CDAC CCAT Complete Syllabus & Exam Pattern: Section A, B & C In-Depth Breakdown

C-CAT Examination Overview

The C-DAC Computerized Common Admission Test (C-CAT) is the mandatory national-level entrance exam conducted twice a year—in January for the February batch and in July for the August batch—for admission into C-DAC's Post Graduate Certificate Programmes (including PGCP-AC, PGCP-BDA, PGCP-AI, and PGCP-ESD).

The test is conducted in a computerized lab environment across designated examination centres in India. Performance in C-CAT determines candidate rankings and eligibility for admission across training institutes including Sunbeam Pune, C-DAC ACTS Pune, IACSD Pune, and C-DAC Bangalore.

Test Papers & Course Categories

C-DAC groups its post-graduate certificate programmes into categories that determine which examination papers a candidate must attempt:

Negative Marking & Scoring System

The C-CAT examination pattern operates on the following scoring rules:

• +1 Mark for each correct answer
• -0.25 Marks for each incorrect answer (25% penalty)
• 0 Marks for unanswered questions
• Maximum Marks per Section: 50 marks (50 questions × 1)

Section A Detailed Syllabus (1 Hour · 50 MCQs · 50 Marks)

Section A is common to all candidates and evaluates quantitative problem-solving, logical deduction, and language proficiency:

1. English Language & Verbal Ability

• Reading comprehension & passage deduction
• Spotting grammatical errors, subject-verb agreement, and prepositions
• Synonyms, antonyms, sentence completion, and idioms

2. Quantitative Aptitude

• Number systems, LCM & HCF
• Percentages, Profit & Loss, Simple & Compound Interest
• Ratio & Proportion, Averages, Time, Speed & Distance
• Time & Work, Pipes & Cisterns, Permutation & Combination, Probability

3. Logical & Analytical Reasoning

• Blood relations, direction sense, seating arrangements (linear & circular)
• Coding-decoding, number and letter series, analogy
• Syllogisms, Venn diagrams, statement-conclusion analysis

4. Computer Fundamentals & Programming Concepts

• Binary arithmetic, octal/hex conversions, 2's complement
• Flowcharts, pseudo-code analysis, logic gates, basic computer architecture

Section B Detailed Syllabus (1 Hour · 50 MCQs · 50 Marks)

Section B evaluates foundational Computer Science and programming competencies for Category II and Category III applicants:

1. C Programming

• Data types, operators, operator precedence, expressions
• Control flow (if-else, switch-case, loops)
• Functions, recursion, scope, storage classes (auto, extern, static, register)
• Pointers, pointer arithmetic, double pointers, function pointers
• Arrays, strings, string manipulation functions (strcpy, strcmp, strcat)
• Structures, unions, dynamic memory allocation (malloc, calloc, realloc, free)
• File handling and preprocessor directives (#define, macros)

2. Data Structures

• Stacks & Queues (implementations, circular queues, infix to postfix conversions)
• Linked Lists (singly, doubly, circular linked lists)
• Trees (binary trees, binary search trees, tree traversals—inorder, preorder, postorder)
• Graphs (BFS, DFS, shortest path basics)
• Searching & Sorting algorithms (Bubble, Selection, Insertion, Merge, Quick, Binary Search) and time complexities (Big-O)

3. Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) with C++

• Encapsulation, abstraction, inheritance (single, multiple, multilevel, hybrid)
• Polymorphism (compile-time overloading vs runtime overriding, virtual functions)
• Constructors, destructors, copy constructors, this pointer
• Operator overloading, friend functions, and friend classes
• Standard Template Library (STL) basics: vectors, maps, iterators

4. Operating Systems & Networking

• OS concepts: process management, threads, PCB, context switching
• CPU scheduling algorithms (FCFS, SJF, Round Robin, Priority)
• Process synchronization, deadlocks (conditions, prevention, avoidance)
• Memory management (paging, segmentation, virtual memory)
• Computer networks: OSI model & TCP/IP layers, IP addressing, subnetting, DNS, HTTP, TCP vs UDP

5. Basics of Big Data & Artificial Intelligence

• Basic definitions of Big Data, 5 V's of Big Data
• Supervised vs Unsupervised machine learning concepts
• Foundational neural networks and predictive analytics overview

Section C Detailed Syllabus (1 Hour · 50 MCQs · 50 Marks)

Section C is exclusive to Category III applicants targeting hardware, embedded systems, and VLSI:

1. Computer Architecture

• CPU organization, instruction cycle, register set
• Pipelining, hazards, cache memory mapping (direct, associative, set-associative)
• Memory hierarchy, I/O interfacing, DMA controller

2. Digital Electronics

• Number systems, Boolean algebra, De Morgan’s laws
• Logic gates, Karnaugh Maps (K-maps) simplification
• Combinational circuits (Multiplexers, Demultiplexers, Encoders, Decoders, Adders)
• Sequential circuits (Flip-flops: SR, JK, D, T, registers, synchronous & asynchronous counters)

3. Microprocessors & Microcontrollers

• 8085 Microprocessor architecture, bus organization, pin diagram
• Instruction set of 8085, addressing modes, timing diagrams, interrupts
• Basics of 8086 architecture, segmentation, modern Intel/ARM microcontrollers

C-DAC Recommended Reference Books