Arithmetic • Time & Work Official Answer Keys

CAT Time and Work & Pipes-Cisterns Questions

All official CAT Efficiency, Alternate Days, and Work-Wage questions with shortcuts. Official questions curated from CAT 2017–2025 with detailed explanations.

34 Total Questions
MCQ: 19 (+3 / -1)
TITA: 15 (0 Negative Penalty)
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Official Exam Questions & Explanations (25 of 34)

Sorted in official convenor sequence
Question 1 of 34
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 2 of 34
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 3 of 34
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 4 of 34
CAT 2024 Slot 2QAArithmeticTime & WorkHard
Amal and Vimal together can complete a task in 150 days, while Vimal and Sunil together can complete the same task in 100 days. Amal starts working on the task and works for 75 days, then Vimal takes over and works for 135 days. Finally, Sunil takes over and completes the remaining task in 45 days. If Amal had started the task alone and worked on all days, Vimal had worked on every second day, and Sunil had worked on every third day, then the number of days required to complete the task would have been
TITA Answer:
Question 5 of 34
CAT 2024 Slot 3QAArithmeticTime & WorkModerate
Sam can complete a job in 20 days when working alone. Mohit is twice as fast as Sam and thrice as fast as Ayna is the same job. The undertake a job with an arrangement where Sam and Mohit work together on the first day, Sam and Ayna on the second day, Mohit and Ayna on the third day, and this three-day pattern is repeated till the work gets completed. Then, the fraction of total work done by Sam is
Question 6 of 34
CAT 2023 Slot 1QAArithmeticTime & WorkHard
The amount of job that Amal, Sunil and Kamal can individually do in a day, are in harmonic progression. Kamal takes twice as much time as Amal to do the same amount of job. If Amal and Sunil work for 44 days and 99 days, respectively, Kamal needs to work for 1616 days to finish the remaining job. Then the number of days Sunil will take to finish the job working alone, is
TITA Answer:
Question 7 of 34
CAT 2025 Slot 3QAArithmeticTime & WorkModerate
Teams A, B, and C consist of five, eight, and ten members, respectively, such that every member within a team is equally productive. Working separately, teams A, B, and C can complete a certain job in 40 hours, 50 hours, and 4 hours, respectively. Two members from team A, three members from team B, and one member from team C together start the job, and the member from team C leaves after 23 hours. The number of additional member(s) from team B, that would be required to replace the member from team C, to finish the job in the next one hour, is
Question 8 of 34
CAT 2025 Slot 3QAArithmeticTime & WorkModerate
The rate of water flow through three pipes A, B and C are in the ratio 4 : 9 : 36. An empty tank can be filled up completely by pipe A in 15 hours. If all the three pipes are used simultaneously to fill up this empty tank, the time, in minutes, required to fill up the entire tank completely is nearest to
Question 9 of 34
CAT 2023 Slot 2QAArithmeticTime & WorkHard
Pipes AA and CC are fill pipes while Pipe BB is a drain pipe of a tank. Pipe BB empties the full tank in one hour less than the time taken by Pipe AA to fill the empty tank. When pipes AA, BB and CC are turned on together, the empty tank is filled in two hours. If pipes BB and CC are turned on together when the tank is empty and Pipe BB is turned off after one hour, then Pipe CC takes another one hour and 1515 minutes to fill the remaining tank. If Pipe AA can fill the empty tank in less than five hours, then the time taken, in minutes, by Pipe CC to fill the empty tank is
Question 10 of 34
CAT 2023 Slot 3QAArithmeticTime & WorkHard
Rahul, Rakshita and Gurmeet, working together, would have taken more than 77 days to finish a job. On the other hand, Rahul and Gurmeet, working together would have taken less than 1515 days to finish the job. However, they all worked together for 66 days, followed by Rakshita, who worked alone for 33 more days to finish the job. If Rakshita had worked alone on the job then the number of days she would have taken to finish the job, cannot be
Question 11 of 34
CAT 2023 Slot 3QAArithmeticTime & WorkModerate
Gautam and Suhani, working together, can finish a job in 2020 days. If Gautam does only 60%60 \% of his usual work on a day, Suhani must do 150%150 \% of her usual work on that day to exactly make up for it. Then, the number of days required by the faster worker to complete the job working alone is
TITA Answer:
Question 12 of 34
CAT 2022 Slot 2QAArithmeticTime & WorkModerate
Working alone, the times taken by Anu, Tanu and Manu to complete any job are in the ratio 5:8:105: 8: 10. They accept a job which they can finish in 44 days if they all work together for 88 hours per day. However, Anu and Tanu work together for the first 66 days, working 66 hours 4040 minutes per day. Then, the number of hours that Manu will take to complete the remaining job working alone is
TITA Answer:
Question 13 of 34
CAT 2022 Slot 3QAArithmeticTime & WorkEasy
A group of NN people worked on a project. They finished 35%35 \% of the project by working 77 hours a day for 1010 days. Thereafter, 1010 people left the group and the remaining people finished the rest of the project in 1414 days by working 1010 hours a day. Then the value of NN is
Question 14 of 34
CAT 2022 Slot 3QAArithmeticTime & WorkHard
