As the date of the Common Admission Test (CAT) draws nearer, the doorway to top business schools in India, it is natural to feel anxiety and worry about it. However, by analyzing the previous year questions during one’s CAT Exam preparation, one is sure to get a glimpse of the actual paper. In a section like LRDI this exercise is essential as it helps to familiarize oneself with the nature of questions asked and then develop a corresponding approach for the same. Below we will take a look at questions asked in the year 2017 through 2020.

2017:

The CAT exam in the year 2017 was held in two sessions on Nov 26, 2017.  The LRDI section was composed of 32 questions.There were no typical DI questions among the DI-LR questions, which ranged from moderate to challenging. With only 8 to 10 reasoning questions, data interpretation took the lead. There were 8-10 Analytics puzzles and 8-10 data-based puzzles in the Logical Reasoning phase, and 8 sets of case-lets in the DI component. The case-lets were designed to test thinking and analytical skills. TITA-style questions were asked by one of them. This section also included a difficult-to-understand bar graph. Because it included a more basic seating arrangement, puzzles, and less exhaustive data calculations, the Logical Reasoning component of the second slot was easier than the first slot.

Table 1 : CAT 2017 Slot-1 DILR Analysis

Area	Question	Level
Logical Reasoning	Rural Kids survey	Easy
	Fast Food Joint	Easy
	Projects	Difficult
	Common Entrance Test	Difficult
Data Interpretation	Airline Company	Moderate
	Cars Travel Routes	Moderate
	Matrix	Moderate
	Simple Happiness Index	Difficult

Table 2 : CAT 2017 Slot-2 DILR Analysis

Area	Question	Level
Logical Reasoning	Chessboard	Difficult
	Eight Friends	Moderate
	Electives	Easy
	Tea tasting	Easy
Data Interpretation	Assets	Easy
	Dorms	Moderate
	Security Scan	Difficult
	Funky Pizzeria	Moderate

2018:

In Slot 1 Around 4 sets in the area may have been attempted relatively easily and with good accuracy with careful selection. A few of sets each featured one ‘tough to crack’ question. And a student should have known better than to waste time on them. In the DI sets, no calculations were required. The LR sets, on the other hand, were easy-moderate in terms of difficulty. Slot 2 DI was a little more difficult than Slot 1. Rather than the quantity of questions attempted, the focus should have been on the quality of the selected sets. There was one question in each set that should have been left unattempted. Two of the sets included calculations, although none of them were very difficult. The difficulty level of the LR sets, on the other hand, was easy-moderate.

Table 3: CAT 2018 Slot-1 DILR Analysis

Area	Question	Level
Data Interpretation	N*N Matrix	Moderate
	ATM Machine	Moderate to Difficult
	Pie-Chart	Easy
	Satellites	Difficult
Logical Reasoning	Committee	Moderate to Difficult
	Pipes	Moderate
	Institutes	Difficult
	Exam	Difficult

Table 4: CAT 2018 Slot-2 DILR Analysis

Area	Question	Level
Data Interpretation	Square chart	Difficult
	Profitability and Market share	Moderate
	Currency conversion	Difficult
	B-School grading	Difficult
Logical Reasoning	Coding – Decoding	Difficult
	Platinum – gold tickets	Difficult
	Room Numbers and timings	Easy
	Venn Diagrams	Moderate to Difficult

2019:

The key this year was finding the easier sets and solving them fast, with speed paying off. Some of the DI sets were not difficult to interpret, and the questions in these sets were not particularly difficult to answer. The number of sets based on LR was higher than in the previous two years. Only two of the eight sets might be classified as truly challenging. The set based on tournaments was very difficult, while the one based on crime rates proved to be equally difficult. The set based on dancers and composers, as well as the one based on the radar chart, should have been attempted.

Three to four moderate sets, two to three moderate-tough sets, and two very difficult sets were available in Slot 2. The moderate ones, on the other hand, could only be cracked by those who were aware enough to see them and persevered in their pursuit. The sets on the shooting tournament and mid-term and end-term exams were especially challenging and should have been avoided, whereas the sets on coins and rainfall were simple to score.

Table 5: CAT 2019 Slot-1 DILR Analysis

Area	Question	Level
Data Interpretation &Logical Reasoning	100 boxes, with diff. types of items	Moderate to Difficult
	Addition of 6-digit numbers	Moderate
	Sixteen shelves and 12 items	Moderate to Difficult
	Spider Web	Easy
	Tournament	Very Difficult
	Crime-rate	Difficult
	Intersection and network	Moderate
	Dancers and composers	Easy

Table 6: CAT 2019 Slot-2 DILR Analysis

Area	Question	Level
Data Interpretation &Logical Reasoning	Grid with bags of coins	Moderate
	Doctors and rooms	Moderate to Difficult
	Venn Diagrams	Moderate to Difficult
	Rainfall	Moderate
	Languages and teams	Difficult
	Shooting tournament	Very Difficult
	Radar chart	Moderate
	Mid-term and End-term exams	Difficult

2020:

There were five sets of DILR questions in the CAT 2020 exam paper. Two sets of questions each featured six questions, while the remaining sets each had four questions. Some test-takers said that the overall, the DILR section’s difficulty level was comparable to that of CAT 2019. To achieve the 99 percentile, a student must achieve a score of 32-34.

Table 7: CAT 2020 Slot-1 DILR Analysis

Area	Question	Level
DI	Cabs & Drivers	Moderate-Difficult
DI	Medicines	Moderate-Difficult
LR	Musicians	Moderate
LRDI	Companies & Contracts	Difficult
LRDI	Average Marks	Difficult

Table 8: CAT 2020 Slot-2 DILR Analysis

Area	Question	Level
LR	Parking Slots	Moderate-Difficult
DI	Sales at a Store	Difficult
DI	Beads	Difficult
LRDI	Elections	Moderate-Difficult
LRDI	Presentations	Difficult

Table 9: CAT 2020 Slot-3 DILR Analysis

Area	Question	Level
LR	Testing Vials	Moderate-Difficult
DI	Grocery Delivery	Moderate-Difficult
DI	School Survey	Moderate
DI	Bidding	Very Difficult
LRDI	Land Plots	Difficult

From the above analysis, the difficulty levels of questions can be observed in each sub-section of the LRDI portion of the paper. Candidates must pay special attention towards honing the difficult sets as it is the make-it or break-it aspect of the paper.