Syllabus of CAT

Syllabus of CAT





CAT - The Common Admission Test to the six IIMs is also the entrance test for few other top B-Schools such as SP Jain, MICA, and T A Pai. CAT tests your skills in five broad areas viz.

  1. Verbal ability and reasoning
  2. Reading Comprehension
  3. Quantitative skills
  4. Data Interpretation
  5. Analytical and Logical reasoning
Verbal Ability & Reasoning
Verbal ability and reasoning accounts for half of the verbal section
A typical 50 marks section of verbal comprises Verbal ability and reasoning section and the Reading Comprehension section. Verbal ability accounts for about 25 to 30 marks questions in the verbal section and the reamining 20 to 25 marks questions are Reading comprehension questions.
In CAT 2004 there were 0.5, 1 and 2 marks questions in the verbal section and in CAT 2005 there were 1 mark and 2 marks questions in the verbal section. CAT 2006 and CAT 2007 had 25 questions in the Verbal Ability section with each question carrying 4 marks. Of these 12 to 15 questions were Reading Comprehension question and the remaining questions were Verbal Reasoning questions.
The questions that typically appear in the verbal section can be classified in one of the following types
1.Vocabulary Based
Questions based on testing one’s vocabulary could be plain vanilla “synonym - antonym” questions as it appeared in CAT 2001, CAT 2002. Alternatively, the questions on vocabulary may appear as fill in the blank with the appropriate word as it appeared in the 0.5 marks section of CAT 2004 or as part of the 2 marks section in CAT 2005.
There have been interesting variations to this question as in CAT 2001 and CAT 2002 where a simple word was given. Four alternate usages for the word was given and four different shades of meaning for the word was given. One had to match the usage with the appropriate meaning. A sample of such a question is given if you follow the link at the bottom of the page.
However, please note that the emphasis on vocabulary has been on the decline and the need to memorize meanings of words such as “pleonasm” or “pterodactyl” is not essential to crack such questions in CAT.
2.English Usage / Grammar
Sentence correction or Grammar based questions appear in different flavours in the CAT verbal section. It could be questions where you are asked to spot the section of a sentence that is gramatically incorrect or it could be questions where a part of a sentence in underlined and you are provided with four or five alternative choices. You have to select the choice that0 corrects the error in the underlined part.
More recently in CAT 2005, questions on grammar appeared with a twist. A set of 4 sentences were given and you had to find out how many out of the 4 sentences were gramatically correct.
A good understanding of the basics of English grammar coupled with adequate exercises on the different types of common errors that appear in CAT will help you sail through these kinds of questions.
3.Verbal Reasoning
These questions could take multiple forms. The most common one is that of rearranging sentences of a paragraph. It could also include paraphrasing what has been said in a paragraph. In some CAT papers questions similar to the ones that appear in the Critical Reasoning section of GMAT have been tested.
CAT 2006 witnessed the comeback of Fact Inference Judgement questions. These questions which were a standard feature in CAT in the early 90s made a comeback in 2006. You will be given 3 or 4 sentences and will be asked to select which of the statements is a fact, which a judgement and which an inference.

CAT Reading Comprehension

Reading Comprehension accounts for a third to a half of the verbal section in CAT

A typical 100 marks section of verbal comprises Verbal ability and reasoning section and the Reading Comprehension section. Verbal ability accounts for about 40 to 60 marks questions in the verbal section and the reamining 60 to 40 marks questions are Reading comprehension questions. In CAT 2006, 15 out of the 25 questions in the verbal section were reading comprehension questions (i.e., 60 out of 100 marks). In CAT 2007, 12 out of the 25 questions in the verbal section were reading comprehension questions (i.e., 48 out of 100 marks).

Reading Comprehension questions come in groups of four to eight questions, and are based on reading passages that range from 250 to 750 words in length.

CRACKING THE SYSTEM

To be able to perform well in these types of questions you need to:

  1. read quickly in a way that will allow you to understand the main idea of the passage
  2. eliminate answer choices that could not possibly be correct
  3. take advantage of outside knowledge
  4. take advantage of inside information (the answer that is generally correct in exams like CAT), and
  5. find answers in some cases without reading the passage.

