CAT

📌 Overview

The Common Admission Test (CAT) is the national computer-based exam used by the Indian Institutes of Management and hundreds of other B-schools for MBA / PGP admission. One IIM conducts CAT each year on behalf of the CAT Group. The official portal is iimcat.ac.in.

For the 2026 cycle, public calendars listed registration from 3 August 2026 to 15 September 2026, admit cards around 1 November 2026, and the exam on 29 November 2026 in three slots. Result is typically declared in January of the next year. Always confirm on iimcat.ac.in.

CAT itself does not offer admission. Each IIM and participating institute applies its own cut-offs, academic profile weights, WAT / PI and reservation rules.

📋 Eligibility

• Bachelor’s degree with the minimum percentage required by CAT rules (often 50% for UR / 45% for SC-ST-PwD — confirm the year’s notification).
• Final-year students may apply and must complete the degree by the date the IIMs specify.
• No upper age limit and no official attempt cap.
• Professional degrees listed as equivalent in the notification are accepted.

📝 Exam Pattern (recent CAT design)

• VARC – Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension
• DILR – Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning
• QA – Quantitative Ability
• 40 minutes locked per section; you cannot jump sections.
• Mix of MCQ and TITA (Type In The Answer) questions.
• Three slots on exam day; scores are scaled / equated across slots.

Question count has been 66–68 in recent papers. Treat 68 questions / 204 marks as the working model until the mock tutorial on iimcat.ac.in shows the live interface.

📚 Syllabus Snapshot

• VARC: Long and short RCs, para jumbles, para summary, odd-sentence-out, critical reasoning.
• DILR: Sets on tables, graphs, games, arrangements, Venn diagrams, tournaments — typically 4–5 sets.
• QA: Arithmetic, algebra, geometry, number system, modern maths. School-level ideas, CAT-level twists.

📅 Important Dates (2026 cycle — verify live)

• Notification: last week of July 2026
• Registration: 3 August – 15 September 2026
• Admit card: around 1 November 2026
• Exam: 29 November 2026 (three slots)
• Result: January 2027

🏆 After CAT

IIMs shortlist for WAT-PI using CAT percentile plus Class 10 / 12 / graduation marks, work experience and diversity. Non-IIM colleges use their own forms (some accept CAT score without a separate test). There is no single “CAT counselling”.

🔗 Official Resources

• CAT Official Website
• Official mock test and previous CAT papers released by IIMs on the same portal

💡 Preparation Tips

• Read editorials daily for VARC stamina. Practise RCs with a timer.
• DILR improves only by solving full sets — not isolated puzzles.
• QA: master arithmetic first; it dominates most CAT papers.
• Take sectional tests because the 40-minute lock is unforgiving.
• Percentile, not raw marks, decides calls. Mocks should report percentiles.

🗂️ How to build your personal syllabus sheet

1. Download the official syllabus / information handout PDF tonight.
2. Copy every heading into a notebook page or spreadsheet.
3. Against each heading write: Book chapter / NCERT unit / YouTube playlist name / last PYQ year you solved.
4. Mark High / Medium / Low after you solve 3 years of PYQs — not before.
5. Revise High topics four times, Medium twice, Low once, all with PYQs.

Current affairs — one method for every exam on this site

• Read (do not only watch): one newspaper or PIB daily digest.
• Make 5–10 lines per important scheme, report, judgment, RBI decision or science mission.
• Revise a 30-day file every Sunday and a 6-month file before Prelims / Mains.
• Link every CA note to a static syllabus heading (polity, economy, environment, banking, defence).

PYQ rule

• If a topic has not appeared in 8–10 years and is tiny in the official syllabus, keep it low priority.
• If a topic appears every year (polity articles, percentage, RC, banking rates, NCERT biology lines), it is High regardless of coaching “new pattern” videos.

📊 Exam Trend & Highest-Weightage Areas

Commissions do not publish an official chapter-wise weightage table. The points below come from public previous-year papers and widely used coaching analyses. Use them to decide revision order, not to skip a listed syllabus topic.

