How many Mensuration questions come in CAT Quant?

About 0.1 questions in a 22-question Quant section, worth roughly 0 marks. Mensuration appeared in 7 of the 24 CAT papers from 2017 to 2025, 9 questions in all, which ranks it 25 of 25 Quant chapters.

Are Mensuration questions in CAT MCQ or TITA?

22% of the Mensuration questions asked since 2017 were TITA (type in the answer, no negative marking). The rest were multiple choice.

What types of Mensuration questions does CAT ask?

CAT keeps returning to 4 question shapes in Mensuration: A cube or cuboid; A cone cut parallel to its base; A cylinder; A prism or a pyramid.

Mensuration for CAT: Formulas, Weightage & Question Types

Cubes, cylinders, cones cut parallel to the base, prisms and pyramids.

Mensuration formula sheet

Everything CAT needs from Mensuration, in one place. Bookmark it for revision; the lesson in the app explains where each line comes from and when to reach for it.

Everything for this chapter, in one place.

Read the weight before you read the page. This chapter is measured at 0.067 questions per paper — nine questions since 2017, and exactly one in the current format across five years. It is the lightest chapter in the syllabus. Learn it last.

Volumes


Cube, side $a$	$a^3$
Cuboid	$lbh$
Cylinder	$\pi r^2 h$
Cone	$\dfrac{1}{3}\pi r^2 h$
Sphere	$\dfrac{4}{3}\pi r^3$
Hemisphere	$\dfrac{2}{3}\pi r^3$
Prism	base area $\times$ height
Pyramid	$\dfrac{1}{3} \times$ base area $\times$ height

Surface areas


Cube	$6a^2$
Cuboid	$2(lb+bh+hl)$
Cylinder, curved	$2\pi rh$ ; total $2\pi r(r+h)$
Cone, curved	$\pi r l$ with $l = \sqrt{r^2+h^2}$ ; total $\pi r(r+l)$
Sphere	$4\pi r^2$
Prism	base perimeter $\times$ height, plus the two ends

Diagonals


Cube	$a\sqrt3$
Cuboid, space diagonal	$\sqrt{l^2+b^2+h^2}$
Box inscribed in a sphere	the space diagonal is the diameter

Scaling — the idea that does the work


Lengths scale by $k$	areas scale by $k^2$ , volumes by $k^3$
A cone cut parallel to its base at fraction $k$ of the height from the apex	the small cone has $k^3$ of the volume
A frustum	the whole cone minus the small one

Melting and recasting


Volume	is conserved
Surface area	is not — cutting a solid up always increases it
Equal-volume pieces from several blocks	the common volume is the gcd of the block volumes

The 4 Mensuration question types CAT repeats

Past CAT papers return to the same few shapes. Learn to recognise them and most questions become a known routine.

01
A cube or cuboid
02
A cone cut parallel to its base
03
A cylinder
04
A prism or a pyramid

Is Mensuration costing you marks?

Take the free diagnostic to see where you stand in Mensuration and every other high-weight chapter, then learn, practise and prove it on fresh questions.

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Mensuration in CAT: quick answers

How many Mensuration questions come in CAT Quant?: About 0.1 questions in a 22-question Quant section, worth roughly 0 marks. Mensuration appeared in 7 of the 24 CAT papers from 2017 to 2025, 9 questions in all, which ranks it 25 of 25 Quant chapters.
Are Mensuration questions in CAT MCQ or TITA?: 22% of the Mensuration questions asked since 2017 were TITA (type in the answer, no negative marking). The rest were multiple choice.
What types of Mensuration questions does CAT ask?: CAT keeps returning to 4 question shapes in Mensuration: A cube or cuboid; A cone cut parallel to its base; A cylinder; A prism or a pyramid.

Mensuration for CAT: Formulas, Weightage & Question Types

Mensuration formula sheet

The 4 Mensuration question types CAT repeats

Is Mensuration costing you marks?

Mensuration in CAT: quick answers

More Geometry for CAT