DILR guide, section 12

Practice plan, real CAT sets and your DILR error log

Two timed sets a day from real CAT papers, with as much time spent analysing each set as solving it, is enough to reach 2.5 sets by late November. Selection gets its own drill from Week 3.

Daily routine, about 1 hour

Set A, 15 minutes: this week’s focus type.
Set B, 15 minutes: a mixed type from a real CAT paper.
Analysis, 25–30 minutes: redo every missed question without a timer, write down the rule you misread or the case you missed, and note how long your first placement took.

Weekly focus (same calendar as QA)

5 Oct – 11 OctArrangements and matching grids (Sets 1, 2 and 9)
12 Oct – 18 OctScheduling and tournaments (Sets 3 and 4)
19 Oct – 25 OctDI tables and charts, Venn diagrams (Sets 5, 6, 11 and 12); selection drill twice a week from now
26 Oct – 1 NovRoutes, scores, binary logic and process sets (Sets 7, 8, 10, 13 and 14)
2 Nov – 15 NovA full 40-minute DILR section from a CAT 2021–2025 paper every other day, opening with the 5-minute scan
16 Nov – 28 NovMocks on the QA calendar, with one selection drill on each non-mock day

The selection drill (twice a week from Week 3)

Open a past DILR section and give yourself exactly 5 minutes to rank its five sets.
Solve your top two, timed.
Compare your ranking with a published difficulty rating of that paper; IMS’s CAT 2025 analysis rates every set easy, medium or difficult. Note any easy set you ranked low, and why.

Where to get real CAT DILR sets

Cracku CAT previous papers: Slot-wise papers from 2017 to 2025 with solutions. Use their DILR sections as your Set B and for the full 40-minute sections.
IMS CAT 2025 analysis: Set names and difficulty ratings for all 15 sets of CAT 2025, useful for the selection drill.
Older CAT papers (2008 and earlier): Simpler LR sets. They make good warm-ups in Weeks 1–2.

Your DILR error log

Your log (0)

Date	Set (source)	Type	Minutes to first placement	Outcome	Cause	Lesson in one line
7 Oct	Section 5, Set 2	Numeric distribution	4	Solved, 1 wrong	Missed rule	Write every “at least one” limit beside the grid
21 Oct	CAT 2025 Slot 1, train movement	Scheduling	2	Solved	—	Draw the time axis first, then fill the stations

The greyed rows are the guide’s examples of a good entry. Add your first one above.

Causes: missed rule, wrong case (a case dropped too early), misread question, calculation, bad pick (should have skipped the set). In the last five days, read only the “Lesson in one line” column.