NinetynineDoes CAT repeat questions?
CAT almost never reuses a question verbatim, but it reuses ideas constantly. Among 1,830 questions from 2017 to 2025, 143 concepts were tested three or more times, 113 of them across at least three different years, and 25 concepts have near-repeats: the same question with new numbers.
Key facts
- 143 concepts have been tested in three or more CAT questions since 2017.
- The most-repeated CAT quant concept is "Average changes when members join or leave the group", asked 6 times across 6 years.
- 51 CAT questions since 2017 are near-repeats of another: same setup, new numbers.
Which CAT questions are near-repeats?
A near-repeat keeps the setup and method and changes the numbers or the story slightly. These are the clearest evidence that solving old papers pays.
Which concepts has CAT tested across the most years?
Should I memorise CAT previous year questions?
No: you will not see the same numbers again. Learn the method behind each repeated concept until you can apply it to a fresh question in under two minutes. That is what the "similar question" practice on Ninetynine is for: a new question, solved the same way, after you finish each PYQ.
Method: counted from all 24 CAT papers 2017–2025 (1,830 questions), each tagged with one topic. Concept clusters group questions that need the same method; each member has a similarity score, and near-repeats are flagged by hand review. How the data is built.
Frequently asked questions
Are CAT questions repeated?
Ideas are; exact questions very rarely are. 25 concepts since 2017 have near-identical versions in different papers.
Is solving CAT PYQs useful if questions do not repeat?
Yes. 143 concepts recur in three or more questions, so PYQs show you which methods CAT keeps testing.