CAT

SYLLABUS
2019
 CAT SYLLABUS 2019

CONTENTS
Introduction  03
CAT Exam Pattern  04
CAT Syllabus  06
CAT Expert Take on Pattern and Preparation Strategy  09
CAT: When and How to Begin Preparations  13
CAT Exam Analysis 17

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 CAT SYLLABUS 2019

INTRODUCTION
CAT or the Common Admission Test is the most competitive MBA entrance exam of India
taken by around two lakh candidates each year. Conducted by the Indian Institutes of Man-
agement, CAT is the most popular entrance exam for the admission to 20 IIMs and around
100 B-schools across India. The Common Admission Test (CAT) is conducted by the IIM annu-
ally on a rotation basis. This year the conducting body is IIM Kozhikode.

CAT application process commenced on August 7 this year. CAT notification was released
on July 28, 2019. The exam will be conducted in computer-based mode on November 24,
2019 in two sessions. In terms of exam pattern, there has been no change introduced by
IIM Kozhikode.

Cracking the Common Admission Test or CAT is first and foremost priority for an MBA aspir-
ants. In order to successfully crack CAT, aspirants must be aware of the exam pattern and
the topics covered. This Ebook on ‘CAT syllabus 2019’ is a complete guide for all those aspir-
ants who wish to know all aspects of the exam pattern, syllabus, preparation strategies and
previous year exam analysis to be prepared for the upcoming exam.

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 CAT SYLLABUS 2019

CAT EXAM PATTERN

The CAT exam pattern will remain the same as last year. Knowing the exam pattern makes
the candidates aware of the topics covered in the exam, marking scheme, weightage to each
section etc. It certainly helps them prepare for the big exam.
As per the CAT exam pattern or exam structure, CAT will be a computer-based test of three
hours carrying 100 multiple choice questions (MCQs) divided into three sections – Verbal
Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC), Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR),
and Quantitative Ability (QA).

The structure and pattern of CAT is given below.

CAT Exam Pattern

Section No. of Questions Total Marks Duration
Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC) 34 102 60 minutes

Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR) 32 96 60 minutes

Quantitative Ability (QA) 34 102 60 minutes

Total 100 300 180

The sections are likely to appear in the same order as mentioned in the table above. Now,
check the overall exam pattern of CAT.

CAT Exam Pattern – Highlights

Exam Structure Details

Duration of the Test 3 hours (180 minutes)

Total Number of Sections 3

Sectional Duration 1 hour (60 minutes)

Total Number of Questions 100

Total Marks 300

Marks per question 3

Negative marking for wrong answer -1

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 CAT SYLLABUS 2019

Overall and Sectional Duration – Candidates need to know that apart from the complete test
duration, the exam will also have sectional duration as well. Each section is time bound for
one hour (60 minutes) and candidates are not allowed to switch between sections within
this one-hour duration. However, applicants are free to answer any question within a par-
ticular section.

Non-MCQs – IIMs have introduced subjective questions from 2015. In these questions,
candidates have to type the answers in the space provided with the help of a mouse through
a virtual keypad. These questions do not have options. Each section carries non-MCQs but
the number is not fixed. Based on last year’s structure, the following table brings to you the
ratio of MCQs and non-MCQs.

Number of MCQs & Non-MCQs in CAT

Section No. of Questions No. of Non-MCQs MCQs

VARC 34 10 24

DI & LR 32 8 24

QA 34 7 27

Total 100 25

Marking Scheme – It is very important for the candidates to be aware of marking scheme
of the CAT exam. Each correct answer will be awarded three marks and one mark would
be deducted for each wrong answer. However, this marking scheme is applicable only for
MCQs. For Non-MCQs, there is no negative marking.

Rough Sheet – The conducting authority of CAT provide pages for rough calculations;
however, one needs to submit the same after completing the examination. Candidates are
not allowed to carry anything inside the examination hall except their Admit Card.

On-screen Calculator – Last year, a non-scientific on-screen calculator was provided to

the candidates to help them with the basic computations. IIMs are likely to keep this feature
this year as well.

CAT Mock Test - IIMs provide online CAT mock test prior to the actual test to make the candi-
dates familiar with the overall exam pattern and navigation. The mock tests will be available
from October 16, 2019, on the official website of the exam.

