Dear Aspirant,

Preparing for CAT is a step towards fulfilling your dream of an MBA, so how you choose to prepare becomes the deciding factor of your exam. It is not an easy exam because of being one of the most competitive exams in the country. So here are some basic steps to prepare and ace it!

Know the exam pattern and syllabus in detail : The duration of the exam is 3 hours and you will roughly have an hour to complete each section. This will be a computer-based test with a total number of 100. Each correct answer will secure 3 marks and there will a negative marking of 1 mark for every wrong answer. There are three sections: Quantitative Ability (QA), Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC) and Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR). Out of this DILR will have 32 questions and the other two sections, i.e., QA and VARC will have 34 questions. There will be 7-10 non MCQ type questions in each section.

The syllabus is-

DILR- Bar Graphs, Caselets, Column Graphs, Tables, Blood Relations, Calendars, Cubes, Clocks, Number and Letter Series, Binary Logic, Seating Arrangement, Line Charts, Venn Diagrams, Pie Chart, Combination of two or more types linked to each other, Syllogism etc.

QA- Trigonometry, Arithmetic, Higher Maths, Mensuration, Algebra, Geometry, etc.

VARC- English Usage or Grammar, Jumbled Paragraph, Close Passage, Verbal Ability, Reading Comprehension, Synonyms Antonyms, Verbal Reasoning, Facts-Inferences-Judgements etc.

Choose your study material wisely : To prepare for CAT, here are some books you can consider.

• NCERT books from class 6th to 10th
• Quantitative Aptitude for CAT by Nishit Saxena
• Quantitative Aptitude Quantum CAT by Sarvesh Sharma
• How to Prepare for Quantitative Aptitude for the CAT by Arun Sharma
• Quantitative Aptitude for Competitive Examinations by Abhijit Guha
• High School Grammar and Composition by Wren and Martin
• Word Power Made Easy by Norman Lewis
• How to Prepare for Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension for the CAT by Arun Sharma and Meenakshi Upadhyay
• Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension For The CAT by Nishit Sinha
• Logical Reasoning and Data Interpretation for the CAT by Nishit Sinha
• A Modern Approach to Logical Reasoning by R.S. Agarwal
• How to Prepare for Logical Reasoning for CAT by Arun Sharma

Other than this, solve question papers . Find one of the question banks here:

https://bschool.careers360.com/articles/cat-sample-paper

This will help you analyse your progress so far and what are your strengths and weaknesses and aid your course of preparation.

Be sincere, confident and dedicate your time religiously to the discourse of preparation. Be with people who motivate you to move forward in this discourse and use the internet for guidance from time to time.

Hope this helps. All the best!

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.

Overall,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


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

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