Geometry questions for CAT appear in a 22-question Quantitative Ability section. In recent papers, they have been triangles, circles, quadrilaterals, polygons, mensuration and a coordinate question, not a free-standing theorem test.
CAT 2026 is on November 29, 2026, with the same 22-question Quantitative Ability block, 40 minutes, +3 for a correct answer and −1 for a wrong multiple-choice answer. A typed answer carries no negative mark. This page sets out the weight geometry has carried, ten geometry questions for CAT with answer keys, how to prepare for CAT 2026, the Hitbullseye ebook, and the short questions students ask before they open a set.
Topic weightage in CAT
The IIMs do not publish a topic-wise split. Slot analyses put geometry and mensuration at about three to five questions in a slot, roughly 14 to 18 per cent of Quantitative Ability when the section has 22 questions. CAT 2024 compilations counted about three geometry questions in each slot. CAT 2023 counted three in one slot and four in the other two. A longer compilation put the family, such as triangles, circles, quadrilaterals, polygons, mensuration and coordinate geometry, at about four questions in CAT 2025, eight in 2024, nine in 2023 and 2022, and ten or eleven in the years before that. Treat the count as a range. Three clean answers are a real sectional contribution. Eight are not a promise.
Triangles and circles appear more often than a pure theorem question. Quadrilaterals and polygons show up as one property on a figure. Coordinate geometry questions for CAT are usually one item, built on distance or a midpoint. Mensuration rides on the same figures.
Geometry questions for CAT: what the last papers asked
The items are short and figure-led. A triangle hides a similarity or a bisector. A circle hides a tangent meeting a radius at a right angle. A coordinate item hides a midpoint you can compute without a scaled drawing. Several have been typed answers, so there is no option to lean on. The ten below are written in that style for this page. They are not a past paper.
- A circle has centre O and radius 5. Chord AB is 3 units from O. Find AB. The perpendicular from the centre bisects the chord, so half of AB is √(25 − 9) = 4.
Answer: 8.
- Vertices are A(0, 0), B(6, 0) and C(0, 8). Find the median from A to BC. The midpoint of BC is (3, 4). The distance from A is 5.
Answer: 5.
- A triangle has sides 5, 5 and 6. Find its area. The height to the base 6 is √(25 − 9) = 4. Area is (1/2) × 6 × 4.
Answer: 12.
- Tangents from an external point P touch a circle at A and B. If PA = 12, what is PB? Tangents from an external point are equal.
Answer: 12.
- A square has a side of 10. A quarter circle of radius 10 is drawn inside it from one vertex. Find the area of the square outside that quarter circle. Square area 100, quarter circle (1/4)π(100) = 25π.
Answer: 100 − 25π.
- The exterior angle of a regular polygon is 24°. How many sides does it have? The exterior angles sum to 360°, so the number of sides is 360/24.
Answer: 15.
- In a triangle ABC, AB = 8, AC = 6, and AD bisects angle A and meets BC at D. Find BD/DC. The bisector divides the opposite side in the ratio of the other two sides.
Answer: 8/6 = 4/3.
- A wheel of diameter 14 cm rolls along a straight line. How far does the centre travel in two full turns? Take π = 22/7. One turn covers πd = 44 cm. Two turns cover 88 cm.
Answer: 88 cm.
- Points A(2, 3) and B(8, 11) are the ends of a diameter. Find the centre. The centre is the midpoint, ((2+8)/2, (3+11)/2).
Answer: (5, 7).
- A right triangle has legs 9 and 12. Find the circumradius. The circumcentre of a right triangle is the midpoint of the hypotenuse. The hypotenuse is 15, so the radius is 7.5.
Answer: 7.5.
On a timed paper, leave any of these that has not opened in about ninety seconds. A wrong multiple-choice answer costs a mark. A blank costs nothing.
How to prepare geometry to crack CAT 2026
Start from the figures that have actually appeared, not from a theorem list.
- Triangles first: similarity, the basic inequality, the angle-bisector theorem, areas with a common height, and the 3-4-5 and 5-12-13 triples.
- Circles next: radius perpendicular to a tangent, equal tangents from a point, angle in a semicircle, and intersecting chords.
- Then quadrilaterals and regular polygons, including the sum of exterior angles and the diagonal count, and only then mensuration of the same shapes.
- Coordinate geometry can sit in one week: distance, midpoint, section formula, and the area of a triangle from vertices.
Forty minutes will not hold a fresh derivation. Write a one-page formula sheet and stop adding to it. A question you cannot see in ninety seconds is a leave, not a chapter to reopen on the clock. In mocks, tag a geometry miss as formula, figure, or selection. Three misses of the same type earn one focused hour.
From October, two timed geometry sets a week are enough, folded into the Quantitative Ability cap you are already using. Do not open coordinate geometry for the first time in November. If it has never been yours, leave the coordinate item and take the triangle you can finish.
Hitbullseye ebook on geometry questions for CAT
The Hitbullseye ebook on geometry questions for CAT puts the formulas and short applications from this page into one file: triangles, circles, quadrilaterals, polygons, mensuration and coordinate geometry. Use it to revise after the ten questions, not instead of a timed set. Download it with the other CAT ebooks and question banks from the Hitbullseye MBA ebook store.
CAT FAQs
Q. How many geometry questions come in CAT?
A. CAT does not have a fixed number of geometry questions. Geometry questions appear in the Quantitative Aptitude section, which contains 22 questions. In CAT 2025, geometry and mensuration together were about 3 to 4 questions in a slot. In some earlier slots, analysts counted 8 or more once mensuration and coordinate geometry were included. Treat 3 to 5 as a working range, not a rule.
Q. Which geometry topics are asked in CAT 2026?
A. Geometry topics for CAT 2026 are triangles, circles, quadrilaterals, and polygons, which show up most often. Coordinate geometry and mensuration appear in some slots and not in others. Lines and angles are usually inside a triangle or circle question, not a separate block. CAT 2025 slots had circles, triangles, a polygon, a rhombus, and one mensuration item, but not all of these in every slot.
Q. Is trigonometry part of CAT geometry?
A. Yes, A trigonometry question can appear, but it is not a fixed yearly block. Do not spend the same amount of time on it as you do on triangles and circles.
Q. Should I attempt every geometry question?
A. No, a wrong multiple-choice answer costs 1 mark. A non-MCQ has no negative marking. If the figure is not clear in the first minute, leave it. Arithmetic and algebra carry more questions in a typical slot.
Q. What should I practice first in CAT Geometry questions for 2026?
A. Start your learning from the triangles first, then circles, then quadrilaterals. After that, coordinate geometry and mensuration. Use past CAT questions. A school textbook chapter that has not appeared in a recent paper is a lower priority.
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