The DILR section in the CAT exam is one of the toughest sections. The full form of DILR is Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning. The section often comprises of questions from a diverse range of topics ranging from sequence questions to family and blood relations in the logical reasoning part. This article aims to provide the candidates with some practice sets and questions for the CAT DILR section, which will help the upcoming aspirants to analyse the difficulty level of the section, and also understand the kind of questions asked.
The DILR section in CAT used to consist of 20 questions until 2023. However, in the CAT 2024 exam the DILR section had 22 questions, increasing the total number of questions from 66 to 68. In upcoming CAT exam, the students can expect the same number of questions. Read the article further to check and solve a few logical reasoning questions for CAT.
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Logical Reasoning questions for CAT Preparation 2025 with answers
DIRECTIONS for questions 1 to 3: Refer to the data below and answer the questions that follow.
Three balls coloured Yellow, Green and Red are to be put in one of the three boxes numbered 1, 2 and 3 (not necessarily in the same order). Three friends John, Jani and Janardhan make two statements about the arrangement of the balls in the boxes, one of which is true and the other is false.
Their statements are as follows:
- John: The Yellow Ball is not in Box 2. The Red ball is in Box 1
- Jani: The Yellow Ball is not in Box 3. The Green ball is in Box 2
- Janardhan: The Green ball is in Box 3. The Red ball is not in Box 1
1. Box 1 contains the:
1] Red Ball 2] Yellow Ball 3] Green Ball 4] Cannot be determined
2. The Yellow Ball is in:
1] Box 1 2] Box 2 3] Box 3 4] Either Box 2 or Box 3
3. If we ignore the second statement made by Jani and consider the first statement made by him to be true, then how many possible arrangements can we have following the remaining conditions?
1] 3 2] 4 3] 5 4] None of these
DIRECTIONS for questions 4 to 6: Refer to the data below and answer the questions that follow.
Mr. Swamy, a Professor of an MBA school Laurels is an expert at creating puzzles. On the induction day for the first year MBA students of the academic year 2012 he asked his students to guess his date of birth in the form(dd-mm-yy), where yy represent the last two digits of the year in which he was born.
He put the following conditions before them.
1) In 2012, his age is more than 46 years but less than 49 years.
2) Three of the digits in his date of birth are consecutive odd numbers.
3) There is exactly one natural number of the form (x2-1) in his date of birth (where x is a single digit odd number).
4) There is exactly one two digit prime number (taken either as dd or mm or yy) in his date of birth.
Now on the basis of the above information answer the following questions.
4. Which is the month in which Mr. Swamy was born?
1] November 2] July 3] August 4] Cannot be determined
5. What is the sum of (d d m m y y) in his date of birth?
1] 15 2] 18 3] 23 4] 27
6. On which date (dd) was Mr. Swamy born?
1] 21 2] 11 3] 13 4] Cannot be determined
DIRECTIONS for questions 7 to 9: Refer to the data below and answer the questions that follow
A group of 7 people Salman, Shahrukh, Aamir, Ranbir, Imran, Shahid and Akshay are to be arranged in a row of 7 chairs (not necessarily in the same order), such that 2 adjacent chairs are facing opposite directions but not facing each other .
Given below are some of the conditions to be followed for the seating arrangement
