot 1 had 4 para Jumble questions, Slot 2 did not have a question on Modern Math and also one question in the VARC section was mandatory. The overall difficulty level across all slots was Moderate. In Slot 3, All RCs were difficult to read, and overall the VARC section was moderate to difficult to attempt. In Slot 3, the QA section was moderate to difficult since the questions were quite lengthy. 

CAT exam is one of the most popular exam among management aspirants who want to get a ticket to the Top B school in the country. Interestingly, this year IIFT and TISS will also consider CAT scores for their admission process. The overall difficulty level of the paper as per the CAT 2023 Analysis was Moderate. 

BYJU’S Exam Prep Experts have given a detailed CAT Analysis 2023 of all three slots. The level of difficulty of Slot 3 was similar to the previous two slots i.e Moderate. The number of questions remained the same in all the three slots. 

Click Here to Watch the CAT 2023 Analysis

Check our CAT 2023 Score Calculator and Percentile Predictor

CAT Exam Analysis 2023: Important Highlights Slot 1, Slot 2 and Slot 3

• The total number of questions were 66 , out of which 46 were MCQs and 20 were TITA questions
• The overall difficulty level of the paper was Moderate
• Slot 1 had surprise in the form 4 para jumble question
• Slot 2 had no question on Modern Maths and also one question VARC was mandatory
• Slot 3 had one RC was extremely difficult (Concept of Romanticism)

CAT 2023 Paper Pattern

The CAT 2023 pattern was similar to CAT 2022 as both had 66 questions in total. The slot-wise segregation is given below:

Section	Number of Questions			Number of Non-MCQ Questions			Difficulty Level
	Slot 1	Slot 2	Slot 3	Slot 1	Slot 2	Slot 3	Slot 1	Slot 2	Slot 3
VARC	24	24	24	4	4	4	Moderate	Moderate	Mod. – Difficult
DILR	20	20	20	8	8	8	Mod. – Difficult	Mod. – Difficult	Moderate
QA	22	22	22	8	8	8	Mod. – Difficult (Lengthy)	Mod. – Difficult (Lengthy)	Mod. – Difficult (Lengthy)
Total	66	66	66	20	20	20	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate

Marking scheme

CAT 2023 Marking Scheme

The marking scheme of the CAT Paper is as follows:

• 3 marks for every correct answer
• MCQ: -1 mark for every incorrect 
• TITA: No negative marking

Section-wise CAT 2023 Exam Analysis – Slot 1, Slot 2, Slot 3

The section-wise CAT 2023 Analysis is given below

CAT 2023 Exam Analysis for Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC)

As per the CAT 2023 Exam Analysis, the overall difficulty level of Slot 1 and Slot 2 of VARC section was Moderate while Slot 2 had a difficulty level of Moderate to Difficult. The overall Verbal Abilty segreagtion across all the Slots is given below

Verbal Ability (8 Questions)	Topic
		Slot 1	Slot 2	Slot 3
	Para Summary	2	2	2
	Para Completion	2	2	2
	Para Jumbles	4	4	4

The Reading Comprehension consisted of 16 questions. The Slot wise segregation is given below

RCs	Slot 1		Slot 2		Slot 3
	Passages	LOD	Passages	LOD	Passages	LOD
1	Human Psychology (Geographical & Non-Geographical)	Moderate	Culture & Lifestyle (Second Hand Clothing)	Moderate	Climate Change (On Amitabh Ghosh’s Book “The Nutmeg Curse”)	Difficult
2	Indian Ocean	Easy	Content Produced by Streaming Platform (options were very close)	Moderate	Concept of Romanticism (Abstract)	Difficult
3	Wolves & its impact	Easy–Mod. (Lengthy)	Liberalism (Book Review) (options were very close)	Mod.-Diff	Museum (Rights of Patrimony)	Moderate
4	Colonialism	Moderate	Positivists	Moderate	Steven Pinker Book (His ideas about application of Logical Thinking in today’s world)	Difficult

CAT 2023 Exam Analysis for Quantitative Ability (QA)

As per the CAT 2023 Exam Analysis, the overall difficulty level of the QA section across all the Slots was Mod. – Difficult (Lengthy). The overall QA segreagtion across all the Slots is given below

Slot 1			Slot 2			Slot 3
Topic	Qs	Doable	Topic	Qs	Doable	Topic	Qs	Doable
Arithmetic	9	Moderate (Lengthy)	Arithmetic	9	Easy- Moderate	Arithmetic	7-8	Mod. – Difficult
Algebra	8	Moderate	Algebra	7	Moderate- Difficult	Algebra	7-8	Moderate
Number System	1	Moderate	Number System	3	Moderate	Number System	3	Moderate
Modern Math	1	Easy	Modern Math	0	–	Modern Math	0	–
Geometry and Mensuration	3	Mod. – Difficult	Geometry and Mensuration	3	Moderate-Difficult	Geometry and Mensuration	3	Moderate

CAT 2023 Exam Analysis for Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR)

As per the CAT 2023 Exam Analysis, the overall difficulty level of the DILR section was Moderate- Difficult for Slot 1 and Slot 2 and Moderate for Slot 3. The overall DILR segregation across all the Slots is given below

Slot 1			Slot 2			Slot 3
Topic	Qs	Doable	Topic	Qs	Doable	Topic	Qs	Doable
Mean, Median, Mode (Rating of Restaurants)	5	Moderate	Scheduling (Amusement Park)	5	Easy-Mod.	Routes & Networks (Roads & Patrolling)	5	Doable (Tricky)
Visa Application (Scheduling)	5	Easy	Median (9 Boxes, 3 Pouches, Coins)	5	Difficult	Table based DI – Median (Online & Offline Coaching)	5	Doable (Tricky)
House (Routes and Networks)	5	Moderate	Reasoning based DI (Companies)	5	Moderate	Number Grid based LR (Window & Split AC)	5	Tricky
Professor (Selection)	5	Moderate	Mathematical AR (Balls)	5	Moderate	DI Caselet (Project & Test Score)	5	Moderate

CAT Exam Analysis 2023: Score Vs Percentile

Candidates can check the CAT 2023 Score vs Percentile (Slot 3) 

Percentile	Marks in	Marks in	Marks in	Marks in	Marks in
	CAT 2023	CAT 2022	CAT 2021	CAT 2020	CAT 2017
Total Marks	198	198	198	228	300
99.9	102	110.72	120	131	208
99.5	<=88	93	107	115	183
99	<=75	82.5	97	102	173
95	<= 55	60	71	77	139
90	42-45	48.5	59	63	121
80	Less than 30	35.5	45	49	98

Check CAT College Predictor

Candidates can check the CAT 2023 Score Vs percentile (Slot 1, Slot 2, and Slot 3)

CAT Score Vs Percentile (Slot1 , Slot 2 and Slot 3)

Percentile	Marks in	Marks in	Marks in	Marks in	Marks in
	CAT 2023	CAT 2022	CAT 2021	CAT 2020	CAT 2017
Total Marks	198	198	198	228	300
99.9	97-100	110.72	120	131	208
99.5	80-82	93	107	115	183
99	65-70	82.5	97	102	173
95	50	60	71	77	139
90	40-42	48.5	59	63	121
80	30-32	35.5	45	49	98