BASIC PASSAGE TYPES

Passages that you will find in the CAT exam can be broadly classified into one of the following types.

  1. The social science passage
    This usually concerns a social or historical issue. You might see a passage about world population control or the history of the rise to power of a clan in medieval India.
  2. The science passage
    This might describe a scientific phenomenon, such as aviation, super conductivity or plate tectonics.
  3. The business passage
    This usually discusses a business-related topic. For example, you might see a passage about the privatization of state-owned industries, pricing of options and futures or the causes of inflation.
  4. The entertainment passage
    This usually discusses a topic related to entertainment, sports, leisure. The passage could be on a topic such as the lifestyles of the rich and famous, the reason for the success of a Hollywood or Bollywood movie.
The Quant (Math) section in CAT usually accounts for a third of the questions in CAT. For instance, in CAT 2006 the quant section had 100 marks worth questions out of the total of 300 marks worth questions. More often than not students who take CAT find the quant section as the toughest one. Albeit, CAT 2006 was an exception

CAT Quantitative Ability (Quant / Math)

Broadly categorized as Arithmetic, Algebra and Geometry CAT typically tests a student’s quantitative ability from over 25 topics. These topics that appear in CAT are of high school level. Click on the links that follow each topic for details of what is covered in Ascent’s Quant Refresher books on these topic and for accesing an archive of sample questions from these topics.

  1. Arithmetic
    1. Number Systems and Number Theory
    2. Percentages
    3. Profit and Loss
    4. Interest
    5. Speed, Time and Distance
    6. Pipes and Cisterns
    7. Races
    8. Averages
    9. Ratio, Proportion
    10. Mixtures and Alligations
  2. Algebra
    1. Linear and Quadratic Equation
    2. Logarithm
    3. Progressions - AP, GP, HP
    4. Binomial Theorem
    5. Inequalities
    6. Permutation & Combination
    7. Probability
    8. Function
    9. Set Theory
  3. Geometry
    1. Geometry
    2. Co ordinate Geometry
    3. Trigonometry
    4. Mensuration

Data Interpretation (DI) Section

Data Interpretation accounted for 50 marks questions in the Common Admissions Tests (CAT) since CAT 2001. CAT 2005 had 30 questions in this section. 10 of the 30 questions were 1 mark questions and the remaining 20 were 2 marks questions. CAT 2006 and CAT 2007, each had 25 questions in this section. Each qeustion carried 4 marks

Data Intrepretation section can be broadly classified as comprising two types of questions.

  • Data Interpretation (DI)

    In these questions data is presented either in the form of a table or a bar chart or a pie chart or a line graph or as a combination of one of these formats. Following each of these data presentations, there will be 4 to 6 questions. You are expected to answer the questions by interpreting the data given in the table or graph. Here is a sample data interpretation question.

  • Data Sufficiency (DS)

    Every Data Sufficiency problem consists of a question followed by two statements. You have to decide NOT WHAT THE ANSWER IS, BUT WHETHER THE QUESTION CAN BE ANSWERED based on the information given in the two statements.

    CAT exams till 2004 had DS questions either as part of the quant section or as part of the DI section. CAT 2005 and CAT 2006 did not have any DS questions at all. But it staged a comeback in CAT 2007. Hence, one cannot rule out such questions in future CAT exams.










92 Comments »

  1. ramakrishna ramakrishna says:
    November 30th, 2008

    please send me the questio paper of cat previous five years

  2. nazmin nazmin says:
    January 3rd, 2009

    please provide me last five year cat paper with solution

  3. krishna krishna says:
    January 8th, 2009

    i would be very much greatful if u send me last 7-8 years solved CAT paprs.

