NinetynineCAT 2023 Slot 3 question paper with answers and solutions
CAT 2023 Slot 3 had 66 questions: 24 in VARC (40 minutes), 20 in DILR (40 minutes), 22 in QA (40 minutes). 20 of them were TITA (type in the answer, no options). 66 have a worked solution here. Every question is tagged by topic, and answers are CAT's official key.
Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC) 24 questions · 40 min
| Question | Topic | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Passage 1 | Q1–Q4 · The biggest challenge [The Nutmeg's Curse by Ghosh] throws down is to… | RC · Society, History & Politics | 4 questions |
| Passage 2 | Q5–Q8 · Steven Pinker's new book, "Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems… | RC · Humanities & Philosophy | 4 questions |
| Passage 3 | Q9–Q12 · In 2006, the Met [art museum in the US] agreed to return the… | RC · Society, History & Politics | 4 questions |
| Passage 4 | Q13–Q16 · Understanding romantic aesthetics is not a simple undertaking for… | RC · Humanities & Philosophy | 4 questions |
| Q17 | Sentence Placement: Option 1 | Sentence Placement | MCQ |
| Q18 | Sentence Placement: Option 2 | Sentence Placement | MCQ |
| Q19 | Five jumbled up sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5)… | Odd Sentence Out | TITA |
| Q20 | Five jumbled up sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5)… | Odd Sentence Out | TITA |
| Q21 | The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3 and 4) given below… | Para Jumbles | TITA |
| Q22 | The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3 and 4) given below… | Para Jumbles | TITA |
| Q23 | Para Summary: There is an increasing number of predatory birds… | Para Summary | MCQ |
| Q24 | Para Summary: Though long-standing, the pressure to appear… | Para Summary | MCQ |
Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR) 20 questions · 40 min
| Question | Topic | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Set 1 | Q1–Q5 · There are only three female students – Amala, Koli and Rini – and only… | Quant-based Puzzles | 5 questions |
| Set 2 | Q6–Q10 · In a coaching class, some students register online, and some others… | Charts & Tables | 5 questions |
| Set 3 | Q11–Q15 · An air conditioner (AC) company has four dealers – D1, D2, D3 and D4… | Venn & Set Puzzles | 5 questions |
| Set 4 | Q16–Q20 · A, B, C, D, E and F are the six police stations in an area, which are… | Routes & Networks | 5 questions |
Quantitative Ability (QA) 22 questions · 40 min
| Question | Topic | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 | For a real number x , if 1/2, (log _3(2^x-9))/(log _3 4)… | Logarithms & Exponents | MCQ |
| Q2 | Let n and m be two positive integers such that there are… | Logarithms & Exponents | MCQ |
| Q3 | For some real numbers a and b , the system of equations… | Equations | MCQ |
| Q4 | If x is a positive real number such that x^8+(1/x)^8=47… | Logarithms & Exponents | MCQ |
| Q5 | A quadratic equation x^2+b x+c=0 has two real roots. If the… | Equations | TITA |
| Q6 | The sum of the first two natural numbers, each having 15… | Number Systems | TITA |
| Q7 | Let n be any natural number such that 5^n-1 3^n+1 . Then… | Logarithms & Exponents | TITA |
| Q8 | Rahul, Rakshita and Gurmeet, working together, would have… | Time & Work | MCQ |
| Q9 | Anil mixes cocoa with sugar in the ratio 3 : 2 to prepare… | Ratio, Mixtures & Averages | MCQ |
| Q10 | The population of a town in 2020 was 100000 . The population… | Percentages & Profit-Loss | MCQ |
| Q11 | A merchant purchases a cloth at a rate of Rs.100 per meter… | Percentages & Profit-Loss | MCQ |
| Q12 | There are three persons A, B and C in a room. If a person D… | Ratio, Mixtures & Averages | MCQ |
| Q13 | A boat takes 2 hours to travel downstream a river from port… | Time, Speed & Distance | MCQ |
| Q14 | A fruit seller has a stock of mangoes, bananas and apples… | Percentages & Profit-Loss | TITA |
| Q15 | The number of coins collected per week by two… | Number Systems | TITA |
| Q16 | Gautam and Suhani, working together, can finish a job in 20… | Time & Work | TITA |
| Q17 | Let A B C be an isosceles triangle such that A B and A C are… | Geometry | MCQ |
| Q18 | A rectangle with the largest possible area is drawn inside a… | Geometry | MCQ |
| Q19 | In a regular polygon, any interior angle exceeds the… | Geometry | TITA |
| Q20 | The value of 1+(1+1/3) 1/4+(1+1/3+1/9) 1/16+(1+1/3+1/9+1/27)… | Progressions & Series | MCQ |
| Q21 | Let a_n=46+8 n and b_n=98+4 n be two sequences for natural… | Progressions & Series | MCQ |
| Q22 | Suppose f(x, y) is a real-valued function such that f(3 x+2… | Functions & Graphs | TITA |
Topic mix of CAT 2023 Slot 3
| Topic | Section | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| RC · Humanities & Philosophy | VARC | 8 |
| RC · Society, History & Politics | VARC | 8 |
| Charts & Tables | DILR | 5 |
| Quant-based Puzzles | DILR | 5 |
| Routes & Networks | DILR | 5 |
| Venn & Set Puzzles | DILR | 5 |
| Logarithms & Exponents | QA | 4 |
| Geometry | QA | 3 |
| Percentages & Profit-Loss | QA | 3 |
| Equations | QA | 2 |
| Number Systems | QA | 2 |
| Odd Sentence Out | VARC | 2 |
| Para Jumbles | VARC | 2 |
| Para Summary | VARC | 2 |
| Progressions & Series | QA | 2 |
| Ratio, Mixtures & Averages | QA | 2 |
| Sentence Placement | VARC | 2 |
| Time & Work | QA | 2 |
| Functions & Graphs | QA | 1 |
| Time, Speed & Distance | QA | 1 |