a) Akshay sits in a chair whose direction is opposite to that of Imran
b) None of Salman, Shahrukh or Aamir can sit adjacent to each other
c) Ranbir and Shahid are best friends, so they always sit together
d) Imran has 4 people sitting to his right
e) Aamir is sitting 2 positions to the right of Ranbir
7. Which of the following can never occupy adjacent chairs?
1] Akshay & Imran 2] Ranbir & Salman 3] Shahrukh & Shahid 4] Aamir & Imran
8. If Ranbir is 3 places to the right of Imran, then who is 2 places to the left of Akshay?
1] Salman 2] Aamir 3] Either Shahrukh or Salman 4] Either Aamir or Shahrukh
9. If Akshay is 3 places to the left of Shahid, then who can occupy the corner positions (in any order)?
1] Salman and Aamir 2] Shahrukh and Salman 3] Shahrukh and Aamir 4] None of these
DIRECTIONS for questions 10 and 11: Refer to the data below and answer the questions that follow
Ajay takes part in a pistol shooting competition. There are four different coloured targets (red, yellow, green, blue) in front of him. He can take a maximum of 10 shots at the target. He gets 10, 9, 8 and 7 points for hitting the red, yellow, green and blue coloured targets respectively. For every red coloured target that Ajay hits, he has to hit at least two or more blue coloured targets and for every yellow coloured target that he hits he has to hit at least two or more green coloured targets.
Answer the questions on the basis of the above information.
10. If the aim of the Ajay is to maximize his points by hitting the targets, then what is the number of green coloured targets that he should hit?
1] 4 2] 3 3] 6 4] None of these
11. If Ajay should hit each of the red, yellow, green and blue coloured targets at least once, then what is the maximum number of points that he can earn?
1] 84 2] 81 3] 82 4] 83
DIRECTIONS for questions 1 to 4:
Five friends, Amol, Mandar, Piyu, Shashi and Reena attended Sagar’s birthday party, where they partook of the sumptuous snacks and dinner. Each of the five friends gifted Sagar a different article – a fountain pen, a cell phone, a shirt, a jacket and an I-Pod – and Sagar, in return, gifted each of them a different article – a video game, a sweater, a perfume, a calculator and a pair of sunglasses. The following is additional information about the gifts given by the friends and the gifts received from Sagar.
- Amol gifted the shirt and received the video game in return.
- Shashi did not gift the I-Pod but received the perfume in return.
- Mandar did not gift an electronic item and received the calculator in return.
- The person who gifted the jacket received the sweater in return and Reena received the pair of sunglasses.
1. Who among the following gifted the jacket?
- Mandar
- Shashi
- Reena
- None of these
2. Which of the following statements is true?
- Two of the friends who did not gift electronic items, received electronic items in return
- Piyu gifted the jacket and Shashi gifted the I-Pod
- Shashi neither gifted nor did he receive an electronic item
- The person who gifted the cell phone received the calculator in return
3. Which of the following is the correct combination of friend, article gifted and article received in return?
- Piyu – Fountain Pen – Sunglasses
- Shashi – I-Pod – Perfume
- Reena – I-Pod – Sunglasses
- None of these
4. Which of the following is false?
- Only one friend whose name does not start with a vowel, received an electronic item in return
- The friend whose name appears last in alphabetical order, gifted an electronic item and received a non electronic item in return
- In alphabetical order, the friend who gifted the I-Pod appears before at least two other friends
- The friend whose name in alphabetical order appears in the middle neither gifted nor received an electronic item
DIRECTIONS for questions 5 to 10: Mark the answer.
I) If the item is a Major Objective in making the decision: that is. One of the outcomes or results sought by the decision maker.
II) If the item is a Major Factor in making the decision that is, a consideration, explicitly mentioned, in the passage, that is basic in determining the decision.
III) If the item is Minor factor in making the decision; that is a secondary consideration that affects the criteria tangentially, relating to a Major Factor rather than to an objective.
IV) If the item is a Major Assumption in making the decision; that is, a supposition or projection made by the decision maker before weighting the variables
Business Situation
Dr. Goodrich, an upcoming practitioner in Hailey Street, Heartville, felt he needed more room to set up a laboratory next to his clinic. He felt he would invest his savings in buying a few microscopes and lab equipment to set up a new laboratory. A new ceramic factory had come up in the vicinity of Hartville and many families, mainly of those employed in the factory, had taken up residence in the adjoining area. Dr. Goodrich saw a potential increase in his clientele and wanted to cater to this new population. He felt that a small laboratory for testing blood, urine, sputum and other samples would expand his business. The only recourse would be to purchase a small cloth store adjoining his clinic owned by Mr. Terence Hill. This was a small shop, which was already declining due to the advent of a fashionable supermarket down town. Dr. Goodrich felt that Hill would be willing to sell his store at reasonable terms, and this was very important since after the setting up of his new laboratory, he would have very little capital to invest in the expansion of his clinic.
