Dear Pradipti, CAT is an online examination of 3 hours duration.The questions in the exam will be of MCQ and TITA type totaling 100 questions. MCQ are multiple choice questions, for which candidates get multiple answer choices. Each Question has 3 marks and a wrong answer takes away 1 mark. However Type in the Answer questions are exempted from Negative Marking.

CAT exam paper can be Categorised into 3 parts:

Quantitative Ability
Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension
Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning

The Verbal Ability section and Reading Comprehension has 34 Questions, Data interpretation-Logical Reasoning section has 32 MCQ questions and Quantitative Ability has 34 MCQ questions totalling up to 100 questions. Each Question has 3 marks and a wrong answer takes away 1 mark.

First things first, know the syllabus. And go through the previous papers to analyse and prepare a comprehensive plan and set priorities according to the importance of different topics across sections.Customise your own study plan based on your strengths and weaknesses. Gauge your preparation from time to time by taking mock tests. Solve questions to check your levels of preparation but not to set any targets. Remember, its ok to have cheat days and relax. But make sure you have a plan and stick to it for the next few months because even Rome wasnt built in a day.


NCERT books will sharpen your basics and you need strong basics for preparing for any entrance examination. Once your basics are in place, because the time period for preparation is quite less, your preparation should be extensive and thorough.

Quantitative Aptitude covers almost 30% of the CAT question paper. QA can be categorised into Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry and Advanced Mathematics. Practise chapter by chapter and develop mental calculations. Like practise more of basic summation, subtraction, fractions and tables. Numbers, Percentage, Profit and Loss, Simple and Compound Interest, Ratio, Proportionality, Time-Distance, Time-Work, Mixtures, Averages, Partnership, Permutation and Combinations, Probability, Set Theory, Progression and Series, Line, Angles, Triangles, Quadrilaterals, Polygon, Circles, Ares, Volume, Height and Distance, Coordinate Geometry, Basic Trigonometry are few important topics.

Preparation tips:

Because this section involves mathematics and takes most of your time, your focus should be on solving the problems efficiently in the beginning. Even if it takes time, practise upto perfection. Practise as many questions as you can in the conventional way. As and when you get a grip on the subject, you can go for short cuts. Memorise tables, square roots, cube roots, conversion from percent to fraction, etc. Solve sample papers on Mathematics. In the beginning, do not worry about the time it takes. As you practise, you will get the hang of the subject and it will be easier for you.


In Verbal Ability session, command on your English, Grammar, Vocabulary, Understanding of the given paragraph are of more importance. Reading English NewsPaper will also help you in your preparation.

Preparation tips:

Read articles from time to time. Follow newspapers, magazines, and watch the news channels and browse the internet to keep yourself updated. You will need a lot of reading to help you in the comprehension section. You will need speed to help you in this section and you can achieve that only by thorough practise and reading. Take time to understand the question because most answers are interlinked.


Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning needs to be practised as much as possible. Comparison of data, Data Analysis, taking clues, interpreting missing data, coming to conclusions and making future projections will be covered under this Category. The questions here are interlinked and so if you get one formula correct, cracking the next few questions will be easy. So it's important to memorise and practise formulae. You should cover topics like Data tables, Data Charts, Bar Diagrams, Pie Charts, Graphs, Data Comparison and Analysis.

Preparation tips:

As this is the most tricky section, this needs a lot of practise. Solve as many sample papers as possible to get the hang of the section. Make notes when required. Regular practise can help you understand and solve the questions easily as time goes on.

Once you know the syllabus, it's easier from there on.Go through the previous papers to analyse and prepare a comprehensive plan and set priorities according to the importance of different topics across sections. Customise your own study plan based on your strengths and weaknesses. Gauge your preparation from time to time by taking mock tests. Solve questions to check your levels of preparation but not to set any targets. Remember, its ok to have cheat days and relax. But make sure you have a plan and stick to it for the next few months


We can recommend a few books for you:

NCERT books to cover the basics from 6th to 10th Class

Quantitative Aptitude for CAT by Nishit Saxena

Quantitative Aptitude Quantum for CAT by Sarvesh Sharma

How to prepare for Quantitative Aptitude for CAT by Arun Sharma

Quantitative Aptitude for Competitive Exams by Abhijit Guha

        Verbal Ability by Arun Sharma and Meenakshi Upadhyay

       Wiley English

        Vocabulary Wheels

        Verbal by Sujit Kumar

         40 Reading Comprehension Passages by PT Education

         A Student introduction to English Grammar by Rodney Huddleston and Geoffre K.Pullum


You can also download free downloadable e books at:
https://bschool.careers360.com/download/cat-ebooks

Any Educational Qualification other than your regular subjects can be awarded under Academic Diversity Factor. This is practised among all the IIMs and top B Schools. For Starters, you  need to secure 50% in Bachelor's degree from any discipline. It is 50% for General Category and 45% for Reserved Categories. And the rest is dependant on your CAT score and other parameters.

Hello,

For NEET preparation, firstly you should know the detailed syllabus and the pattern of exam. You should be thorough with the NCERT text. Clearing of concepts is important. Follow a proper study routine and devote time to each subject. Solving previous year question papers and giving mock tests is also necessary part of the preparation. Stay focused, motivated and determined to score good marks in the exam.

