Two sentences out of order can cost you three marks, and CAT 2026 is only 15 days away. Here are 30 original CAT 2026 para jumbles questions, split into three levels. Each one has a solved answer and the logic behind it. Para jumbles are type-in-the-answer (TITA) questions, so a wrong attempt carries no negative marking. That makes them one of the safest places to pick up marks in VARC

Prefer to solve these on paper? Grab all 30 questions and the answer key in one printable file.

Quick facts: Para jumbles in CAT 2026

Detail	Information
CAT 2026 exam date	Sunday, 29 November 2026
Conducting institute	IIM Indore
VARC section	24 questions, 40 minutes
Para jumbles format	TITA (type in the answer)
Negative marking	None for TITA; −1 for wrong MCQs
Marks per question	3

Always confirm the final pattern on the official CAT website. The conducting institute is IIM Indore.

What Are Para Jumbles in CAT?

A para jumble (also called a jumbled paragraph or sentence rearrangement question) gives you four or five sentences in the wrong order. You decide the most logical sequence and type it in, for example 2413. There are no options to eliminate, so you cannot guess your way to the answer. You have to find the logic.

How Often Do Para Jumbles Come in CAT?

Not every year, but they keep coming back.

CAT year	Para jumbles in VARC
2021	3
2022	3
2023	2
2024	0
2025	2

Para jumbles skipped 2024 and returned in 2025. Dropping them from your revision would be a mistake, because the same skill also helps with para summary and odd one out.

How to Solve CAT Para Jumbles: A 5-Step Method

Step 1: Find the opening sentence

A good opener introduces the topic without pronouns like this, they or these. It rarely starts with However, Therefore or Also.

Step 2: Lock one mandatory pair

Look for two sentences that must sit together. A pronoun and its noun often make such a pair, such as “A bus…” followed by “One that…”.

Step 3: Read the connectors

Connectors tell you where a sentence belongs.

Clue	What it tells you
However, Yet, By contrast	The sentence contrasts the one before it
Therefore, Thus, As a result	It is a consequence or conclusion
For instance	It follows a general claim
Earlier / Now / Today	It follows a time order
This, These, Such	It refers back to a noun already named

Step 4: Test the chain

Read your sequence once from start to finish. If one jump feels abrupt, swap only that sentence.

Step 5: Decide in 90 seconds

If the set stays unclear after about 90 seconds, make your best attempt and move on. TITA has no penalty. Spend the saved time on RC.

CAT 2026 Para Jumbles Questions (30 Solved Practice Questions)

These questions are original practice material. They are not copied from any past paper. Write your sequence before you open the answer key.

Directions: Rearrange the sentences into the most logical order. Type the sequence of numbers.

Level 1: Warm-up (Q1–Q10)

Q1.

1. Shade also encourages more people to walk instead of using vehicles.
2. Cities across India are planting more trees along their roads.
3. Over time, this reduces both heat and traffic emissions.
4. These trees lower street temperatures in summer.

Q2.

1. Publishers responded by printing novels, pamphlets and newspapers.
2. As books became affordable, more people learned to read.
3. Printing presses made books cheaper in fifteenth-century Europe.
4. A larger reading public then began to demand newer and more varied writing.

Q3.

1. During deep sleep, the brain sorts the day’s experiences and stores the important ones.
2. As a result, students who study through the night often remember less.
3. Sleep is not a passive state of the brain.
4. Without enough sleep, this sorting weakens.

Q4.

1. Their yields stay low, and the cycle of borrowing begins again.
2. Many small farmers lack access to formal credit.
3. Repaying these loans leaves them with little to invest in better seeds or tools.
4. They therefore borrow from local moneylenders at very high interest rates.

Q5.

1. Companies that resisted it at first soon found that productivity did not collapse.
2. Today, the debate is no longer whether to allow remote work but how much of it to allow.
3. Remote work was once seen as a perk for a few employees.
4. The pandemic turned it into a necessity for millions.

Q6.

1. These formations shelter a remarkable variety of marine life.
2. It is built by tiny animals called polyps, which secrete limestone.
3. Over thousands of years, their skeletons accumulate into vast formations.
4. A coral reef looks like rock, but it is a living structure.

Q7.

