CAT Exam Pattern, Syllabus, Preparation Tips and Top Colleges

About CAT

CAT is India's most competitive MBA entrance exam, used for admission to the IIMs and accepted by hundreds of other B-schools. It tests data interpretation and logical reasoning as a standalone section, alongside quant and verbal, under strict sectional time limits - you can't borrow time from one section to finish another.

• Full name: Common Admission Test
• Conducted by: Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), on rotation

CAT Exam Pattern

• Mode: Computer-based test (CBT), sectional timing enforced
• Duration: ~120 minutes (individual sectional time limits apply)
• Total questions: ~66 questions (MCQ + Type-In-The-Answer/TITA)
• Marking scheme: +3 for correct, -1 for wrong MCQ answers, no negative marking on TITA

Sections

• Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC): ~24 questions
• Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR): ~20 questions
• Quantitative Ability (QA): ~22 questions

CAT Syllabus

Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension

• Long and short reading comprehension passages
• Para jumbles
• Para summary
• Odd sentence out
• Critical reasoning within passages

Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning

• Tables, bar/line/pie charts, caselets
• Set-based puzzles (arrangement, scheduling, grouping)
• Games and tournaments
• Network and route diagrams
• Data sufficiency-style reasoning

Quantitative Ability

• Arithmetic (percentages, averages, ratio-proportion, time-work, TSD)
• Algebra (equations, inequalities, functions)
• Number systems
• Geometry and mensuration
• Permutation, combination & probability
• Logarithms, indices, and surds

How to Prepare for CAT

• Guess with care. Wrong answers cost marks in CAT (+3 for correct, -1 for wrong MCQ answers, no negative marking on TITA), so answer when you are confident or can eliminate options.
• Always attempt the TITA questions. Type-in answers carry no negative marking.
• Practise in exam conditions. The exam runs for ~120 minutes (individual sectional time limits apply) with ~66 questions (MCQ + Type-In-The-Answer/TITA), so train with timed, full-length mocks.
• Review every mock. Check your section-wise accuracy and time per question to find where marks are leaking, then fix that first.

Ready to test yourself? Take a CAT mock test on Percentile Lab and get your score, percentile and section-wise breakdown.

Top Colleges Accepting CAT

• IIM Ahmedabad
• IIM Bangalore
• IIM Calcutta
• IIM Lucknow
• IIM Kozhikode
• IIM Indore
• Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), Delhi
• SP Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR), Mumbai
• MDI Gurgaon
• IIM Shillong

CAT Tentative Dates

• Registration opens: Early August
• Registration closes: Mid-September
• Exam day: Last Sunday of November
• Result: Early January

These dates are tentative and can change - always confirm on the official notification.