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 CAT SYLLABUS 2019

CAT SYLLABUS
Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode, the conducting body of CAT 2019, has not
released any official syllabus for the exam. Based on previous years’ question papers, a list of
tentative topics and sub-topics is compiled by the experts which can be used as the syllabus.

The CAT syllabus is majorly divided into three major sections – Verbal & Reading Compre-
hension (VARC), Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DI & LR), and Quantitative
Ability (QA).
Now, let’s have a look at the CAT syllabus and the important topics under each section.

CAT Syllabus – Section wise

Section Topics
Reading Comprehension-
The Reading Comprehension passages are generally of medium length, carrying 250
to 500 words. Question types can be both direct or inferential.
English Language-
Fact Inference
Judgment
Verbal and Read- Fill in the blanks
ing Comprehen-
Grammar
sion (VARC)
Para Completion
Para Jumble
Sentence Correction
Verbal Reasoning
Analogies and Reverse Analogies
Synonyms Antonyms (Vocabulary Based), etc.

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 CAT SYLLABUS 2019

Section Topics
Data Interpretation-
Bar Graph
Combination of Graphs
Caselet
Data Sufficiency
Line Graph
Pie Chart
Tables, etc.
Logical Reasoning–

Data Interpreta- Assumptions

tion and Logical Blood Relations
Reasoning (DI Binary Logic
& LR)
Clocks and Calendars
Constraint-based puzzles
Data Arrangement
Family Tree
Matching Puzzles
Proposition
Statements
Seating Arrangement
Sets and Syllogism
Venn Diagram, etc.

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 CAT SYLLABUS 2019

Section Topics
Major Topics-
Algebra
Arithmetic
Geometry
Higher Maths
Mensuration
Modern Mathematics
Number System
Trigonometry etc.
Sub-topics-
Arithmetic progression
Arithmetic mean
Average
Angles and triangles
sphere’s rectangles
QuantitativeAbil- cubes and cone
ity (QA) BODMAS
Clocks
Geometric progression and Geometric mean
HCF and LCM
Harmonic mean
Installment and payments
Lines
Median and Mode
Percentage
Partnership
Profit and loss
Ratio and proportion
Partnership
Pipe and cisterns
Speed and distance
Work & time etc.

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 CAT SYLLABUS 2019

EXPERT TAKE ON
CAT PREPARATION
STRATEGY
‘CAT Preparation Strategy: Identify
strong and weak areas by giving full-
length mocks early on, says Manek Daru-
vala, T.I.M.E. Director’

One of the most challenging management

entrance test - CAT, is a few months away.
Every year over two lakh aspirant gear up to
take the most awaited exam of the year with a
hope of clearing the entrance exam with exceptional scores. According to the official noti-
fication released,the exam pattern for CAT will remain the same.

Manek Daruvala, Director and Founder of T.I.M.E in an interview with Careers360 shares his
insights on CAT preparation strategy for each section and the importance of mock tests. He
also shares key points on time management for each section of CAT. To guide prospective
candidates, Careers360 brings you an expert interview of Manek Daruvala.

Careers360: Is enrolling in a coaching institute a good idea for aspirants who have not started their
preparation with just four months or less to go?
Manek Daruvala: For those who believe in themselves that they can put in serious preparation
between now and the CAT, the time available is certainly adequate. However, they need to recog-
nise that a lot of time and hard work needs to be put if they want to realise their dreams. Identifying
strengths and weaknesses by taking a couple of full-length mocks early on and focusing on improving
on the weak areas would be useful for this group of students.

Careers360: For the ones who have already started preparing on their own without coaching
classes, please recommend a strategy for the next four months.
Manek Daruvala: In general, I would strongly recommend that students enrol in a classroom pro-
gramme to ensure that they get a first-hand feel for the competition they are going to face. By joining
such a course, they would also understand quicker and faster application of concepts to problems,
test-taking strategies etc., which are very important for success in the CAT.
However, there would be some students who, for whatever reasons, can not/do not enrol in a class-
room program. Such students should ensure that they enrol into a mock test series and take mocks
regularly and analyse them. Inputs from the analysis should be used as pointers for the preparation

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 CAT SYLLABUS 2019

ahead.
Careers360: What are the must prepare topics in each section which should not be avoided
at any cost? Please share some preparation tips on those topics.
Manek Daruvala: While there are some areas from which questions do come frequently and some
from which questions are relatively less frequent, given CAT's unpredictability, students should not
avoid any topics and prepare on all of them with equal rigour.