1. Earlier, a shopkeeper had to keep enough change for every customer.
2. This has cut the time spent on each sale.
3. Now a single QR code lets customers pay the exact amount.
4. Mobile payments have changed how small shopkeepers do business.

Q8.

1. The deposit makes the soil unusually fertile.
2. When floodwaters recede, this silt is left behind on the fields.
3. Rivers carry silt from the mountains to the plains.
4. That is why ancient civilisations settled along river banks.

Q9.

1. Each switch costs a little time and attention.
2. Most people believe they are good at multitasking.
3. Research, however, suggests that the brain merely switches rapidly between tasks.
4. The total cost can be larger than the time saved.

Q10.

1. In many towns, they have become community centres.
2. They run coding classes, host job fairs and provide free internet access.
3. Libraries are often described as quiet places full of old books.
4. Modern libraries, however, offer far more than shelves.

Level 2: Exam-like (Q11–Q20)

Q11.

1. Over time, borrowed words feel so natural that speakers forget they came from elsewhere.
2. Every language borrows words from others.
3. No language, therefore, is entirely pure.
4. Hindi, for instance, has given English words such as “shampoo” and “jungle”.
5. Borrowing usually begins when two communities trade or live side by side.

Q12.

1. Their real environmental benefit therefore depends on how the grid generates power.
2. Cleaner grids and cleaner cars must thus advance together.
3. Electric vehicles are often called pollution-free.
4. In states with more solar and wind power, the benefit is larger.
5. They do not emit exhaust, but the electricity that charges them may come from coal.

Q13.

1. Such support helps the gains from trade reach a wider group.
2. Domestic producers that compete with cheaper imports, however, may lose business.
3. Trade between two countries rarely benefits everyone equally.
4. Governments therefore often pair trade deals with support for affected workers.
5. Exporters usually gain new customers abroad.

Q14.

1. This is why two witnesses to the same event may describe it differently.
2. Memory is often compared to a video recording.
3. Courts therefore treat confident testimony with some caution.
4. Psychologists find it closer to a story that is rebuilt each time it is told.
5. Because it is rebuilt, small details can change without the person noticing.

Q15.

1. A good monsoon fills reservoirs and raises crop output.
2. Policymakers therefore watch rainfall forecasts closely.
3. Higher food prices in turn lift overall inflation.
4. The monsoon decides the fortunes of Indian agriculture.
5. A weak one, by contrast, can push up food prices.

Q16.

1. It became an institution meant to educate rather than merely to impress.
2. Public museums emerged when such collections were opened to ordinary citizens.
3. Many museums now go further and invite visitors to touch, test and participate.
4. Museums once existed mainly to display the treasures of the wealthy.
5. This change altered the purpose of a museum.

Q17.

1. Cutting down on single-use plastic is thus a matter of urgency.
2. Plastic is cheap, light and durable.
3. Meanwhile, plastic that escapes into rivers eventually reaches the sea.
4. These very qualities make it a problem once it is discarded.
5. A single bottle can last for centuries in a landfill.

Q18.

1. Recalling an answer forces the brain to retrieve it.
2. Practice questions are therefore not just a check on learning but part of learning itself.
3. Studies show, however, that testing yourself works better than rereading.
4. Each act of retrieval strengthens the memory.
5. Many students assume that reading a chapter several times is the best way to learn it.

Q19.

1. The financial hubs of today are known for glass towers.
2. Industrial towns that followed rose around factory chimneys.
3. Each era, in short, builds in the shape of what earns its money.
4. A city’s skyline reflects its economy.
5. Old port towns grew around docks and warehouses.

Q20.

1. A bus that comes every five minutes lets passengers travel without checking a timetable.
2. Public transport is usually judged by how many people it carries.
3. Commuters therefore tend to prefer reliable frequency over sheer size.
4. Frequency matters just as much as capacity.
5. One that comes once an hour forces people to plan their whole day around it.

Level 3: Challenger (Q21–Q30)

Q21.

1. Around the mould, the bacteria had died.
2. That substance, later named penicillin, was not turned into a usable drug until the 1940s.
3. Its mass production changed the treatment of infections.
4. In 1928, Alexander Fleming noticed mould growing on a culture plate in his laboratory.
5. Fleming concluded that the mould released a substance that killed them.