  4. ashok ashok says:
    January 21st, 2009

    it helped me to understand about cat exam

  5. naresh naresh says:
    January 27th, 2009

    gives a good idea about cat…

  6. nitin sharma nitin sharma says:
    February 16th, 2009

    tell me how to clear cat,mat,snap,cds

  7. nitin sharma nitin sharma says:
    February 16th, 2009

    pls send me last 10 years question papers of cat, mat ,snap,and cds

  8. mastan mastan says:
    February 20th, 2009

    pretty good suggestions

  9. aparajita aparajita says:
    March 8th, 2009

    please send me cat last five years question papers

  10. saiful anam mir saiful anam mir says:
    March 9th, 2009

    please send me cat last five years question papers.

  11. Ajay Kumar Ajay Kumar says:
    March 15th, 2009

    it would be a great pleasure for me, if you send me a brief syllabus for the CAT 2009 and solved question papers of last 4 or 5 years.

  12. shubham upadhyay shubham upadhyay says:
    March 15th, 2009

    please send me a syllabus for cat 2009 and solved question papers of last 5 years.

  13. Sarvesh kumar Sarvesh kumar says:
    June 12th, 2009

    Send me information about CAT syllabus. Last 10 Years question paper. And best books name for preparation.

  14. Richa A Richa A says:
    June 12th, 2009

    i would be very much greatful if u send me last 9-10 years solved CAT papers…

  15. srikanth srikanth says:
    June 15th, 2009

    plz send the cat syllubus model.my number is 9703750575

  16. chandra shekhar chandra shekhar says:
    June 27th, 2009

    please provide me last five year cat paper with solution.

  17. Ayush Ayush says:
    June 29th, 2009

    Please send me CAT last five years papers with solutions..

  18. sujai sujai says:
    June 30th, 2009

    i would be very much greatful if u send me last 7-8 years solved CAT paprs.

  19. arun arun says:
    June 30th, 2009

    send me about cat based colleges

  20. JOITA BHATTACHARJEE JOITA BHATTACHARJEE says:
    July 2nd, 2009

    please send me CAT last 5 years solved questions..

  21. SWATI SWATI says:
    July 2nd, 2009

    PLEASE SEND LAST 5 YEARS MAT SOLVED PAPER

  22. prem prem says:
    July 6th, 2009

    please send me previous years cat qn papers…

  23. Ravikant singh Ravikant singh says:
    July 7th, 2009

    sir..
    i am bbm 2nd sem student. After bbm i want admition in IIM. Please tell me what should my 1st steep for this and sir send me some previous years paper also….

  24. KUSH KUSH says:
    July 7th, 2009

    Please provide me with pattern of exam & its syllabus along wth question pattern Thank you

  25. nitin bisht nitin bisht says:
    July 11th, 2009

    plz provide me previos 10 yrs question papers of cat.

  26. ayusmita ghosh ayusmita ghosh says:
    July 15th, 2009

    plzzz i will be highly thankful to u if u able to send me 10years cat question paper

  27. suresh suresh says:
    July 15th, 2009

    please send me previous years cat qn papers…

  28. Ravindra Singh Ravindra Singh says:
    July 17th, 2009

    my request is not different from the rest.
    All i want is previous question papers…
    Or may be if any 1 can provide me with any useful links for the preparations.
    my email id is dementedravi@gmail.com

  29. Jagadish Jagadish says:
    July 18th, 2009

    Thanks to Compete India for giving me a clear cut idea about the syllabus of CAT.

  30. sandip sandip says:
    July 25th, 2009

    plz provide me previous 10 years question papers of cat with solution…i m will thankful to compete india..

  31. arjun arjun says:
    July 25th, 2009

    thanks for giving information on cat.

  32. Ravindar Ravindar says:
    July 25th, 2009

    Thank you for providing this much info
    I would greatly appreciate if some one give me a info where to find previously solved cat ques papers

  33. swetketu prabhat swetketu prabhat says:
    July 27th, 2009

    sir      i want to participate as a regular engineering student     i want the materials about that one.

  34. premkumar premkumar says:
    July 29th, 2009

    sir,the information given was useful..does gk qns come in cat..please send me solved previous years cat qns…

  35. premkumar premkumar says:
    July 31st, 2009

    somebody answer me does GK qns come in CAT..please answer….