Careers360: Please mention some top books and study materials to be referred by CAT
aspirants.
Manek Daruvala: While the material issued by institutes like T.I.M.E. is self-sufficient in itself,
some of the books that students can refer to are – How to improve your Reading Speed, and, Word
Power Made Easy by Norman Lewis, Puzzles to Puzzle you by Shakuntala Devi etc.

Careers360: How should final year graduation students vis a vis working professionals bal-
ance their daily routine with CAT preparation?
Manek Daruvala: The big advantage that students who are studying have, over those who are work-
ing is that they have a more-or-less fixed academic calendar. This allows them to have a clear idea of
the time available to them for CAT preparation. For those who are working, the work pressure/load at
the office can, at times, play havoc with their CAT prep plans.
Allotting a fixed duration in a day for CAT preparation is strongly advisable for both the groups. Con-
sistently sticking to this prep-window is very important to keep the preparation going at a healthy rate.
Working students, in particular should ensure that in spite of losing out on the prep-window on some
days due to work pressure, they adhere to the window on the remaining days and see if they can extend
it whenever possible to compensate for the losses that may have occurred earlier.

Careers360: When is the ideal time to start taking mock tests? Also, mention the frequency
in which mocks should be taken.
Manek Daruvala: Students should start with their full-length mocks around six to seven months to
CAT. For those starting their preparation having less than this amount of time on hand, it is advisable
that they start-off their preparation by taking a full-length mock. This will help them get better insights
into their strengths and weaknesses so that they can put-in focused preparation which will help them
to utilise the time they have effectively. It is advisable to take one or two AIMCATs a week.

Careers360: How can one analyse their performance in mock tests? Please share some tips
for analysis and the way forward.
Manek Daruvala: Students should spend about two hours analysing each section of the paper.
This will undoubtedly help them extract the most out of the learnings that mocks have to offer them. It
is an essential part of the preparation for CAT and students should not make the mistake of failing to
analyse their performance in mock tests.

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 CAT SYLLABUS 2019

Things to do for analysis are as below.

Step-1: Attempt all those questions in that section that you left unattempted during the AIMCAT.
Step-2: T ry solving questions that may still be left over. Only after giving all the questions a good try,
check the answer key to find out which questions you could answer correctly and re-attempt
all those questions that you answered wrongly. You would be able to learn a great deal from
this step since you would actually be pushing yourself to think harder and find out where you
have made mistakes. Do not look at the solutions until you are finished with this step.
Step-3: R efer to the solutions and compare your approach with that given in the solutions. You should
keenly observe and learn anything new that you may find in the solutions. At the end of this
stage of your analysis, you should try to categorise the questions into levels of difficulty based
on the understanding required and the amount of time that you would take to solve each of
them in an exam situation.
Step-4: A
 nalyse the paper; Section-wise, Area-wise, Difficulty Level-wise.

Careers360: How should CAT aspirants balance their preparation with other entrance tests
like XAT, IIFT, NMAT by GMAC, SNAP and CMAT?
Manek Daruvala: Most of the exam preparation for these tests gets covered through CAT prepara-
tion. There are some additional items like General Awareness (GA), Decision Making, some reason-
ing based topics like non-verbal reasoning etc., that students need to focus on for specific tests. GA is
needed for personal interviews/GD/WAT also and is hence not a test specific activity. Getting better
on GK is a long drawn process and it is recommended that students spend time on this right from the
early days of their preparation.
For the other areas like Decision Making, Reasoning based topics etc., focusing on those after CAT
would suffice as the exams testing students on these areas (XAT, SNAP etc) happen well after CAT.

