Around 3.3 lakh candidates are going to appear for the CAT 2025 exam on November 30, 2025, so to score 90-99% percentile, you need to have strong time management skills to clear the sectional cutoff.
Each of the three sections - VARC, DILR, and Quantitative Aptitude has a 40-minute sectional time limit.
You need to plan your preparation so that you will be able to cover all the questions in the given time. With the accurate strategy of revising concepts and mock test practice, you can improve your performance.
According to different coaching platforms, students who manage sectional time efficiently improve their percentile by 18–22%.
Here, we will discuss how to manage sectional time in CAT 2025. Let’s take a brief look at the CAT Exam Strategy 2025.
CAT Exam Pattern & Marking Scheme
Before going into the strategy, let’s have a look at the CAT 2025 exam pattern and marking scheme.
| Section | Total Questions | MCQ Questions | TITA Questions | Marks for Correct Answer | Negative Marking (MCQ) | Negative Marking (TITA) | Total Marks |
| Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC) | 24 | 22 | 2 | +3 | -1 | No Negative | 72 |
| Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR) | 22 | 12 | 10 | +3 | -1 | No Negative | 66 |
| Quantitative Ability (QA) | 22 | 14 | 8 | +3 | -1 | No Negative | 66 |
| Total | 68 | 48 | 20 | — | — | — | 204 |
Read More: CAT Exam Pattern 2025
Time Management Strategies for the VARC section
This section covers 24 questions related to verbal ability & reading comprehension. If you look at last year's papers, most of the questions are about reading comprehension. Here are some smart tips to ace this section-
- Try to complete the RCs first, then give proper time to the VA section, as it is tough & requires more focus.
- Prioritise questions based on difficulty level and pick easy questions first.
- Approx 8 questions will be asked from the VA section, and compared to RC, these are less time-consuming.
- Most of the VA questions don’t carry a penalty, so you can take a chance to solve them when time is running out.
- Use skimming techniques. Eliminate the options that don’t fit to narrow down the choices & chance of getting the right answer.
- Give 30 minutes to solve RCs and 10 minutes to solve VA questions.
Time Management for the LRDI Section
This is the most time-consuming section in the CAT exam. The section covers 2 types of questions: Logical reasoning & data interpretation. Aspirants have to solve 22 questions within 40 minutes. Some common tips to complete this section successfully are-
- Invest your first 3 minutes to understand the paper and the selection of the set. Go through each set & pick the easiest one, it boosts your confidence.
- Note down the order in which you wish to attempt the set. Answer non-MCQ first.
- Give not more than 15 minutes to solve one set.
- LR questions consume less time to solve compared to DI.
- Skip complex questions if it takes more time.
Tips to Solve the Quantitative Aptitude Section
This is one of the most scoring sections in the CAT exam 2025. Candidates must build a strong foundation of basic & formulas. Here are some general tips to solve this question-
- Try to solve the question in the first 2 to 3 rounds.
- In the first round, attempt questions that can be solved within 2 minutes. You can easily find 4 to 5 easy questions that help you score well.
- In the second round, choose questions you are confident of, but take more time & focus.
- In the 3rd round, solve very tough questions.
- A candidate should have the rough idea of how much time he/she can allocate to each question.
- Stay calm & composed throughout the exam.
You can check the video below, where Sudhanshu Sir has explained the CAT 2025 preparation strategies. He talks briefly about the Section-wise strategy for VARC, DILR, and QA and Insights from real student journeys (90 to 99.9 percentiles).
Reddit Discussions Reveal How Students Manage Time Across VARC, DILR & Quant
On Reddit and other MBA forums, CAT students are actively sharing their real-time experiences and time management hacks. Here’s what the community is saying about balancing speed and accuracy in each section.
One of the Reddit users shared on “r/CATpreparation” that "Mock tests are the backbone of CAT 2025 prep, and further mentioned that smart sectional time management, scanning, prioritising, and maintaining accuracy, is the key to cracking the 99+ percentile. Each mock is a lesson in speed, precision, and calm under pressure.
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Source: Reddit
Another user is asked a question that how his scores dropped after switching, to which another student commented that “Coaching mocks are generally tougher than PYQs, and your scores in PYQs should have generally been more than the scores you got in coaching mocks”
Source: Reddit
Understanding sectional time management helps you from wasting time switching between each section. You are only supposed to attempt one section at a time. Regularly practice with sectional mocks and develop section-specific strategies. Use the time-saving CAT exam strategy 2025 since it can make a significant difference in your CAT score and complete your test ahead of time.
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