CAT 2026: What the Last 3 Years' Papers Reveal About VARC, DILR and QA

The last three CAT papers (2023–2025) show that DILR is the least predictable section, while VARC remains more consistent. In QA, arithmetic and algebra continue to be key areas.

Use these trends to plan your CAT 2026 preparation for the exam on November 29.

• CAT 2026 is scheduled for 29 November 2026 in 3 sessions, and the admit card is scheduled to release from 4 November at iimcat.ac.in.
• The paper had 66 questions in 2023 and 68 questions in 2024 and 2025, split as 24 in VARC, 22 in DILR and 22 in QA in the last two years.
• Overall difficulty moved from tough in 2023 to moderate in 2024 and moderate to difficult in 2025.
• The 99 percentile score in DILR moved from about 27 to 38 to 30, while the VARC score rose from about 40 to 44.

Related Articles:

• CAT 2026 DILR Chapter Wise Weightage and Set Types
• How Many Mock Tests Should You Take Before 29 November

CAT 2026 Paper Analysis: Section-Wise Difficulty and Good Attempts

Good attempts for VARC stayed in the high teens, while DILR good attempts dropped from 10 to 12 in 2023 to 8 to 10 in 2025.

CAT 2026 VARC Analysis: What 2023, 2024 and 2025 Papers Show

VARC has been the most stable section, with Reading Comprehension taking 16 of the 24 questions in every recent paper.

• The paper carries 4 RC passages of 4 questions each, and the remaining 8 questions come from para summary, para completion, odd sentence out and parajumbles.
• Parajumbles were reported missing in the 2024 slots after a long run, and were reported again in 2025 Slot 3, so all 4 VA types stay relevant.
• Philosophy and science and biology have been the most repeated RC themes over recent years, and the 2025 passages were readable but lengthy.

CAT 2026 DILR Analysis: Why Set Selection Decides the Score

DILR was the toughest or most decisive section in 2023 and 2025, and the 2024 paper was the only one where it felt friendly in Slot 1.

• The section is built from 4 to 5 sets. 2023 had 4 sets of 5 questions, while 2024 had 3 sets of 4 and 2 sets of 5.
• Arrangements and table or graph based sets appeared in every 2025 slot, along with games, ratings and mixed DI-LR sets.
• TITA carried a large share of the section, for example about 10 of 22 questions in 2024 Slot 1.

CAT 2026 QA Analysis: Arithmetic and Algebra Still Lead

Arithmetic and algebra together contributed roughly 11 to 17 of the 22 QA questions across the 2024 slots.

• Arithmetic alone contributed about 7 to 11 questions, algebra about 4 to 7, and geometry about 2 to 3.
• QA difficulty was uneven: difficult in 2023, moderate in 2024, and tougher in 2025 Slot 2 and Slot 3 with calculation-heavy arithmetic and dense algebra.

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CAT 99 Percentile Score: Section-Wise Trend from 2023 to 2025

The 99 percentile VARC score rose from about 40 to 44 in 3 years, while DILR and QA scores swung with paper difficulty.

• The overall scaled score for 99 percentile was about 95 in 2024 and about 85 in 2025, a fall of about 10 marks.
• In 2025, 44 in VARC, about 30 in DILR and about 27 in QA corresponded to roughly 15, 10 and 10 net correct questions.

Read More:

• CAT Sample Papers 2026: Last 5 Years PYQs PDF Download and Chapter Wise Weightage
• Most Difficult Paper by CAT in the last 5 Years

What the Last 3 Years Mean for CAT 2026

The 3-year pattern points to flexible preparation, because the hardest section changed every year.

• DILR: spend the first minutes scanning all sets and commit to 2 to 3 sets you can finish, instead of spreading time across 4 or 5.
• VARC: treat it as the section to bank marks in, with selective RC attempts and steady accuracy on the 8 VA questions.
• QA: secure arithmetic and algebra first, then pick geometry and number system questions only if time remains.
• Mocks: the official mock is expected in the second week of November, so take full mocks in your own slot timing before 29 November.

CAT Section-wise Sample Papers and Mock Test