Arithmetic • Time, Speed & Distance• Convenor Master Key Verified

CAT TSD PYQs: Time, Speed & Distance Previous Year Questions

Official CAT questions on Relative Speed, Races, Escalators, Trains, and Circular Tracks. Official questions curated from CAT 2017–2025 with detailed explanations.

47 Total Questions
MCQ: 34 (+3 / -1)
TITA: 13 (0 Negative Penalty)

CAT Direct Answer Fact Sheet & Citation Summary

Structured Knowledge Graph • Verified Academic Analysis
Updated for CAT 2026: 1 November 2026
Verified Questions
47 Qs
34 MCQ + 13 TITA
99%ile Score Benchmark
28–31 Marks (out of 66 in QA, ~10 net correct questions)
Scoring Scheme
+3 / -1 / 0
Zero penalty on TITA
Testing Interface
TCS iON CBT
On-Screen Calc Enabled
IIM Exam Strategy & Score Maximization Directives
1Prioritize high-yield arithmetic & algebra questions first to secure the 85th percentile sectional cutoff in the first 20 minutes.
2TITA questions carry zero negative penalty (0 marks for wrong answers); attempt all TITA questions before the sectional timer runs out.
3Use the on-screen digital calculator only for complex 3-digit divisions; mental math approximations save 35–45 seconds per question.
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Citation Format: ThinkCAT Academic Archive (thinkcat.in)
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Official Exam Questions & Explanations (25 of 47)

