CAT Exam
CAT (Common Admission Test) is an entrance exam conducted by IIMs for admission to PGDM or MBA courses in IIMs and top business schools in India. It is important to understand CAT exam syllabus before starting your preparation.
CAT Exam Pattern
We will just look into CAT exam pattern before we go into the syllabus.
- CAT exam is a computer based test (CBT).
- It consists of 100 questions
- Questions are coming from three sections:
- Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC)
- Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR)
- Quantitative Aptitude (QA)
- Total exam time is 3 hours or 180 minutes
- Each section is allocated 1 hour
- It is not possible to switch between sections, switching between questions within the section is allowed.
CAT Exam Syllabus
IIMs are not issuing or pre-defining CAT syllabus. This CAT syllabus is based on past question papers and exam patterns. This syllabus can give an idea about what topics should be concentrate while preparing for CAT exam.
Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC) CAT Syllabus
This section consists of 34 questions. 24 questions in Reading Comprehension and 10 questions in the Verbal Ability section. The syllabus from previous question pattern are as follows:
- English grammar and usage
- Fill in the blanks questions
- Sentence correction
- Sentence completion
- Para completion and inference
- Synonyms and antonyms
- Idioms
- One word substitution
- Meaning and usage match
- Jumbled paragraph and close passage
- Analogies and reverse analogies
- Verbal logic
- Verbal reasoning
- Summary questions
- Jumbled paragraphs
- Odd sentences in paragraphs jumbles
- Summary questions
- Reading comprehension
- Fact based
- Inference based
- Vocabulary based
- Facts, inferences and judgments
Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR) CAT Syllabus
There are 32 questions in the DILR section. Both sections Data Interpretation (DI) and Logical Reasoning (LR) consists 16 questions each.
- Direction sense
- Caselets based data
- Data tables
- Bar graphs and column graphs
- Venn diagrams and sets
- Line charts and pie chart
- Puzzles
- Coding and decoding
- Number and letter series
- Calendars, cubes and clocks
- Binary logic
- Seating arrangement
- Matching
- Data arrangement
- Data structures
- Logical Sequence
- Connectives
- Family tree
- Blood relations
Quantitative Aptitude (QA) CAT Syllabus
The QA section consists of 34 questions.
- Number systems
- LCM and HCF
- Algebra
- Profit, loss and discount
- Percentages
- Distance, time and speed
- Work and time
- Simple and compound interest
- Ratios and proportion
- Averages
- Quadratic and linear equations
- Geometric progression
- Complex numbers
- Logarithm
- Binomial theorem
- Sequences and series
- Surds and indices
- Inequalities
- Probability
- Permutation and combination
- Set theory
- Functions
- Mixtures and allegations
- Geometry
- Trigonometry
- Mensuration
- Partnership (Accounts)