Skip to content
Free shipping above ₹499
Oakspine Press

Entrance exams

CAT preparation

Common Admission Test for the IIMs and other business schools.

24 free guides·Conducted by Indian Institutes of ManagementOfficial website

About the CAT exam

CAT, the Common Admission Test, is the entrance test for the Indian Institutes of Management and many other business schools. The IIMs take turns to run it, and CAT 2026 is being conducted by IIM Indore. Any graduate with 50 per cent (45 per cent for SC, ST and PwBD candidates) can sit it. There is no age limit, and final-year students can apply.

The test lasts two hours, in three 40-minute sections taken in a fixed order: VARC, then DILR, then quantitative ability. A correct answer earns 3 marks. A wrong multiple-choice answer costs 1, but typed-answer (TITA) questions carry no penalty. Raw scores are scaled across slots and turned into percentiles. Your percentile gets you shortlisted, but each IIM builds its own composite score from it, your academics and work experience, and then a written ability test and interview. Selection goes on well after the result.

Read the Start here guides first: the pattern, eligibility and selection, how percentiles work, the syllabus, a six-month plan, section strategy and mock analysis. Then work subject by subject. Daily reading helps both VARC and DILR, and QA needs Class 10 basics made fast. Many IIMs apply sectional cut-offs, so you can’t give up on any section.

CAT exam pattern at a glance
SectionsVARC, DILR and QA: 40 minutes each, in a fixed order; 2 hours in all
Questions68 in 2024 and 2025 (VARC 24, DILR 22, QA 22). Check the latest notification
MarkingMCQ +3 / −1; TITA +3, no negative marking
ScoringScaled across slots and reported as percentiles
EligibilityBachelor’s degree with 50% (45% for SC, ST and PwBD)

Patterns change. Confirm details in the latest notification on the official website.

Start here

New to CAT? Read these first, in this order.

  1. 1The CAT exam pattern explainedSixty-eight questions, three sections, forty minutes each, and no going back. How CAT is structured, how MCQ and TITA marking works, and what the pattern means for the way you prepare and attempt the paper.
  2. 2CAT eligibility and the IIM selection processWho can take CAT, and how does a CAT score become an IIM admission? Eligibility rules, shortlisting, WAT and interviews, and the composite score, explained step by step.
  3. 3How CAT scores, scaling and percentiles workRaw score, scaled score, percentile. Three numbers that confuse most CAT candidates. What each one means, why slots are normalised, and why your percentile depends on everyone else.
  4. 4The CAT syllabus, section by sectionCAT publishes no official syllabus, but past papers show a clear pattern. What each section covers, how questions are asked, and a sensible order to study in.
  5. 5A six-month CAT planSix months is enough for a serious CAT attempt if the time is used well. A month-by-month plan that builds foundations, adds practice and ends with a full mock season.
  6. 6Forty-minute sections and TITA: exam-day strategyEach CAT section is a separate 40-minute race. How to plan VARC, DILR and QA, how to treat TITA questions, and when a guess is worth taking.
  7. 7Mock tests and analysis for CATMocks are the heart of CAT preparation, but only if you analyse them well. When to start, how many to take, a step-by-step analysis method and how to track real improvement.

Subject by subject

Strategy

Guides on the pattern, eligibility, percentiles and scaling, study plans, mocks, section strategy, IIM shortlisting and colleges beyond the IIMs. Question counts and the mix of MCQ and TITA questions have shifted between years, so confirm the pattern in each year’s bulletin.

All 14 Strategy guides

VARC

The first section: 24 questions in 40 minutes in recent years. It is mostly reading comprehension, plus verbal ability questions such as para jumbles, summaries and odd sentence out. Some verbal questions are TITA, with no penalty for a wrong answer.

All 10 VARC guides

Latest CAT guides

CATVARCOdd sentence out in CAT: how to find the one that does not belongFive sentences, four of which make a paragraph. How to build the paragraph first, spot the sentence that shares a keyword but shifts focus, and avoid the traps, with original worked sets. 6 min read·29 Sept 2026CATVARCPara jumbles in CAT: a method that finds the one right orderArrange four or five sentences into a coherent paragraph and type the sequence. How to find the opener, lock mandatory pairs, build blocks and check the flow, with original worked sets. 7 min read·28 Sept 2026CATVARCPara summary questions in CAT: method, traps and worked examplesChoose the option that best captures a paragraph's essence. A three-part method for writing your own summary, the four traps that make wrong options look right, and original worked examples. 7 min read·27 Sept 2026CATVARCA worked CAT RC passage: every option explainedAn original CAT-style passage with four questions, a paragraph map and an explanation for every option, plus a second timed passage to try on your own. 8 min read·26 Sept 2026CATVARCTone, purpose and the author's view in CAT RCWhat does the author think, and why did they write this sentence? How to read tone and purpose in CAT passages, a graded list of tone words, an original worked passage and short tone drills with answers. 7 min read·25 Sept 2026CATVARCInference questions in CAT RC: how far is too far?Inference questions ask what the passage implies. A method for judging how much support an option has, the traps that catch most candidates, and original passages with every wrong option explained. 8 min read·25 Sept 2026