Last Updated on September 15, 2025
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IIM Ahmedabad has released the CAT 2021 Answer Keys on December 8. You can check your Answer Keys for all the three Slots – Slot 1, Slot 2, and Slot 3 on CAT official website IIMCAT.ac.in. Only those candidates who had appeared in CAT 2021 on November 28, can view and download both the Official CAT Answer Key as well as their Individual Responses to Questions. It will help you calculate your CAT score and likely percentile
IIM Ahmedabad has released Official CAT 2021 Answer Key on December 8, 2021 to enable you to check and verify your responses with official CAT answers. Sharing with MBAUniverse.com, CAT convener Prof M P Ram Mohan, had confirmed earlier that the CAT Answer key will be made available this week.The CAT test takers can view and download CAT answer key Pdf from official CAT website. You can check CAT Answer Keys 2021 for all Slots – Slot 1, Slot 2, Slot 3 on CAT official website IIMCAT.ac.in. Once you download your CAT answer key for your slot and check the same, you may calculate your score and expected percentile in CAT exam. This will help you to check your shortlisting chances for admission 2022 in IIMs and other top B-schools accepting CAT score. Please note CAT answer key remains live only for three days. Last date to check and download CAT answer key and raise objection is December 8, 2021 till 5 PM. After this date IIMs will inactivate the CAT answer key and Response sheet tab from official CAT website.
CAT 2021 was successfully conducted at 438 test centres spread across 156 cities in India on 28 November 2021 in three shifts. Around 1.92 lakh candidates appeared for the exam out of 2.30 lakhs registered eligible candidates. The overall attendance was approximately 83%. The duration of the test was of 120 minutes (160 minutes For PwD Candidates). The time allotted for each Section was 40 minutes (53 minutes and 20 seconds for PwD Candidates). Experts in their CAT 2021 exam analysis, have rated CAT 2021 exam of slightly lower difficulty level as compared to last year.
CAT Answer Key 2021 Release Date, Time and Last Date
CAT Answer Key Activity | Important Dates |
CAT 2021 Answer key Release Date | December 8, 2021 |
CAT 2021 Answer Key Release Time | 10 AM |
Last Date to Check & Download CAT Answer Key | December 11, 2021 |
CAT 2021 Answer Key download closing time | 5.00 PM |
Last date & time to challenge and file objection form to CAT Answer key | December 11, 2021 till 5.00PM |
From where to Download CAT Answer Key 2021 | IIMCAT.ac.in (CAT official website) |
CAT 2021 Answer Key: Important Information
IIM Ahmedabad has released following CAT Answer Keys
You can download your CAT 2021 answer key PDF from official CAT website by login with your CAT login ID and password
How to Check Your CAT 2021 Answer Keys?
You need to download CAT 2021 answer key from CAT official website and should follow a simple step by step process outlined Read More
CAT Answer Keys Download: Step by Step Process
The steps involved to download and check your CAT answer keys are shared screen by screen as below.
Step-1: Login to CAT Website Home Page at Registered Candidate Login
Step-2: Log on at Candidate Login with your CAT Id and Password
Step-3: Your Personal CAT Page will appear. This has 6 tabs. You need to click on Candidate Response tab. Follow the instructions on this page.
Step-4: On Clicking on ‘Candidate Response’ Tab, all your responses for CAT 2021 questions paper along with Correct Answer key will be downloaded Question by Question. You can save them at the required place like Desktop, Downloaded documents, Pen drive, Hard disk. This Response Sheet contains your own marked answers as well as the possible correct answers by IIMs as shown in the example below. You can check each and every response and calculate your likely score after allowing for -1 negative marking for each wrong answer in MCQs and Zero negative marking for Non-MCQs.
Step-5: Challenge CAT Answer key, If Not Satisfied
You can challenge and raise objection to the CAT 2021 answer key which is considered as correct by IIMs but wrong by you. There is an objection form tab at the side of Response tab on CAT website. You can ‘Click here to raise objection’, fill the details and submit by paying a fee of Rs.1200 for each answer key objection.