  36. prakash prakash says:
    August 1st, 2009

    it would be a great pleasure for me, if you send me a brief syllabus for the CAT 2009 and solved question papers of last 4 or 5 years.

  37. Akki Akki says:
    August 3rd, 2009

    It would be great help if somebody send me last 5-7 yrs CAT papers with solutions.
    Do some1 have link to download the same..

  38. chandan chandan says:
    August 3rd, 2009

    its interesting

  39. praveen raj praveen raj says:
    August 6th, 2009

    sir now at this time i am doing a course of b.tech from anand eng. college agra . now i am in 2nd year from elctronics&instrumentation engg… and iwant when i complete my course then i will face the exam of cat and take admission in iim.i think now i have 3 years for prepairing of cat.i want to start my preparatin from now a days.so i want to know what will my first step for my preparation for cat2012.please tell me.my no.is 9368429622.if you want then send me mail on my g-mail praveen.raj976@gmail.com.i hope you will help me….

  40. RAVI PRAKASH SINGH RAVI PRAKASH SINGH says:
    August 18th, 2009

    plz send me cat syllabus2009 and name of basic reference books of all sections

  41. krishnamohan krishnamohan says:
    August 19th, 2009

    please send me last 10 years CAT question papers
    with solutions.

  42. Deepak Karthik Deepak Karthik says:
    August 19th, 2009

    Please send me ample question papers of CAT questions and Suggest me ways to improve my skills for cracking Question papers … Is it possible to prepare only with Google or should i buy some books ???

    Mail me plzz !!

    Thanks in advance !!

  43. rahul singh rahul singh says:
    August 25th, 2009

    sir,plz send me last 5 year solved paper of cat.you are very thankfull.

  44. anu gupta anu gupta says:
    September 7th, 2009

    sir please send me last five years question paper (2005-2009).

  45. javeed javeed says:
    September 12th, 2009

    pleeeeeeeeease send me cat-2009 question paper with solutions….

  46. Nageshwar bedre Nageshwar bedre says:
    September 15th, 2009

    Send me both Syllabus and last 5years question paper, with their solution or keys…………..

  47. Himanshu Mewara Himanshu Mewara says:
    September 17th, 2009

    Sir Please give me cat syllabus.

  48. pankaj bhatiya pankaj bhatiya says:
    September 18th, 2009

    plz provide me the last five yrs cat question papers…..
    i’ll be highly obliged……..

  49. puneet arora puneet arora says:
    September 24th, 2009

    piz send me last 5 years cat question papars with solution

  50. sneha sneha says:
    September 25th, 2009

    send me perfect cat syllabus for 2009 entrance exam as soon as possible

  51. Aryan Aryan says:
    September 30th, 2009

    please send me last 5 years CAT papers urgently

  52. Nisha mulik Nisha mulik says:
    October 1st, 2009

    plz send me previous 10 yrs papers of cat exams

  53. Nisha mulik Nisha mulik says:
    October 1st, 2009

    plz send me previous 10 yrs papers of cat exam

  54. Jessie Jessie says:
    October 3rd, 2009

    It would be really grateful if you could send me last 5 years solved in CAT question papers.Thanks in advance.

  55. Tejkumarch Tejkumarch says:
    October 12th, 2009

    please send me the last 5 year solved CAT quesion paper.

  56. Debajyoti Sarkar Debajyoti Sarkar says:
    October 16th, 2009

    Send me the detailed syllabus of CAT 2010 and some details about the new pattern of the examination.

  57. vani vani says:
    October 27th, 2009

    plzz send me last 5 yrs solved CAT question papers…..

  58. mohit yadav mohit yadav says:
    November 5th, 2009

    please send me last five years paper of cat and also send me top 10 colleges list by CAT.

  59. prakharrawat prakharrawat says:
    November 8th, 2009

    pls send last 10 year solved paper

  60. priya priya says:
    November 14th, 2009

    I am b-tech 3rd year student
    please send last 10 years solved papers

  61. priya priya says:
    November 14th, 2009

    please Send the complete syllabus of CAT 2010 and some details about the new pattern of the examination.

