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CAT Arithmetic Previous Year Questions (PYQs)

Master TSD, Work, Percentages, Profit & Loss, Mixtures and Averages with 230+ official CAT past year questions. Official IIM questions with step-by-step verified explanations.

234 Total Questions
MCQ: 160 (+3 / -1)
TITA: 74 (0 Negative Penalty)
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Official Exam Questions & Explanations (25 of 234)

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Question 1 of 234
CAT 2025 Slot 2QAArithmeticMean, Median & ModeModerate
The average number of copies of a book sold per day by a shopkeeper is 60 in the initial seven days and 63 in the initial eight days, after the book launch. On the ninth day, she sells 11 copies less than the eighth day, and the average number of copies sold per day from second day to ninth day becomes 66. The number of copies sold on the first day of the book launch is
TITA Answer:
Question 2 of 234
CAT 2025 Slot 2QAArithmeticRatio, Proportion & VariationModerate
The ratio of expenditures of Lakshmi and Meenakshi is 2:32:3, and the ratio of income of Lakshmi to expenditure of Meenakshi is 6:76:7. If excess of income over expenditure is saved by Lakshmi and Meenakshi, and the ratio of their savings is 4:94:9, then the ratio of their incomes is
Question 3 of 234
CAT 2025 Slot 2QAArithmeticTime, Speed & DistanceModerate
Rita and Sneha can row a boat at 5 km/h and 6 km/h in still water, respectively. In a river flowing with a constant velocity, Sneha takes 48 minutes more to row 14 km upstream than to row the same distance downstream. If Rita starts from a certain location in the river, and returns downstream to the same location, taking a total of 100 minutes, then the total distance, in km, Rita will cover is
TITA Answer:
Question 4 of 234
CAT 2025 Slot 2QAArithmeticTime & WorkModerate
Ankita is twice as efficient as Bipin, while Bipin is twice as efficient as Chandan. All three of them start together on a job, and Bipin leaves the job after 20 days. If the job got completed in 60 days, the number of days needed by Chandan to complete the job alone, is
TITA Answer:
Question 5 of 234
CAT 2025 Slot 2QAArithmeticMixture & AlligationModerate
A mixture of coffee and cocoa, 16% of which is coffee, costs Rs 240 per kg. Another mixture of coffee and cocoa, of which 36% is coffee, costs Rs 320 per kg. If a new mixture of coffee and cocoa costs Rs 376 per kg, then the quantity, in kg, of coffee in 10 kg of this new mixture is
Question 6 of 234
CAT 2025 Slot 2QAArithmeticProfit & LossHard
An item with a cost price of Rs. 1650 is sold at a certain discount on a fixed marked price to earn a profit of 20% on the cost price. If the discount was doubled, the profit would have been Rs. 110. The rate of discount, in percentage, at which the profit percentage would be equal to the rate of discount, is nearest to
Question 7 of 234
CAT 2025 Slot 2QAArithmeticPercentagesEasy
A certain amount of money was divided among Pinu, Meena, Rinu and Seema. Pinu received 20% of the total amount and Meena received 40% of the remaining amount. If Seema received 20% less than Pinu, the ratio of the amounts received by Pinu and Rinu is
Question 8 of 234
CAT 2025 Slot 2QAArithmeticSimple & Compound InterestModerate
A loan of Rs 1000 is fully repaid by two installments of Rs 530 and Rs 594, paid at the end of first and second year, respectively. If the interest is compounded annually, then the rate of interest, in percentage, is
Question 9 of 234
CAT 2025 Slot 1QAArithmeticRatio, Proportion & VariationModerate
The ratio of the number of students in the morning shift and afternoon shift of a school was 13 : 9. After 21 students moved from the morning shift to the afternoon shift, this ratio became 19 : 14. Next, some new students joined the morning and afternoon shifts in the ratio 3 : 8 and then the ratio of the number of students in the morning shift and the afternoon shift became 5 :
4
The number of new students who joined is
Question 10 of 234
CAT 2025 Slot 1QAArithmeticSimple & Compound InterestHard
At a certain simple rate of interest, a given sum amounts to Rs 13920 in 3 years, and to Rs 18960 in 6 years and 6 months. If the same given sum had been invested for 2 years at the same rate as before but with interest compounded every 6 months, then the total interest earned, in rupees, would have been nearest to
Question 11 of 234
CAT 2025 Slot 1QAArithmeticTime, Speed & DistanceHard
Shruti travels a distance of 224 km in four parts for a total travel time of 3 hours. Her speeds in these four parts follow an arithmetic progression, and the corresponding time taken to cover these four parts follow another arithmetic progression. If she travels at a speed of 960 meters per minute for 30 minutes to cover the first part, then the distance, in meters, she travels in the fourth part is
Question 12 of 234
CAT 2025 Slot 1QAArithmeticMixture & AlligationModerate
A container holds 200 litres of a solution of acid and water, having 30% acid by volume. Atul replaces 20% of this solution with water, then replaces 10% of the resulting solution with acid, and finally replaces 15% of the solution thus obtained, with water. The percentage of acid by volume in the final solution obtained after these three replacements, is nearest to
Question 13 of 234
CAT 2025 Slot 1QAArithmeticTime & WorkHard
Arun, Varun and Tarun, if working alone, can complete a task in 24, 21, and 15 days, respectively. They charge Rs 2160, Rs 2400, and Rs 2160 per day, respectively, even if they are employed for a partial day. On any given day, any of the workers may or may not be employed to work. If the task needs to be completed in 10 days or less, then the minimum possible amount, in rupees, required to be paid for the entire task is
