CAT 2022 Exam Pattern

The conducting IIMs have made changes in CAT Exam Pattern several times in the past few years. Students appearing in CAT 2022 must be aware of the changes that have taken place in the pattern. Having a proper knowledge of the cat paper pattern will help students make strategies to devise their test taking skills. As per the recent notifications, we have come to know that there might be a few changes introduced in CAT Exam Pattern 2022. Being the conducting body of the exam, IIM Bangalore will release all the important details regarding the exam months before the examination is conducted.

The CAT Exam Pattern given below will give you a brief idea about how the question paper is formed and the no. of questions asked in the exam. Go through these details and prepare accordingly. The details given below will be updated in case there are any changes in the official statement. 

Common Admission Test is a computer-based entrance examination which analyzes candidates' skills in various segments required to qualify the entrance examination. Though there have been numerous changes in the CAT Exam Pattern for the last 4 years, the basic structure remains the same.

Overview of CAT Expected Exam Pattern 2022

CAT Exam is one of the toughest MBA Entrance Exams in India as it has no predefined syllabus or a proper exam pattern. As the examination pattern keeps changing, aspirants are required to focus more on the exam preparation strategy. 

The examination conducting authority made a few changes in the CAT 2015 Exam Pattern and introduced a sectional time limit. Besides, it also introduced Type In The Answer (TITA) type questions. The CAT 2021 Exam Pattern was made with these changes only and has been mentioned below:

Expected CAT Exam Pattern - Sectional Pattern

Section-wise Exam Pattern

A section wise bifurcation of the number of questions in each section would help students prepare in a proficient way. There are three sections namely Verbal Ability and Reasoning Comprehensive, Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning, and Quantitative Ability. Each segment consists of MCQ and Non MCQ types of questions. Each correct answer is rewarded with 3 marks while 1 mark is deducted as a penalty for each incorrect answer. 

The bifurcation of number of questions asked in each section, number of MCQ and NON MCQ questions in each section, and maximum marks each section holds is given below:

CAT Quantitative Aptitude Pattern

The Quantitative Aptitude section of CAT Exam is the only section consisting of Numerical based questions based on various topics of Mathematics. There will be a total of 26 questions asked in this section in CAT 2022. CAT Quantitative Aptitude Section mainly comprises 5 topics. The detailed pattern for the section is given below:

• Basic Arithmetic
• Algebra
• Number System
• Geometry & Mensuration
• Modern Maths

Below mentioned tables mentioned the distribution of these topics every year:

CAT Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension Pattern

CAT VARC Section mainly focuses on checking students' English language skills as well as their ability to interpret paragraphs and understand the concepts and basics of these topics. There will be a total of 26 questions in the CAT VARC section this year in CAT 2022. 

In the CAT Verbal Ability Section, there will be 8 questions this year. The main area of focus for students in the section have been mentioned below:

• Para Jumbles
• Sentence Correction and Completion
• Summary Based

Some of the questions in this section are from the verbal ability while the other questions are from the reading comprehension. The types of questions in CAT Reading Comprehension include vocabulary, title, and grammar based questions. The table given below shows the analysis of CAT VARC section:

Besides, there have been TITA (Type In The Answer) types of questions introduced in the section which will have no options to choose from and candidates will be required to type the answers in the box given on the screen. There will be 5 to 8 TITA Questions. This section will consume most time and the difficulty level of CAT Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension section will be moderate. 

CAT Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning Pattern

The CAT DILR section of the paper analyzes candidates' proficiency of interpreting data and understanding logical assumptions. There will be a total of 22-24 questions in this section. This year, the CAT Logical Reasoning part of the paper will have 18-20 questions. The questions are based on inequalities, symbol operations, direction sense test, etc. This section is considered the most scoring section as it consists of easily solvable questions.

The questions from Data Interpretation are of difficult level and consume more time.

On the other hand, the data interpretation section is a bit difficult and time-consuming. Several confusing data caselets are included in this section, and candidates are required to understand the data sets thoroughly to be able to answer the full question sets. The CAT data interpretation section should be attempted cautiously as a single mistake can lead the candidates to attempt all the questions from a particular set incorrectly.