CAT Exam Syllabus 2024
The 2024 Common Admission Test (CAT) is scheduled for November 24, with IIM Calcutta possibly overseeing. The first step in your preparation is to familiarize yourself with the CAT syllabus 2024 so that you are fully prepared for the exam in the coming months.
The first and most significant point to remember is that no IIM that conducts the CAT entrance exam ever releases the syllabus. However, in this article, we will go over the full CAT exam syllabus for MBA based on previous years’ CAT exam trends.
The questions are based on the previous year’s CAT exam questions and cover elementary and high school math fundamentals, reading and English comprehension, and logical thinking.
CAT Exam Highlights 2024
| Particulars | Details |
| CAT Full Form | Common Admission Test (CAT) |
| Conducting Institute | IIMs |
| CAT Exam 2024 Date | Sunday, November 24, 2024 (tentatively) |
| Duration | 2 Hours |
| Total Sections | 3 |
| Total Questions | 66 |
| CAT exam syllabus | Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC), Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR), Quantitative Ability (QA) |
| CAT pattern | Computer Based Test (CBT) with MCQs and non-MCQs |
CAT 2024 Syllabus Overview
For the past four years (2020, 2021, 2022, 2023), the CAT exam has been reduced to two hours from its previous three-hour format.
Though the CAT exam pattern has altered throughout the years, the three sections—Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC), Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR), and Quantitative Ability (QA)—have stayed consistent.
So, despite the fact that there is no officially set CAT exam syllabus, we can reasonably infer a few things from the CAT exams conducted over the years.
Having said that, solving past years’ CAT question papers can improve your chances of performing well in the CAT Exam 2024, even if the authorities decide to throw a surprise at you.
In this blog, we discuss the CAT Exam syllabus 2024 using CAT analysis from previous years.
CAT 2024 Syllabus – Section-wise
This is to inform you that the IIMs have not officially released the CAT exam syllabus PDF 2024. Furthermore, we rely on the previous year’s pattern and questions from themes in all three parts.
The CAT syllabus 2024 for MBA, often known as CAT exam subjects, includes three portions, namely,
Quantitative Aptitude
Verbal ability and reading comprehension
Data Analysis and Logical Reasoning
Planet E has thoroughly examined the CAT exam trends over the last few years in order to investigate and prepare the entire CAT exam syllabus 2024.
The CAT exam syllabus for MBA, important topics, and weightage are stated below:
CAT Syllabus 2024 For Quantitative Aptitude
| Topics | Sub-Topics |
| Number System | Prime Factorization |
| Divisibility Rules | |
| Finding Units place and tens place of a number | |
| LCM and HCF | |
| Indices and Surds | |
| Cyclicity | |
| Remainders | |
| Base Change | |
| Factorial | |
| Arithmetic | Simple Interest and Compound Interest |
| Time, Distance and Speed | |
| Mixtures and Allegations | |
| Ratios, Proportions and Variations | |
| Time and Work | |
| Pipes and Cisterns | |
| Percentages | |
| Averages | |
| Profit and Loss | |
| Geometry | Circles |
| Polygons | |
| Triangles | |
| Trigonometry | |
| Lines and Angles | |
| Coordinate Geometry | |
| Algebra | Functions and Groups |
| Inequalities and Modulus | |
| Logarithms | |
| Maxima and Minima | |
| Polynomials | |
| Linear and Quadratic Equations | |
| Algebraic Identities | |
| Modern Mathematics | Probability |
| Permutations and Combinations | |
| Set Theory | |
| Venn Diagram | |
| AP, GP, HP | |
| Binomial theorem |
CAT previous year and expected cut off for IIMs 2024
General Trend of Past 4 Years in QA CAT Syllabus – Topic-Wise
It is critical that you understand the topic-by-topic breakdown of the CAT curriculum, as well as the weightage assigned to each. This can be done once you have thoroughly reviewed the CAT eligibility criteria.
In CAT 2023, 8 of the 22 questions were TITA questions, while the rest were MCQs. Arithmetic has historically provided the most questions in the CAT’s QA portion.
| Topics | Sub-Topics | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | ||||||||||||
| Slot 1 | Slot 2 | Slot 3 | Total | Slot 1 | Slot 2 | Slot 3 | Total | Slot 1 | Slot 2 | Slot 3 | Total | Slot 1 | Slot 2 | Slot 3 | Total | ||
Arithmetic |
Ratios, Mixtures, Averages | 3 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 15 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 12 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 9 |
| Percents, Profits, SICI | 2 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 9 | |
| Speed, Time, Distance, Races | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 11 | |
| Pipes, Cisterns, Work, Time | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Algebra |
Linear and Quadratic | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 8 |
| Progressions | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| Polynomials | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| Inequalities | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| Functions | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | |
| Logarithms and Exponents | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 9 | |
Geometry |
Geometry | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
| Co-Geo | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | |
| Mensuration | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | |
| Trigonometry | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
NT and Modern Maths |
Combinatorics | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Digits | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 8 | |
| Factorials | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Factors | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
| Remainders | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Set Theory | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
Here is an overview of the four broad areas (in %) covered over the years in the QA section.
