The usual and the most popular confusion MBA Aspirants have is regarding which CAT preparation books would be best for clearing the exams. The choice of books is vast and quite varied. But what MBA Aspirants need to understand is that it is not the choice of books that they refer to but how they refer to these books.
All books available in the market are very similar like their content of study material but the important thing is what you make of it. So here we provide you with a list of books for each section that can help you accelerate your preparation to ace the tests.
The task for aspirants now is to recognize their current stage of preparation, identify which CAT study material they find a perfect fit with, and devise a preparation strategy for CAT accordingly.
Recommended For You:
CAT Exam Preparation Books | CAT Study Material
CAT Exam 2021 - Preparation Books
|
| Quantitative Ability |
How to Prepare for Quantitative Aptitude for CAT by Arun Sharma (8th Edition) |
Quantitative Aptitude Quantum by Sarvesh Kumar (2020) |
Quantitative Aptitude for CAT by Nishit Sinha (2020) |
| Price/Where To Buy |
INR 575 (Amazon) |
INR 471 (Amazon) |
INR 496 (Amazon) |
| Verbal Ability |
How to Prepare for Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension for CAT by Meenakshi Upadhyay and Arun Sharma (9th Edition) |
The Pearson Guide to Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension for CAT by Nishit Sinha (2020) |
Word Power Made Easy by Norman Lewis |
| Price/Where To Buy |
Price – INR 649 (Amazon) |
Price – INR 550 (Amazon) |
Price – INR 91 (Amazon) |
| Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning |
A Modern Approach to Logical Reasoning by R.S.Agarwal |
How to Prepare for Logical Reasoning and Data Interpretation for CAT by Arun Sharma (2011) |
Logical Reasoning and Data Interpretation by Nishit Sinha (2020) |
| Price/Where To Buy |
Price – INR 204
(Amazon / Flipkart) |
Price – INR 455 (Flipkart) |
Price – INR 670 (Flipkart) |
CAT Books For Quantitative Ability:
- NCERT mathematics books (6-10)
These books are a good way to start if one needs to clear their basics and concepts. NCERT books are best to start your CAT Preparation with only if you have a lot of time before your exam date and need to brush up on concepts before solving advanced problems else not recommended.
- How to Prepare for Quantitative Aptitude for the CAT by Arun Sharma
This book by Arun Sharma (publisher: Tata McGraw Hill) is very popular among CAT aspirants and really easy and simple to understand. The USP of this book is that it has 3 levels of difficulty for each topic which helps students to prepare not only for CAT but also for other exams such as NMAT, SNAP, MAT, XAT, IIFT, etc.
CAT books by Arun Sharma are designed in a way to help aspirants understand the basic concepts with ease which should be the basic approach while you start to prepare for cat or any other mba entrance exam.
- Quantitative Aptitude for Competitive Examinations by Abhijit Guha
This book is quite comprehensive for various competitive exams, for both MBA aspirants and for those seeking jobs who need to prepare for the aptitude tests.
- Quantitative Aptitude Quantum CAT by Sarvesh Verma
It is an extensive book for students aspiring to go to IIMs. It is a one stop book for people with as well as without mathematical background due to its lucid and tailor made content revolving around CAT.
- Quantitative Aptitude for CAT by Nishit Sinha
This book by Pearson focuses on in depth understanding of core topics for basic and advanced applications. The USP of this book is that it has been written by an IIM Lucknow alumnus who specialises in CAT Training and Coaching.
Verbal Ability Books For CAT:
- How to Prepare for Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension for the CAT by Arun Sharma and Meenakshi Upadhyay
This book is apt for students who want to brush up their verbal and reading comprehension skills. It covers three important topics: reading comprehension, verbal ability and verbal reasoning. It provides sufficient practice and mock papers for self-assessment.
- Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension For The CAT by Nishit Sinha
This book by Pearson provides not only an exhaustive resource for verbal ability. It also includes numerous tests as well as integral problem solving techniques and approaches. It is one of the best books you can find on this topic.
