CA Foundation · January 2026 · Paper 3
CA Foundation Quantitative Aptitude January 2026: paper analysis
Our own analysis of the official paper, as of 12 October 2026. The questions and answers belong to ICAI; read them on ICAI's website.
Chapter-wise marks
Where the marks were in this paper (out of 100; internal-choice alternatives not double counted).
What stood out
- The paper kept the official 40-20-40 split exactly: 40 marks of business mathematics, 20 of logical reasoning and 40 of statistics, with 100 one-mark MCQs and a quarter-mark negative for wrong answers.
- Mathematics of Finance was by far the heaviest chapter at 14 marks, more than a third of the maths section, mixing compound interest, effective rate, annuities, sinking fund, bond pricing and CAGR.
- Logical reasoning was spread evenly at 5 marks each across number series and coding, directions, seating and blood relations, so skipping any one chapter costs a full quarter of that section.
- Statistics leaned heavily on theory-style questions: sampling methods, tabulation terms and index number tests together carried 14 marks and need recall rather than calculation.
- Central tendency and dispersion (10 marks) repeatedly tested the effect of a linear change of variable on mean, mode, range and deviation, a shortcut worth drilling.
Practise the chapters that carried the marks
Mathematics of Finance, Measures of Central Tendency and Dispersion, Statistical Description of Data: study guides and practice questions in the CA Foundation format.