Sectional Timers: How to Pace CAT, SSC CGL and IBPS PO

· 5 min read

In CAT, SSC CGL Tier 1 and IBPS PO Prelims, every section has its own timer. When it runs out, the next section starts, and you cannot go back. That changes how you should pace yourself.

The numbers

  • CAT: three sections of 40 minutes each, in this order - Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (24 questions), Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (22) and Quantitative Ability (22).
  • SSC CGL Tier 1: four sections of 25 questions, each with a 15-minute timer - Reasoning, General Awareness, Quantitative Aptitude and English.
  • IBPS PO Prelims: three 20-minute sections - English (30 questions), Quantitative Aptitude (35) and Reasoning (35).

These follow the latest official notifications, as our mock tests do. Check your own notification: patterns can change from year to year.

What sectional timers change

Time can't be borrowed. In a paper with one clock you can give extra minutes to your strong subject. With sectional timers, minutes you don't use in a section are simply lost, and a hard section can't take time from an easy one.

Every section counts. IBPS PO has a cut-off in every section, and CAT reports a percentile for each section as well as overall. A brilliant Quant score does not rescue a weak VARC.

The order is fixed. You can't start with your favourite section, so practise starting strongly in the first one.

Time per question

On average you have:

  • CAT: about 1 minute 40 seconds per VARC question, and about 1 minute 50 seconds per DILR or Quant question. DILR comes in sets, so budget for sets of 4 to 6 questions, not single questions.
  • SSC CGL: 36 seconds per question.
  • IBPS PO: 40 seconds per English question, and about 34 seconds per Quant or Reasoning question.

These are averages: quick questions buy time for harder ones.

Habits that work

  1. First pass, then second pass. Go through the section answering everything you can do quickly and marking the rest, then come back to the marked ones with the time left.
  2. Set a hard limit per question, for example twice your average. When it is up, mark the question and move on.
  3. Watch the section clock, not the total. Check it at fixed points, such as a quarter, half and three-quarters of the way through.
  4. In CAT DILR, choose sets before solving. Spend the first two or three minutes reading the sets, and pick the two or three you are most likely to finish.
  5. Use the last minute. Enter an answer to questions without negative marking (CAT's TITA questions) rather than leave them blank; for the rest, see when guessing is worth it.

Practise with the real timers

Our CAT, SSC CGL and IBPS PO mock tests lock each section to its timer and move on automatically, as the real exams do. The report then shows where your time went in each section.

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