Q22.

1. The mistake shows that the child is applying a pattern, not merely copying adults.
2. Correction should therefore target the exception, not punish the attempt.
3. Language learners often fear mistakes.
4. A child who says “goed” instead of “went” has grasped that past tenses usually end in “-ed”.
5. Yet errors are evidence that the learner is experimenting with the rules.

Q23.

1. The solution lies in scarcity: water is plentiful, whereas diamonds are rare.
2. Economists distinguish between a good’s usefulness and its price.
3. This apparent paradox troubled early economists.
4. Price, then, reflects how scarce something is, not only how useful it is.
5. Water is essential to life, yet it costs far less than diamonds.

Q24.

1. A stranger does not know what the author meant, only what the page says.
2. The author then decides how to close the gap.
3. The real task is to see the manuscript as a stranger would.
4. A good editor rarely rewrites an author’s book.
5. The editor therefore flags every place where meaning and wording part ways.

Q25.

1. Central banks regulate this process through reserve requirements and interest rates.
2. The idea that a bank loan can create money surprises many people.
3. That new deposit did not exist before the loan.
4. When a bank lends, it does not hand over coins it was holding; it credits the borrower’s account.
5. Deposits are therefore created by lending, not merely collected before it.

Q26.

1. As a result, cities stay warmer than the countryside around them.
2. Green roofs and tree cover can reduce the difference.
3. These materials absorb heat during the day and release it slowly at night.
4. Several cities have therefore begun to encourage them in new buildings.
5. Urban heat islands form when cities replace vegetation with concrete and asphalt.

Q27.

1. The engine does not end human interest in chess; it deepens it.
2. Yet human players still study the game with enthusiasm.
3. Players use them to test ideas that earlier generations could only guess at.
4. Chess engines now play far better than any human.
5. Engines have, in fact, changed how they study.

Q28.

1. Even before islands go under, they may become impossible to live on.
2. When the sea rises, salt water seeps into this supply.
3. For many islanders, the threat is thus not a distant flood but a present shortage of drinking water.
4. Their land is low, and their freshwater lies close to the surface.
5. Small islands are especially exposed to rising seas.

Q29.

1. It shows that the signer meant to be bound by the document.
2. Most people think of a signature as proof of identity.
3. This is why a signature made by a mark or a thumbprint can still be valid.
4. In law, however, a signature is better understood as proof of intent.
5. What matters is not the shape of the sign but the willingness behind it.

Q30.

1. Reformers hoped that books would draw workers away from taverns.
2. Libraries then began to stock what people actually asked for.
3. Workers, however, borrowed novels more than sermons.
4. In the nineteenth century, public libraries were seen as instruments of moral improvement.
5. Librarians soon learned that readers decide what they want to read.