  62. Riya Manohar Riya Manohar says:
    November 21st, 2009

    Please send me solved question paper of CAT about last 10 yrs .

  63. kiran g kiran g says:
    November 21st, 2009

    Sir could you please sent me CAT 2009 previous year questions and the syllabus. thank you..

  64. James Raja James Raja says:
    November 30th, 2009

    Please send me the last three year cat question papers with solution.

  65. guna guna says:
    December 4th, 2009

    please Send the complete syllabus of CAT 2010 and some details about the new pattern of the examination

  66. md sowban firdaus md sowban firdaus says:
    December 6th, 2009

    please send me last 2yr cat question paper with solution. and give me suggestion for preparation of it……….

  67. varun varun says:
    December 7th, 2009

    thnx for imformation……its gud if u provide solved papers

  68. manzer imaam manzer imaam says:
    December 26th, 2009

    please provide me last 5 years question paper

  69. adhavan adhavan says:
    January 11th, 2010

    sir,now iam in the 2nd year of my engineering.what will be the correct time to start the preparation for CAT2012.

  70. Ramneek Kaur Ramneek Kaur says:
    January 11th, 2010

    I’ll b very thankful if u please send prevoius years CAT question papers with their solutions.

  71. Abhishek Abhishek says:
    January 16th, 2010

    please send me questions and solutions of cat question papers of previous 5 years.

  72. Aman Aman says:
    January 16th, 2010

    please send me the questions & solutions of last 5 years cat exams

  73. nikita nikita says:
    January 16th, 2010

    good guidance……would u plz send me some tricks to solve ques of math quickly

  74. nikita nikita says:
    January 16th, 2010

    good guidance…..would u plz send me some easy tricks to solve math ques quickly

  75. tanya tanya says:
    January 19th, 2010

    Plz send me the questions and solutions of previous 5 yrs cat exam.

  76. Shobhit Shobhit says:
    January 20th, 2010

    please send me questions and solutions of cat question papers of previous 5 years

  77. shahbaz shahbaz says:
    January 20th, 2010

    pls send me the question paper & solutions of previous 3 years paper.

  78. Vikram singh Vikram singh says:
    January 21st, 2010

    please tell me some useful books for cat2010.

  79. rama rama says:
    January 27th, 2010

    i want previous cat papers with solutions.please send me

  80. shakir shakir says:
    January 29th, 2010

    pls send me cat syllabus for 2010,fms mba syllabus

  81. Victor Laha Victor Laha says:
    January 30th, 2010

    Sir, I am b-tech 3rd year student
    please send last 10 years solved papers.My mail address is, victorlaha864@gmail.com

  82. abhishek abhishek says:
    February 3rd, 2010

    pls send me last 10 years paper ………

  84. james james says:
    February 20th, 2010

    i do not know how to prepare for for cat plz tell which books should i refer

  85. james james says:
    February 20th, 2010

    i do not know how to prepare for for cat plz tell which books should i refer.my father ia very poor so plz give me proper guidance

  86. james james says:
    February 20th, 2010

    i m from a poor family and want to prepare for cat plz give me proper guidance

  87. hemant hemant says:
    February 21st, 2010

    please send me last 10 years cat exam solved paper if possible.. thanks..

  88. naveen naveen says:
    March 10th, 2010

    your information gives very good idea about the cat exam, please send me last five years cat exam question papers with solutions

  89. Praveen singh Praveen singh says:
    March 11th, 2010

    kindly send me syllabus of CAT 10 with 5 previous tear solved papers

  90. Swapnil Swapnil says:
    March 11th, 2010

    Sir send me last 10years question papers with soln.
    Thankyou.

  91. vivek kumar vivek kumar says:
    March 12th, 2010

    send last 5year question iof xat.

  92. RANJEET JAYSAWAL RANJEET JAYSAWAL says:
    March 17th, 2010

    sir,please send me last five year question paper in my email.
    thank u

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