How to Prepare for CAT Quant in the Last 30 Days

CAT 2026 is on 29 November. With a month to go, the goal changes. You are no longer trying to learn all of Quant. You are trying to collect the most marks you can from the chapters CAT asks most, and to stop giving marks away.

First, decide what not to do

You cannot cover 25 chapters properly in 30 days, and you don't need to. Since 2017, the ten most-asked chapters have accounted for about 12.7 of every 22 Quant questions. Ranked:

1. Quadratic & Polynomial Equations: about 1.7 questions a section
2. Progressions & Series: about 1.5 questions a section
3. Time & Work: about 1.3 questions a section
4. Inequalities & Modulus: about 1.3 questions a section
5. Averages: about 1.3 questions a section
6. Quadrilaterals & Polygons: about 1.3 questions a section
7. Time, Speed & Distance: about 1.1 questions a section
8. Exponents & Surds: about 1.1 questions a section
9. Mixtures & Alligation: about 1.1 questions a section
10. Triangles: about 1 questions a section

Everything below the top ten together is worth about 9.3 questions. Read those formula sheets once and move on.

Week 1: find your gaps

Don't guess which chapters are weak. Take one sectional or diagnostic, untimed if you need to, and write down every question you got wrong or skipped, by chapter. Sort that list by the ranking above. The chapters that are both heavy and weak are your plan for the next two weeks.

Weeks 2 and 3: fix the heavy, weak chapters

For each one:

• Learn the concept, not just the formula. Read the formula sheet and make sure you can say where each line comes from.
• Learn the question shapes. Each chapter has a handful of question types CAT keeps repeating (the chapter guides list them). Recognising the shape in the first 20 seconds is most of the speed you need.
• Prove it on fresh questions. Finish each chapter with questions you haven't seen before. If you can't get them right, you don't know the chapter yet, however familiar the material feels.

Keep one timed sectional a week so the speed doesn't fade.

Week 4: mocks and selection

• Take a full timed sectional every other day. Review it the same day, by chapter.
• Practise selection: in a 22-question section you don't need to attempt everything. Learn to spot in the first pass which questions are routine for you.
• Revise from formula sheets, not from textbooks.

The marking rule that changes your strategy

A correct answer is +3. A wrong multiple-choice answer is -1. A wrong TITA (type-in-the-answer) answer is 0. So:

• Always attempt TITA questions if you have any reasonable approach. A guess costs nothing.
• Only attempt an MCQ when you can eliminate options. A blind guess between four options is worth $\frac{1}{4} \times 3 - \frac{3}{4} \times 1 = 0$ marks on average, so it gains you nothing and adds variance.

Since 2017, about 35% of Quant questions have been TITA. More on that in TITA questions in CAT Quant.

The last three days

No new chapters. One light sectional, formula sheets, sleep. Walk in knowing which question types you will attempt first.