The Common Admission Test CAT 2025, conducted by IIM Kozhikode, is being held today, November 30, 2025, across three slots. CAT 2025 Slot 1 was held from 8:30 am to 10:30 am, CAT 2025 Slot 2 was from 12:30 pm to 2:30 pm, and CAT 2025 Slot 3 is from 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm.
CAT 2025 Slot 1 officially ended at 10:30 am, and early reactions from test-takers suggest that the paper was manageable but slightly tougher than CAT 2024 Slot 1.
CAT 2025 Slot 2 has now concluded, and early feedback indicates that the paper was moderate to slightly difficult, particularly in DILR and QA sections.
CAT 2025 SLOT 1 PAPER ANALYSIS
CAT 2025 EXAM PATTERN AND DIFFICULTY LEVEL
CAT 2025 Slot 1 had 68 questions to be completed in 120 minutes. There were no major pattern or question-type surprises this year.
Based on expert analysis and student responses, here’s the section-wise difficulty summary:
- VARC (Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension) – Similar to last year
- DILR (Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning) – Slightly more difficult
- QA (Quantitative Ability) – Similar to last year
VARC: DOABLE, DENSE PASSAGES, CENTRAL-IDEA QUESTIONS
- The VARC section was doable and not difficult.
- Passages were dense but questions focused mainly on central ideas.
- 24 questions (4 TITA + 20 MCQs)
- 40 minutes total
- Difficulty similar to CAT 2024 Slot 1
The Reading comprehension and Verbal Ability questions were mixed up in the sequencing, similar to the pattern in CAT 2024. There were 4 RC passages with 4 questions each. The RC sets were of a moderate difficulty level, with one difficult set.
DILR: MARGINALLY MORE DIFFICULT
- The DILR section was slightly tougher than last year.
- 22 questions, 40 minutes
- 11–12 TITA questions
- 10 attempts considered a “good attempt”
There were 22 questions across 5 sets, similar to last year’s pattern. The Spider+Bar was the must attempt set. Students should have identified this upfront and solved it. The other caselets were slightly tricky and two of them were difficult. The time consumption on the second caselet attempt (apart from the Spider+Bar set) would have been decidedly higher.
QA: SIMILAR TO LAST YEAR, NUMBER-HEAVY
- QA was similar to CAT 2024 Slot 1
- Heavy focus on number-based questions
- 22 questions in total
- 10+ doable, but 11–12 attempts may give an edge
- Overall paper felt tricky
There were no surprises in this section. It had 22 Questions. These questions were from the regular set of topics as seen in the previous CATs, with a majority of questions from Arithmetic and Algebra. Numbers and Modern math had only one question each, while Geometry had 3 Qs.
Students who had practised adequately with T.I.M.E. study material and attended the lectures provided would have been able to manage them comfortably.
OVERALL TAKEAWAY
CAT 2025 Slot 1 was more difficult than last year, more so because of DILR and lengthy nature of Quant question calculations.
As the gateway to India’s top B-schools, including 21 IIMs, CAT remains a high-stakes exam, and Slot 1 sets the tone for the remaining two slots.
CAT 2025 SLOT 2 PAPER ANALYSIS
CAT 2025 EXAM PATTERN AND DIFFICULTY LEVEL
- Total questions: 68
- Total duration: 120 minutes
- Sections: VARC, DILR, QA
Early difficulty assessment:
- VARC: Moderate
- DILR: Moderate to difficult
- QA: Moderately difficult
VARC: MODERATE, 10–12 DOABLE QUESTIONS
- 24 questions, 40 minutes
- Difficulty level similar to CAT 2022 Slot 2
- Focus on reading comprehension and verbal reasoning
- 10–12 questions considered easily doable for most candidates
DILR: MODERATE TO DIFFICULT, 8–9 DOABLE QUESTIONS
- 22 questions, 40 minutes
- Level of difficulty closer to CAT 2023
- Mixture of table, caselets, and puzzles
- 8–9 questions considered manageable for good attempts
QA: MODERATELY DIFFICULT, 6–11 DOABLE QUESTIONS
- 22 questions, 40 minutes
- 8 non-MCQ questions included
- Students solving 6–7 correctly could target 90th percentile
- 10–11 correct answers likely needed for 99th percentile
- Difficulty roughly similar to CAT 2023 QA section
OVERALL TAKEAWAY
Slot 2 was slightly more challenging than Slot 1, mainly due to DILR and QA.
With VARC remaining moderate, students who attempted the right set of questions could still expect a good percentile.
CAT 2025 SLOT 3 PAPER ANALYSIS
CAT 2025 EXAM PATTERN AND DIFFICULTY LEVEL
- VARC (Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension): Easy to moderate
- DILR (Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning): Moderate to difficult
- QA (Quantitative Ability): Difficult (toughest of the three sections)
A total of 68 questions were asked across the three sections in Slot 3, with 120 minutes allotted.
VARC
- Slot 3 VARC was easy to moderate, similar to last year and close to Slot 1 and 2.
- 24 questions | 40 minutes
- 8–9 questions were considered doable.
DILR
- The DILR section was moderately difficult, consistent with the day’s overall trend.
- 22 questions | 40 minutes
- 5–6 questions were considered doable.
QA
- QA was the toughest section of Slot 3 and tougher relative to Slot 1 and 2.
- 22 questions | 40 minutes
- 5–6 questions were considered doable.
EXPECTED OVERALL ATTEMPTS
- Students can expect a 99 percentile with 25–27 net correct attempts.
OVERALL DIFFICULTY LEVEL COMPARED TO CAT 2024
- VARC: Similar to CAT 2024, slightly easier
- DILR: Much more difficult than CAT 2024
- QA: Similar to CAT 2024, slightly more difficult
– Expert analysis by Gautam Puri, Co-Founder and MD, Career Launcher; Ramnath Kanakadandi, Senior Course Director, T.I.M.E.
– Ends