CAT trends

• Three locked 40-minute sections. You cannot borrow time.
• VARC: 12–16 RC questions dominate.
• DILR: 4–5 sets; 2 solvable sets already beat many candidates.
• QA: arithmetic + algebra heavy; geometry varies by year.
• Percentile, not raw score, gets IIM calls. Slot normalisation applies.

📚 What Content You Should Actually Follow

1. Official syllabus PDF of the current year — print it and tick topics.
2. Official previous year papers (last 8–10 years) from the commission / NTA / IBPS / SSC website.
3. One primary book per subject (listed below). Do not collect 10 PDFs of the same chapter.
4. NCERT Class 6–12 where the exam is GS / science / maths based — free on ncert.nic.in.
5. Current affairs only from a newspaper + one monthly compilation + the official PIB / ministry sites.
6. Mocks that copy the live interface (sectional timer, NAT, descriptive box).

📖 Standard Books (widely used by serious aspirants)

• Polity: Indian Polity — M. Laxmikanth; NCERT Class 11 Indian Constitution at Work
• Modern History: Spectrum (Rajiv Ahir); NCERT Themes in Indian History Part III
• Geography: NCERT Class 11–12; Certificate Physical and Human Geography — G.C. Leong (selective)
• Economy: NCERT Class 11–12; Indian Economy — Ramesh Singh or Sanjiv Verma (selective); Economic Survey highlights; Union Budget summary
• Environment: NCERT biology ecology units; Shankar IAS Environment (selective)
• Science (SSC / RRB / GD): Lucent GK science + NCERT 6–10
• Quant / Maths (SSC): SSC previous papers + Rakesh Yadav / Kiran PYQ or equivalent type-wise book; NCERT 8–10 for basics
• Quant (Bank / CAT): Arun Sharma or Sarvesh Verma selectively; daily DI sets
• English grammar: Wren & Martin (selective) + Neetu Singh (KD Campus) Plinth to Paramount / SP Bakshi Objective General English
• Reasoning: R.S. Aggarwal (foundation) + exam-specific PYQ book (Kiran / Adda / Oliveboard)
• Static GK: Lucent General Knowledge; one atlas (Oxford / Orient Blackswan)
• JEE / NEET Physics: H.C. Verma; D.C. Pandey or Physics Galaxy; NCERT exemplar
• JEE / NEET Chemistry: NCERT first; N. Awasthi / M.S. Chauhan / V.K. Jaiswal as level demands
• JEE Maths: Cengage or Arihant series + previous JEE Main / Advanced papers
• NEET Biology: NCERT Class 11–12 line by line; MTG / All-in-one only after NCERT
• CAT VARC: past CAT RCs; a good newspaper editorial habit
• GATE: standard UG textbooks of the branch + made-easy / ACE previous paper books + official GATE papers on the organising IIT site

Buy the latest edition. Second-hand previous-year paper books are enough for practice. Coaching photocopies are optional.

🌐 Official & Open / Free Content (use these first)

• NCERT textbooks (free PDF)
• ePathshala
• NPTEL — free engineering / science lectures by IIT faculty
• DIKSHA
• Press Information Bureau — authentic government news
• Union Budget & Economic Survey
• RBI — monetary policy, bulletin (banking / RBI / NABARD / SEBI)
• UPSC previous papers and cut-offs
• SSC notices and some paper archives
• IBPS information handouts
• NTA — JEE, NEET, CUET, UGC NET, CSIR NET mocks and keys
• SWAYAM — free university courses
• Khan Academy (free world-class maths / science videos mapped to school level)
• Official mock / practice portals of NTA, IBPS (when opened) and JoSAA / MCC counselling brochures

Prefer a government PDF over a random Telegram file. Fake “memory-based papers” with wrong keys waste months.

▶️ YouTube Channels & Teachers (free classes — pick ONE per subject)

These are well-known public education channels. They are not official partners of this website. Watch playlists, not 10 live classes a day. Pause and solve; do not only listen.

