Forty-minute sections and TITA: exam-day strategy

Because each section is locked to 40 minutes, CAT is really three short exams in a row. You cannot borrow time from a section you find easy, and you cannot come back to one you rushed. A candidate without a plan tends to do one of two things: sink ten minutes into a single stubborn question, or panic and click through options hoping for luck.

A plan for each section fixes both. It does not need to be complicated. It needs to tell you what to do in the first few minutes, how long to give a question before moving on, and what to do in the last five minutes.

The arithmetic of guessing

Before any section plan, get the numbers straight. A correct answer is +3. A wrong MCQ is −1. A wrong TITA answer is 0.

So:

• MCQ: a blind guess gains nothing on average and adds risk. Guess only when you have genuinely eliminated at least one option, and preferably two.
• TITA: always enter your best answer if you have worked on the question. A wrong TITA answer costs nothing.

The two-round method

The idea works in every section.

1. Round one: go through the section and attempt only what looks clearly doable. If a question or passage looks long or unclear, mark it and move on without guilt.
2. Round two: return to marked items in order of promise.
3. Last few minutes: make sure every TITA you worked on has an answer, and check that nothing is left half-entered.

The point of round one is to make sure you never lose an easy question simply because you did not reach it.

VARC: 40 minutes

The recent pattern has four RC passages and a set of verbal ability questions.

• Start with the passage you find most readable, not necessarily the first on screen.
• Read the passage once, properly, before the questions. Rereading the whole passage for each question is the biggest time drain in VARC.
• Answer from what the passage says, not what you believe.
• For para jumbles, find a pair of sentences that must go together (a pronoun and its noun, a "however" and what it contrasts with) before trying to order the whole paragraph.

Some candidates prefer to do verbal ability first to bank quick marks. Either order works; test both in mocks and stick with one.

DILR: 40 minutes

DILR is about choice. With four or so sets, most candidates do well by solving two sets completely and making progress on a third.

• When scanning, look for sets with clear conditions, fewer variables and a structure you recognise.
• Set a cut-off: if a set has given you nothing after about five minutes, drop it and move to your next choice.
• Do not keep switching between sets. Each switch means rebuilding the structure in your head.
• Some questions in a hard set can be answered directly without solving the whole set. Look for them before abandoning it.

See DILR set selection for how to rank sets quickly.

QA: 40 minutes

QA has 22 questions of mixed difficulty, spread across topics.

• In round one, give yourself about a minute to see a path. If none appears, mark it and move on.
• Skip long calculations with uncertain outcomes.
• Use the options on MCQs: substituting values or checking which option satisfies a condition is often faster than solving.

Our guide to TITA questions in QA covers the TITA side in more detail.

Worked example: how a plan changes the score

Two candidates face the same QA section, and both could solve 14 questions given unlimited time.

• Candidate A goes in order, spends 8 minutes on question 3, finishes 10 questions with 8 right and 2 wrong MCQs. Score: 8 × 3 − 2 = 22.
• Candidate B uses two rounds, skips question 3, and finishes 13 questions with 11 right. Of the 2 wrong, one is a TITA. Score: 11 × 3 − 1 = 32.

Same ability, ten marks apart. The difference is entirely in the plan.

Between sections

When a section ends, let it go. You cannot change it, and dwelling on a hard VARC costs marks in DILR. Take two slow breaths, read the first DILR set carefully, and start fresh.

The same applies inside a section. If a passage or set goes badly, the next one is a new start.

Section comparison

Practice set

1. You have eliminated two options on an MCQ. What is the expected gain from guessing?
2. With 3 minutes left in QA you have two TITA questions half-worked. What should you do?
3. Five minutes into a DILR set, you have made no progress. What now?

Answers:

1. (1 × 3 − 1 × 1) ÷ 2 = +1 mark on average, so guessing is worthwhile.
2. Enter your best answer in both. A wrong TITA answer costs nothing.
3. Check for any question you can answer directly; if none, move to your next-ranked set.

What to do next

• Write a one-line plan for each section and test it in your next three mocks.
• After each mock, note where you broke the plan and why.
• Practise DILR scanning: five minutes to rank four sets, then check your ranking against the solutions.
• Read mock tests and analysis for CAT to connect the plan to your analysis.