What is DILR in CAT?

DILR stands for Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning. It is the second CAT section, with 40 minutes on the clock. It is built from sets: in CAT 2025 there were 5 sets and 22 questions, according to coaching analyses. You read a set once and answer all 4 or 5 questions that hang on it.

What is the structure of DILR in CAT?

The official mock instructions say each DILR set has either four or five questions. The IIMs do not publish the number of sets or the MCQ and TITA split. Both come from coaching analyses of past papers and the official 2026 mock.

Year	Sets	Questions per set	Total questions	MCQ / TITA
2025	5	4, 4, 4, 5, 5 (all slots)	22	11 / 11
2024	5	4, 5, 4, 4, 5 (slot 1)	22	12 / 10
2023	4	5, 5, 5, 5 (slot 1)	20	12 / 8
Official 2026 mock	5	4, 4, 4, 5, 5	22	12 / 10

The 2024 and 2023 set sizes come from one coaching source, for slot 1 only. Coaching sources also disagree on the TITA count for DILR in some years, for example 11 versus 10 for 2025. The MCQ and TITA figures here are from counts of the slot papers, which agree with IMS for 2025.

TITA questions sit inside sets. A set can be all MCQ, mixed or all TITA. IMS reported 2025 slot 1 as 1 MCQ and 4 TITA in one set, 4 MCQ in another, and 4 TITA with no MCQ in a third. Wrong TITA answers carry no negative marks. A wrong MCQ costs 1 mark. For the full rules, see the CAT exam pattern.

What kinds of sets come in CAT DILR?

The themes seen in recent papers, from coaching analyses, were games and tournaments, circular arrangement, ranking, scheduling, bar, scatter and radar charts, trade data and currency exchange. The themes change from year to year. The skill carried across them is the same: turn a block of text or a chart into a table you can fill in.

Official FAQ note: candidates who are blind or have low vision get papers with no graphs, charts or diagrams.

How to pick sets in the 40 minutes of DILR

With 5 sets in 40 minutes you have about 8 minutes per set on average. You will not solve every set, and you do not need to. The method below is advice, not a rule from the IIMs.

Spend the first 3 to 5 minutes scanning all the sets. Read each set and its questions quickly.
Rank the sets by how clearly you see the first step. A set where you can draw the table in a minute is a good pick.
Start with your best set. Finish it before moving on, since the later questions in a set usually build on the earlier ones.
Set a limit. If after about 3 minutes your table has not started to fill, leave the set.
Watch the question count and the mix. A set with TITA questions needs exact answers, but a wrong TITA has no penalty.
In the last 5 minutes, do not open a new set. Go back to the one where you are closest to an answer.

You cannot return to DILR once the 40 minutes end, and you cannot move to QA early. Use all the time.

How to prepare for DILR

Practise sets, not single questions. A set is the unit in the exam. Do two or three full sets in one sitting, timed.
Learn a few set shapes. Arrangements, rankings, tournaments and schedules, and table or chart sets. After 30 or 40 sets you start to recognise the shapes.
Redo the sets you could not solve. Write what you missed in the first step, and how you would have seen it.
Practise tabulating. Draw the grid, mark what is given, and fill only what is forced.
Brush up on basic arithmetic. Percentages, ratios and averages take most of the time in data sets.
Review your set choices in mocks. Note the sets you started and dropped, and the time each cost.

Take our free sample mock to practise under the same screen and timer. Then use the percentile predictor to see what your total might mean. The CAT preparation page covers how to fit DILR into a weekly plan, and the syllabus page lists topics for all sections.