The Common Admission Test is a very popular entrance exam for all the MBA aspirants out there. This exam is conducted in the month of November once every year. The organization that conducts this exam is the older Indian Institutes of Management. Students are very passionate about scoring good percentiles in this exam because it allows them to enter various reputed IIMs and other business institutions. For this purpose, students put their heart and soul into the preparation, and there are many students who also like to prepare with the help of a coaching institution like Hitbullseye.
The main help with the association of a coaching institution is that students get some sort of guidance that helps them to know how they can direct their preparation in a better manner. In this way, the students are also benefited. Having knowledge about the CAT syllabus in this process holds a lot of importance. If students do not know about the CAT 2026 syllabus, then they wouldn’t be able to prepare in a holistic manner for the exam.
Sections Of The CAT Exam
Talking about the different sections of the CAT exam, there are three sections of the CAT exam, which are namely verbal ability and reading comprehension, Data interpretation and logical reasoning, and quantitative ability. There are different numbers of questions that come in each section, but the total overall number of questions in the CAT exam is 68. Students prepare about the CAT syllabus according to the different sections of the exam; hence, it is important to know about them.
Time Duration
There is an overall time duration for the CAT exam, which is 120 minutes, but each section of the CAT exam has a 40 minutes of time limit. This indicates that students have only 40 minutes to complete each individual section of the CAT exam. Once the 40 minute time duration is over, students will get no extra time to complete the rest of the questions that are pending. The screen will automatically move to the next section, and the previous section will be locked. Students cannot go to the previous section and make any changes afterwards. Therefore, it is extremely essential for the students to have good accuracy and speed while solving the CAT exam.
Question Typology
As a part of the CAT exam, there are two types of questions. In the CAT exam there are multiple-choice questions, which indicate that there are four options for each question; students have to solve and choose the most correct answer. Then there are type-in-the-answer-type questions, which means that there are questions asked and students have to type the answer that they feel is the most suitable.
Marking Scheme
In the CAT exam, there is no negative marking for the type of answer-type questions. 3 marks are awarded for every correct answer in the CAT exam, and there is a negative marking of 1 mark for the incorrect answers in the MCQ type questions.
CAT Examination Syllabus
The first section of the CAT exam, which is Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension, has 24 questions with at least 12 to 14 questions for reading comprehension. The questions usually cover the grammatical and vocabulary topics of the English language. The knowledge of the students regarding the various words and their meanings in the English language is checked. There will be topics such as fill-in-the-blanks, find out the error, sentence completion, antonyms, and synonyms that would be in this section.
Then the next section of the Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning consists of around 22 questions that evaluate the students’ reasoning and data interpretation abilities. Usually students have to decode many of the puzzles and other questions that are a little tricky in this section. This requires the students to study the analytical data and interpret it in the most logical way. Students are supposed to solve questions on family trees, blood relations series, pie charts, bar graphs, tables, syllogisms, etc. All of this is a part of the CAT syllabus.
The last section is of Quantitative Aptitude. In the CAT exam syllabus for this section, there are questions on quants. There are about 22 questions that range from arithmetic, number system, geometry, probability, speed, distance, time, quadratic equations, etc. This will help the students to feel that they have practiced all the questions and become clear with different concepts.
Conclusion
It is very important to focus entirely upon the CAT syllabus when students want to start preparing for the exam. But at the same time, it is very essential for students to prioritize other aspects of their preparation as well. It becomes important for the students to study about the important dates regarding the exam and have good knowledge about it after that, it is also essential for the students to study the CAT exam pattern as well.
It is the exam pattern that gives the students a lot of knowledge about what the exam will have and the sections and information regarding all of that. It is also necessary for the students to prepare in a way where whatever the upcoming updates are for the exam, they’re aware of and they don’t miss out on. Therefore, while the practice of the students is going on, they can’t just be fixated upon the CAT exam syllabus; they have to move ahead and focus on other aspects as well.
Frequently Asked Questions
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How many sections are there in the CAT exam?
Students will find when they look at the CAT exam pattern that there are three sections in the exam. There is the Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension section, there is the Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning section, and then there is the last section, which is Quantitative Aptitude.
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Is there negative marking in the exam?
There is a negative marking for incorrect MCQ based questions in the exam. Students will find that 1 mark is deducted for every incorrect answer. There is no negative marking in the type and answer-type questions. Students can give answers to those questions without worrying about marks being deducted.
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Does CAT coaching work for exam preparation?
The CAT coaching does work for the exam preparation. Students are guided in the right direction by the right professionals. All the material that is required for the preparation is very much provided to the students, and there are also doubt-clarification sessions that make it easier for students to ask and clear any of the doubts they have.