Careers360: What can one expect from CAT in term of exam pattern and difficulty level?
Manek Daruvala: As CAT is known to spring surprises, one can use past trends only to understand
the changes that the exam has been going through. One cannot predict anything about the pattern/
difficulty-level as any such predictions can be rendered ineffective by the sudden turns that CAT may
take. The CAT exam pattern has been stable for the last three CATs with no changes while the difficulty
level in QA & VARC has been consistently on the moderate side. LRDI has been the tough section for
the students in these CATs.

Careers360: What should be the exam day strategy in terms of time management, maintain-
ing accuracy and fulfilling sectional cut-offs?
Manek Daruvala: Cut-offs are a function of the difficulty level of the section and the paper. Hence
you should always be on the lookout to maximise the score in the given conditions of difficulty levels.
If the sections are individually timed, as they are in CAT, you will have a fixed time to negotiate the
section and hence the task on hand is clear. Sectional cut-offs need not be worried about as the time
for each section is fixed.

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 CAT SYLLABUS 2019

For exams that have all the sections available throughout the test, the number of attempts per sec-
tion should be decided during the test, based on the difficulty level of the sections. Targeting a certain
number of questions to clear the cut-offs even before looking at the paper should not be done as this
may not let you perform at the optimal level.

Also keep in mind that sectional cut-offs play a key role only for the schools in the top 30-40. Below
this, schools focus only on the over-all cut-offs and not on sectional cut-offs. Hence it important that
students should focus mainly on maximising the overall score. Question selection plays a key role in
maximising the score while also helping the students maintain a good accuracy which helps them
extract optimum returns out of the time and efforts put in.

Stay away from blind guessing – CAT and all the other tests have negative marking. The negative
marking is to deter students from attempting an extravagant number of questions even without solving
them. Blind guessing almost always leads to a negative/low score and is hence to be avoided. However,
if you are able to eliminate two/three choices (out of the four or five) on a proper basis, then, you may
consider making an “educated guess”, based on what your instinct tells you. Keep in mind that your
“instinct” will be able to guide you only if you have fed it well, i.e., if you have prepared well.

Careers360: Please share detailed preparation strategy for three months, two months and
last month for CAT-takers.
Manek Daruvala: It will help immensely if you have a focused and measurable plan for the coming
3-4 months. For example, in the Verbal Ability area, one could target completing a pre-decided number
of exercises in each of the areas every day. Or, a day each for the different question types on Paragraphs
(Para formation, Para completion and Para summary), followed by three days of intensive grammar
prep covering all the standard models of questions. You may include reading a few novels in your plan.
You can take a call on Vocabulary, based on the level you are at currently. A targeted plan like this will
help you track your progress on a real-time basis.

If you think your performance in any one of the areas is trailing that in other areas then you could
begin with getting the weak area on par with the others areas. It will be important to devise a plan for
each topic/question type within each subject and define targets for the same. Similarly, if you look at the
QA area, you should apportion your time according to Arithmetic, Numbers, Geometry & Mensura-
tion, Pure maths etc. Do a realistic analysis of your comfort level with each of these areas. For an area
in which you are strong, you could just revise difficult/very difficult problems. For an area where you
tend to skip/get most questions wrong, you should begin with the basic problems and go all the way to
the very difficult problems.

The first couple of months from now on should be dedicated to concept building and eliminating weak
areas. The month after that can be focused on improving the understanding and application levels of
the concepts learned earlier by attempting higher level of questions and taking a good number of mock
tests. The last month should be spent on fine-tuning the test taking strategy by focusing on better ques-
tion selection, spotting tough questions so that one can veer away from them.

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 CAT SYLLABUS 2019

CAT: WHEN AND HOW TO START

PREPARATIONS
When it comes to studying for an exam and cracking it successfully, you are the best judge to
answer the question of when to start preparation. It is best to ask yourself how many months
you need to prepare for CAT. According to the experts, three to four months of dedicated
preparations might take you towards your goal of securing a high percentile.
Although there is no specific syllabus for CAT, based on previous years' analysis, the major
topics include Number Systems, Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry, Mensuration, Higher
Maths (Quantitative Ability); Reading Comprehension, Grammar, Vocabulary, Fill in the
blank (Verbal and Reading Comprehension) and Graphs, Charts, Caselets, Series, Arrange-
ment etc. (Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning).

Here we bring you 10 success tips for How to prepare for CAT.

