CAT Exam Pattern

The IIMs do not publish a fixed official CAT pattern in advance. Based on the most recently conducted exam, CAT 2025 (corroborated across multiple independent exam-analysis sources), the test has 68 questions for 204 marks in 120 minutes, across three sections: Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (24 questions), Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (22 questions), and Quantitative Aptitude (22 questions). Each section is a separately timed 40-minute block with a hard sectional lock: once a section ends or you move on, you cannot return to it. Each question mixes two formats: Multiple Choice Questions, worth +3 for a correct answer and -1 for a wrong one, and Type In The Answer (TITA) questions with no options, worth +3 for a correct answer and no penalty for a wrong one. This mock covers all three sections in close to the same proportion as the official exam: 34 questions (12 Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension, 11 Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning, 11 Quantitative Aptitude), with the same three separately timed sectional locks (20 minutes each here) and the same +3/-1 MCQ and +3/no-penalty TITA marking scheme. TITA questions here are represented as a numeric-entry field, the same format used for GRE Quantitative Reasoning's Numeric Entry questions on this site. All three sections are skill-based (verbal reasoning, data interpretation, logical puzzles, and calculation), not fact-recall, so no section needed excluding for content-risk reasons.