CAT does not publish a syllabus. The IIMs release a notification, announce the exam date, and leave the rest to you. What exists instead is fifteen years of exam data — and from that data, a very clear picture of what gets tested, how often, and at what difficulty.
This is that breakdown.
Section 1: Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC)
VARC carries 24 questions and runs for 40 minutes. It is the section most students underestimate and the one that separates 90 percentile from 99 percentile more than any other.
Reading Comprehension
RC accounts for roughly 70% of VARC — typically 16 questions across 4 passages. Passage length ranges from 400 to 600 words. Topics are deliberately abstract: philosophy, science, history, economics, literary criticism. The passages are not chosen to be accessible — they are chosen to be difficult.
Question types within RC:
- Main idea / central theme — what is the passage primarily about
- Inference — what can be logically concluded from the passage
- Author's tone and attitude — what is the author's stance
- Vocabulary in context — what a specific word means in the passage
- Title questions — which title best suits the passage
- Paragraph function — why a specific paragraph exists
The critical skill in RC is not reading fast. It is reading with structure — understanding what each paragraph is doing, how arguments are built, and what the author is and is not saying.
Verbal Ability
VA accounts for roughly 30% of VARC — typically 8 questions. These are entirely Non-MCQ (TITA — Type In The Answer), meaning no negative marking.
Question types:
- Para Jumbles — arrange 4-5 sentences into a coherent paragraph
- Para Summary — choose the best one-sentence summary of a paragraph
- Odd Sentence Out — identify which sentence does not belong in a paragraph
Para Jumbles and Odd Sentence Out require the same underlying skill: understanding how arguments flow, what connects to what, and what the central idea of a paragraph is.
Section 2: Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR)
DILR carries 22 questions and runs for 40 minutes. It is the most variable section in CAT — difficulty swings dramatically year to year. In 2023, DILR was approachable. In 2021, it broke most students.
Data Interpretation
DI involves extracting and calculating information from data presented in various formats:
- Tables — straightforward extraction, often with calculations
- Bar charts — single and grouped, percentage and absolute
- Line graphs — trend analysis, rate of change
- Pie charts — percentage calculations, combinations with tables
- Caselets — data presented in paragraph form, no visual
DI questions test calculation speed, approximation skill, and the ability to identify what the question is actually asking before touching any numbers.
Logical Reasoning
LR involves solving puzzles built around constraints:
- Seating arrangements — linear, circular, rectangular
- Blood relations — family tree construction
- Scheduling / sequencing — who does what, when
- Games and tournaments — knockout, league, mixed formats
- Syllogisms — logical deduction from given statements
- Binary logic — truth-tellers, liars, alternators
- Venn diagrams — set-based problems
The key to LR is not intelligence — it is systematic case construction. Every LR set has a definitive solution. The student who builds cases methodically beats the student who tries to hold it in their head.
Section 3: Quantitative Ability (QA)
QA carries 22 questions and runs for 40 minutes. It is the most syllabus-heavy section and the one where structured preparation pays off most directly.
Arithmetic — Highest Weightage
- Percentages, Profit & Loss, Discount
- Ratio & Proportion, Mixtures & Alligation
- Time, Speed & Distance
- Time & Work, Pipes & Cisterns
- Simple & Compound Interest
- Average, Mean, Median, Mode
Arithmetic accounts for 35-40% of QA questions every year without exception.
Algebra
- Linear equations, Quadratic equations
- Inequalities and Modulus
- Functions and Graphs
- Polynomials
- Progressions — AP, GP, HP
Number Theory
- Divisibility rules and HCF/LCM
- Remainders and Cyclicity
- Factors and Factorials
- Unit digit and last two digits
- Base conversions
Geometry and Mensuration
- Lines, Angles, Triangles (similarity, congruence, area)
- Circles, Chords, Tangents
- Quadrilaterals and Polygons
- 3D figures — Cubes, Cylinders, Cones, Spheres
- Coordinate Geometry
Modern Mathematics
- Permutation and Combination
- Probability
- Set Theory
- Logarithms
- Surds and Indices
The CAT Exam Pattern — 2026
| Section | Questions | Duration | MCQ | TITA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VARC | 24 | 40 min | ~16 | ~8 |
| DILR | 22 | 40 min | ~16 | ~6 |
| QA | 22 | 40 min | ~14 | ~8 |
| Total | 68 | 120 min |
Marking: +3 for correct MCQ, -1 for wrong MCQ. TITA questions: +3 for correct, 0 for wrong — no negative marking.
What This Means for Your Preparation
Three things follow directly from this syllabus:
First, VARC cannot be prepared the way QA can. You cannot memorise grammar rules and crack RC. RC requires consistent reading of high-quality non-fiction — not shortcuts.
Second, DILR preparation is almost entirely about practice variety. You need to have seen enough set-types that nothing on exam day is unfamiliar. The logic does not change — only the surface structure does.
Third, QA has a clear priority order. Arithmetic first, always. A student who is exceptional at Arithmetic and average at everything else will outscore a student who is mediocre at everything.
The students who crack CAT are not the ones who covered everything. They are the ones who covered the right things deeply, built speed through repetition, and did not panic when the exam was harder than expected.
That combination is trainable. It just requires structure.