#Take mock tests in an online environment

You must take computer-based mock CAT so that you are familiar with the actual test envi-
ronment. Taking the mock CAT in a real environment will make you completely prepare for
CAT and save any wastage of time on understanding the mode of test. You can also join CAT
test series to take a few mock CAT online. Also, you must re-visit previous year CAT sample
paper and solve it to have an actual feel of the test. Putting yourself in the actual testing
environment will help you to take CAT on the test centre on your D-day. Shikhar Sachdeva,
who had secured 99.98 percentile in CAT 2017 mentions, "The best strategy for an aspirant
would be to take 2 mock series from renowned institutes, 1 booklet series, and then make
use of any one web course."

#Analysis is must
After every CAT mock test, you must analyse your performance and evaluate your scoring
areas based on CAT exam pattern. Shiv Raj, an IIM Calcutta student and 99.94 percentiler
in CAT shares, "Whenever you take a mock test, assess not only the wrong questions but also
the right ones. Sometimes you may score very high, while on other occasions you might get a
low score. Do not get demotivated with a low score and don’t become overly confident when
you score high. The key to success in CAT is perseverance and not hard, but smart work."
Rohan Joshi, CAT 2017 topper with 99.63 percentile says, "During weekends I took  full-
length tests and analysed them. In parallel, I kept working on my weaknesses and the areas
which I wasn’t comfortable with."

In order to prepare for CAT, you also must go through the explanation of answers and

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see whether you already knew the core concept for solving each question. You should
list down the questions which you could not solve despite having the conceptual clar-
ity on the same. Once you know these areas according to CAT test pattern, you must go
back to the textbook or your CAT preparation material and revise the concepts along
with practising a few questions on the particular areas. This exercise will help you reap
the hard work that you have been putting for CAT preparation for last few months.

Sharing his CAT preparation tips, Kamlesh Sajnani, Managing Director, IMS Learning
Resources in an interview with Careers360, says that more important than taking the mock
CAT test is its analysis. “If you don’t learn from each test before proceeding to the next, there
is no point in taking a large number of them,” he says, adding, “Try out various strategies for
each test such as dividing your time equally in each section or spending more time on the
weaker sections by working quickly in the stronger sections. It is also important to attempt a
variety of tests because you may score well in a test that is more suited to your strengths while
the CAT may carry more questions of the kind you are uncomfortable with. An exposure to a
range of problems and the rationale behind them will ensure that you are better prepared.”

#Focus on strength
In order to know how to prepare for CAT, it is of utmost importance to identify your strengths
and weaknesses. Going by your own evaluation, you must focus on your strong areas and
build on the same. As most of the questions in CAT syllabus are based on the application of
basic concepts, learning both concepts and application at this stage is not advisable if you
are aiming to crack CAT. Instead, you should put all your efforts towards the areas which
you have nearly been able to control and solve questions on the same. "I had a very strong

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basis of the concepts used in Quant and DI & LR, along with a lot of practice in working fast
from my JEE preparation, although that was a long time ago. Even then, my strength was my
judgment of whether a question was worth my time, and that helped,” says Arvind Menon,
who secured 100 percentile in CAT 2017.

#Practice a lot
CAT Experts suggest that you must practice a lot so that you can make an instant connect
with the question during your CAT exam day. Regular practice with a scheduled stretch
will not only help increase your question-solving speed but also make you habituated to sit
for three hours. Chhavi Gupta, one of the two female CAT 2017 toppers who secured 100
percentile mentions, "I rigorously practised the Mock CAT series, selected some random
tests online and sample CAT. To be precise, I solved 35 practice tests and analysing them
critically."

#Set target but be open to the number of attempts

CAT exam pattern is same as last year. Hence candidates should target minimum and maxi-
mum number of questions that you will be attempting during CAT. But experts suggest that
you should be open on this number during your actual test in order to crack CAT. Though
around 20 questions in each the sections can take you to around 98 or 99 percentile in CAT,
you should not relax despite reaching your target as last few attempts can bring you much
advantageous edge over competitors.

