CAT

As per the latest CAT exam pattern, there will be 68 questions. The format will be MCQ and non-MCQ. VARC will have 24 questions, DILR will have 22 questions and QA will have 22 questions. Each question will carry 3 marks and there will be negative marking of -1 for incorrect answer. Sectional time limit will be 40 minutes.

While it is not mandatory to attempt all sections in CAT, the IIMs and all top B School consider sectional percentiles too for selecting candidates for admission. Thus, you cannot afford to skip a CAT section all together. You can skip some questions though.

CAT books by Arun Sharma, Nishit Sinha, RS Agarwal and Abhijit Guha are good and exhaustive, but you should refer to more study material like sample test papers and mock tests for a complete preparation.

Yes, you can crack CAT exam even if you haven't studied Maths in class 12. CAT Quant and DI have Mathematical questions of advance level, from the topics studied in Class 9 and 10. You will only need to brush up the basic and practice advance level questions.

CAT 2026 may be conducted by IIM Indore. The institute had last conducted the exam in 2020, Since the top six IIMs   - BLACKI are given the responsibility to convene on rotation basis exam every five year, this year, it could be IIM Indore. Official announcement will be made most likely in May.

Yes, CAT 2026 exam will be conducted in three shifts. Exam timing of each slot will be:

• First shift: 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM
• Second shift: 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM and 
• Third shift: 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM

In CAT Quantitative Aptitude, Arithmetic has the highest weightage with 7-8 questions in every shift. In VARC, Reading Comprehension has the maximum weightage with about 16 questions. In DILR, the number of questions are equally distributed.

In CAT 2025, the number of 100 percentilers was 12. Check state wise data:

CAT 2026 exam will be held on November 29, 2026. Official announcement of the exam and registration schedule will be announced in the last week of July 2026.

SRM Vadapalani does accepts CAT scores for admission to MBA programme. Aspirants with CAT scores get direct admission. Such candidates have to directly come for the personal interview round. The institute also accepts scores in MAT, CMAT, XAT, etc. for MBA programme.