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Good Luck!

hello aspirant......

for the preparation for jee mains in four months follow the above instructions

first make a plan so that you can get little bit analysis on the subject you are having and now according to your plan start preparing for your exam by managing your time

try to solve mock tests and also minimum 150-200 mcqs daily without fail and refer ncert and arihant books for the preparation you can get the information you need

i hope this information is helpful

all the best.

Dear Anusha, you havent mentioned if you have been working for the past 5 years because few IIMs also give weightage to Working experience. For example, IIM Lucknow,  prefers a minimum of 24 months as working experience for PGP-SM. Great Lakes Chennai needs freshers or less than 24 months of experience for its PGDM course. If your target is IIMs, your score should be atleast as follows:

General Category: 95+
OBC-NCL: 85+
SC: 65+
ST: 55+

And then your CAT section wise scores should be atleast:

                           QA            DLR          VARC       Overall
General              85              85              85               90
NC-OBC             77              77              77               82
SC                       55              55              55               70
ST                       50              50              50               65
PwD                    50             50              50                65

And once shortlisted for Written Ability Test and Personal Interviews, the weightage is approximately as follows:

Scaled CAT Score: 60
12th marks: 10
Graduation: 10
Work Experience: 10
Diversity Factor for Academics: 5
Diversiry Factor for Gender: 5

This is just a math of previous selection criteria. Now whether you can crack CAT or not, to answer this, lets see the format of CAT exam:

CAT exam paper can be Categorised into 3 parts:

Quantitative Ability
Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension
Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning

The Verbal Ability section and Reading Comprehension has 34 Questions, Data interpretation-Logical Reasoning section has 32 MCQ questions and Quantitative Ability has 34 MCQ questions totalling up to 100 questions. Each Question has 3 marks and a wrong answer takes away 1 mark. CAT exam is not something where in you are either declared PASS or FAIL. Its a measure of your performance among other applicants. Better the percentile, fairer the chance of getting into Top B schools. For example, if your score is 90 percentile, it means you did better than 90 percent of the Candidates who applied. Now cracking CAT and faring better than a certain percent of Candidates totally depends on how you prepare. May be this can help you in your preparation:
Quantitative Aptitude covers almost 30% of the CAT question paper. QA can be categorised into Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry and Advanced Mathematics. Practise chapter by chapter and develop mental calculations. Like practise more of basic summation, subtraction, fractions and tables. Numbers, Percentage, Profit and Loss, Simple and Compound Interest, Ratio, Proportionality, Time-Distance, Time-Work, Mixtures, Averages, Partnership, Permutation and Combinations, Probability, Set Theory, Progression and Series, Line, Angles, Triangles, Quadrilaterals, Polygon, Circles, Ares, Volume, Height and Distance, Coordinate Geometry, Basic Trigonometry are few important topics.

Preparation tips:

Because this section involves mathematics and takes most of your time, your focus should be on solving the problems efficiently in the beginning. Even if it takes time, practise upto perfection. Practise as many questions as you can in the conventional way. As and when you get a grip on the subject, you can go for short cuts. Memorise tables, square roots, cube roots, conversion from percent to fraction, etc. Solve sample papers on Mathematics. In the beginning, do not worry about the time it takes. As you practise, you will get the hang of the subject and it will be easier for you.


In Verbal Ability session, command on your English, Grammar, Vocabulary, Understanding of the given paragraph are of more importance. Reading English NewsPaper will also help you in your preparation.

Preparation tips:

Read articles from time to time. Follow newspapers, magazines, and watch the news channels and browse the internet to keep yourself updated. You will need a lot of reading to help you in the comprehension section. You will need speed to help you in this section and you can achieve that only by thorough practise and reading. Take time to understand the question because most answers are interlinked.


Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning needs to be practised as much as possible. Comparison of data, Data Analysis, taking clues, interpreting missing data, coming to conclusions and making future projections will be covered under this Category. The questions here are interlinked and so if you get one formula correct, cracking the next few questions will be easy. So it's important to memorise and practise formulae. You should cover topics like Data tables, Data Charts, Bar Diagrams, Pie Charts, Graphs, Data Comparison and Analysis.

Preparation tips:

As this is the most tricky section, this needs a lot of practise. Solve as many sample papers as possible to get the hang of the section. Make notes when required. Regular practise can help you understand and solve the questions easily as time goes on.

Hello,.
you can do it.

1) the chemistry portion is heavily drawn from the ncert textbooks of class 11 and 12. be sure to go through them. if you do understand and learn from these very well, scoring 25/30 problems won't be tough. i was very poor at chem and after working hard with the ncert for like 2 months in the end - i managed to score 73/120 in chem this year.

2) even though people find it untrue - but for the maths part, all you need to do is R D sharma of class 11 and 12 (only the solved examples). and the arihant book for jee main. you don't need to do books like m l khanna dasgupta for jee main. many of my friends never even touched them. and they have scored 95 - 100/120 in the maths portion of jee main.

3) physics is no doubt relatively tougher than maths and chem in jee main. you must solve books like ncert/pradeep religiously before moving on to hcv ki theory and the solved examples.
i myself couldn't score very well in physics. i didn't give much attention to the small details.. keep in mind that physics needs time. your time. :)

be sure to work hard.
Hope it helps