TANCET Exam Pattern 2026: Check Section-wise Latest Paper Format

Anna University releases TANCET syllabus on its official website. Candidates can find TANCET syllabus for MBA and MCA courses with the release of exam notification.

TANCET exam does not have any descriptive type questions. All the questions in the TANCET question paper are objective type questions, also known as Multiple Choice Questions. Anna University design the TANCET test paper to ask questions with four answers options. Out of these four options, one answers is correct, while other three answers are incorrect. Candidates have to choose the right answers to fetch 1 mark. For every incorrect response, candidates will get a education of 1/3 marks. All 100 questions in the TANCET exam are objective type.

Candidates get 120 minutes to answer 100 MCQs. Test takers must try to finish answering all questions within the stipulated time.

TANCET MBA exam has 5 sections. All sections have an equal weightage. With a total of 100 questions, each section has 20 questions in MCQ format.

The toughest or the easiest section of TANCET exam is subjective based on preparation. Candidates typically find the Quantitative Ability section to be the toughest.

As per the TANCET exam pattern, the total duration to answers all 100 MCQs is 120 minutes. There is no sectional time limit in TANCET exam.

Anna University prescribes the marking scheme of TANCET MBA and MCA exam. Candidates preparing for the exam day strategy must know the TANCET marking scheme to plan the best strategy. The TANCET exam marking scheme is as follows:

• Each correct response will fetch 1 mark
• Any incorrect response in the TANCET exam will lead to deduction of 1/3 mark
• No negative marking prevails for the unattempted questions

Since the TANCET exam have a negative marking for incorrect response, candidates must only mark the answers in the OMR sheet if they are sure of the same. Negative marking may decrease the overall score extensive.

TANCET exam coprises as many as 100 objective type questions. TANCET MBA exam has five sections with equal question weightage. Therefore, each section will have 20 questions each. Candidates have to answer all the questions. However, in case of incorrect responses, candidates will face a penalty of 1/3 mark. Each correct answer will fetch 1 mark.

Candidates preparing for TANCET can complete the entire syllabus in less than three months. However, if one has prepared for other MBA exams, he/she may complete the syllabus in less time.

TANCET exam is conducted for MBA and MCA admission. More than 25,000 candidates take the TANCET exam for MBA admission. The sections vary for MBA and MCA exams. The space below mention the TANCET MBA exam pattern:

• Mode of TANCET exam: Offline, OMR based
• Type of questions: Objective type
• Number of questions: 100
• Number of sections: 5
• Exam duration: 120 minutes
• Maximum marks: 100
• Marks for correct response: 1 mark
• Mark down for incorrect response: 1/4 mark
• Exam medium: English

The TANCET MBA syllabus is based on five sections. The sections for TANCET MBA exam include:

• Business Situations
• Reading Comprehension
• Quantitative Ability
• Data Sufficiency
• English Usage

All sections in the TANCET exam have equal weightage.

The overall difficulty level of the TANCET exam is considered moderate by most of the test takers. TANCET is a speed-based test with 100 MCQs to be completed in 120 minutes.

CAT is a national level exam for MBA admission, while TANCET is a state level exam for MBA admission. Syllabus for both CAT and TANCET are on a similar lies with slight changes in the sections. TANCET exam includes an additional section for Business Situation analysis. Candidates who have prepared for CAT exams section, including DILR, VARC, and QA, need a minimal study plan to prepare for TANCET. Candidates who took the CAT exam must drive deeper into the section for analysis of business situations. Study material, including books, question type remains similar for CAT and TANCET exam.

Practising mock tests for CAT and TANCET must be done individual as the difficult standards, exam duration, number of questions and other elements of test pattern will vary. Mock test will provide a better understanding of taking TANCET and CAT exam.

Most of the candidates find TANCET as an easy to moderate exam. Candidates find the exam easy if compared with national-level tests like CAT or XAT. It is a speed-based test with 100 questions to be answer in 120 minutes. Time becomes the primary challenge for the test takers.

