The questions from time and work are one of the most important topics for the CAT exam. Every year the questions from this topic keep appearing in the CAT exam. Practice is the key, keep taking mocks from the past CAT exams which will help you in gaining a fair idea about the exam. To help the aspirants ace this topic, we have provided you with the top 45+ Time and Work questions from CAT previous papers with detailed video solutions, which are given below and also check out the free CAT mocks and understand the types of questions that are likely to appear on the exam. One can also download all the CAT past year Questions from TSD & work in PDF format along with the video solution for every question.
To become good at these questions having a strong gasp of the concepts mentioned in the CAT exam syllabus is important. Also, practicing questions from past papers will help you in understanding the type of questions and difficulty level. Also, another option is enrolling in a CAT online coaching will help you with structured guidance and personalized strategies for your CAT journey.
Year | Weightage |
| 2025 | 4 |
| 2024 | 3 |
| 2023 | 4 |
2022 | 3 |
2021 | 6 |
1. Work - Time & Efficiency
If $$M_1$$ men work for $$H_1$$ hours per day and worked for $$D_1$$ days and Completed $$W_1$$ work, and if $$M_2$$ men work for $$H_2$$ hours per day and worked for $$D_2$$ days and completed W_2 work, then: $$\ \frac{\ M_1H_1D_1}{W_1}=\ \frac{\ M_2H_2D_2}{W_2}$$
Work:
If X can do a work in 'n' days, the fraction of work X does in a day us 1/n
If X can do a work in 'x' days, and Y can do a work in 'Y' days,
The number of days taken by both of them together is $$\frac{x*y}{x+y}$$
If $$M_{1}$$ men work for $$H_{1}$$ hours per day and worked for $$D_{1}$$ days and completed $$W_{1}$$ work, and if $$M_{2}$$ men work for $$H_{2}$$ hours per day and worked for $$D_{2}$$ days and completed $$W_{1}$$ work, then
$$\frac{M_{1}H_{1}D_{1}}{W_{1}}$$=$$\frac{M_{2}H_{2}D_{2}}{W_{2}}$$
2. Work - Efficiency
If X can do a work in 'n' days, the fraction of work X does in a day is $$\frac{1}{n}$$
If X can do a work in 'x' days, and Y can do a work in 'y' days, the number of days taken by both of them together is $$\frac{x*y}{x+y}$$
If $$A_1$$ men can do $$B_1$$ work in $$C_1$$ days and $$A_2$$ men can do $$B_2$$ work in $$C_2$$ days, then $$\frac{A_1 C_1}{B_1}$$ =$$\frac{A_2 C_2}{B_2}$$
3. Tank - Pipes
PIPES & CISTERNS:
Inlet Pipe: A pipe which is used to fill the tank is known as Inlet Pipe.
Outlet Pipe: A pipe which can empty the tank is known as an Outlet Pipe.
If a pipe can fill a tank in 'x' hours then the part filled per hour= 1/x
If a pipe can empty a tank in 'y' hours, then the part emptied per hour= 1/y
If pipe A can fill a tank 'x' hours and pipe can empty a tank in 'y' hours, if they are both active at the same time, then
The part filled per hour =$$\dfrac{1}{x}-\dfrac{1}{y}$$(if y>x)
The part emptied per hour =$$\dfrac{1}{y}-\dfrac{1}{x}$$(if x>y)
Teams A, B, and C consist of five, eight, and ten members, respectively, such that every member within a team is equally productive. Working separately, teams A, B, and C can complete a certain job in 40 hours, 50 hours, and 4 hours, respectively. Two members from team A, three members from team B, and one member from team C together start the job, and the member from team C leaves after 23 hours. The number of additional member(s) from team B, that would be required to replace the member from team C, to finish the job in the next one hour, is
correct answer:-2
The rate of water flow through three pipes A, B and C are in the ratio 4 : 9 : 36. An empty tank can be filled up completely by pipe A in 15 hours. If all the three pipes are used simultaneously to fill up this empty tank, the time, in minutes, required to fill up the entire tank completely is nearest to
correct answer:-1
Arun, Varun and Tarun, if working alone, can complete a task in 24, 21, and 15 days, respectively. They charge Rs 2160, Rs 2400, and Rs 2160 per day, respectively, even if they are employed for a partial day. On any given day, any of the workers may or may not be employed to work. If the task needs to be completed in 10 days or less, then the minimum possible amount, in rupees, required to be paid for the entire task is
correct answer:-1
Ankita is twice as efficient as Bipin, while Bipin is twice as efficient as Chandan. All three of them start together on a job, and Bipin leaves the job after 20 days. If the job got completed in 60 days, the number of days needed by Chandan to complete the job alone, is
correct answer:-340
Renu would take 15 days working 4 hours per day to complete a certain task whereas Seema would take 8 days working 5 hours per day to complete the same task. They decide to work together to complete this task. Seema agrees to work for double the number of hours per day as Renu, while Renu agrees to work for double the number of days as Seema. If Renu works 2 hours per day, then the number of days Seema will work, is
correct answer:-6
Sam can complete a job in 20 days when working alone. Mohit is twice as fast as Sam and thrice as fast as Ayna in the same job. They undertake a job with an arrangement where Sam and Mohit work together on the first day, Sam and Ayna on the second day, Mohit and Ayna on the third day, and this three-day pattern is repeated till the work gets completed. Then, the fraction of total work done by Sam is
correct answer:-2