- Word Power Made Easy by Norman Lewis
This is the go-to book to improve your vocabulary. It is not a book to be read but a book to work with daily to enrich your vocabulary. This book may or may not have a direct impact on your score for verbal ability but it will ensure that you’re well prepared for WATs, GDs and PIs.
- High School Grammar and Composition by Wren and Martin
It is a sacred book for people who want to improve their grammar skills. It helps to understand and conceptualise different aspects of grammar and it is a must have book for anyone with poor grasp on verbal ability.
- Read books from different genres
The ultimate key to improve your verbal ability is to read extensively and to read books from different genres. This ensures that when the time for reading comprehension comes you are well acquainted with different writing styles and topics. Reading extensively also improves your reading speeding over a period of time. There are no shortcuts here.
| Book Name |
Author's Name |
Genre |
| The Alchemist |
Paulo Coelho |
Quest, Adventure fiction, Fantasy Fiction |
| The God of Small Things |
Arundhati Roy |
Novel, Fiction, Psychological Fiction, Domestic Fiction |
| A Brief History Of Time |
Stephen Hawking |
Cosmology |
| The Hard Thing about Hard Thing |
Ben Horowitz |
Biography |
| War & Peace |
Leo Tolstoy |
Novel |
| Ulysses |
James Joyce |
Novel |
| First Among Equals |
Jeffrey Archer |
Political Fiction |
Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning Books For CAT:
- A Modern Approach to Logical Reasoning by R.S. Agarwal
This cat book by R.S. Agarwal is to start with the most basic reasoning problem as it is quite simple to understand. It is segregated into different sections such as logic, statements, inferences and arguments, assumptions, conclusions, course of actions, logical puzzles, etc.
- How to Prepare for Logical Reasoning for CAT book by Arun Sharma
This book by Tata McGraw Hill contains all topics to be considered under Logical Reasoning for CAT as well as other entrance exams. Each topic is explained with solved examples followed by a series of problems with varied difficulty levels to solve which gives an individual enough practice for this section.
- How to Prepare for Data Interpretation for CAT book by Arun Sharma
This book focuses on all areas of Data Interpretation and Data Sufficiency. It provides and emphasizes on developing our calculations to get an edge with DI. This book also provides you with previous years questions, Model and Sample test papers.
- Logical Reasoning and Data Interpretation for the CAT by Nishit Sinha
This book covers fundamental and advanced topics under the aforementioned section which are explained with the help of solved examples, case lets and exercises to do. It is useful for various other exams as well.
- Data Interpretation by Nishit Sinha
Practice Book for CAT and Other MBA Entrance Examinations by Nishit Sinha: This book provides adequate practice and to sharpen the skills for Data Interpretation. It is also quite useful for other competitive exams like NMAT, GMAT, SNAP, XAT, CMAT, etc.
Another CAT Preparation material or book to be considered is
Previous Years’ CAT Paper: This ensures that you are familiar with the kind of questions that are asked in CAT providing you an edge. They can be taken as mocks and the analysis of the same can provide you with great insights for your preparation.
General Knowledge Books For XAT - SNAP & Other Exams
Considering the current format for G.K. section of XAT, SNAP, or any other exam, they focus mainly on current G.K. rather than static one. So, to start with you,
Current G.K.
It is always better to read the newspaper for current G.K. than trying to grasp all the info at once. Some of the newspaper sources that you can use to prepare this section are
The Hindu, Financial Express, and The Economist.
In case, you don't like reading newspapers daily, you can go with the Manorama Yearbook or Current Affairs Yearly by Arihant for General Knowledge which is published every year.
Static G.K.
This section is pretty hard to prepare for. To prepare for this section, you need to broaden your overall scope in the following sections: Sports, Politics, Entertainment, Biographies, etc. So, for this, you can use Static General Knowledge by A.P. Bhardwaj and S. Chand's Advanced Objective General Knowledge. These books are okay to start with if you are not someone with a newspaper reading habit from the past.
There are plenty of other books for these topics in the market, but these are by far the most popular as well as helpful books for anyone preparing for entrance exams.