CAT Quantitative Ability syllabus 2026

CAT quant is Class 8 to 10 mathematics. There is no calculus, no matrices, no statistics beyond averages and no trigonometry beyond the basics. What makes it hard is that 22 questions in 40 minutes leaves under two minutes each, and the questions are written so that the long method runs you out of time.

Arithmetic has carried the largest share of QA for several years running. If your preparation time is short, that is where it goes. QA is the final section of the CAT paper, sat after DILR, when fatigue is already a factor.

QA structure

Arithmetic

The largest block, and the one that rewards preparation most reliably. Arithmetic questions are also the ones most likely to have a two-line solution hiding behind a four-line one.

• Percentages: percentage change, successive change, percentage points against per cent
• Profit, loss and discount: cost price, marked price, successive discounts, false weights
• Simple and compound interest: half-yearly and quarterly compounding, instalments, the link to growth rates
• Ratio, proportion and variation: compound ratio, direct and inverse variation, partnership shares
• Averages: simple, weighted, moving averages, the effect of adding or removing a term
• Mixtures and alligations: repeated replacement, mixing three or more components
• Time and work: individual and combined rates, efficiency, pipes and cisterns, work done in shifts
• Time, speed and distance: relative speed, boats and streams, trains, circular tracks, races, average speed

Algebra

• Linear equations: single and simultaneous, conditions for unique, infinite or no solution
• Quadratic equations: roots, sum and product, discriminant, common roots, nature of roots
• Higher degree equations: factor theorem, remainder theorem, polynomial division
• Inequalities and modulus: sign schemes, quadratic inequalities, absolute value equations
• Functions and graphs: domain and range, composite and inverse functions, even and odd, transformations
• Logarithms: laws, change of base, logarithmic inequalities
• Surds, indices and exponents
• Maxima and minima by AM and GM, by completing the square, and on bounded intervals
• Algebraic identities and factorisation

Geometry and mensuration

• Triangles: similarity, congruence, area formulae, medians and centroids, angle bisectors, special right triangles
• Circles: chords, tangents, secants, arcs, cyclic quadrilaterals, the alternate segment theorem
• Quadrilaterals and polygons: properties, interior and exterior angles, regular polygons
• Coordinate geometry: distance, section formula, slope, lines, area of a triangle, basic circles
• Mensuration: cubes, cuboids, cylinders, cones, spheres, hemispheres, frustums, composite solids
• Basic trigonometry: ratios, identities, heights and distances

Geometry weightage has fallen over the last few cycles but has never gone to zero. It is the area most candidates under-prepare and then lose three marks to. The GMAT removed geometry entirely in 2024, so a geometry chapter is CAT and XAT preparation only.

Number systems

• Factors and multiples: number of factors, sum of factors, HCF and LCM and their applications
• Divisibility: rules, divisibility of expressions, tests for composite divisors
• Remainders: cyclicity, negative remainders, the remainder theorem applied to numbers
• Last digits and trailing zeroes in products and factorials
• Base systems: conversion and arithmetic in other bases
• Properties of integers: primes, co-primes, perfect squares, factorial properties

Modern maths

• Permutations and combinations: arrangements, selections, restrictions, circular arrangements, distribution into groups
• Probability: independent and dependent events, conditional probability, expected value in simple cases
• Progressions: arithmetic, geometric and harmonic, sums of series, infinite geometric series
• Set theory and Venn diagrams: two and three set problems, maximum and minimum overlap
• Binomial theorem, which appears occasionally

What is not in CAT quant

• No calculus, differentiation or integration
• No matrices or determinants
• No vectors or three-dimensional coordinate geometry
• No complex numbers
• No statistics beyond mean, median, mode and range
• No advanced trigonometry beyond ratios, identities and heights and distances

Anyone telling you to revise Class 11 and 12 maths for CAT is working from the wrong exam.

How to spend the 40 minutes

Two passes work better than one. Take the first 25 minutes for everything you can see a route into, then return to the rest with whatever remains.

• Read all 22 questions in the first three minutes and flag the ones you can start immediately
• Do the flagged questions first, in any order
• Give nothing more than 90 seconds on the first pass
• Answer every TITA question, since a wrong one costs nothing
• Use the last five minutes on questions you half-solved rather than opening new ones

Attempting questions in order is how people leave four easy marks unattempted at the end because they spent nine minutes on a hard one in the middle.

Common mistakes

• Solving by the textbook method when the question was built to reward a shortcut
• Over-preparing geometry theory and under-practising arithmetic word problems
• Treating accuracy as secondary, when each wrong MCQ costs a mark and a mark is a third of a correct answer
• Skipping the on-screen calculator when it would save 20 seconds, or reaching for it when it costs 20
• Practising untimed, which builds method without building selection

How CAT quant compares with XAT and the GMAT

XAT quant covers a similar topic list but leans harder on geometry, asks trigonometry directly, and at 28 questions it is the largest section in that paper. GMAT quant is the outlier: arithmetic and algebra only, no geometry, no data sufficiency, and no negative marking.

Frequently asked questions

Is calculus asked in CAT?

No. CAT quant stops at Class 10 level mathematics.

Which topic has the highest weightage in CAT quant?

Arithmetic, and by a clear margin in recent papers.

How many questions are in CAT QA?

22, worth 66 marks, in 40 minutes.

Is a calculator allowed?

Only the basic on-screen calculator provided in the test window.

Is geometry still asked in CAT?

Yes, though the weightage has fallen. It is removed from the GMAT, not from CAT.

Do I need an engineering background?

No. The syllabus is school mathematics and a commerce or arts candidate covers it in the same preparation time.

How many quant questions should I attempt?

Accuracy governs this more than count. Each wrong MCQ costs 1 mark against 3 for a correct one, so guessing across the section is expensive.

Is trigonometry in the CAT syllabus?

Basic ratios, identities and heights and distances. Nothing beyond that.

Should I learn Vedic maths for CAT?

Calculation speed helps, but the section is designed around choosing the right approach rather than computing quickly. Method selection returns more than arithmetic speed.

Are CAT quant questions repeated?

No, but the question types recur, which is why past papers remain the best single source of practice.