CAT Syllabus 2024: Logical Reasoning and Data Interpretation
| DI Topics | Tables |
| Data Caselets – Reasoning-Based DI | |
| Column Graphs | |
| Bar Graphs | |
| Venn Diagrams | |
| Line Charts | |
| Pie Charts | |
| Scatter Plot | |
| Radar Chart | |
| Routes and Network | |
| Bubble Chart | |
| LR Topics | Binary Logic |
| Games and Tournaments | |
| Arrangements | |
| Team Formations | |
| Order and Ranking |
General Trend of Past 4 Years in DILR CAT syllabus- Topic Wise
| Topics | CAT 2020 | CAT 2021 | CAT 2022 | CAT 2023 | ||||||||
| Slot 1 | Slot 2 | Slot 3 | Slot 1 | Slot 2 | Slot 3 | Slot 1 | Slot 2 | Slot 3 | Slot 1 | Slot 2 | Slot 3 | |
| Routes and Networks | – | – | – | – | – | – | 5 | 5 | – | – | – | 5 |
| Tables | – | 10 | – | – | 6 | – | – | – | – | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Scheduling, Optimization and Allocation | 6 | 6 | 6 | 4 | – | – | 5 | – | 5 | 10 | – | – |
| Bar Graphs | – | – | 4 | 4 | – | – | – | 5 | – | – | – | |
| Grids | 10 | 8 | 6 | 6 | – | – | – | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | |
| Arrangements | – | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | – | – | – | – | |||
| Word Puzzle | – | – | 4 | – | 4 | 6 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Games and Tournaments | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Math Puzzles | – | – | 4 | – | – | 4 | 5 | 5 | – | 5 | 5 | |
| Venn Diagrams | 8 | – | 4 | – | – | – | 5 | 5 | – | – | – | – |
| Pie Charts/Doughnut Charts | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |||
| Scatter Plot | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 5 | – | – | – | – |
| Coding/Decoding | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Radar Chart | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Gnatt Chart | – | – | – | – | – | 4 | – | – | – | 5 | – | |
Observe the trend of the topics (in %) covered during recent years in the DILR section:
CAT Syllabus for Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension
The CAT test syllabus PDF 2024 for VARC is available below.
Here are the key topics to cover for the CAT syllabus 2024 and pattern, specifically for the VARC segment.
| S.No. | Important Topics |
| 1 | English Usage or Grammar |
| 2 | Vocabulary-Based (Synonyms/ Antonyms) |
| 3 | Fill in the blanks |
| 4 | Sentence Correction |
| 5 | Cloze Passage |
| 6 | Jumbled Paragraph |
| 7 | Meaning-Usage Match |
| 8 | Analogies or Reverse Analogies |
| 9 | Summary Questions |
| 10 | Verbal Reasoning |
| 11 | Facts-Inferences-Judgments |
| 12 | Reading Comprehension |
General Trend of the Past Four Years in VARC CAT Syllabus- Topic-wise
| Topics | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 |
| Reading Comprehension | 16 | 16 | 16 | 18 |
| Para Summary | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Para Jumble | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Odd One Out | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Sentence Placement | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 24 | 24 | 24 | 26 |
Among the three sections, the syllabus for VARC can be described in the easiest way. The section is dominated by Reading Comprehension, which holds a little more than 65% of the weight of questions.
The remaining questions come from Para Summary, Para Jumble, Odd-One-Out, and the latest addition, Missing Sentence (introduced in CAT 2022). This means, in order to cover your syllabus, you actually need to inculcate the habit of reading.
In CAT 2023, 4 passages with a total of 16 questions were asked. 3 Para Summary Questions, 3 Para Jumble Questions and 2 Missing Sentence Questions rounded out the section. Out of a total of 24 questions, 3 were TITA questions.
Here is an overview of the RC genres (in %) covered over the years in the VARC section.
Conclusion
You can prepare for the CAT Exam Syllabus for MBA 2024 by selecting the best CAT class in Dadar Planet E.
The CAT exam syllabus for MBA 2024 is extensive and covers a wide range of topics. It is critical to be comprehensive in your preparation and cover all of the topics listed in the syllabus. With the correct amount of devotion and hard effort, you can undoubtedly pass the CAT exam and follow your career objectives.
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