Answer Key with Logic

Q	Answer	Key clue
1	2413	2 introduces trees; “These trees” (4); “Shade also” (1); “this” closes (3)
2	3241	Cause chain: cheaper books → readers → demand → publishers
3	3142	General claim (3); what the brain does (1); “this sorting” (4); “As a result” (2)
4	2431	Problem (2); “therefore” (4); “these loans” (3); cycle repeats (1)
5	3412	Time order: “once” (3), pandemic (4), resistance (1), “Today” (2)
6	4231	Statement (4); builder (2); “their skeletons” (3); “These formations” (1)
7	4132	General idea (4); “Earlier” (1); “Now” (3); “This has cut” (2)
8	3214	Silt (3); “this silt” (2); “The deposit” (1); “That is why” (4)
9	2314	Belief (2); “however” (3); “Each switch” (1); total cost (4)
10	3421	Old image (3); “however” (4); examples (2); outcome (1)
11	25413	General (2); how it starts (5); “for instance” (4); “Over time” (1); “therefore” (3)
12	35142	Claim (3); “They” + coal (5); “therefore” (1); example (4); “thus” (2)
13	35241	Claim (3); winners (5); “however” losers (2); “therefore” (4); “Such support” (1)
14	24513	Myth (2); reality (4); “Because it is rebuilt” (5); “This is why” (1); “therefore” (3)
15	41532	Topic (4); good monsoon (1); “by contrast” (5); “in turn” (3); “therefore” (2)
16	42513	“once” (4); “such collections” (2); “This change” (5); “It became” (1); “now” (3)
17	24531	Qualities (2); “These very qualities” (4); example (5); “Meanwhile” (3); “thus” (1)
18	53142	Assumption (5); “however” (3); reason (1); “retrieval” (4); “therefore” (2)
19	45213	General (4); old ports (5); “followed” (2); “of today” (1); summary (3)
20	24153	Common view (2); twist (4); “A bus” (1); “One that” (5); “therefore” (3)
21	41523	Event (4); observation (1); “them” = bacteria (5); “That substance” (2); “Its” (3)
22	35412	Fear (3); “Yet” (5); example (4); “The mistake” (1); “therefore” (2)
23	25314	Distinction (2); example (5); “This apparent paradox” (3); solution (1); “then” (4)
24	43152	Opener (4); “real task” (3); “A stranger” (1); “therefore” (5); “The author then” (2)
25	24351	Surprising idea (2); mechanism (4); “That new deposit” (3); “therefore” (5); “this process” (1)
26	53124	Cause (5); “These materials” (3); “As a result” (1); remedy (2); “them” (4)
27	42531	Fact (4); “Yet” (2); “changed how they study” (5); explanation (3); conclusion (1)
28	54213	Topic (5); freshwater (4); “this supply” (2); “Even before” (1); “thus” (3)
29	24135	Common view (2); “however” (4); “It shows” (1); “This is why” (3); conclusion (5)
30	41352	Aim (4); hope (1); “however” (3); lesson (5); “then” (2)

Scored below 25? Re-solve the full set against the clock. The PDF has a blank answer line for every question and a score guide at the end.

How to Score Yourself

Your score (out of 30)	What to do next
27–30	Exam-ready. Move to timed sectionals.
20–26	Revise connectors and pronoun chains.
Below 20	Redo Levels 1 and 2 before Level 3.

Time targets (CATMOCK practice benchmarks, not official rules): Level 1 at 45–60 seconds, Level 2 at 60–90 seconds, and Level 3 at 90–120 seconds per question.

Common Mistakes in Jumbled-Paragraph Questions

• Choosing an opener that starts with a pronoun or a connector such as However.
• Ignoring “this”, “these” and “such”, which always point to something already named.
• Forcing a full order instead of first locking a certain pair.
• Spending four minutes on one set when TITA carries no penalty for a best attempt.

Your Last 15 Days: Where to Practise Next

Solve one set daily from the VARC Daily Practice. Add timed CAT VARC sectional mocks to feel the 40-minute limit. Attempt the CAT 2025 previous year paper once in a single sitting. Use the VARC Bhandara for extra RC sets. Finish with a full CAT mock test series.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many para jumbles questions come in CAT?

Between two and three in most recent papers. CATMOCK’s 2021–2025 analysis counts 3 in 2021, 3 in 2022, 2 in 2023, none in 2024 and 2 in 2025. Always check the pattern on iimcat.ac.in.

Is there negative marking for para jumbles in CAT?

No. Para jumbles are TITA (type in the answer) questions, and TITA answers carry no negative marking, so an educated attempt costs nothing.

Are CAT para jumbles MCQ or TITA?

In the 2021–2025 papers, para jumbles were TITA. You type the correct sequence of sentence numbers instead of choosing an option.

How do I solve para jumbles faster?

Find the opening sentence, lock one mandatory pair using a pronoun or connector, then fit the remaining sentences by logic. Skip any set that stays unclear after about 90 seconds.

How much time should I spend on one para jumble?

Aim for 60 to 90 seconds on a standard five-sentence set. This is a practice benchmark, not an official rule.

Should I practise para jumbles if CAT 2024 had none?

Yes. Para jumbles returned in CAT 2025 with two questions, and the sentence-linking skill also helps with para summary and odd one out.

Where can I download CAT 2026 para jumbles questions with answers in PDF?

Download the free PDF from the link on this page. It has 30 original questions and an answer key with the logic for each.

Conclusion

Para jumbles reward a clear method, not luck. Practise the five steps, solve these 30 questions under a timer, and review every miss. With no negative marking, you lose nothing by trying every set on 29 November.

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