Question 14 of 234
CAT 2025 Slot 1QAArithmeticPercentagesModerate
In a class, there were more than 10 boys and a certain number of girls. After 40% of the girls and 60% of the boys left the class, the remaining number of girls was 8 more than the remaining number of boys. Then, the minimum possible number of students initially in the class was
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Question 15 of 234
CAT 2025 Slot 1QAArithmeticPercentagesModerate
Kamala divided her investment of Rs 100000 between stocks, bonds, and gold. Her investment in bonds was 25% of her investment in gold. With annual returns of 10%, 6%, 8% on stocks, bonds, and gold, respectively, she gained a total amount of Rs 8200 in one year. The amount, in rupees, that she gained from the bonds, was
TITA Answer:
Question 16 of 234
CAT 2025 Slot 1QAArithmeticProfit & LossModerate
A shopkeeper offers a discount of 22% on the marked price of each chair, and gives 13 chairs to a customer for the discounted price of 12 chairs to earn a profit of 26% on the transaction. If the cost price of each chair is Rs 100, then the marked price, in rupees, of each chair is
TITA Answer:
Question 17 of 234
CAT 2024 Slot 1QAArithmeticTime, Speed & DistanceHard
Two places A and B are 45 kms apart and connected by a straight road. Anil goes from A to B while Sunil goes from B to A. Starting at the same time, they cross each other in exactly 1 hour 30 minutes. If Anil reaches B exactly 1 hour 15 minutes after Sunil reaches A, the speed of Anil, in km per hour, is
Question 18 of 234
CAT 2024 Slot 1QAArithmeticMean, Median & ModeModerate
There are four numbers such that average of first two numbers is 1 more than the first number, average of first three numbers is 2 more than average of first two numbers, and average of first four numbers is 3 more than average of first three numbers. Then, the difference between the largest and the smallest numbers, is
TITA Answer:
Question 19 of 234
CAT 2024 Slot 1QAArithmeticRatio, Proportion & VariationEasy
In September, the incomes of Kamal, Amal and Vimal are in the ratio 8:6:58 : 6 : 5. They rent a house together, and Kamal pays 15%15\%, Amal pays 12%12\% and Vimal pays 18%18\% of their respective incomes to cover the total house rent in that month. In October, the house rent remains unchanged while their incomes increase by 10%10\%, 12%12\% and 15%15\%, respectively. In October, the percentage of their total income that will be paid as house rent, is nearest to
Question 20 of 234
CAT 2024 Slot 1QAArithmeticSimple & Compound InterestModerate
An amount of Rs 10000 is deposited in bank A for a certain number of years at a simple interest of 5% per annum. On maturity, the total amount received is deposited in bank B for another 5 years at a simple interest of 6% per annum. If the interests received from bank A and bank B are in the ratio 10 : 13, then the investment period, in years, in bank A is
Question 21 of 234
CAT 2024 Slot 1QAArithmeticMixture & AlligationEasy
A glass is filled with milk. Two-thirds of its content is poured out and replaced with water. If this process of pouring out two-thirds the content and replacing with water is repeated three more times, then the final ratio of milk to water in the glass, is
Question 22 of 234
CAT 2024 Slot 1QAArithmeticProfit & LossModerate
The selling price of a product is fixed to ensure 40% profit. If the product had cost 40% less and had been sold for 5 rupees less, then the resulting profit would have been 50%. The original selling price, in rupees, of the product is
Question 23 of 234
CAT 2024 Slot 1QAArithmeticRatio, Proportion & VariationModerate
A fruit seller has a total of 187 fruits consisting of apples, mangoes and oranges. The number of apples and mangoes are in the ratio 5 :
2
After she sells 75 apples, 26 mangoes and half of the oranges, the ratio of number of unsold apples to number of unsold oranges becomes 3:
2
The total number of unsold fruits is
TITA Answer:
Question 24 of 234
CAT 2024 Slot 1QAArithmeticTime & WorkModerate
Renu would take 15 days working 4 hours per day to complete a certain task whereas Seema would take 8 days working 5 hours per day to complete the same task. They decide to work together to complete this task. Seema agrees to work for double the number of hours per day as Renu, while Renu agrees to work for double the number of days as Seema. If Renu works 2 hours per day, then the number of days Seema will work, is
TITA Answer:
Question 25 of 234
CAT 2024 Slot 2QAArithmeticMean, Median & ModeHard
A company has 40 employees whose names are listed in a certain order. In the year 2022, the average bonus of the first 30 employees was Rs. 40000, of the last 30 employees was Rs. 60000, and of the first 10 and last 10 employees together was Rs. 50000. Next year, the average bonus of the first 10 employees increased by 100%, of the last 10 employees increased by 200% and of the remaining employees was unchanged. Then, the average bonus, in rupees, of all the 40 employees together in the year 2023 was

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Frequently Asked Questions about CAT Arithmetic Previous Year Questions (PYQs)

How many Arithmetic questions appear in CAT each year?

Historically, Arithmetic forms a significant core of the Quantitative Aptitude section, accounting for high-weightage questions in every single slot from 2017 to 2025.

What is the best strategy to master Arithmetic for CAT?

Start by solving every official past question from 2017 to 2025. Focus on identifying option elimination cues, core conceptual traps, and algebraic/logical shortcuts.

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