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45 Time Speed and Distance PYQ (Solutions)

Master Time Speed and Distance for CAT 2026 with practice questions and detailed explanations

CAT 2025

TSD (Time, Speed, Distance) is a very popular topic, encompassing problems on travel time, relative speed, trains, etc. Almost every year saw multiple TSD questions.

  • CAT 2017 had TSD as a dominant arithmetic component (slot 1’s analysis noted time-speed-distance “dominated the arithmetic topics”).
  • In CAT 2018, TSD contributed to the 13 arithmetic questions.
  • CAT 2019 similarly included several TSD questions (part of the 14 arithmetic questions).
  • Even in the reduced-question format of 2021–2022, TSD remained:
    • CAT 2021 had ~3 TSD questions total (one per slot).
    • CAT 2023 had around 2–4 TSD/Time-Work questions per slot.

Overall, from 2017 to 2024, 2–4 questions each year were from TSD. It’s consistently one of the most asked sub-topics, as reflected by its inclusion in virtually every paper.

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Weightage Over Past Years

YearQ.NODifficulty Level
20243Hard
20235Medium
20225Medium
20213Medium
202011Medium
20197Medium
20186Medium
20175Hard

CAT 2024 Time Speed and Distance questions

Question 1

Slot-1

Two places A and B are 45 kms apart and connected by a straight road. Anil goes from A to B while Sunil goes from B to A. Starting at the same time, they cross each other in exactly 1 hour 30 minutes. If Anil reaches B exactly 1 hour 15 minutes after Sunil reaches A, the speed of Anil, in km per hour, is

16
14
12
18

Question 2

Slot-2

A bus starts at 9 am and follows a fixed route every day. One day, it traveled at a constant speed of 60 km per hour and reached its destination 3.5 hours later than its scheduled arrival time. Next day, it traveled two-thirds of its route in one-third of its total scheduled travel time, and the remaining part of the route at 40 km per hour to reach just on time. The scheduled arrival time of the bus is

10 : 30 pm
7 : 00 pm
7 : 30 pm
9 : 00 pm

Question 3

Slot-3

A train travelled a certain distance at a uniform speed. Had the speed been 6 km per hour more, it would have needed 4 hours less. Had the speed been 6 km per hour less, it would have needed 6 hours more. The distance, in km, travelled by the train is

780
720
640
800

CAT 2023 Time Speed and Distance questions

Question 1

Slot-1

The minor angle between the hours hand and minutes hand of a clock was observed at 8:48am8: 48 \mathrm{am} . The minimum duration, in minutes, after 8.48 am when this angle increases by 50%50 \% is

$\frac{36}{11}$
$\frac{24}{11}$
2
4

Question 2

Slot-1

Arvind travels from town A to town B, and Surbhi from town B to town A, both starting at the same time along the same route. After meeting each other, Arvind takes 6 hours to reach town B while Surbhi takes 24 hours to reach town A. If Arvind travelled at a speed of 54 km/h, then the distance, in km, between town A and town B is

Question 3

Slot-1

Brishti went on an 8-hour trip in a car. Before the trip, the car had travelled a total of x kmx \mathrm{~km} till then, where xx is a whole number and is palindromic, i.e., xx remains unchanged when its digits are reversed. At the end of the trip, the car had travelled a total of 26862 km26862 \mathrm{~km} till then, this number again being palindromic. If Brishti never drove at more than 110 km/h110 \mathrm{~km} / \mathrm{h} , then the greatest possible average speed at which she drove during the trip, in km/h\mathrm{km} / \mathrm{h} , was

90
100
80
110

Question 4

Slot-2

Ravi is driving at a speed of 40 km/h on a road. Vijay is 54 meters behind Ravi and driving in the same direction as Ravi. Ashok is driving along the same road from the opposite direction at a speed of 50 km/h and is 225 meters away from Ravi. The speed, in km/h, at which Vijay should drive so that all the three cross each other at the same time, is

58.8
64.4
67.2
61.6

Question 5

Slot-3

A boat takes 2 hours to travel downstream a river from port A to port B, and 3 hours to return to port A. Another boat takes a total of 6 hours to travel from port B to port A and return to port B. If the speeds of the boats and the river are constant, then the time, in hours, taken by the slower boat to travel from port A to port B is

