CAT Syllabus 2018: Common Admission Test or CAT as it is commonly known as is the most competitive entrance exam in India for admission to MBA courses in the premier Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and some other colleges. CAT witnesses around 2 lakh aspirants every year from every nook and corner of India. The test is basically held every year for admission to 20 IIMs and over 100 B-schools all over India. The 20 IIMs for PG management programmes offer around 4,000 seats. As we near the exam which is on 24th November 2019, candidates who are going to sit for this exam should be completely ready to tackle the exam.
CAT preparation cannot just begin in the air. You need proper planning to start with and being thorough with CAT Syllabus is the first step. It is difficult to start any preparation without knowing the topics for the exam. Knowing the CAT Syllabus will help you strategize your preparation. Have a look below to get a detailed knowledge of CAT Syllabus 2019.
CAT Syllabus 2019
Before getting into the detailed CAT Syllabus 2019, let’s have an overview of the exam:
| Name of the Exam | Common Admission Test (CAT) 2019 |
| Conducting Body | Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode |
| Institutes Accepting CAT Score | IIMs, IITs, IISc and other participating institutes |
| Course | Postgraduate Management Programs (MBA/PGDM) |
| Type of Exam | National Level |
| Type of Questions | MCQs and Non-MCQs |
| Number of Sections | Three |
| Total Number of Questions | 100 |
| Time Duration | 3 hours |
| Negative Marking | -1 for Incorrect Attempts in MCQ |
| Mode of Exam | Online |
| Application Mode | Online |
CAT Syllabus 2019: CAT Exam Pattern
As mentioned above, there are three sections in CAT:
- Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC)
- Quantitative Ability (QA)
- Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR)
| CAT Sections | Total Number of Questions | Maximum Marks |
| Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC) | 34 | 102 |
| Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR) | 32 | 96 |
| Quantitative Ability (QA) | 34 | 102 |
| Total | 100 | 300 |
The CAT exam is conducted in online mode and each section is of 60 minutes. There is a negative marking of 1 mark for every incorrect answer. Let us now look into the detailed CAT 2019 Syllabus for each of the three sections:
CAT Syllabus For Quantitative Aptitude
This section tests your mathematical skills and calculation ability. You need to be well versed with each and every topic of basic Mathematics of school level to solve this section. The CAT Quantitative Ability Syllabus is as under:
| CAT Syllabus for Quantitative Aptitude |
| HCF and LCM |
| Average |
| Trigonometry |
| Geometry |
| Surds and Indices |
| Geometric Progression |
| Number System |
| Work and Time |
| Percentage |
| Logarithm |
| Profit and Loss |
| Mensuration |
| Ratio and Proportion |
| Time, Speed and Distance |
| Inequalities |
| Algebra |
| In-equations (Quadratic and Linear equations) |
| Partnership (Accounts) |
| In-equations and linear equations |
CAT Syllabus For Data Interpretation
This part checks how good you are at solving problems related to organised and unorganised data. The essential topics for Data Interpretation are as under:
| CAT Syllabus for Data Interpretation |
| Pie Charts |
| Tables |
| Data Sufficiency |
| Bars |
| Line Graphs |
| Caselets |
CAT Syllabus For Logical Reasoning
This section tests an aspirant’s logical and analytical skills. The CAT Logical Reasoning Syllabus is as under::
| CAT Syllabus for Logical Reasoning |
| Blood Relations |
| Direction Sense |
| Puzzles |
| Data Arrangement |
| Seating Arrangement |
| Caselets |
| Data Structures |
| Series |
| Coding and Decoding |
| Clocks and Calendars |
| Family Tree |
| Venn Diagram |
| Syllogism |
| Proposition |
| Assumptions |
| Statements |
| Binary Logic |
| Sets |
CAT Syllabus For Verbal Ability And Reading Comprehension
This section tests your command over the English language and your Verbal ability. You need to be good with vocabularies and English grammar and should exceed in verbal ability to be able to get through this section. The CAT Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC) Syllabus is as under:
| CAT Syllabus for English and Verbal Ability |
| Fill in the blanks |
| Grammar |
| Para Completion and Inference |
| Reading Comprehension |
| Verbal logic |
| Parajumbles |
| Verbal Reasoning |
| Syllogisms |
| Contextual Usage |
| Analogies |
| Different usage of same word |
| Antonyms |
| Sentence completion |
| Jumbled paragraphs |
| Foreign language words used in English |
| Sentence correction |
| Idioms |
| One word substitution |
In order to get through CAT, you need to be up-to-date with the above topics as these topics play a major role in shaping up your score in the exam. Along with practising the topics mentioned above you need to practice CAT Mock Test Series. Initially, you can take bank mock test series on Embibe which have a similar syllabus and pattern. But slowly, you will have to take CAT mock tests of the same level as the actual exam.
We hope this detailed article on CAT Syllabus 2019 helps you. If you have any query regarding CAT Syllabus, drop your queries in the comment section below and Embibe will get back to you.
