CAT · MBA entrance · the IIMs

Forty minutes you cannot borrow from

One of CAT's three sections is Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning. You get exactly forty minutes in it, and no way to take time from the other two.

Candidates are allotted exactly 40 minutes per section and are not allowed to switch between them while answering. So the reasoning section is not somewhere you can spend the time you saved elsewhere. Whatever you can do inside those forty minutes was decided months earlier.

For candidates preparing for CAT and the other MBA entrances — and for students who still have a year or more before they sit one.

CAT 2026 registration closes 15 September 2026 at 5:00 pm. The test is on Sunday, 29 November 2026, in three sessions. Source: IIM Indore's CAT 2026 press release and Information Bulletin, 26 July 2026.

What the clock looks like

40 min
in Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning — and no switching out of it
1 of 3
sections is Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning
120
minutes for the whole paper
22
IIMs whose programmes the score opens, plus the listed non-IIM institutes
A tree growing inside a mind Why start now

Nothing about that section is decided on the day.

A sectional clock rewards one thing above all others: how fast you see the structure of a problem. Not how many formats you have memorised — how quickly the shape of a set becomes obvious to you. That is a recognition speed, and recognition speed is built slowly.

It is also the part of CAT preparation people start last. Quant gets months because it looks like a syllabus. Reasoning gets picked up from mock papers in the final weeks, which is the one way it cannot be built — you can't rehearse recognition, you can only accumulate it.

Which is why the best time to build it is before you are in a CAT year at all. Final-year students may apply, so most people sit CAT with years of runway behind them, not weeks. Use them.

Start today!
What · the exam

The IIMs publish the sections and the clock. They do not publish a syllabus.

Everything below comes from IIM Indore's CAT 2026 press release, Information Bulletin and newspaper advertisement, all dated 26 July 2026. Where they are silent, we are too.

The paper

Three sections, forty minutes each, and no way back

120 minutes · three sections · three sessions
  • Section I — Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension
  • Section II — Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning
  • Section III — Quantitative Ability
  • Exactly 40 minutes are allotted to each, and candidates may not switch from one section to another while answering
A third of the paper, on a clock of its own.
What isn't published

No topic list, no question count, no marking scheme

Which is exactly why fundamentals travel and pattern-hunting doesn't
  • The bulletin and the press release name the three sections, their order and their timing — and stop there
  • Neither sets out a topic list, a question count or a marking scheme
  • The press release points candidates to one thing for the format: the mock exam on the CAT website
  • So for the reasoning section there is nothing to memorise — only a way of thinking to build
We quote what the IIMs published, and nothing past it.
How · train the skill

Logical reasoning, trained the way a skill is trained.

A DI-LR set is not a topic you can revise. It is a structure someone built to be seen through, and seeing through it is a skill — made by solving the right questions, in the right amount, over enough time for recognition to stick. That is what Master Mental Ability is: the fundamentals of logical reasoning, practised until they are automatic, so a set reads as a shape instead of a wall of text.

◎

Adapts to you

Harder as you improve, easier when you slip. No time wasted on what you've already got.

↻

Back before you forget

Spaced repetition returns a question right as it's about to fade — so it's still there on the day.

✎

Solve first, then see

You reason it out before the answer shows. That effort is where recognition gets built.

☁

Calm before the clock

A moment to settle before each session. The same calm a timed hall takes away.

What this doesn't cover: this is not a CAT course. It doesn't teach Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension or Quantitative Ability, and it doesn't hand you full-length DI-LR sets at CAT's difficulty — those need their own practice, against real sets, under a real clock. What it builds is the layer underneath them: holding a structure in your head, finding the constraint that decides it, and getting there without flailing. Build that first and the sets stop being a wall. Skip it and no amount of set practice fixes what it was supposed to fix.
No download needed

An app you don't download.

Open it in the phone's browser and start at once. One tap adds it to the home screen — it sits there like any app. Works on an older phone, a shared phone, any phone. No app store, nothing to chase, no space taken up.

Opens instantlyAdd to home screenWorks on any phoneNothing to install
See it in seconds

No account, no card, no install. Solve one full session, then decide.

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Built by

In 2007, in his second year at IIT Delhi, Vineesh wrote a book — Master Mental Ability in 30 Days. It has sold year after year ever since, without the publisher ever marketing it.

In the years since, he built other learning products and spent a decade working with children of every background in a holistic learning centre.

This app goes far beyond that book — everything he's learned about how people actually learn, built into something you practise, not just read.

No risk to you

Don't trust us. See it work.

1

Try free

Solve a full session, no registration. Decide nothing yet.

2

Register

Like it? Sign up for 2 more days free. No payment, no auto-debit.

3

Practise daily

A little each day. The app decides what to practise and when to bring it back.

4

Share to keep learning free

Invite a friend preparing for CAT — you both earn more free days.

Your questions

Common questions

Is it really free? Will money get taken from my account?

It's free to try — no signup to start, no card, no auto-debit, nothing taken silently. Later, one payment unlocks all the content for a full year — it's a one-time payment, not a subscription, and never an auto-debit. Exact pricing is coming soon. And you'll always be able to try free first — and share the app to keep learning free.

Will this get me through CAT DI-LR?

On its own, no — and we'd rather say so. CAT sets are long, applied and deliberately awkward, and beating them takes practice against real sets under a real clock. What this builds is the layer those sets sit on: logical reasoning fundamentals, practised until they're automatic. It's the difference between reading a set and recognising it. Verbal Ability, Reading Comprehension and Quantitative Ability all need their own preparation.

How many questions is CAT, and what's the marking scheme?

The IIMs don't say. The CAT 2026 press release, Information Bulletin, advertisement and eligibility notice all publish the three sections, the order and the 40-minute sectional clock — and no question count, no topic list and no marking scheme. For the format they point candidates to one place: the official mock exam on iimcat.ac.in. Any count or marking rule you read elsewhere is someone's reconstruction from past papers, not an IIM statement, so we don't repeat it here.

I'm in first or second year. Is it too early — or is November too soon?

First year is not early, it's ideal: recognition is built over months and it doesn't expire, so a base laid now is still there in your CAT year. And you can sit CAT in your final year — a bachelor's degree with 50% (45% for SC, ST and PwBD) is the bar, and final-year students may apply. If November is close instead, this still helps, but be honest about what a few weeks buys: practice always beats no practice, and CAT scores stay valid past the current cycle, so nothing you build is spent on one attempt.

Is the app in Hindi?

The full app is coming in Hindi — questions and solutions both. For now it's in English. Worth knowing either way: CAT's own bulletin and advertisement are published in English, and Section I of the paper is Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension — so you will be reading and reasoning in English on the day regardless.

When is CAT 2026, and where do I register?

Registration closes 15 September 2026 at 5:00 pm; the test is on 29 November 2026; admit cards download from 4 November; results are expected in the first week of January 2027 and the score is valid until 31 December 2027. The fee is ₹2,700, or ₹1,350 for SC, ST and PwBD candidates. Register only at iimcat.ac.in — the CAT Centre's own press release warns that no other website is affiliated with or authorised for CAT 2026. Never through an agent, and never through us. Their help desk is 1800 210 0175.

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