$3(3-\sqrt{5})$
$12(\sqrt{5}-2)$
$3(3+\sqrt{5})$
$3(\sqrt{5}-1)$

CAT 2022 Time Speed and Distance questions

Question 1

Slot-1

Trains A and B start traveling at the same time towards each other with constant speeds from stations X and Y, respectively. Train A reaches station Y in 10 minutes while train B takes 9 minutes to reach station X after meeting train A. Then the total time taken, in minutes, by train B to travel from station Y to station X is

15
12
6
10

Question 2

Slot-2

Two ships meet mid-ocean, and then, one ship goes south and the other ship goes west, both travelling at constant speeds. Two hours later, they are 60 km apart. If the speed of one of the ships is 6 km per hour more than the other one, then the speed, in km per hour, of the slower ship is

12
18
20
24

Question 3

Slot-3

Two ships are approaching a port along straight routes at constant speeds. Initially, the two ships and the port formed an equilateral triangle with sides of length 24 km. When the slower ship travelled 8 km, the triangle formed by the new positions of the two ships and the port became right-angled. When the faster ship reaches the port, the distance, in km, between the other ship and the port will be

8
12
6
4

Question 4

Slot-3

Moody takes 30 seconds to finish riding an escalator if he walks on it at his normal speed in the same direction. He takes 20 seconds to finish riding the escalator if he walks at twice his normal speed in the same direction. If Moody decides to stand still on the escalator, then the time, in seconds, needed to finish riding the escalator is

Question 5

Slot-3

Two cars travel from different locations at constant speeds. To meet each other after starting at the same time, they take 1.5 hours if they travel towards each other, but 10.5 hours if they travel in the same direction. If the speed of the slower car is 60 km/hr, then the distance traveled, in km, by the slower car when it meets the other car while traveling towards each other, is

150
100
90
120

CAT 2021 Time Speed and Distance questions

Question 1

Slot-1

Two trains cross each other in 14 seconds when running in opposite directions along parallel tracks. The faster train is 160 m long and crosses a lamp post in 12 seconds. If the speed of the other train is 6 km/hr less than the faster one, its length, in m, is

184
180
190
192

Question 2

Slot-2

Two trains A and B were moving in opposite directions, their speeds being in the ratio 5:35 : 3. The front end of A crossed the rear end of B 46 seconds after the front ends of the trains had crossed each other. It took another 69 seconds for the rear ends of the trains to cross each other. The ratio of length of train A to that of train B is

2 : 3
2 : 1
5 : 3
3 : 2

Question 3

Slot-3

Mira and Amal walk along a circular track, starting from the same point at the same time. If they walk in the same direction, then in 45 minutes, Amal completes exactly 3 more rounds than Mira. If they walk in opposite directions, then they meet for the first time exactly after 3 minutes. The number of rounds Mira walks in one hour is

CAT 2020 Time Speed and Distance questions

Question 1

Slot-1

Leaving home at the same time, Amal reaches office at 10:15 am if he travels at 8kmph, and at 9:40 am if he travels at 15kmph. Leaving home at 9:10 am, at what speed, in kmph, must he travel so as to reach office exactly at 10:00 am?

12
11
13
14

Question 2

Slot-1

A train travelled at one-thirds of its usual speed, and hence reached the destination 30 minutes after the scheduled time. On its return journey, the train initially travelled at its usual speed for 5 minutes but then stopped for 4 minutes for an emergency. The percentage by which the train must now increase its usual speed so as to reach the destination at the scheduled time, is nearest to

58
67
50
61

Question 3

Slot-1

Two persons are walking beside a railway track at respective speeds of 2 and 4 km per hour in the same direction. A train came from behind them and crossed them in 90 and 100 seconds, respectively. The time, in seconds, taken by the train to cross an electric post is nearest to

87
82
78
75

Question 4

Slot-1

A straight road connects points A and B. Car 1 travels from A to B and Car 2 travels from B to A, both leaving at the same time. After meeting each other, they take 45 minutes and 20 minutes, respectively, to complete their journeys. If Car 1 travels at the speed of 60 km/hr, then the speed of Car 2, in km/hr, is

