CAT 2023 Expected Difficulty Level

Updated On: November 13, 2023 07:14 pm IST

Since CAT 2023 will be held on November 26, check out CAT 2023 expected difficulty level. The difficulty level has been calculated depending on the previous year’s analysis.

CAT 2023 Expected Difficulty Level (Image Credit: Pexels)

CAT 2023 Expected Difficulty Level: IIM Lucknow will conduct CAT 2023 examination on the last Sunday of November i.e., on November 26, 2023. As only 13 days are left for the test, students must begin revising all the topics from the syllabus. According to calculations based on last year’s trend, CAT 2023 question paper is expected to be a bit tough compared to 2022. A total of 3 or 4 questions are expected to be more difficult than last year. Check out CAT 2023 expected difficulty level, and how and why it is likely to be tougher than previous years.

Also Read | Is CAT 2023 going to be Tougher than Previous Years?

CAT 2023 Expected Difficulty Level

Depending on the previous year’s analysis, the following table shows CAT 2023 expected difficulty level:

Percentile	Expected Score in 2023 for the said percentile	Expected Difficulty Level
99.5	82	Moderately Difficult than 2022
99	74
98	65
95	52
90	39
85	36
80	32

CAT Difficulty Level: Previous Year’s Analysis

The previous year’s analysis of CAT difficulty level has been provided here. Candidates must note that the question pattern was changed in 2019 and 2020 due to COVID-19, hence the analysis has been stated from 2021 onwards. The analysis has been provided with the help of percentile and score differences:

Percentile	2021 Score	2022 Score	Difference
99.5	110	92	18
99	98	84	14
98	85	75	10
95	73	62	11
90	60	49	11
85	52	42	10
80	46	36	10

Analysis: According to this table, candidates who scored 110 got the 99 percentile in 2021, but to get the same percentile, candidates only had to score 92 in 2022. This is because the CAT 2022 question paper was a bit more difficult than the CAT 2021 question paper, and candidates could not attain scores equivalent to 110. In other words, had it been easy, students would have easily obtained 110 scores and would have got 99 percentile in 2022. So, this means that the lesser the score is for a higher percentile, the higher the difficulty level is for that year’s question paper.

Checking by the same pattern, in 2016, 2017, and 2018, candidates who scored 193, 185, and 167 respectively, got 99.5% percentile. Thus it can be concluded that since 2016, the CAT question paper has always maintained a standard pattern, and the difficulty level has been higher than the last year. However, there was no drastic change in the difficulty level, so for CAT 2023, if the difficulty level increases as expected, candidates can only expect 3-4 questions to be difficult.

Note: If the total number of candidates who appear for CAT 2023 is higher than last year, then the difficulty level can be similar to CAT 2022 question paper.

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