Amal and Vimal together can complete a task in 150 days, while Vimal and Sunil together can complete the same task in 100 days. Amal starts working on the task and works for 75 days, then Vimal takes over and works for 135 days. Finally, Sunil takes over and completes the remaining task in 45 days. If Amal had started the task alone and worked on all days, Vimal had worked on every second day, and Sunil had worked on every third day, then the number of days required to complete the task would have been
correct answer:-139
Pipes A and C are fill pipes while Pipe B is a drain pipe of a tank. Pipe B empties the full tank in one hour less than the time taken by Pipe A to fill the empty tank. When pipes A, B and C are turned on together, the empty tank is filled in two hours. If pipes B and C are turned on together when the tank is empty and Pipe B is turned off after one hour, then Pipe C takes another one hour and 15 minutes to fill the remaining tank. If Pipe A can fill the empty tank in less than five hours, then the time taken, in minutes, by Pipe C to fill the empty tank is
correct answer:-1
Rahul, Rakshita and Gurmeet, working together, would have taken more than 7 days to finish a job. On the other hand, Rahul and Gurmeet, working together would have taken less than 15 days to finish the job. However, they all worked together for 6 days, followed by Rakshita, who worked alone for 3 more days to finish the job. If Rakshita had worked alone on the job then the number of days she would have taken to finish the job, cannot be
correct answer:-4
Gautam and Suhani, working together, can finish a job in 20 days. If Gautam does only 60% of his usual work on a day, Suhani must do 150% of her usual work on that day to exactly make up for it. Then, the number of days required by the faster worker to complete the job working alone is
correct answer:-36
The amount of job that Amal, Sunil and Kamal can individually do in a day, are in harmonic progression. Kamal takes twice as much time as Amal to do the same amount of job. If Amal and Sunil work for 4 days and 9 days, respectively, Kamal needs to work for 16 days to finish the remaining job. Then the number of days Sunil will take to finish the job working alone, is
correct answer:-27
A group of N people worked on a project. They finished 35% of the project by working 7 hours a day for 10 days. Thereafter, 10 people left the group and the remaining people finished the rest of the project in 14 days by working 10 hours a day. Then the value of N is
correct answer:-4
Working alone, the times taken by Anu, Tanu and Manu to complete any job are in the ratio 5 : 8 : 10. They accept a job which they can finish in 4 days if they all work together for 8 hours per day. However, Anu and Tanu work together for the first 6 days, working 6 hours 40 minutes per day. Then, the number of hours that Manu will take to complete the remaining job working alone is
correct answer:-6
Bob can finish a job in 40 days, if he works alone. Alex is twice as fast as Bob and thrice as fast as Cole in the same job. Suppose Alex and Bob work together on the first day, Bob and Cole work together on the second day, Cole and Alex work together on the third day, and then, they continue the work by repeating this three - day roster, with Alex and Bob working together on the fourth day, and so on. Then, the total number of days Alex would have worked when the job gets finished, is
correct answer:-11
One day, Rahul started a work at 9 AM and Gautam joined him two hours later. They then worked together and completed the work at 5 PM the same day. If both had started at 9 AM and worked together, the work would have been completed 30 minutes earlier. Working alone, the time Rahul would have taken, in hours, to complete the work is
correct answer:-2
Anu, Vinu and Manu can complete a work alone in 15 days, 12 days and 20 days, respectively. Vinu works everyday. Anu works only on alternate days starting from the first day while Manu works only on alternate days starting from the second day. Then, the number of days needed to complete the work is
correct answer:-4
Anil can paint a house in 60 days while Bimal can paint it in 84 days. Anil starts painting and after 10 days, Bimal and Charu join him. Together, they complete the painting in 14 more days. If they are paid a total of ₹ 21000 for the job, then the share of Charu, in INR, proportionate to the work done by him, is
correct answer:-3
Amar, Akbar and Anthony are working on a project. Working together Amar and Akbar can complete the project in 1 year, Akbar and Anthony can complete in 16 months, Anthony and Amar can complete in 2 years. If the person who is neither the fastest nor the slowest works alone, the time in months he will take to complete the project is
correct answer:-32
Anil can paint a house in 12 days while Barun can paint it in 16 days. Anil, Barun, and Chandu undertake to paint the house for ₹ 24000 and the three of them together complete the painting in 6 days. If Chandu is paid in proportion to the work done by him, then the amount in INR received by him is
correct answer:-3000
Two pipes A and B are attached to an empty water tank. Pipe A fills the tank while pipe B drains it. If pipe A is opened at 2 pm and pipe B is opened at 3 pm, then the tank becomes full at 10 pm. Instead, if pipe A is opened at 2 pm and pipe B is opened at 4 pm, then the tank becomes full at 6 pm. If pipe B is not opened at all, then the time, in minutes, taken to fill the tank is
correct answer:-1