CAT's 129 DILR sets since 2017 fall into 30 recurring archetypes. The most common are cross-classification of a population by two or three attributes; fill the contingency table (8 sets), venn diagram (8 sets), network of roads/lines with travel times or distances; routes and schedules (6 sets). By broad family, Charts & Tables and Quant-based Puzzles each make up about a fifth of DILR questions.
Key facts
CAT has set 129 DILR caselets in 24 papers from 2017 to 2025, 5 per slot in 2025.
The most repeated DILR archetype is "Cross-classification of a population by two or three attributes; fill the contingency table", used in 8 sets.
45% of CAT DILR sets since 2017 present their data as a chart or figure rather than text.
TITA questions made up 50% of DILR in CAT 2025, against 25% in 2017.
What kinds of DILR sets does CAT ask?
Each set was matched to the reasoning it needs, not its story: a "flights between cities" set and a "roads between towns" set are both networks. 99 of the 129 sets fall into an archetype shared with at least one other paper.
How many DILR sets come in CAT, and how many should I attempt?
CAT 2023 had 4 sets per slot; CAT 2024 had 5 sets per slot; CAT 2025 had 5 sets per slot, in 40 minutes. With about 8–10 minutes a set, most aspirants aim to solve two or three sets fully rather than touch all of them; picking the right ones is the skill.
Is DILR becoming more TITA-heavy?
Yes, by the numbers: 2017: 25%, 2018: 25%, 2019: 25%, 2020: 25%, 2021: 25%, 2022: 30%, 2023: 40%, 2024: 45%, 2025: 50% of DILR questions were TITA. TITA questions carry no negative marks, so a careful guess costs nothing, but you can't eliminate options. More in TITA questions in CAT.
Method: counted from all 24 CAT papers 2017–2025 (1,830 questions), each tagged with one topic. DILR archetypes are concept clusters over whole sets (30 clusters). How the data is built.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most common DILR set type in CAT?
By archetype, "Cross-classification of a population by two or three attributes; fill the contingency table" (8 sets since 2017). By family, Charts & Tables (130 questions).
How many sets are there in CAT DILR?
5 per slot in CAT 2025, each with 4–6 questions.
Do DILR set types repeat in CAT?
Yes. 99 of 129 sets since 2017 share their archetype with a set in another paper; the table above links an example of each.
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