The second slot of the Common Admission Test (CAT) 2025, conducted by IIM Kozhikode, concluded at 2:30 PM. Early student reactions suggest that Slot 2 was moderate in difficulty, closely mirroring the level seen in Slot 1 earlier in the day. According to Gautam Puri, Co-Founder & MD, Career Launcher, who analysed Slot 2 based on initial student feedback, many candidates felt the overall paper was more challenging than CAT 2024, and comparable in difficulty to CAT 2022 and CAT 2023.
Just like the other slots, the exam featured 68 questions to be solved within 120 minutes, with equal sectional time limits for VARC, DILR, and QA.
CAT 2025 Slot 1 Exam Analysis: Slightly tougher than last year, say students
Section-wise Difficulty Overview
VARC: Moderate
The VARC section in Slot 2 consisted of 24 questions, to be attempted in 40 minutes. Students described the section as moderate, noting that it felt similar to the VARC level seen in CAT 2022.
Doable questions: 10–12
Student feedback: Passages required careful reading, but most questions were manageable.
DILR: Moderate to Difficult
With 22 questions, the DILR section continued to challenge candidates. Many found it comparable to CAT 2023, with sets that required thoughtful selection and time management.
Doable questions: 8–9
{{/usCountry}}Doable questions: 8–9
{{/usCountry}}Feedback: Logical tightness and slightly lengthier sets made this section demanding.
QA: Moderately Difficult
QA also had 22 questions, including 8 non-MCQ (TITA) questions. Students placed the difficulty level closer to CAT 2023, noting that arithmetic and number-based questions dominated the section.
90 percentile estimate: 6–7 correct answers
99 percentile estimate: 10–11 correct answers
Feedback: Moderately difficult, with careful question selection crucial for scoring well.
Overall Impression
Overall, CAT 2025 Slot 2 maintained a moderate difficulty level, nearly identical to Slot 1. While no major surprises were reported in terms of structure or question distribution, candidates agreed that the exam was trickier than CAT 2024 and required strong accuracy and time management.