School / JEE / NEET foundation

• Physics Wallah (Alakh Pandey) — Physics and complete JEE / NEET boards-to-entrance path; also Defence / SSC verticals under PW
• Khan Academy India — calm concept videos for Maths and Science
• ExamFear / LearnoHub — chapter-wise school Science and Maths
• Physics Galaxy (Ashish Arora) — JEE Physics depth
• Mohit Tyagi — JEE Mathematics (long but thorough playlists)
• Unacademy JEE / NEET and Vedantu JEE — free live plus recorded batches

UPSC / State PSC

• Mrunal Patel — Economy, Budget, Economic Survey (also useful for RBI / NABARD)
• Drishti IAS — Hindi + English current affairs and GS
• StudyIQ IAS — daily CA and subject crash courses
• Vision IAS — current affairs and strategy videos
• ForumIAS / OnlyIAS / Sleepy Classes — optional and GS answer writing samples
• Unacademy UPSC — free editorial and GS sessions

SSC / Railway

• Gagan Pratap Maths — type-wise SSC Maths
• Rankers Gurukul (Aditya Ranjan) — arithmetic for beginners
• English with Rani Ma’am and KD Live (Neetu Singh Ma’am) — SSC English
• Parmar SSC — exam-oriented GA / GS
• Adda247 SSC, Wifistudy, Testbook SSC — live practice

Banking / Insurance / RBI / SEBI / NABARD

• Adda247 Bankers — full IBPS / SBI path, daily CA
• Banking Wallah (Physics Wallah) — puzzles and bank syllabus classes
• Oliveboard and Guidely — mock discussion and mains DI / puzzles
• AffairsCloud / BankersAdda written CA — monthly PDFs (website + YT recap)
• Mrunal again for RBI Grade B ESI / economy

CAT / Management

• Rodha — CAT Quant
• 2IIM CAT — VARC and strategy
• Anastasis Academy / Elites Grid — DILR sets (use free videos + official CAT papers)

GATE / ESE / CSIR

• NPTEL — first choice (IIT faculty, free)
• GATE Academy / Made Easy / ACE YouTube — previous paper discussions
• Unacademy GATE — free plus structured batches

Law / CUET / NET

• LegalEdge / LawSikho free CLAT sets and consortium sample papers
• CUET Adda / PW CUET — domain NCERT walk-throughs
• Let’s Crack UGC NET / Unacademy NTA-UGC — Paper 1 playlists

How to watch: one teacher per subject, 1.25× speed, notebook open, 30-minute video + 30-minute self-practice. Unfollow extra channels.

🗓️ A Simple Content Routine (works for almost every exam on this site)

• Morning (60–90 min): newspaper or PIB + 10 MCQs of yesterday’s CA
• Mid-day (2–3 hrs): one static / core subject from the official syllabus with a standard book
• Evening (90 min): PYQs of that chapter + error log
• Night (45 min): weak-area drill (CSAT / English / formulae)
• Weekly: one full mock in exam conditions + 2-hour analysis
• Monthly: revise the error log, not the whole bookshelf

✅ Open-source & low-cost practice platforms

• Official PYQ PDFs (UPSC, NTA keys, IBPS memory-based after official handout)
• NTA Abhyas / practice tests when the exam window opens
• Free weekly mocks: Oliveboard, Testbook, Adda247, Gradeup/BYJU’S Exam Prep (limited free tier)
• Anki / any free flashcard app for formulae and polity articles
• Google Arts & Culture / Survey of India maps for geography outline practice

⚠️ How to treat coaching names on this page

Book names and YouTube teachers are listed because lakhs of students already use them in public. This site does not sell their courses and does not guarantee a rank if you watch them. Always cross-check facts with the official syllabus and previous papers. If a video contradicts the official notification, trust the notification.

⚠️ Disclaimer

Slot design, question count and fees are confirmed only in that year’s CAT notification and test tutorial on iimcat.ac.in.