CAT syllabus, section by section
- 68 questions, 204 marks, 120 minutes. Fixed order VARC, then DILR, then QA, with 40 minutes locked per section.
- +3 for a correct answer, −1 for a wrong MCQ. TITA (type-in-the-answer) questions appear in all three sections and have no negative marking.
- An on-screen basic calculator is provided. The IIMs do not announce question counts in advance.
VARC: Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension
Practice topics →24 questions · 72 marks · 40 minutes
CAT 2025: 4 reading-comprehension passages of 4 questions each, plus 8 verbal-ability items.
- Main idea and central theme
- Inference and implication
- Author’s tone and attitude
- Supporting / weakening arguments
- Vocabulary-in-context
- Para jumbles (sentence ordering)
- Para summary
- Odd sentence out
- The 40-minute lock is per section, so time not used in VARC cannot be carried into DILR or QA. Plan the section as a whole.
- Verbal-ability items are short, so many aspirants clear them first and then go to the passages. Whether that suits you is something to settle in mocks, not a rule.
- Wrong MCQs cost 1 mark; skipped questions cost nothing. Eliminate to two options before you commit.
- Any TITA question in this section has no negative marking, so always type in an answer.
DILR: Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning
Practice topics →22 questions · 66 marks · 40 minutes
CAT 2025: about five sets, each with 4–5 questions.
- Tables
- Bar, line and pie charts
- Caselets
- Data comparison and calculation-heavy sets
- Arrangements (linear, circular, grid)
- Games and tournaments
- Venn diagrams and sets
- Distribution / allocation puzzles
- Networks and routes
- Questions come in sets, so the choice of which sets to attempt matters more than speed. Spend the first few minutes scanning every set before committing.
- Abandon a set when you are stuck after the first couple of questions. Sunk time is the usual DILR mistake.
- TITA items carry no negative marking, so attempt them even when only partly sure.
- The on-screen basic calculator is the only calculator allowed. Practise with it.
QA: Quantitative Ability
Practice topics →22 questions · 66 marks · 40 minutes
CAT 2025: arithmetic was the biggest chunk, followed by algebra, geometry, number systems and modern maths.
- Percentages, profit and loss
- Ratio, proportion, averages
- Time, speed, distance and work
- Mixtures and alligation
- Simple and compound interest
- Linear and quadratic equations
- Inequalities
- Progressions
- Functions, logarithms and surds
- Lines, angles, triangles
- Circles
- Polygons and quadrilaterals
- Areas and volumes
- Divisibility, factors and remainders
- HCF and LCM
- Base systems
- Permutations and combinations
- Probability
- Set theory
- Since arithmetic was the largest block in CAT 2025, strong arithmetic accuracy is the base. Other areas add to it.
- Do a quick first pass for questions you can solve quickly, then return for the longer ones.
- Wrong MCQs cost 1 mark. TITA items cost nothing when wrong.
- Aim for accuracy first and speed second; sectional percentile minimums at most IIMs mean a lopsided score can disqualify you.
Why sectional balance matters
Because CAT runs in three slots on one day with different question papers, raw scores are converted to scaled (equated) scores — a statistical adjustment for slot difficulty — and percentiles are computed from the scaled scores. Your percentile (the share of candidates at or below your score) is the only number institutes see, along with sectional percentiles. Practical consequences: (1) never compare raw marks across slots or years; (2) maximise attempts where your slot's paper is soft — scaling protects you in a hard slot but doesn't reward complacency in an easy one; (3) sectional percentiles matter as much as the overall figure because most IIMs set per-section minimums for shortlists.