CAT Exam Pattern

The Common Admission Test (CAT) is a prestigious national entrance exam conducted annually by the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) for admission into their MBA programs. Held on the last Sunday of November, the exam is administered in three time slots across more than 170 cities. There are 21 IIMs in total, comprising 7 established IIMs and 14 newer or "baby" IIMs. While the older IIMs use the CAT application form as both an exam and admission application, the newer and baby IIMs follow the Common Admission Process (CAP) to shortlist candidates for admission.

CAT 2024 Exam Pattern

The initial stage before starting preparation for an exam is to know about the CAT exam syllabus. The CAT exam schedule contains three sections. These sections are QA, VARC, and DILR. QR stands for quantitative aptitude that section includes grade tenth-level mathematics.

VARC stands for verbal ability & reading comprehension. That section includes grammar and comprehensive type questions. DILR means data interpretation & logical reasoning. That includes analysis of puzzles and pie charts.

Mode of CAT exam	Computer Based Test
Time Duration	120 minutes 40 minutes per section
Exam slots	Morning: 8:30 AM to 10:30 AM Afternoon: 12:30 PM to 2:30 PM Evening: 4:30 PM to 6:30 PM
Number of questions	66
Total marks	198
Language of question paper	English
Number of options	4
Question Type	MCQ and non-MCQ
Marking Pattern	For every right answer: +3 will be awarded For every wrong answer: -1 will be deducted No negative marks for Non-MCQs based questions

Sections	Questions	Time (in mins)
Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC)	24	40
Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR)	20	40
Quantitative Aptitude (QA)	22	40
Total	66	120

Section-wise CATExpected Exam Pattern 2024

Sections	Total Qs	MCQs	Non-MCQs	Max Marks
VARC	24	21	5	78
DILR	20	18	6	72
QA	22	18	8	78
Total	66	57	19	228