TANCET exam is conducted once every year. Candidates can appear for the TANCET exam once within one academic year. For admission to the next year, candidates have to appear for the subsequent term of the TANCET exam. However, the exam schedule and frequency might change in the future.

For latest updates on TANCET exam, candidates can rely on shiksha's TANCET exam page. https://www.shiksha.com/mba/tancet-exam.

Sections in TANCET exam include Analysis of Business Situations, Reading Comprehension, Quantitative Ability, Data Sufficiency, and English Usage/Grammar.

Anna University may consider changing the TANCET exam mode from offline to online. Since the exam has fewer audience as compared to other competitive exams, offline exam becomes easy to manage. Candidates prefer an online exam over the offline OMR based exam. The decision with the change in the exam mode shall lie with the conducting body.

TANCET exam for MBA admission have five sections. Each section of the TANCET exam have an equal weightage. Anna University provides 20 per cent weightage to all five sections of the exam. Eacg section has 20 questions, collectively taking the question count to 100. The sections in the TANCET MBA exam include:

• Business Situations
• Reading Comprehension
• Quantitative Ability
• Data Sufficiency
• English Usage

Since all the sections of the TANCET exam have equal weightage, candidates provide equal importance to all five sections. Any of the section may lead to act as an advantage in pulling the overall score of the candidate.

Anna University conducts TANCET exam in an offline mode. The offline centre based exam has objective type questions to be answered on an OMR sheet. Anna University evaluates the responses by all the candidates using the OMR device which scans the sheet after reflecting a light.

The TANCET exam duration is two hours. The MBA exam is typically conducted in the afternoon shift from 2:30 PM to 4:30 PM, while the MCA exam takes place in the morning from 10 AM to 12 Noon.

TANCET MBA syllabus comprises five sections:

• Analysis of Business Situations
• Reading Comprehension
• Quantitative Aptitude
• Data Sufficiency
• General English

The MCA syllabus includes

• Quantitative Aptitude
• Analytical Reasoning
• Logical Reasoning
• Computer Awareness

The CAT and TANCET syllabi share similar topics in quantitative ability, reading comprehension, and data interpretation. However, TANCET has a unique section on Business Situation Analysis, requiring candidates to study specific concepts not covered in CAT.

Important topics for the TANCET Quantitative Aptitude section include

• Number System
• Percentages
• Profit and Loss
• Simple and Compound Interest
• Geometry
• Algebra
• Trigonometry
• Probability
• Time and Work
• Quadratic Equations, etc.

Anna University generally maintains a consistent TANCET syllabus every year. Any updates or changes to the sections or topics for the MBA or MCA exams are officially notified through the release of the information brochure.

The TANCET syllabus is comprehensive, covering basic class 10 and 12 level mathematics, English grammar, and reasoning skills. While extensive, candidates can easily cover the syllabus within two to three months of dedicated preparation.

Candidates usually require less than three months to completely cover the TANCET syllabus. Those who have already studied for other MBA entrance exams can finish it even faster due to overlapping topics.

TANCET MCA exam syllabus consists of four sections, including

• Quantitative Aptitude
• Analytical Reasoning
• Logical Reasoning
• Computer Awareness.

Candidates have to answer a total of 100 questions distributed across these specified sections.

TANCET syllabus is issued with the release of information brochure on the official website. Candidates find a PDF for TANCET MBA and MCA syllabus.

Some of the important topics for the TANCET Analytical Reasoning section include:

• Number Sequence
• Input-Output
• Coded-inequality
• Blood Relations
• Conditional Statements
• Odd one out
• Inequalities
• Syllogism
• Venn Diagram
• Sitting Arrangement (Linear and Circular)
• Directions and Ranking
• Sets based on games

Best time to start TANCET preparation is 4-5 months before exam date. Candidates who have studied for any MBA exam before might only need 1-2 months of preparation.