CAT section strategy: 40 minutes each for VARC, DILR and QA
The Common Admission Test is the entrance to the IIMs and many other management schools. It is two hours long, but those two hours are three separate sections of 40 minutes each, and you cannot go back to a section once its time is up. This article explains the pattern and a plan for each section.
The pattern
IIM Indore is conducting CAT 2026, on Sunday 29 November 2026 in three sessions. The press release gives the structure: 120 minutes, three sections in a fixed order, 40 minutes each, with no switching between them.
The 2026 release does not give the number of questions or the marking. The last test, on 30 November 2025, had:
| Section | Questions | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC) | 24 | 72 |
| Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR) | 22 | 66 |
| Quantitative Ability (QA) | 22 | 66 |
| Total | 68 | 204 |
Every right answer earns 3 marks. A wrong multiple-choice answer costs 1 mark. A wrong typed answer (often called non-MCQ or TITA) costs nothing. Check the CAT website for any change before your test. Our CAT page keeps the details and their sources.
What the marking means
- For multiple-choice questions, the break-even chance is 25%. With four options, a blind guess gains nothing on average; rule out one option and it gains. See the negative marking guide.
- For typed answers there is no penalty. Never leave a typed answer blank if you have worked towards any number, even a rough one.
- Because sections are locked, time saved in one section is lost, not carried. Use the full 40 minutes of every section.
VARC: 40 minutes for 24 questions
In the 2025 test, VARC had four reading passages with four questions each, then eight verbal questions: two summaries, two paragraph completions, two odd-sentence-out and two paragraph jumbles. The odd-sentence and jumble questions are typed answers.
- Reading comprehension carries two-thirds of the section. Read passages actively: note the main idea of each paragraph in a few words.
- Choose your passages. If one passage is dense and unfamiliar, do the other three first.
- Paragraph jumbles are typed answers with no penalty, so always enter your best order.
- Build reading speed over months by reading long-form editorials and essays daily. It cannot be crammed.
DILR: 40 minutes for 22 questions
In the 2025 test, DILR had five sets (two of five questions and three of four), half of them with typed answers.
- Set selection is the skill. Spend the first two or three minutes reading every set's question and data briefly, then start with the one that looks most solvable.
- Solving two or three sets fully usually scores better than starting all five.
- If a set has not opened up in four or five minutes, leave it and move on.
QA: 40 minutes for 22 questions
In the 2025 test, QA had 14 multiple-choice and 8 typed-answer questions, across arithmetic, algebra, geometry, number systems and modern maths.
- Arithmetic (percentages, ratio, time-speed-distance, time and work, interest) is the most reliable source of marks.
- Algebra is the next largest area; equations, inequalities and functions reward clean working.
- Make a first pass for the questions you can solve in two minutes or less, then a second pass for the rest.
- For multiple-choice questions, working back from the options is often faster than solving outright.
Mocks for CAT
Sectional locking makes mock practice essential: the habit of using exactly 40 minutes per section, and of picking DILR sets quickly, is built only in timed tests.
- From four months out, one full mock a week, analysed section by section.
- In the last six weeks, two a week.
- After each, note marks per section and how many typed answers you left blank (the target is zero).
The same skills serve XAT and CMAT, though their sections and marking differ. Mockrooms has timed CAT mocks with locked 40-minute sections and the 2025 marking.