The CAT exam is administered by the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) and is usually held on a large scale. Common Admission Test or CAT is an entrance exam for individuals who wish to get admission to the top business schools in India. 

The CAT 2018 exam was held on Nov 25, 2018, for three hours, with an hour allocated for each section. The exam was conducted in 2 slots: the morning slot (Slot 1) and the afternoon slot (Slot 2).

CAT 2018 Question Paper Format

CAT 2018 Question paper had 100 questions with 3 sections- Verbal & Reading Comprehension, Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning, and Quantitative Aptitude.

• There were 34 questions asked for reading comprehension out of which there were 27 multiple-choice questions and 7 non-MCQ questions.
• There were 32 questions for data interpretation and logical reasoning out of which there were 24 MCQs and 8 non-MCQs.
• There were 34 questions asked for quantitative aptitude out of which there were 22 MCQs and 12 non-MCQs.

Also Read: CAT 2017 Question Paper

Overview of the CAT 2018 Question Paper

The overview of the CAT 2018 question paper includes the following subjects. The table below also denotes the difficulty each subject brings and the total marks candidates can secure in each subject. 

Also Read: CAT 2019 Question Paper

CAT 2018 Question Paper PDF Download

The CAT 2018 question paper with solution pdf download is available in the link below:

Also Check: What is A Good CAT Score?

CAT 2018 Question Paper Analysis

The difficulty level of the CAT 2018 question paper was difficult compared to the previous year. The Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning section were tougher than in comparison to the previous years.

The Quantitative aptitude section had questions that required intensive calculations. The reading comprehension was lengthy.

The CAT 2018 Question Paper analysis for the two slots are as follows:

CAT 2018 Question Paper Analysis: Slot 1

• There were a few changes in the question paper pattern compared to the previous year.
• The number of non-MCQ questions increased from 26 to 27 in CAT question paper 2018. The non-MCQ questions had options to choose from as an answer.
• The quantitative aptitude section had the highest number of non-MCQs as compared to CAT 2017.
• There were 24 questions based on Reading comprehension.

VARC (Verbal & Reading Comprehension):

• There were 34 questions in the first section of VARC. There were 7 non-MCQs that had no negative marking.
• The word composition of the passages was around 500 words which is lesser compared to 800 words in CAT 2017.
• The total number of reading comprehension questions was 24. The topics for the reading comprehension passages were Consumer Behaviour, Elephant society, Genetics, Plastic pollution, and the Second World War.
• Every passage had 5 questions asked except the topic on Genetics with only 4 questions. Since plastic pollution and the second world war were well-known topics, they were easier to answer.
• There were inference-based questions asked for the passages mentioned above.

DILR (Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning):

According to the candidates, the questions from the Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR) section were more difficult and they could not attempt beyond 10-12 questions out of 32 questions provided.

Quantitative Aptitude:

• The quantitative Ability section had the highest number of Non-MCQs which were 12 out of 34 questions.
• The questions given were found to be slightly difficult.
• The questions which consisted of Geometry were more difficult in CAT 2018.

Also Read: CAT 2020 Question Paper

CAT 2018 Question Paper Analysis: Slot 2

• There were not many changes in the CAT slot 2 question paper compared to slot 1.
• The number of questions for each section and the multiple-choice questions and non-MCQs under the section was the same as the slot 1 question paper.
• Like slot 1 question paper, the non-MCQ questions had options to choose as the right answer.
• There were more arithmetic and algebra-based questions in slot 2 of CAT 2018.
• The reading comprehension was comparatively lengthy to slot 1.

VARC (Verbal & Reading Comprehension):

• The first section of VARC had 34 questions out of which there were 24 reading comprehension-based questions.
• The questions on reading comprehension were comparatively tricky compared to slot 1.
• The Verbal Ability section had 10 questions.
• The questions on para jumbling had a 4 sentence structure which was easy to answer.
• There were 7 non-MCQ questions that had no negative marking.
• The reading comprehension topics were Grover Snails, Human Resources, Meritocracy, and Diversified Teams, Saturn Rings and their age, and the Use of Technology for Employee Assessment.
• The passage on Grover Snails was less lengthy than others and had 4 questions while the rest of the passages had 5 questions each.

DILR (Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning):

• The Data Interpretation section had one set which included direct questions asked which required basic calculations. The rest of the sets were quite difficult to solve.
• Some questions from the data interpretation section had questions based on products of 3 companies, currency exchange rates, and smartphones. The candidates could not attempt beyond 10-12 questions out of 32 questions given.
• The logical reasoning section had moderate to easy questions asked. The questions were asked in sets with topics such as room arrangement and time for 7 people, set theory, and coding.
• Altogether the range of difficulty was moderate to tough.

Quantitative Aptitude:

• The section on Quantitative aptitude had 34 questions with 12 non- MCQs for which no negative marks were allotted. The section had questions that required intensive calculation.
• Most of the questions asked in the quantitative aptitude section were from the arithmetic and algebra part.
• The difficulty level of the slot 2 paper was higher compared to slot 1.

Also Read: CAT 2021 Question Paper