CAT Syllabus 2021: Every year more than 2 lakh aspirants appear for the MBA entrance examination, which makes it evident that the competition to make it to the top college is not easy. Only the outstanding performers will win the marathon. In addition, the level of the entrance examination is also considered difficult and that is another challenge. Therefore the aspirants have to clear their decks before they miss the boat. To do so, they must be well aware of the CAT syllabus for MBA 2021. By going through the CAT exam syllabus 2021, aspirants will be able to know about the sections of the MBA exam, subjects and topics which are asked in the entrance exam.
CAT syllabus includes three sections - Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC), Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR) and Quantitative Aptitude (QA). The CAT syllabus 2021 pdf is vast, thus those appearing for the exam must plan in a time-bound manner. The CAT 2021 syllabus will you an overall idea on how to prepare for the entrance exam. Before starting the exam preparation, candidates must know the exam syllabus and CAT exam pattern. In this article, let us get into the minute details of the syllabus which should be considered as a bible for a CAT aspirant.
CAT Syllabus 2021
To aid your preparation in a precise manner, we would take you on a tour of the CAT 2021 syllabus which is expected to come in the year 2021. To give you a brief overview, let us first learn about the three major sections that form an integral part of the CAT entrance examination:
|
CAT Sections |
Section Name |
Questions from each Section |
|
Section I |
Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension |
34 |
|
Section – II |
Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning |
32 |
|
Section – III |
Quantitative Ability |
34 |
|
|
Total |
100 Questions |
From the above table it is clear that from three sections, 100 questions are asked from the candidates to test their overall aptitude. The number of questions may vary as the official numbers have not yet been announced. After you have gained a broad idea about the sections from which questions are asked in the examination, now we will focus on each section in detail.
CAT Syllabus 2021 Important Topics
As per the updates, the CAT syllabus topic wise weightage has not changed for the past 10 years even though the exam pattern has been revised several times. Let us take a look at the important topics of the syllabus of CAT exam 2021. The topics given below are those from where maximum questions have been asked in the exam in the past few years.
|
Sections |
Important Topics |
|
Quantitative Aptitude (QA) |
Mensuration, Number System, Geometry, Arithmetic and Algebra |
|
Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR) |
Blood Relation, Graphs, Seating Arrangement, Tables and Syllogism |
|
Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC) |
Para summary, Reading Comprehension, Sentence Completion, Para jumbles and Verbal Ability |
CAT Quantitative Ability Section Syllabus
As per the CAT syllabus 2021 pdf, the Quantitative Ability Section evaluates and analyses the numerical and problem-solving abilities of aspirants. The questions from this section are multiple-choice based questions that also invite negative marking if you choose the wrong option.
As it can be seen from the table above that the section contains 34 herculean questions, hence, we will guide you on how to deal with the complexity of these questions at ease.
Topics Covered in Quantitative Aptitude Section
As it can be seen from the aforementioned table, the quantitative aptitude section of CAT exam syllabus 2021 is majorly bifurcated into 5 major categories i.e. Number system, Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry and Mensuration, and Modern Maths.
Now that you have understood and learned about the wide range of topics that are covered in this section, we shall move forward to know more about the weightage of each section. Out of the 34 questions, let us seek to understand the chapter-wise break up of questions so that you can focus more on the highest-scoring areas first.
|
Important CAT 2021 |
Number of Questions (Tentative) |
|
Number |
10-14 |
|
Arithmetic |
8-10 |
|
Algebra |
6-8 |
|
Geometry and Mensuration |
8-10 |
|
Modern Maths |
5-6 |
CAT Verbal Ability Section Syllabus
The verbal ability section for CAT is another fascinating section that evaluates your aptitude on the basis of language comprehension. This section has the potential to shoot up your falling scores if you are an avid reader.
So, let us learn about the topics covered in this section:
Topics Covered in Verbal Aptitude Section
From among these chapters, taking a cue from last year’s syllabus, you can expect to get the following number of questions in the CAT examination this year.
|
Important CAT Topics |
Number of Questions |
|
Reading Comprehension |
14-16 |
|
Passage Summary |
3-4 |
|
Para Jumbles |
8-10 |
|
Critical Reasoning (Paragraph Completion) |
2-3 |
|
Correct Usage of Phrasal Verbs (Grammar Based) |
3-4 |
Other topics in the CAT verbal ability section also focus on analyzing your overall ability:
- to understand and identify the core ideas,
- to predict and identify the supporting ideas which are envisaged in the texts,
- to check whether you are able to provide the details systematically and orderly manner.
CAT Logical Reasoning and Data Interpretation Section Syllabus
Coming over to the last but another significant section of the CAT entrance examination, LR&DI holds fewer questions in comparison to the other two sections.
The topics which are covered under this section are as under:
Topics Covered in Logical and Data Interpretation Section
An in-depth analysis from various credible sources brought us to this conclusion that you can expect the given below tentative bifurcation of questions from the above-mentioned chapters of the CAT exam.
|
Important CAT Topics |
Number of Questions |
|
Data Interpretation [tables, graphs (line, area), charts (column, bar, pie)] |
15-16 |
|
Game based/Logical Analysis- Caselets (Puzzles, Ranking, Blood Relation) |
8-9 |
|
Seating Arrangement (Circular, Linear or Matrix) |
4-5 |
|
Venn Diagram |
4-5 |
How much time do you think you should take to attempt the CAT entrance examination?
Around 180 minutes for the reason being that the time limit of CAT can’t exceed 180 minutes.
My basic concern of putting up this question is, how much time according to you, should be invested in each section to perform at the horse pace.
No Clue?
Or
Have some clue but not sure about it?
Don’t worry, we would provide you with tips pertaining to this as well. An ideal CAT aspirant should invest the time while attempting the test in the following manner!
|
Section Name |
Questions |
Sectional time Limit |
|
Quantitative Ability |
34 |
60 minutes |
|
Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning |
32 |
60 minutes |
|
Verbal Ability |
34 |
60 minutes |
|
Total |
100 |
180 minutes |
This makes it evident that you need to have an in-depth command over every concept in order to get a foothold in the IIMs.
About CAT 2021
Common Admission Test (CAT) 2021 is India’s prestigious MBA entrance exam which grants admission to top-tier Management Institutes of India. It is a Computer Based Test (CBT) and is a gateway to 20 IIMs and over 100 non-IIMs in India such as FMS, SP Jain Management Institute, and many more. This year, CAT exam the exam will tentatively be conducted in the last week of November.
Also Read: About CAT Exam Registration – Click Here
Also Read: About CAT Exam Pattern – Click Here
Also Read: About CAT Test Centers – Click Here
Also Read: About CAT Participating Institutes – Click Here
Also Read: About CAT Preparation Tips – Click Here
Also Read: About CAT Exam Analysis – Click Here
Also Read: About CAT Previous Year Mock Tests – Click Here
Wishing you Goodluck with the CAT Exam preparation!!
Use CAT Percentile Predictor 2021 to know your estimated CAT cut offs and predict calls from IIMs and Non-IIMs accepting CAT score for admission.