90
80
70
100

Question 5

Slot-2

Two circular tracks T1 and T2 of radii 100 m and 20 m, respectively touch at a point A. Starting from A at the same time, Ram and Rahim are walking on track T1 and track T2 at speeds 15 km/hr and 5 km/hr respectively. The number of full rounds that Ram will make before he meets Rahim again for the first time is

5
3
4
2

Question 6

Slot-2

A and B are two points on a straight line. Ram runs from A to B while Rahim runs from B to A. After crossing each other, Ram and Rahim reach their destinations in one minutes and four minutes, respectively. If they start at the same time, then the ratio of Ram's speed to Rahim's speed is

2
2√2
√2
$\frac{1}{2}$

Question 7

Slot-2

The distance from B to C is thrice that from A to B. Two trains travel from A to C via B. The speed of train 2 is double that of train 1 while traveling from A to B and their speeds are interchanged while traveling from B to C. The ratio of the time taken by train 1 to that taken by train 2 in travelling from A to C is

7:5
4:1
1:4
5:7

Question 8

Slot-2

In a car race, car A beats car B by 45 km, car B beats car C by 50 km, and car A beats car C by 90 km. The distance (in km) over which the race has been conducted is

550
475
500
450

Question 9

Slot-3

Vimla starts for office every day at 9 am and reaches exactly on time if she drives at her usual speed of 40 km/hr. She is late by 6 minutes if she drives at 35 km/hr. One day, she covers two-thirds of her distance to office in one-thirds of her usual time to reach office, and then stops for 8 minutes. The speed, in km/hr, at which she should drive the remaining distance to reach office exactly on time is

27
28
29
26

Question 10

Slot-3

A and B are two railway stations 90 km apart. A train leaves A at 9:00 am, heading towards B at a speed of 40 km/hr. Another train leaves B at 10:30 am, heading towards A at a speed of 20 km/hr. The trains meet each other at

11 : 20 am
11 : 00 am
10 : 45 am
11 : 45 am

Question 11

Slot-3

Anil, Sunil, and Ravi run along a circular path of length 3 km, starting from the same point at the same time, and going in the clockwise direction. If they run at speeds of 15 km/hr, 10 km/hr, and 8 km/hr, respectively, how much distance in km will Ravi have run when Anil and Sunil meet again for the first time at the starting point?

4.6
4.2
4.8
5.2

CAT 2019 Time Speed and Distance questions

Question 1

Slot-1

Two cars travel the same distance starting at 10:00 am and 11:00 am, respectively, on the same day. They reach their common destination at the same point of time. If the first car travelled for at least 6 hours, then the highest possible value of the percentage by which the speed of the second car could exceed that of the first car is

20
10
35
25

Question 2

Slot-1

One can use three different transports which move at 10, 20, and 30 kmph, respectively. To reach from A to B, Amal took each mode of transport 1/3 of his total journey time, while Bimal took each mode of transport 1/3 of the total distance. The percentage by which Bimal's travel time exceeds Amal's travel time is nearest to

22
19
21
20

Question 3

Slot-1

In a race of three horses, the first beat the second by 11 metres and the third by 90 metres. If the second beat the third by 80 metres, what was the length, in metres, of the racecourse?

Question 4

Slot-1

The wheels of bicycles A and B have radii 30 cm and 40 cm, respectively. While traveling a certain distance, each wheel of A required 5000 more revolutions than each wheel of B. If bicycle B traveled this distance in 45 minutes, then its speed, in km per hour, was

18π
16π
12π
14π

Question 5

Slot-2

John jogs on track A at 6 kmph and Mary jogs on track B at 7.5 kmph. The total length of tracks A and B is 325 metres. While John makes 9 rounds of track A, Mary makes 5 rounds of track B. In how many seconds will Mary make one round of track A?

Question 6

Slot-2

Two ants A and B start from a point P on a circle at the same time, with A moving clock-wise and B moving anti-clockwise. They meet for the first time at 10:00 am when A has covered 60% of the track. If A returns to P at 10:12 am, then B returns to P at

10:27 am
10:25 am
10:45 am
10:18 am

Question 7

Slot-2

A cyclist leaves A at 10 am and reaches B at 11 am. Starting from 10:01 am, every minute a motorcycle leaves A and moves towards B. Forty-five such motorcycles reach B by 11 am. All motorcycles have the same speed. If the cyclist had doubled his speed, how many motorcycles would have reached B by the time the cyclist reached B?

