CAT exam has 100 question to be solved in 180 mins. The total average time spent on each question comes out to be 1 minute 48 seconds. Average time for each question in Verbal and Quant comes out to be 1 minute 45 seconds and 1 minute 52 seconds for DI & LR section. But that calculation is only valid if you pick all 100 questions.

Based on your mocks, identify your total attempts out of 100 questions. You don’t have to solve all the 100 questions. Analyze your maximum and minimum attempts based on the exam difficulty and build around that strategy.

• The initial minutes in the exam matter a lot, since you end up solving a lot of questions in that period compared to the end minutes. As the time progresses, the brain exhausts. Let’s say you have 10 mins left with 10 questions (or more) in a particular section.
•  Remember, accuracy is foremost. Never ever compromise quantity for quality in the exam, even if time is running out. Additionally test takers end up solving more questions in their respective area of strengths. Example, Verbal, Quant or DI & LR. The distribution of question solving doesn’t have to be equal across all the sections.
• The difficulty level of the exam is neither in my control nor in yours. If the exam is difficult for you, it’s difficult for everyone and probably even for the top scorer. Relatively the average scores will fall. Don’t panic if the exam turns out to be difficult. Be mentally prepared. CAT is highly unpredictable. If it comes out to be easy, well the average scores for scoring 99 percentile are going to shoot up. Question selectivity matters.