CAT 2021 Answer Key Released: Check how to Download, Verify your Responses, Calculate Your CAT Score & 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

• An announcement was made on CAT website by IIM Ahmedabad before release of CAT answer key late night on December 7, 2021
• This announcement contains following text: “The Candidate Response tab and Objection Management tab for CAT 2021 will be active from 10 AM on December 8, 2021 till 5:00 PM on December 11, 2021. Candidates will be able to see the Answer Key as well as their Individual Responses to Questions during this duration
• Following this announcement, IIM Ahmedabad has released the CAT 2021 Answer Keys for all Slots – Slot 1, Slot 2, Slot 3.
• Here are key details:

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

• CAT 2021 Official Answer Key for Slot 1
•  CAT 2021 Official Answer Key for Slot 2
• CAT 2021 Official Answer Key for Slot 3
• Process how to view & download CAT answer key
• Response Sheet for all candidates
• Details about Objection Filing Process

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:

1. Check Your Right Answers & Cut Offs: The announcement by IIMs for Answer Key Date for CAT 2021 makes the test takers ready to check what they had done in the exam as they have the opportunity to compare Official CAT 2021 Answer Key with their response sheet and assess how many MCQs and Non MCQs were correct and how many marks they have lost to arrive at the cut offs
2. Check your Expected CAT Score & Percentile: Official CAT 2021 Answer Keys enable the test takers to check & verify their CAT answers and thereby arrive at their expected CAT score
3. Check Admission Chances in Top MBA Colleges Accepting CAT: Once you know your likely score with CAT answer key, you can explore chances for MBA admission 2022 in IIMs, FMS, MDI, SPJIMR, IITs and other top MBA colleges accepting CAT. You can make choice among the CAT score accepting colleges according to expected score.
4. Explore Other MBA Entrance Exams: If your expected CAT percentile score is not upto your desired level, you still have good options to appear in other MBA entrance exams which are still open for MBA admission 2022 in top MBA colleges like XLRI-XAT 2022, NMIMS-NMAT, TISS-TISSNET, MAT, CMAT, IBSAT
5. Check MBA Colleges Open for MBA Admission 2022: Apart from taking MBA entrance exam, you need to check the last date to apply for admission in MBA colleges accepting CAT; MBA Colleges Accepting XAT; MBA Colleges accepting MAT among others

CAT Answer Key Pdf & Query cum Objection Form

• CAT answer keys Pdf is released with a Query-cum-objection form
• CAT solutions Pdf 2021 for the CAT Slot-wise Answer Key is released for all type of questions MCQs & Non-MCQs that appeared in CAT exam
• The candidates who are not satisfied with the CAT 2021 answer keys can challenge any answer by submitting objection to CAT centre 2021 to get the same redressed after paying requisite fee of Rs.1200/-If an objection raised by a candidate is found to be valid, the remedial measures taken by IIMs will be applicable to all the candidates.
• The objections received from the candidates after CAT Slot-wise Answer Key Release by the CAT centre will be reviewed. If there is no change perceived by IIMs in the CAT answer key, the objection will not be entertained.

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 Question paper for the respective slot
• Test Taker’s Responses
• Correct Answers by IIMs
• As per the past trends, there are four question paper sets in each slot of CAT exam
• On login to CAT official website, the test taker can get access only to that CAT question paper with answer keys pdf which he attempted in his/her slot. 

CAT Answer key Slot-1: Total Questions, Exam Difficulty Level, Expected Cut offs

• Slot-1 of CAT 2021 was conducted from 8.30AM to 10.30AM on Nov 28, 2021
• CAT slot-1 question paper was rated easier than last year
• The question paper had 66 questions
• Experts expect 99 percentile at a raw score of 97-100
• CAT slot-1 answer key can be downloaded from the official CAT website only by the test takers who appeared in CAT slot-1

CAT Answer key Slot-2: Total Questions, Exam Difficulty Level, Expected Cut offs

• Slot-2 of CAT 2021 was conducted from 12.30 PM to 2.30 PM on Nov 28, 2021
• CAT slot-2 question paper difficulty level was rated more or less same as that of slot-1
• The question paper had 66 questions
• Experts expect 99 percentile at a raw score of 98-102
• CAT slot-2 answer key can be downloaded from the official CAT website only by the test takers who appeared in CAT slot-2

CAT Answer key Slot-3: Total Questions, Exam Difficulty Level, Expected Cut offs

• Slot-3 of CAT 2021 was conducted from 4.30PM to 6.30PM on Nov 28, 2021
• CAT slot-3 was slightly more difficult
• The question paper had 66 questions
• Experts expect 99 percentile at a raw score of 97-100  in slot-3
• CAT slot-3 answer key can be downloaded from the official CAT website only by the test takers who appeared in CAT slot-3

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:

• The CAT 2021 objection form to challenge the official CAT answer keys is released along with the release of CAT 2021 answer key
• No changes are allowed after submission of your CAT answer key objection form
• An objection fee of Rs.1200/- to challenge each official answer key will have to be paid per objection. You can raise only one objection at a time. 

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:

1. The candidate can look at the Question Id from the Question Paper PDF available beside the "Candidate Response" tab. Candidate should ensure that the Question Id is as per the Question Paper PDF only.
2. After the candidate has filled all the required fields such as Section Name, Question Id etc., (s)he should click on "Pay & Submit" button to complete the payment process and submit the objection successfully.
3. Applicable fee is Rs. 1200* per objection. This fee does not include transaction Processing Fee and applicable GST (if any).
4. Objection fee (excluding transaction charges) will be refunded in case your objection is found valid by CAT expert panel.
5. Objections once submitted cannot be edited later.
6. Only one objection can be raised at a time.
7. Response of the concerned examination authority will be treated as final against the objections raised. In case this process leads to any change in the evaluation mechanism, the decision taken by the concerned authority will be treated as final.
8. Wherever applicable, the indicated mark of 1 for wrong answer is the mark deducted for incorrect answer.  

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

CAT Score Vs Percentile Top MBA Colleges Accepting CAT 2021 MBA Admission 2021: Last Date to apply for top B-schools CAT 2021 Over: Check Other top MBA Entrance Exams

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