- A correct TITA (type in the answer) question in CAT 2026 earns 3 marks. A wrong or skipped one earns 0. Only wrong MCQs lose 1 mark.
- Always enter an answer, but do not treat TITA as free: the real cost is the minutes you spend on it.
- A blind TITA guess has almost no chance of being right, so its expected value is close to zero. A narrowed-down answer is worth far more.
- Rank questions by how fast you can solve them, not by format, and log TITA accuracy separately in every mock.
- The official CAT 2026 pages do not say how many non-MCQs each section has, so plan by minutes, not by a fixed count.
CAT TITA questions earn 3 marks when correct and nothing when wrong or skipped, so you can never lose marks by typing an answer. That is not the same as saying you should guess. A TITA is a question you must solve, and the price of a bad one is the time it takes, not a deduction.
This post works through the +3 / 0 arithmetic against the +3 / -1 of MCQs, then gives a section-wise approach and a way to track TITA accuracy in your mocks. Marking details come from the official CAT 2026 FAQ and were checked on 6 November 2026. The exam is on 29 November 2026.
How are CAT TITA questions marked?
TITA stands for 'type in the answer'. The official FAQ calls these non-MCQ questions. You type a number instead of picking an option. The marking for CAT 2026 is:
| Question type | Correct | Wrong | Unattempted |
|---|---|---|---|
| MCQ | +3 | -1 | 0 |
| TITA (non-MCQ) | +3 | 0 | 0 |
Each of the three sections (VARC, DILR and QA) is timed at exactly 40 minutes, and you cannot move between sections. The whole paper is 120 minutes.
Why no negative marking is not the same as free
A wrong TITA costs zero marks, but the minutes you spent on it are gone. In a 40-minute section with no switching, time is the scarce thing, and a TITA you cannot finish takes it just as an MCQ does.
- Marks from one MCQ attempt at 70% accuracy = 3 x 0.7 - 1 x 0.3 = 1.8.
- Marks per minute = 1.8 / 2.5 = 0.72.
- Six minutes at that rate = 6 x 0.72 = 4.32 marks forgone.
Answer: Roughly 4 marks of opportunity cost, even though the TITA itself cost 0 marks.
Expected value of a TITA guess versus an MCQ guess
Let p be your chance of being right. For an MCQ the expected marks are 3p - (1 - p) = 4p - 1, which breaks even at p = 25%. For a TITA the expected marks are simply 3p, which is never negative.
| Chance of being right (p) | MCQ: 4p - 1 | TITA: 3p |
|---|---|---|
| 5% | -0.8 | 0.15 |
| 25% | 0 | 0.75 |
| 50% | 1.0 | 1.5 |
| 80% | 2.2 | 2.4 |
The gap between the two columns is always 1 - p marks. The no-negative rule helps most when you are least sure. But a blind guess on a TITA has no options to narrow, so p is tiny and 3p is close to zero. Spend five seconds on a guess only after the real attempt has failed.
Attempting CAT TITA questions in QA
In QA the answer is a single number you can usually test. Substitute it back, check that it is the right size, and check the type: a count must be a whole number, a probability must lie between 0 and 1, a percentage change cannot take a price below zero.
- Let the numbers be x and 36 - x, so x(36 - x) = 315.
- That gives x^2 - 36x + 315 = 0. The discriminant is 1296 - 1260 = 36, so x = (36 +/- 6) / 2 = 21 or 15.
- Check: 21 + 15 = 36 and 21 x 15 = 315.
Answer: 21
Set a ceiling before you start. If you have no method after about a minute, mark the question and move on. The QA formula sheet lists the formulas worth knowing cold.
TITA in DILR sets and VARC
In DILR, a TITA that comes from a set you have already solved is cheap, because the answer comes straight from your grid. If the value looks odd, the grid is probably wrong, so test it against one given constraint before you type it in.
For VARC the official pages do not say which verbal items are non-MCQ. Read the instructions on your paper before you begin. Wherever an item is type-in, commit to your best answer, because a blank scores the same as a wrong one.
Where to put TITA in your section order
Advice splits into two camps. One says attempt TITA first because a wrong answer costs nothing. The other says TITA is risky because there are no options to fall back on. Both have a point, and neither answers the time question.
A more useful rule is to order by solvability, not format.
- First pass: solve everything you can finish inside your time ceiling, MCQ and TITA together.
- Second pass: return to the questions that looked solvable but long.
- Last two minutes: make sure every non-MCQ has an entry. This costs seconds and has no penalty.
- Guess an MCQ only if you can honestly remove at least one option.
Log TITA accuracy separately in mocks
A single accuracy figure hides TITA behaviour. Keep a separate row for type-in questions in your error log, as described in the mock analysis guide.
| Mock | Section | TITA attempted | TITA correct | Minutes on TITA | Blank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M6 (example row) | QA | 5 | 3 | 14 | 0 |
- TITA accuracy far below your MCQ accuracy: you are attempting TITA you cannot finish. Cut your ceiling.
- Any blank TITA: you left free marks on the table. Fill every one in the last two minutes.
- Many minutes spent per TITA with low accuracy: skip earlier and spend the time on MCQs.
Common traps: units, rounding and format
- Units: lakh or crore, minutes or hours, per cent or percentage points.
- Rounding: check whether the question wants the nearest integer, one decimal place or an exact fraction.
- Sign and size: a negative answer or a value above 100% needs a second look.
- Typing: read the official instructions on how decimals and negative numbers are entered, and practise that in mocks so it is routine on the day.
Re-read the last line of the question before you type. Many lost TITA marks are correct working with the wrong thing answered.