CAT 2022 Slot 3 Review – Most Difficult Slot of CAT 2022
Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) successfully conducted the CAT 2022 examination on November 27, 2022. This year around 2.3 Lakh students have appeared for the CAT exam. There will be three slots for the CAT 2022. As per the aspirants’ review, CAT 2022 slot 3 is more challenging compared to slot 1 and slot 2. IIM Bangalore has not yet released the CAT 2022 answer key on IIMCAT official website. The release date of the answer is expected to be the end of December 2022. We will update you immediately whenever they release the answer key and the response sheet. Also, the CAT 2022 result will be announced in the first week of January 2023. In this article, we will discuss the complete slot 3 analysis of CAT 2022 in detail.
CAT 2022 Slot 3 Analysis (Review)
There were few changes in pattern compared to CAT 2021. The verbal section has two para-completion questions instead of the odd one out, and the DILR section consists of 4 sets of 5 questions each. All three slots had the same pattern. CAT slot 3 timing: 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm.
As mentioned earlier, slot 3 was slightly more difficult than the first two slots. Lengthy QA and difficult LR sets have increased the overall difficulty of slot 3. Let us have a look at how many questions were given in each section for CAT slot 3.
| Section | Number of Questions | Duration | MCQs | TITA |
| VARC | 24 | 40 min | 21 | 3 |
| DILR | 20 | 40 min | 14 | 6 |
| QA | 22 | 40 min | 14 | 8 |
| Total | 66 | 120 min | 49 | 17 |
Also check out CAT 2022 Slot-1 Analysis (Section-wise)
Also check out CAT 2022 Slot-2 Analysis (Section-wise)
CAT 2022 VARC Analysis – Slot 3
The VARC section had 4 RCs, each of which had 4 questions. The RCs were from diverse topics, as depicted in the table below. The VA section has 2 para-completion, 3 parajumbles and 3 para summary questions; the difficulty level of the VA section was more or less similar to the remaining two slots. In VARC, the bulk of the questions was of medium difficulty level. Overall the difficulty level of the VARC section in CAT 2022 slot 3 was between moderate to difficult.
| Areas of Questions | Topic | Number of questions | Overall Difficulty level |
| RC I | Impact of Oriental Literature | 4 | Difficult |
| RC II | Social Disorganisation and Crime | 4 | Easy-Moderate |
| RC III | Log of Bios and Technos | 4 | Moderate |
| RC IV | Effect of active and passive software | 4 | Easy-Moderate |
| Verbal Ability | |||
| Para Jumbles | – | 3 (TITA) | Easy-moderate(2 easy, 1 medium) |
| Para Completion (Fill in the blanks) | – | 2 | Easy-moderate(1 easy, 1 medium) |
| Para summary | – | 3 | Easy-moderate(2 easy, 1 medium) |
| Over All | 24 | ||
How many marks are required to get the 99+ percentile in VARC section?
As per the analysis of this section in CAT 2022 slot 3, considering the difficulty level of the VARC section, it is required to score 40 to 50 marks to get more than the 99 percentile. Have a look at the below-estimated score vs percentile for the VARC section of CAT 2022 slot 3.
| Estimated percentiles | Raw Score |
| 99 | 40-45 |
| 95 | 33-37 |
| 90 | 26-30 |
| 85 | 20-25 |
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CAT 2022 DILR Analysis – Slot 3
DILR was the toughest in slot three compared to slots 1 and 2. The questions in this section were tough and time-consuming. The DILR section has 4 sets of 5 questions each. Among the 4 sets in the section, there was only 1 easy set. Overall, slot 3 DILR section was difficult. The ideal attempt would be 9-10 questions.
| Set Type | Topic | Number of Questions | Overall Difficulty |
| DI Bar graphs | Mortality Rate | 5 | Easy |
| DI QA based | CS-Non CS students | 5 | Difficult |
| LR Games and Tournaments | Tournament of 4 people | 5 | Moderate-Difficult |
| LR Puzzles | Covid cases over 5 days | 5 | Moderate-Difficult |
| Overall | 20 |
How many marks are required to get the 99+ percentile in DILR section?
As the DILR section is a bit more difficult than the other sections, scoring 25 to 27 marks is required to get more than the 99 percentile. Have a look at the below-estimated score vs percentile for the DILR section of CAT 2022 slot 3.
| Estimated percentiles | Raw Score |
| 99 | 25-27 |
| 95 | 19-22 |
| 90 | 15-18 |
| 85 | 12-14 |
CAT 2022 Quant Analysis – Slot 3
The QA section is rated as the most difficult one, as the questions were lengthy. The quantitative Aptitude(QA) section of slot 3 had a higher difficulty level than slots 1 and 2. Since it is a matter of how many questions you get right in 40 minutes, this calculation-intensive and tricky section were more of a disadvantage to people planning to secure a good amount of marks in this section. This was again an Arithmetic intensive section with close to 9 questions from arithmetic. Let us see the number of questions given with the respective topics of Quant in slot 3 of CAT 2022.
| Topics | Number of Questions |
| Arithmetic | 9 |
| Algebra | 6 |
| Geometry | 4 |
| Modern math | 2 |
| Numbers | 1 |
How many marks are required to get the 99+ percentile in the Quant section?
As per the analysis of this section in CAT 2022 slot 3, considering the difficulty level of the Quant section, it is required to score 31 to 34 marks to get more than the 99 percentile. Have a look at the below-estimated score vs percentile for the Quant section of CAT 2022 slot 3.
| Estimated percentiles | Raw Score |
| 99 | 31-34 |
| 95 | 22-26 |
| 90 | 16-20 |
| 85 | 12-15 |
Note: These are only expected percentiles per our deep understanding, and actual percentiles may vary.
CAT 2022 Overall Score vs Percentile (Slot-3)
Remember that cutoffs are very difficult to predict as of now; the overall difficulty of CAT was considered difficult this year. Hence, the cutoffs are expected to drop as compared to the past year. So, These are only expected percentiles as per our understanding, and actual percentiles may vary from these.
| Percentile | Overall CAT Score |
| 99 | 94 |
| 98 | 84 |
| 95 | 68 |
| 90 | 56 |
| 85 | 49 |
| 80 | 41 |
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