The following questions consist of items related to the passage above. Consider each item separately in terms of the passage and mark your answer.
5. increase in child and adult population in Hartville 1) 2) 3) 4)
6. acquisition of property for expanding clinic 1) 2) 3) 4)
7. cost of Hill’s property 1) 2) 3) 4)
8. state of the business of Hill’s Cloth store 1) 2) 3) 4)
9. quality of lab equipment that Goodrich intends to buy 1) 2) 3) 4)
10. catering to the needs of patients will increase the business1) 2) 3) 4)
Solved Answers to CAT Logical Reasoning Questions 1-4
From the given information, we know that Amol, Shashi, Mandar and Reena received the video game, perfume, calculator and sunglasses respectively. This means that Piyu received the sweater and we can then conclude that she gifted the jacket.
Since Mandar did not gift an electronic item, he could have gifted the fountain pen, the shirt or the jacket.
But we know that the shirt and the jacket were gifted by Amol and Piyu respectively.
So Mandar must have gifted the fountain pen.
We still need to figure out who gifted the cell phone and the I-Pod. Since we know that Shashi did not gift the I-Pod, Reena must have gifted the I-Pod and Shashi must have gifted the cell phone.
We can now match the friend’s name with the gift given and the gift received as follows:
Amol – Shirt – Video Game; Mandar – Fountain Pen – Calculator; Piyu – Jacket – Sweater; Shashi – Cell Phone – Perfume; Reena – I-Pod – Sunglasses.
Q.1 – (Ans.4) Piyu gifted the jacket.
Q.2 – (Ans.1) Amol and Mandar gifted the shirt and the fountain pen respectively (non-electronic items) and received the video game and the calculator respectively (electronic items).
Q.3 – (Ans.3) Reena gifted the I-Pod and received the pair of sunglasses in return.
Q.4 – (Ans.3) Only Amol and Mandar received electronic items. So option 1 is true. Shashi gifted the cell phone and received the perfume. So option 2 is true.
Reena gifted the I-Pod and in alphabetical order, she would appear second last. So option 3 is not true.
In alphabetical order, Piyu appears in the middle and she gifted the jacket and received the sweater in return. So option 4 is true.
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Solved Answers to CAT Logical Reasoning Questions 5-10
In such questions it is best to analyse the case without looking at the questions asked. Here is a sample of such an analysis:
- What is our objective: To buy the neighbouring cloth store.
- Major Factors: Purchase price, the spending on repairs or modifications (Don’t bother too much about minor factors, whatever is not major is minor)
- Major Assumptions: Our patients would not want to go to outside labs for their tests. The patient population around the clinic will continue to reside there.
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Q.5 – (Ans.4) From our list, we understand that it is one of the assumptions as he saw a potential increase in his clientele and wanted to cater to this new population.
Q.6 – (Ans.1) If we check with our list, we see that this is an assumption, since we have no clear way of forecasting or controlling this fact, yet it is still important.
Q.7 – (Ans.2) Checking from our list, this is indeed the purpose of this case – hence objective.
Q.8 – (Ans.3) The state of the business does not matter, since the key factor is whether Hill wants to sell or not. Hence, minor factor.
Q.9 – (Ans.3) Although the quality of equipment matters, he does not need to worry about it as far as this purchase decision is concerned.
Nor relevant – hence, minor factor.
Q.10 – (Ans.4) Again match with the checklist, you will realise that it is one of the assumptions. In some sense this is like a Critical Reasoning question.
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Logical Reasoning Questions for CAT → Resources
Given below are a few websites that can be utilised by the candidates to solve and practice the most commonly asked DILR questions. These websites are free of cost and the aspirants can start solving the questions right away!
- Bodhee Prep → Offering Multiple CAT DILR sets as per various difficulty levels
- IIMCAT → Offering logical reasoning practice questions for CAT from beginner to advanced level