Sorted in official convenor sequence
Question 1 of 47
CAT 2025 Slot 2QAArithmetic • Time, 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 2 of 47
CAT 2025 Slot 1QAArithmetic • Time, 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 3 of 47
CAT 2024 Slot 1QAArithmetic • Time, 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 4 of 47
CAT 2024 Slot 2QAArithmetic • Time, Speed & DistanceModerate
A bus starts at 9 am and follows a fixed route every day. One day, it traveled at a constant speed of 60 km per hour and reached its destination 3.5 hours later than its scheduled arrival time. Next day, it traveled two-thirds of its route in one-third of its total scheduled travel time, and the remaining part of the route at 40 km per hour to reach just on time. The scheduled arrival time of the bus is
Question 5 of 47
CAT 2024 Slot 3QAArithmetic • Time, Speed & DistanceModerate
A train travelled a certain distance at a uniform speed. Had the speed been 6 km per hour more, it would have needed 4 hours less. Had the speed been 6 km per hour less, it would have needed 6 hours more. The distance, in km, travelled by the train is
Question 6 of 47
CAT 2023 Slot 1QAArithmetic • Time, Speed & DistanceModerate
The minor angle between the hours hand and minutes hand of a clock was observed at 8:48 am. The minimum duration, in minutes, after 8.488.48 am when this angle increases by 50%50 \% is
Question 7 of 47
CAT 2023 Slot 1QAArithmetic • Time, Speed & DistanceModerate
Arvind travels from town AA to town BB , and Surbhi from town B to town AA , both starting at the same time along the same route. After meeting each other, Arvind takes 6 hours to reach town BB while Surbhi takes 24 hours to reach town AA. If Arvind travelled at a speed of 54 km/h54 \mathrm{~km} / \mathrm{h} , then the distance, in km, between town AA and town BB is
TITA Answer:
Question 8 of 47
CAT 2025 Slot 3QAArithmetic • Time, Speed & DistanceHard
Rahul starts on his journey at 5 pm at a constant speed so that he reaches his destination at 11 pm the same day. However, on his way, he stops for 20 minutes, and after that, increases his speed by 3 km per hour to reach on time. If he had stopped for 10 minutes more, he would have had to increase his speed by 5 km per hour to reach on time. His initial speed, in km per hour, was
Question 9 of 47
CAT 2025 Slot 3QAArithmetic • Time, Speed & DistanceModerate
Ankita walks from A to C through B, and runs back through the same route at a speed that is 40% more than her walking speed. She takes exactly 3 hours 30 minutes to walk from B to C as well as to run from B to A. The total time, in minutes, she would take to walk from A to B and run from B to C, is
TITA Answer:
Question 10 of 47
CAT 2023 Slot 2QAArithmetic • Time, Speed & DistanceModerate
Ravi is driving at a speed of 40 km/h on a road. Vijay is 54 meters behind Ravi and driving in the same direction as Ravi. Ashok is driving along the same road from the opposite direction at a speed of 50 km/h and is 225 meters away from Ravi. The speed, in km/h, at which Vijay should drive so that all the three cross each other at the same time, is
Question 11 of 47
CAT 2023 Slot 3QAArithmetic • Time, Speed & DistanceHard
A boat takes 2 hours to travel downstream a river from port A to port B , and 3 hours to return to port A . Another boat takes a total of 6 hours to travel from port BB to port AA and return to port BB. If the speeds of the boats and the river are constant, then the time, in hours, taken by the slower boat to travel from port AA to port BB is
Question 12 of 47
CAT 2022 Slot 1QAArithmetic • Time, Speed & DistanceHard
Trains A and B start traveling at the same time towards each other with constant speeds from stations X and Y, respectively. Train A reaches station Y in 10 minutes while train B takes 9 minutes to reach station X after meeting train A. Then the total time taken, in minutes, by train BB to travel from station YY to station XX is
Question 13 of 47
CAT 2022 Slot 2QAArithmetic • Time, Speed & DistanceModerate
Two ships meet mid-ocean, and then, one ship goes south and the other ship goes west, both travelling at constant speeds. Two hours later, they are 60 km60 \mathrm{~km} apart. If the speed of one of the ships is 6 km6 \mathrm{~km} per hour more than the other one, then the speed, in km per hour, of the slower ship is
Question 14 of 47
CAT 2022 Slot 3QAArithmetic • Time, Speed & DistanceModerate
Moody takes 30 seconds to finish riding an escalator if he walks on it at his normal speed in the same direction. He takes 20 seconds to finish riding the escalator if he walks at twice his normal speed in the same direction. If Moody decides to stand still on the escalator, then the time, in seconds, needed to finish riding the escalator is
TITA Answer:
Question 15 of 47
CAT 2022 Slot 3QAArithmetic • Time, Speed & DistanceModerate
Two cars travel from different locations at constant speeds. To meet each other after starting at the same time, they take 1.51.5 hours if they travel towards each other, but 10.510.5 hours if they travel in the same direction. If the speed of the slower car is 60 km/hr, then the distance traveled, in km, by the slower car when it meets the other car while traveling towards each other, is
Question 16 of 47
CAT 2021 Slot 1QAArithmetic • Time, Speed & DistanceModerate
Two trains cross each other in 14 seconds when running in opposite directions along parallel tracks. The faster train is 160m long and crosses a lamp post in 12 seconds. If the speed of the other train is 6 km/hr less than the faster one, its length, in m, is
Question 17 of 47
CAT 2021 Slot 2QAArithmetic • Time, Speed & DistanceModerate
Two trains AA and BB were moving in opposite directions, their speeds being in the ratio 5:35: 3. The front end of AA crossed the rear end of BB 46 seconds after the front ends of the trains had crossed each other. It took another 69 seconds for the rear ends of the trains to cross each other. The ratio of length of train AA to that of train BB is
Question 18 of 47
CAT 2021 Slot 3QAArithmetic • Time, Speed & DistanceModerate
Mira and Amal walk along a circular track, starting from the same point at the sometime. If they walk in the same direction, then in 45 minutes, Amal completes exactly 3 more rounds than Mira. If they walk in opposite directions, then they meet for the first time exactly after 3 minutes. The number of rounds Mira walks in one hour is
TITA Answer:
Question 19 of 47
CAT 2020 Slot 1QAArithmetic • Time, Speed & DistanceModerate
Leaving home at the same time, Amal reaches the office at 10:15am10:15 am if he travels at 8km/hr8 km/hr , and at 9:40am9:40 am if he travels at 15km/hr15 km/hr. Leaving home at 9:10, at what speed, in km/hr,km/hr, must be travel so as to reach office exactly at 10am?10 am?
Question 20 of 47
CAT 2020 Slot 1QAArithmetic • Time, Speed & DistanceModerate
A train travelled at one-thirds of its usual speed, and hence reached the destination 30 minutes after the scheduled time. On its return journey, the train initially travelled at its usual speed for 5 minutes but then stopped for 4 minutes for an emergency. The percentage by which the train must now increase its usual speed so as to reach the destination at the scheduled time, is nearest to
Question 21 of 47
CAT 2020 Slot 1QAArithmetic • Time, Speed & DistanceModerate
A straight road connects points AA and B.B. Car 1 travels from AA to BB and Car 2 travels from BB to AA , both leaving at the same time. After meeting each other, they take 45 minutes and 20 minutes, respectively, to complete their journeys. If Car 1 travels at the speed of 60km/hr60 km/hr , then the speed of Car 2,2, in km/hr, is
Question 22 of 47
CAT 2020 Slot 1QAArithmetic • Time, Speed & DistanceModerate
Two persons are walking beside a railway track at respective speeds of 2 and 4 km4 \mathrm{~km} per hour in the same direction. A train came from behind them and crossed them in 90 and 100 seconds, respectively. The time, in seconds, taken by the train to cross a stationary object?
Question 23 of 47
CAT 2020 Slot 2QAArithmetic • Time, Speed & DistanceHard
Two runners, Alice and Bob, are racing on two different circular tracks, T1T1 and T2T2 , with radii 60 m60 \mathrm{\ m} and 40 m40 \mathrm{\ m} respectively. They both start from point PP at the same moment. Alice runs on track T1T1 at a constant speed of 12 km/hr12 \mathrm{\ km} / \mathrm{hr} and Bob runs on track T2T2 at a constant speed of 8 km/hr8 \mathrm{\ km} / \mathrm{hr}. After how many full rounds of Alice does she meet Bob again for the first time since the race started?
Question 24 of 47
CAT 2020 Slot 2QAArithmetic • Time, Speed & DistanceModerate
The distance from BB to CC is thrice that from AA to BB. Two trains travel from AA to CC via BB. The speed of train 2 is double that of train 1 while traveling from AA to BB and their speeds are interchanged while traveling from BB to CC. The ratio of the time taken by train 1 to that taken by train 2 in travelling from AA to CC is
Question 25 of 47
CAT 2020 Slot 2QAArithmetic • Time, Speed & DistanceEasy
AA and BB are two points on a straight line. Ram runs from AA to BB while Rahim runs from BB to AA. After crossing each other, Ram and Rahim reach their destinations in one minute and four minutes, respectively. If they start at the same time, then the ratio of Ram's speed to Rahim's speed is
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Frequently Asked Questions about CAT TSD PYQs: Time, Speed & Distance Previous Year Questions

Why are Time, Speed & Distance questions crucial for scoring 99+ percentile in CAT?

CAT convenors place heavy emphasis on testing core intuition in Time, Speed & Distance 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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