How Important are CAT Answer Keys 2021? 5 Reasons
While CAT 2021 Answer Key Release makes the CAT exam further transparent, please note that CAT answer keys 2021 release is made only for those candidates who have actually appeared in CAT 2021 exam. It is of utmost importance for the candidates who are looking for MBA admission 2022 in IIMs and other B-Schools due to following key reasons:
CAT Answer Key Pdf & Query cum Objection Form
CAT Answer Key and Candidate Response Sheet: Know the Difference
The CAT slot-wise answer key release is also known as CAT response sheet release which contains correct and incorrect answers alongwith questions for all the CAT exam takers and is released on official CAT website slot wise. The CAT response sheet enables the CAT exam takers to check their answers viz-a-viz correct answers by IIMs.
CAT Answer Key Release Composition
CAT answer key for each slot is released with following documents in pdf form:
CAT Answer key Slot-1: Total Questions, Exam Difficulty Level, Expected Cut offs
CAT Answer key Slot-2: Total Questions, Exam Difficulty Level, Expected Cut offs
CAT Answer key Slot-3: Total Questions, Exam Difficulty Level, Expected Cut offs
CAT 2021 Answer Keys: Marking Scheme in CAT Exam
Each correct answer in CAT 2021 carries +3 marks and each wrong answer imposes a negative penalty of -1 mark for MCQ type questions. There is no negative marking for wrong answers on Non-MCQ type questions. What you attempted in CAT 2021 exam, if you remember a good part of it, you may arrive at your near CAT raw scores and on its basis and can check what percentile you could get with the help of CAT answer keys. Following table tells you about your expected score as per the CAT 2021 marking scheme:
Section | Total questions | Total MCQs (With negative marking) | Total Non-MCQs (Without negative marking) | Total Maximum Marks |
Section-1: Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC) | 24 | 19 | 5 | 72 |
Section-2: Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR) | 20 | 15 | 5 | 60 |
Section-3: Quantitative Ability (QA) | 22 | 14 | 8 | 66 |
Total | 66 | 48 | 18 | 198 |
Source: MBAUniverse.com analysis
Check your CAT 2021 Percentile here
Challenging the CAT Answer Key: Key Points
The last date to raise CAT 2021 answer key objection is Dec 11, 2021 till 5 PM which is 3 days after release of CAT answer key. Four key points to note about raising objection to CAT answer key are:
How to File Objection to CAT Answer Key
Candidates should follow important instructions shared below and as released by IIMs to file objection to CAT answer key:
Eligibility to Check CAT Exam Answer Key
The CAT answer keys are available for view and download only for the CAT 2021 test takers who have actually taken the CAT exam 2021.
A candidate who appears in Slot 1 can check CAT 2021 Slot 1 Answer Key and the candidate who appeared in Slot 2 or slot 3 can verify his answers with the respective slot of CAT Answer Keys. If you have appeared in Slot 1, you are not eligible to check CAT 2021 Slot 2 answer keys and if you have appeared in Slot 2 or 3, you are not eligible to view and check other slot of CAT 2021 answer keys.
Which Browser to use to download CAT Answer Keys?
It is advisable to open the CAT 2021 website in mozila firefox with the recommended version to get faster navigation through the page as there is heavy rush of the test takers who check the CAT 2021 Slot 1, Slot 2 and Slot-3 answer keys when they are released.
The CAT answer keys pdf is released for the CAT exam alongwith an objection form suggesting the CAT exam takers to submit their queries and objections in case they are not satisfied CAT question paper with solutions.
What after Checking CAT Answer Key & CAT Performance? Way Ahead...
Now that you have checked your CAT answer key and have arrived at your expected raw CAT score, you need to move forward towards exploring admission opportunity in top MBA colleges.
So, if your CAT score is good enough, you can check your expected percentile and explore shortlisting opportunity in IIMs and other top B-schools and apply before the last date is over. In case, you are not satisfied with your CAT score, you have other good options like taking other MBA entrance exams XAT, NMAT, SNAP, TISSNET, IBSAT, CMAT, MAT and check the best MBA colleges accepting these exam scores. Check following important links related to conversion of your CAT Score to Percentile, MBA Colleges Accepting CAT, MBA Admission Last Date in B-schools, Other best MBA Entrance exams besides CAT and more
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The CAT Answer keys were first released by IIMs for the CAT exam held in 2017. CAT 2021 Slot 1 Slot 2 and slot-3 Answer Key are released simultaneously to enable the candidates who have appeared in any slot of CAT exam to check the CAT questions and CAT Answer Key for his/her respective CAT question paper.
Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more updates on CAT 2021