#Time management
With 60 minutes allotted for each section during your CAT test duration, you should first
attempt the questions which you can solve quickly. If you are doubtful on a question at the
first glance, you leave it in the first round and come back to it in sequence after you have
completed the first round of attempts. As you quickly solve a few questions, it will instil a
higher level of confidence to attempt the difficult questions during the second round of
attempts. Sharing his section wise time management strategy regarding how to prepare
for CAT, Madhur Gupta, CAT 2017 100 percentiler says, "In DILR, I focussed on question wise
approach. Did the easier questions of the set and marked the tough ones of later considera-
tion. In this was completed five sets and later came back to the tougher questions. I found
this very convenient. Quant and verbal sections were too easy for any strategy. You either
knew the answers or didn't know them."

#Don’t compromise with accuracy

Time management is one of most important part of the CAT with prioritisation of questions
becoming one of the key areas to success. As you go on attempting questions during your
CAT, make sure that you compromise very little on accuracy. “My basic strategy for the D-day
was to attempt as many questions as possible. Even though there was a slight compromise

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with the strategy but it ended up attempting 90% questions with around 70 percent accu-
racy.,” says Nikhil Raj Singh, IIM Shillong PGP 2017-19 batch student.
While speed is important to increase your number of attempts, maintaining a higher level of
accuracy is even more important to convert your attempts into your score. Also, achieving a
higher level of speed without a high level of accuracy results in negative marking also, making
it a double loss proposition with your time spent on the question reducing your overall score
by one mark. CAT has negative marking pattern with three marks awarded for every right
answer and one mark reduced for every wrong answer.

#Reverse action
In case you find questions a little difficult during the second round of your attempt, you must
go reverse while solving the questions and scan the answer options first. Sometimes, answer
options hold crucial clues towards solving the questions. You can also go by eliminating
wrong options first, which reduces the number of answer options making it a little easier to
find the right answer. Sai Praneeth Reddy, another 100 percentiler of CAT 2017 mentions,
"I started with DILR but I found that first few questions were really tough and time-taking.
So, I skipped first four questions. Gradually, I realised that skipping questions won’t lead me
anywhere. Then I started from the last question and started solving followed by whatever I
could answer first."

#Relax well before your D-day

You should prepare well before your date with CAT. Spend a day before the test in a stress-
free environment. You should meet your friends and relax the way you like. After your hectic
preparations for CAT in last few months, take a day-long break to reorganise your thoughts
and D-day strategy. Forget about your weaknesses and have confidence in what you know
as Sourav Santikari, SPJIMR Mumbai student and CAT 99.39 percentiler says, “Just keep
calm. Try to take as many mock tests as possible so as to build your strategy for the exam day.
Before the exam day, it is extremely important to keep your cool and rest properly.”

#Be focused and keep calm during CAT

Once you enter the test centre keep yourself focused on the test and maintain calm. Pranit
Arora, who secured 100 percentile in CAT 2015 says, “It is important to stay relaxed and not
get nervous for the test. Stress leads to failure which must be avoided. So do not overthink,
stay calm and confident.”
Now that you know how to prepare for CAT, you must also remember that CAT only meas-
ures your intellect and the kind of effort that you have put. As you have already made the
best efforts, now you need not worry about CAT results and CAT selections. Focus on max-
imising the number of attempts with high accuracy. Leave the rest on to your honest effort.

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CAT 2018 EXAM ANALYSIS

CAT 2018 was conducted on November 25, 2018, Sunday, in two slots. The first slot was
conducted from 9 Am to 12 PM and the second slot was conducted from 2.30 PM to 5.30
PM. As per the analysis of CAT 2018 by experts, the overall difficulty level of the exam was
moderately tough. On the contrary, according to some of the candidates, VARC section
was difficult, whereas the QA was easy. Stating the CAT 2018 analysis, Arks Srinivas, Head,
National Test Prep, Career Launcher, says, “The overall difficulty level was a little higher than
that of last year. The Quantitative Ability (QA) section was tougher than that of last year. The
Verbal and Reading Comprehension (VARC) was easy. Unlike last year, Data Interpretation &
Logical Reasoning (DI & LR) section was of moderate difficulty level.” Careers360 brings the
complete analysis of CAT 2018 exam on the basis of the feedback from the CAT aspirants
and academic experts from various renowned MBA coaching institutes.

