+The CAT exam is one of the best-known and most anticipated entrance exams in our country. Every year there are students who are waiting to appear for the CAT exam because there are many students who want to take admission to reputed institutions that accept the CAT score. Students make sure that they are putting in all of their efforts and gaining all the information regarding the CAT exam pattern, which truly helps them to perform better. There are many students who join coaching institutions like Hitbullseye as well for their preparation. The coaching institution helps the students to guide them in the right direction and make sure that every relevant piece of information that is important for the students' preparation journey is provided to them. All the material is also systematically provided to the students with the help of Hitbullseye.

Overview Of The CAT Exam

The CAT exam is conducted once every year by the older Indian Institute of Management (IIMs). The exam gives students the opportunity to study in the top 100 business schools across India. The names of the prestigious institutions like IIMs, FMS Delhi, IMT Ghaziabad, MDI Gurgaon, etc. The registration for the exam starts around the month of August, and the exam is typically held somewhere in November. The CAT exam pattern evaluates the students' aptitude, grammar skills, understanding, analytical skills, reasoning, and other areas.

CAT Exam Pattern 

The CAT exam pattern has remained constant over the years. The paper consists of 3 sections, namely Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC), Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR), and Quantitative Reasoning (QA). VARC consists of 24 questions, DILR consists of 22 questions, and QA consists of 22 questions. In total, the CAT pattern has 68 questions. Each section is allotted 40 minutes to complete. If you do not complete the section in the time given, it will automatically move to the next section after the time ends. Students cannot move in between different sections as well. The total time duration of the exam is 2 hours.

Types Of Questions According To the CAT 2026 Exam Pattern 

When the students look into the exam pattern, they will find that there are two types of questions that are often asked in the CAT exam. The first type of questions, which are found to be in the maximum quantity in the CAT exam, are the multiple-choice questions. Each question in the exam in this form has options provided to the students to choose their correct answer from. Then there are type-in-the-answer questions, or TITA questions. For these kinds of questions, students will find that there are no options provided. Rather, the students have to type the answer that they feel is the appropriate answer.

Marking Scheme Of CAT exam

The CAT exam has a marking scheme where +3 marks are provided for every correct answer. The incorrect answers receive a negative marking of -1 each. If any question is left unattempted, there is no negative marking. For the Type in the Answer (TITA) questions, there is no negative marking. This allows the students to attempt their questions without fear of marks being deducted.

Changes In The CAT Exam Pattern 

More or less the main pattern of the CAT exam has remained the same, but through the years there have been certain modifications made. Up until 2014 CAT was a paper-based test. Students had to attempt the exam in offline mode on paper. It was in 2015 that CAT became a computer-based exam conducted in online mode. The total time given to complete the exam was also 3 years initially, but now, according to the recent CAT paper pattern, it is 2 hours. The number of questions given in the exam has also varied over time. Before 2019 there were a total of 100 questions in the exam. Later it was reduced to 76 questions in 2020 and now it's 66 questions since 2021.

Conclusion

Over the years, the students will see that the exam pattern more or less changes and there are different things that are introduced according to the necessity of the time. But the CAT exam pattern has always had a lot of importance in the preparation journey of the students. It is on the basis of the CAT exam pattern that the students are able to prepare and get all the information. Even while the students are making their strategy of how they want to attempt the various questions in the exam or in general how they want to approach the question paper. There are many details that the students like to get from the CAT exam pattern. One of the essential steps for the students should be to study the exam pattern and get the valuable information.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. How many questions are there in each section of the CAT exam?

When the students will study the CAT paper pattern, they will realize that there are different numbers of questions in each section of the CAT exam. The first section, which is Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension, will have 24 questions. The second section, which is Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning, has 22 questions. And the last section, which is Quantitative Aptitude, also has 22 questions. This makes the total number of questions in the exam to be 68.

2. What type of questions are asked in the CAT exam?

According to the CAT exam pattern, there are mainly 2 kinds of questions that come in the exam. The majority of questions in all the sections are multiple choice. This means that for all these questions, students will have options provided and they have to choose the correct option. The other type of questions are type in the answer type questions. Each section will have four to five of these questions, where statements or questions will be asked and students have to type the answer that they feel is the correct one.

3. Is the CAT exam easy?

The CAT exam is known to be one of the most competitive exams in our country because it is a highly known and popular entrance exam, and also there are many students who want to take admission in reputed IIMs and therefore take part in this exam. The competition makes the exam tough, and students need to put in a lot of their hard work and efforts in order to make sure that they're able to do well in the exam. The right kind of coaching from Hitbullseye will also help the students to make extra effort in their preparation.

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