22
20
15
23

CAT 2018 Time Speed and Distance questions

Question 1

Slot-1

Point P lies between points A and B such that the length of BP is thrice that of AP. Car 1 starts from A and moves towards B. Simultaneously, car 2 starts from B and moves towards A. Car 2 reaches P one hour after car 1 reaches P. If the speed of car 2 is half that of car 1, then the time, in minutes, taken by car 1 in reaching P from A is

Question 2

Slot-1

Train T leaves station X for station Y at 3 pm. Train S, traveling at three quarters of the speed of T, leaves Y for X at 4 pm. The two trains pass each other at a station Z, where the distance between X and Z is three-fifths of that between X and Y. How many hours does train T take for its journey from X to Y?

Question 3

Slot-1

The distance from A to B is 60 km. Partha and Narayan start from A at the same time and move towards B. Partha takes four hours more than Narayan to reach B. Moreover, Partha reaches the mid-point of A and B two hours before Narayan reaches B. The speed of Partha, in km per hour, is

6
3
4
5

Question 4

Slot-2

Points A and B are 150 km apart. Cars 1 and 2 travel from A to B, but car 2 starts from A when car 1 is already 20 km away from A. Each car travels at a speed of 100 kmph for the first 50 km, at 50 kmph for the next 50 km, and at 25 kmph for the last 50 km. The distance, in km, between car 2 and B when car 1 reaches B is?

Question 5

Slot-2

On a long stretch of east-west road, A and B are two points such that B is 350 km west of A. One car starts from A and another from B at the same time. If they move towards each other, then they meet after 1 hour. If they both move towards east, then they meet in 7 hrs. The difference between their speeds, in km per hour, is

Question 6

Slot-2

Points A, P, Q and B lie on the same line such that P, Q and B are, respectively, 100 km, 200 km and 300 km away from A. Cars 1 and 2 leave A at the same time and move towards B. Simultaneously, car 3 leaves B and moves towards A. Car 3 meets Car 1 at Q, and Car 2 at P. If each car is moving in uniform speed then the ratio of the speed of Car 2 to that of Car 1 is

1 : 4
2 : 9
1 : 2
2 : 7

CAT 2017 Time Speed and Distance questions

Question 1

Slot-1

A man leaves his home and walks at a speed of 12 km per hour, reaching the railway station 10 minutes after the train had departed. If instead he had walked at a speed of 15 km per hour, he would have reached the station 10 minutes before the train's departure. The distance (in km) from his home to the railway station is:

Question 2

Slot-1

A man travels by a motor boat down a river to his office and back. With the speed of the river unchanged, if he doubles the speed of his motor boat, then his total travel time gets reduced by 75%. The ratio of the original speed of the motor boat to the speed of the river is:

$\frac{\sqrt{6}}{\sqrt{2}}$
$\frac{\sqrt{7}}{2}$
$\frac{2\sqrt{5}}{3}$
$\frac{3}{2}$

Question 3

Slot-2

A motorbike leaves point A at 1 pm and moves towards point B at a uniform speed. A car leaves point B at 2 pm and moves towards point A at a uniform speed which is double that of the motorbike. They meet at 3:40 pm at a point which is 168 km away from A. What is the distance, in km, between A and B ?

364
378
380
388

Question 4

Slot-2

Arun drove from home to his hostel at 60 miles per hour. While returning home he drove half way along the same route at a speed of 25 miles per hour and then took a bypass road which increased his driving distance by 5 miles, but allowed him to drive at 50 miles per hour along this bypass road. If his return journey took 30 minutes more than his onward journey, then the total distance travelled by him is:

55 miles
60 miles
65 miles
70 miles

Question 5

Slot-2

In a 10 km race. A, B, and C, each running at uniform speed, get the gold, silver, and bronze medals, respectively. If A beats B by 1 km and B beats C by 1 km, then by how many meters does A beat C?

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