Bob can finish a job in 4040 days, if he works alone. Alex is twice as fast as Bob and thrice as fast as Cole in the same job. Suppose Alex and Bob work together on the first day, Bob and Cole work together on the second day, Cole and Alex work together on the third day, and then, they continue the work by repeating this three- day roster, with Alex and Bob working together on the fourth day, and so on. Then, the total number of days Alex would have worked when the job gets finished, is
TITA Answer:
Question 15 of 34
CAT 2021 Slot 1QAArithmeticTime & WorkModerate
Anu, Vinu and Manu can complete a work alone in 15 days, 12 days and 20 days, respectively. Vinu works everyday. Anu works only on alternate days starting from the first day while Manu works only on alternate days starting from the second day. Then, the number of days needed to complete the work is
Question 16 of 34
CAT 2021 Slot 1QAArithmeticTime & WorkModerate
Amar, Akbar and Anthony are working on a project. Working together Amar and Akbar can complete the project in 11 year, Akbar and Anthony can complete in 1616 months, Anthony and Amar can complete in 22 years. If the person who is neither the fastest nor the slowest works alone, the time in months he will take to complete the project is
TITA Answer:
Question 17 of 34
CAT 2021 Slot 2QAArithmeticTime & WorkModerate
Two pipes AA and BB are attached to an empty water tank. Pipe AA fills the tank while pipe BB drains it. If pipe AA is opened at 22 pm and pipe BB is opened at 33 pm , then the tank becomes full at 10pm10 \mathrm{pm}. Instead, if pipe AA is opened at 2pm2 \mathrm{pm} and pipe BB is opened at 4pm4 \mathrm{pm}, then the tank becomes full at 6pm6 \mathrm{pm}. If pipe BB is not opened at all, then the time, in minutes, taken to fill the tank is
Question 18 of 34
CAT 2021 Slot 2QAArithmeticTime & WorkModerate
Anil can paint a house in 6060 days while Bimal can paint it in 8484 days. Anil starts painting and after 1010 days, Bimal and Charu join him. Together, they complete the painting in 1414 more days. If they are paid a total of Rs. 2100021000 for the job, then the share of Charu, in INR, proportionate to the work done by him, is
Question 19 of 34
CAT 2021 Slot 3QAArithmeticTime & WorkEasy
Anil can paint a house in 1212 days while Barun can paint it in 1616 days. Anil, Barun, and Chandu undertake to paint the house for ₹ 2400024000 and the three of them together complete the painting in 66 days. If Chandu is paid in proportion to the work done by him, then the amount in INR received by him is
TITA Answer:
Question 20 of 34
CAT 2021 Slot 3QAArithmeticTime & WorkModerate
One day, Rahul started a work at 99 AM and Gautam joined him two hours later. They then worked together and completed the work at 55 PM the same day. If both had started at 99 AM and worked together, the work would have been completed 3030 minutes earlier. Working alone, the time Rahul would have taken, in hours, to complete the work is
Question 21 of 34
CAT 2020 Slot 2QAArithmeticTime & WorkModerate
John takes twice as much time as Jack to finish a job. Jack and Jim together take one-thirds of the time to finish the job than John takes working alone. Moreover, in order to finish the job, John takes three days more than that taken by three of them working together. In how many days will Jim finish the job working alone?
TITA Answer:
Question 22 of 34
CAT 2020 Slot 3QAArithmeticTime & WorkModerate
A contractor agreed to construct a 66 km road in 200200 days. He employed 140140 persons for the work. After 6060 days, he realized that only 1.51.5 km road has been completed. How many additional people would he need to employ in order to finish the work exactly on time?
TITA Answer:
Question 23 of 34
CAT 2019 Slot 2QAArithmeticTime & WorkModerate
Anil alone can do a job in 2020 days while Sunil alone can do it in 4040 days. Anil starts the job, and after 33 days, Sunil joins him. Again, after a few more days, Bimal joins them and they together finish the job. If Bimal has done 10%10\% of the job, then in how many days was the job done?
Question 24 of 34
CAT 2018 Slot 1QAArithmeticTime & WorkModerate
Humans and robots can both perform a job but at different efficiencies. Fifteen humans and five robots working together take thirty days to finish the job, whereas five humans and fifteen robots working together take sixty days to finish it. How many days will fifteen humans working together (without any robot) take to finish it?
Question 25 of 34
CAT 2018 Slot 1QAArithmeticTime & WorkModerate
A tank is fitted with pipes, some filling it and the rest draining it. All filling pipes fill at the same rate, and all draining pipes drain at the same rate. The empty tank gets completely filled in 66 hours when 66 filling and 55 draining pipes are on, but this time becomes 6060 hours when 55 filling and 66 draining pipes are on. In how many hours will the empty tank get completely filled when one draining and two filling pipes are on?
TITA Answer:

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Frequently Asked Questions about CAT Time and Work & Pipes-Cisterns Questions

Why are Time & Work questions crucial for scoring 99+ percentile in CAT?

CAT convenors place heavy emphasis on testing core intuition in Time & Work problems. Mastering standard patterns allows candidates to secure +3 marks with high accuracy and minimal time.

Are these questions from real CAT exam slots?

Yes, 100% of the questions in this module are official previous year questions administered in CAT 2017 through CAT 2025.

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