CAT 2023 Syllabus

CAT is one of the most popular entrance exams for an MBA Program in India. While the CAT syllabus is vast, if you plan and start preparing in a focused manner, you can cover it within two-three months. The CAT Exam Syllabus covers most concepts that you have learned in school.

While many people consider the test to be very difficult, the best way to prepare for it is to understand the CAT syllabus and pattern and create a study plan accordingly. Many ex-students and coaching institutes offer tips to crack the CAT exam. You can make a note of these tips to be better prepared for the test. In this article, we will talk about MBA CAT Syllabus in detail.

CAT Paper Syllabus 2022

Three CAT subjects constitute the CAT Syllabus:

1. Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC) – including various topics of English Grammar and your ability to read and comprehend efficiently along with verbal reasoning topics.
2. Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR) – including topics that assess your skills for interpreting data in different forms
3. Quantitative Aptitude (QA) – including Mathematics from Class 9 and Class 10

Important Topics for CAT 2022

Based on an analysis of the types of questions asked in the past few years, we have compiled a list of important topics for CAT 2022.

• VARC – 
• Verbal Ability – around 10% weightage to topics like Inferences, Para jumbles, Para summary, and Sentence Completion
• Reading Comprehension – around 24% weightage to questions based on passages
• DILR – 
• Data Interpretation – around 16% weightage to topics like Graphs, Pie Charts, Tables, and Venn Diagrams
• Logical Reasoning – around 16% weightage to questions relating to blood relations, caselets, seating arrangements, and syllogisms.
• QA – around 34% weightage to questions from algebra, arithmetic, geometry, mensuration, and the number system

Changes in the CAT Entrance Exam Syllabus

In the last 10 years, in CAT paper syllabus, the cat subjects for MBA have not been changed or shuffled. However, the exam pattern has undergone some tweaks in the last two years. Here is a quick look:

CAT Exam Pattern	Changes made in CAT 2020	Changes made in CAT 2021	CAT 2022
Total questions asked	Reduced from 100 in 2019 to 76 in 2020	Reduced from 76 in 2020 to 66 in 2021	66 questions
Total questions in VARC section	Reduced from 34 in 2019 to 26 in 2020	Reduced from 26 in 2020 to 24 in 2021	24 questions
Total Questions in DILR section	Reduced from 32 in 2019 to 24 in 2020	Reduced from 24 in 2020 to 20 in 2021	20 questions
Total Questions in QA section	Reduced from 34 in 2019 to 26 in 2020	Reduced from 26 in 2020 to 22 in 2021	22 questions
Total marks	Reduced from 300 in 2019 to 228 to 2020	Reduced from 228 in 2020 to 198 in 2021	198 marks

CAT Detailed Syllabus

Here is a look at the CAT portion and syllabus for 2022:

Section 1 – Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension

The first section of CAT Paper is VARC. This section has two parts:

1. Verbal Ability
2. Reading Comprehension

You need to solve this section within 40 minutes. 

Verbal Ability – important topics

Analogies	Antonyms	Articles usage
Fill in the blanks	Errors in tenses	Different usage of the same word
Idioms	Grammar	Foreign language words used in English
Jumbled paragraphs	One-word substitution	Phrases modifiers
Para jumbles	Parts of speech	Para completion, and inference
Preposition	Reading comprehension	Sentence completion
Sentence correction	Subject-verb agreement	Syllogisms
Types of clauses	Verbal logic	Verbal reasoning

VARC – Paper Pattern

Here is a quick look at the paper pattern of 2021.

VARC Topics	No. of Questions
Reading Comprehension	16
VA-Para jumbles	3
VA-Odd Sentence	2
VA-Summary	3
Overall	24

The VARC section is expected to have a similar pattern in 2022 too.

Things to remember about the VARC section

• Typically, there are 8 questions on Verbal Ability
• These are non-MCQ questions. Therefore, you have to type your answer.
• No negative marking in Verbal Ability
• The Reading Comprehension section has MCQ-type questions
• Expect around 3-4 long passages ranging from 600-900 words
• The Reading Comprehension section has a negative marking of one mark for a wrong answer

Section 2 – Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning

DILR is the second section of CAT. This section has two parts:

1. Data Interpretation
2. Logical Reasoning

Data Interpretation – important topics

Blood Relations	Clocks and Calendars	Syllogism
Series	Statements	Venn Diagram
Proposition	Data Arrangement	Data Structures
Direction Sense	Family Tree	Tables
Coding-Decoding	Binary Logic	Pie Charts
Assumptions	Seating Arrangement	Data Sufficiency
Puzzles	Sets & Caselets	Bars & Line Graphs

VARC – Paper Pattern

Here is a quick look at the paper pattern of 2021.

DILR Topics	No. of Questions
Data Interpretation	8 (4 easy and 4 moderate)
Logical Reasoning	12 (6 easy-to-moderate and 6 moderate-to-difficult)
Overall	20

The DILR section is expected to have a similar pattern in 2022 too.

Things to remember about the DILR section

• Typically, there are around 14 questions on Data Interpretation and around 10 questions on Logical Reasoning
• These are MCQ and non-MCQ-type questions. 
• MCQs have a negative marking for wrong answers. There is no negative marking for non-MCQ-type questions

Section 3 – Quantitative Aptitude

QA is the third section of CAT. You need to solve this section within 40 minutes. 

Quantitative Aptitude – important topics

Algebra	Binomial theorem	Geometric Progression
Geometry	Inequalities	In-equations Quadratic and linear equations
Logarithms	Mean, mode, median	Mensuration
Number System	Percentages	Partnership (Accounts)
Probability	Profit & Loss	Ratios and Proportion
Surds and Indices	Square Root and Cube Root	Simple interest and compound interest
Work and Time	Trigonometry	Time-Speed-Distance

QA – Paper Pattern

Here is a quick look at the paper pattern of 2021.

QA Topics	No. of Questions
Algebra	5
Arithmetic	10
Modern Maths	4
Geometry	3
Overall	22

The QA section is expected to have a similar pattern in 2022 too.

Things to remember about the QA section

• This section has 22 questions
• These are MCQ and non-MCQ-type questions. 
• MCQs have a negative marking for wrong answers. There is no negative marking for non-MCQ-type questions

In Conclusion

We hope this article helped you learn more about the CAT syllabus and pattern. After you apply for the CAT exam, keep following the official website to stay updated about the announcements and also to download the CAT Admit Card.