CAT Exam Pattern

Total No. of Number of Marks per sec-

Section Duration
Questions Non-MCQs tion
VARC 27 7 102 1 hour

DI & LR 24 8 96 1 hour

QA 22 12 102 1 hour

Total 73 27 300 3 Hours

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CAT 2018 Analysis

Slot 1 of CAT 2018 was conducted from 9 am to 12 noon and the timing of slot 2 was 2:30
pm to 5:30 pm. The difficulty level of the test in both the slots was moderately tough. As
per the students and the academic experts, Quantitative Ability was the toughest section
in the exam. The Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR) was moderately tough on
the difficulty level and VARC was comparatively on the easier side. Let’s have a look at the
section-wise analysis of CAT 2018 in both the slots.

CAT 2018 Analysis - VARC

This section was easy to solve in both the slots. There were five Reading Comprehension
passages, out of which four passages had five questions each and one passage had four
questions. The section has 24 RC questions and 10 VA questions related to Para Jumbles,
Summary and Odd Sentence Out. The table below explains the VARC structure and the dif-
ficulty level of the questions.

CAT 2018 Analysis Slot 1 & 2 - VARC

No. of Ques-
Part Topic Difficulty Level
tions
RC RC 24 Easy

VA Para Jumbles 4 Easy

Summary 3 Easy

Para Jumbles (odd sen-

3 Moderate
tence out)

All the questions in the section were doable. So, scoring a high percentile in this section
should come easy for most of the aspirants who appeared for the exam.

CAT 2018 Analysis - DILR

The difficulty level was this section was easier than that of last year but it was moderate on
the difficulty scale. The sets given in the section covered a large number of topics. However,
the DI sets were not calculation intensive at all. This section had a total of 32 questions - 24
MCQs and 8 non-MCQs. Let’s understand the difficulty level of the section in both the slots
through the tables given below.

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CAT 2018 Slot 1 Analysis - DILR

Topic No. of Questions Difficulty Level
Pie Chart-Annual/half
4 Moderate
yearly/Quarter Sales

ATM -Denominations of
4 Moderate
100,200 and 500

Set Theory-1600 rockets

4 Moderate
were launched

4 Females, 4 Males-Minor
4 Easy
and major

Matrix-Adjacent cells 4 Easy

3 Committees-research/
4 Moderate
teaching/economist

1-20 petrol pumps 4 Moderate

10 friends -scores in DI/

4 Difficult
WE/GK

CAT 2018 Slot 2 Analysis - DILR

Topic No. of Questions Easily Doable Difficulty Level
Box Diagram of 3 compa-
4 1-2 Moderate
nies/products

Currency Exchange and

4 2-3 Easy
rate changes

Smartphones and market

4 4 Easy
share

Coding (Alphabet/digits) 4 2-3 Easy-Moderate

Institute Accreditation 4 2-3 Moderate

Tickets to a show, old,

young and middle-aged 4 2-3 Easy
people

Interview Arrivals
4 3-4 Easy
(Arrangement)

Set theory (3 games, Ludo,

4 2 Moderate
Kho-kho, Gilli Danda)

Around 15-17 questions in this section with 90 percent accuracy are good enough to fetch
a high percentile.

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 CAT SYLLABUS 2019

CAT 2018 Analysis - QA

This was the toughest section of the exam in both the slots. However, many candidates
found the QA section to be easy, especially from engineering background students. The
questions were calculation and logic-intensive and not theory based. The topics included
Number System, Algebra, Arithmetic, Modern Math, Geometry and Mensuration. Let’s have
a look at the detailed topic-wise analysis of QA. The section had a similar number of ques-
tions in both the slots. The table below explains further.

CAT 2018 Analysis Slot 1 & 2 - QA

Topic No. of Questions Difficulty Level
Arithmetic 14 Difficult

Algebra 8 Difficult

Number System 2 Moderate

Modern Math 3 Moderate

Geometry and Mensura-

7 Difficult
tion

Tickets to a show, old,

young and middle-aged 4 2-3
people

Interview Arrivals
4 3-4
(Arrangement)

Set theory (3 games, Ludo,

4 2
Kho-kho, Gilli Danda)

Candidates who have attempted 18-20 questions with around 85 percent accuracy can
expect a good score in this section.

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