The CAT exam pattern explained

The Common Admission Test (CAT) is the entrance test for the Indian Institutes of Management and a long list of other business schools. The IIMs take turns running it; CAT 2026 is being conducted by IIM Indore and is scheduled for Sunday, 29 November 2026, in three slots at test centres across India.

Most Indian exams reward what you know. CAT rewards what you can do with a small amount of school-level knowledge when the clock is running and you cannot go back. That is why the pattern is worth understanding in detail before you open a single topic. It decides how you should read, how you should practise and, on the day, which questions you should leave alone.

The structure at a glance

CAT is a computer-based test of 120 minutes, split into three sections of 40 minutes each.

With 3 marks per question, the maximum possible score is 68 × 3 = 204. Nobody needs anything close to that. Candidates who score well usually attempt a selected share of each section and get most of those right.

Fixed order, fixed time

The sections always come in the same order: VARC, then DILR, then QA. Each has a hard 40-minute limit.

• You cannot move to the next section early. If you finish VARC in 35 minutes, you wait.
• You cannot return to a previous section once its time is up.
• Unused time does not carry over.

Inside a section you can move freely between questions, mark questions for review and change answers until the 40 minutes end.

This has two consequences. First, you cannot "save" a bad section with extra time from a good one. Second, your preparation must include being fresh at minute 81, when QA starts and your concentration has already been spent on two hard sections.

How marking works

There are two kinds of questions.

TITA questions have no options. You type a number, or in para jumbles a sequence such as 3142, using an on-screen keypad. Because a wrong TITA answer costs nothing, you should always enter an answer for any TITA question you have worked on, even if you are unsure.

Worked example: scoring a section

Suppose a candidate in QA attempts 12 MCQs and 5 TITA questions. They get 9 MCQs right and 3 wrong, and 4 TITA right and 1 wrong.

• MCQ: 9 × 3 − 3 × 1 = 27 − 3 = 24
• TITA: 4 × 3 = 12 (the wrong one costs nothing)
• Section raw score: 24 + 12 = 36

Now suppose the same candidate had also guessed blindly on 4 more MCQs and got 1 of them right. That adds 3 − 3 = 0. Blind guessing on four-option MCQs gains nothing on average; it only adds risk.

Slots, scaling and percentiles

Because CAT runs in several slots with different papers, one slot can be harder than another. Raw scores are therefore scaled (normalised) so that slot difficulty does not help or hurt anyone. Scaled scores are then turned into percentiles, overall and for each section. B-schools shortlist on these percentiles, not on raw marks.

Our guide to how CAT scaling and percentiles work explains this step by step.

What each section tests

• VARC: mostly reading comprehension (typically four passages with four questions each), plus verbal ability questions such as para jumbles, para summaries and odd sentence out. Some verbal ability questions are TITA.
• DILR: usually four sets built on tables, charts or logical conditions, each with four to six questions. Several are TITA. Choosing which sets to attempt is the main skill.
• QA: arithmetic, algebra, geometry, number system and modern maths, roughly at Class 10 level with some Class 11–12 ideas. Arithmetic and algebra usually carry the most questions.

For the topic list, see the CAT syllabus, section by section.

What the pattern means for preparation

Every section matters. Most IIMs apply sectional percentile cut-offs as well as an overall one. A candidate with a high overall percentile but a weak DILR score may not be shortlisted.

Selection beats completion. Very few candidates attempt everything. Good scores come from finding the more approachable passages, sets and questions quickly and getting them right.

Accuracy is worth more than volume. A wrong MCQ costs a third of a correct one. Ten attempts at 90% accuracy (9 right, 1 wrong) give 26 marks; fourteen attempts at 64% accuracy (9 right, 5 wrong) give only 22.

Stamina counts. Full-length mocks train you to think clearly in the third section. Sectional tests alone do not.

Quick self-test

1. What is the maximum raw score in CAT with 68 questions?
2. A candidate answers 10 MCQs (7 right) and 4 TITA (3 right) in DILR. What is the raw score?
3. You have 6 minutes left in VARC and have finished your chosen questions. Can you use that time in DILR?
4. Is it worth typing an answer to a TITA question you are only half sure of?

Answers:

1. 68 × 3 = 204.
2. MCQ: 7 × 3 − 3 = 18; TITA: 3 × 3 = 9; total 27.
3. No. Unused time does not carry over. Use it to recheck marked VARC questions.
4. Yes. A wrong TITA answer costs nothing, so an attempted answer can only help.

What to do next

• Download and read the official CAT bulletin for your year.
• Take one full-length mock early, even before you feel ready, to feel the 40-minute locks.
• Set a daily routine that touches all three sections, starting with reading.
• Read our guide to exam-day section strategy before your first mock.