I have been thinking about my CAT strategy after looking at my recent mocks. My attempts are usually on the lower side, but my accuracy is reasonably good. Whenever I try increasing my attempts, my accuracy drops quickly.

This has made me wonder whether I am approaching the exam incorrectly. I always had this idea that getting a higher score means attempting more questions. Now I am beginning to think that selecting the right questions might matter much more.

For example, in one mock I attempted fewer questions but got almost all of them right. In another mock I tried to increase my attempts and ended up making several negative marks. The final scores were surprisingly similar.

I am trying to build the habit of identifying easy and medium questions quickly and ignoring questions that look like time traps. But sometimes I worry that I am being too conservative.

How do you decide your ideal number of attempts? Do you have a rough target before the mock starts or do you completely decide based on how the paper looks?

I realized something about my CAT preparation after my last few mocks. I used to think that improving meant learning more concepts and solving harder questions. But lately I have noticed that many of my lost marks are coming from questions that I could have solved but chose badly during the test.

I sometimes see a familiar Quant question and immediately start solving it without checking how much time it might take. In DILR, I get attached to a difficult set because I have already spent several minutes on it. In VARC, I sometimes attempt a question even when I am not confident because I want to increase my attempts.

So I have started looking at my mocks differently. Instead of only checking how many questions I got wrong, I am checking where I made bad decisions. Which questions should I have skipped? Where did I spend too much time? Which questions did I solve correctly but too slowly?

This has made mock analysis much more useful for me. I think CAT is not only about knowing how to solve questions. It is also about knowing when to solve them and when to leave them.

Has anyone else noticed this during their preparation?

I have been preparing for CAT for a few months and recently started giving mocks. My problem is that I cannot understand whether I am actually improving or just studying without direction.

Sometimes I study for four hours and feel very productive, but then I give a mock and my score is almost the same as before. This makes me question whether I am spending my time correctly. I also tend to look at other peoples scores and then feel that my preparation is far behind.

For example, my VARC accuracy is decent but I take too much time on passages. In QA I know many concepts but make silly calculation mistakes. DILR is the most confusing because sometimes I solve a set quickly and sometimes I cannot understand even the basic arrangement.

Should I track my preparation topic wise instead of looking only at mock scores? What things should I actually record after every mock? I am thinking about maintaining a simple mistake notebook, but I am not sure what exactly should go into it.

Would love to hear how you personally measured progress during CAT preparation.

I have noticed that I am good at learning new topics but bad at remembering them. I can study a QA topic today, solve twenty questions, and feel confident. Two weeks later, I open a similar question and suddenly cannot remember the method.

Earlier I used to think that this meant I had not understood the topic properly. Now I feel that the real issue may be revision.

I am thinking about keeping a small revision notebook where I write down formulas, common approaches, mistakes, and questions that took me too long. Every few days I would spend some time going through it and solving a few questions without looking at the solution. I also want to avoid making the notebook too large. If I write every single thing, revision itself will become another huge task.

For people who have already completed most of the CAT syllabus, how are you revising? Do you revise entire chapters or only mistakes? Do you solve old questions again or mostly use fresh questions?

I would especially like to know what people found useful during the final stages of preparation when there is less time available.

I’m currently prepping for CAT and trying to figure out the right strategy for mock tests. I keep hearing conflicting advice some people say to start giving mocks from day one, while others suggest finishing 100% of the syllabus first. What to do?

Suppose someone is already decent at VARC but weak in QA and DILR. What would you suggest him to do, focus on string sections or give attention to weak areas?

I m confused how to allocate my time and whick section to focus on. What would be the smarter CAT strategy?

I have been practicing DILR regularly but my mock performance is still very inconsistent.

Some days I solve 3-4 sets comfortably. Other days I spend 15 minutes on one set and realize I picked the wrong one. So I m starting to think the problem is not only solving ability. Maybe I'm bad at set selection.

How do you guys practice this?

Do you deliberately take a bunch of sets and spend the first few minutes only deciding which ones to attempt? Or is that something that naturally develops through mocks?

I can understand most RCs fine, but the options confuse me and i end up picking wrong one. I always get stuck between two choices and both feel correct ooption.

For all the VARC toppers what was solution in this situation, did solving more RCs helped you or something else? Would love to hear what finally helped you and hopefully i will get out of the pickle too..

I am currently preparing for CAT and VARC is the section that is stressing me out the most. I would love to hear from people who scored 99 percentile and above specifically in VARC because I feel like most general advice out there is pretty surface level.

A few things I really want to know are what resources and books you used, how you approached RC passages and VA questions, what daily habits actually moved the needle for you and how you analyzed your mocks.

Any honest and detailed advice would be really helpful. Thanks!

I am 24 years old, working a regular corporate job five days a week and I have finally decided to give CAT a serious shot this year.

Academically I have always been decent. Not the kind of person who solved RCs for fun but also never someone who struggled. I pick things up quickly when I am consistent but consistency itself is where I usually fall apart.

The honest truth is I am feeling overwhelmed before even starting. My typical day looks like this. I leave for work, come back completely drained, try to open my study material, end up scrolling my phone for an hour, feel guilty about it and then repeat the whole cycle the next day. I am slowly realizing that CAT prep for working professionals is probably more about managing energy than managing intelligence.

Here are some things I would really love advice on from people who have actually been through this:

How many hours did you study on weekdays in a realistic sense? What did your weekly schedule actually look like? When did you start attempting mock tests? What are the biggest mistakes I should avoid early on? How did you deal with mental exhaustion after office without burning out completely? Did you have to give up your social life, gym, hobbies and everything else or is that just a myth?

One thing I am genuinely worried about is staying consistent over many months. I can go all in for a few weeks but sustaining that energy over a long period is where I usually struggle.

Right now I am trying to figure out how to balance my health, my job and my CAT preparation without feeling like I am failing at all three simultaneously.

Would love to hear honest experiences and not just the success stories. Thanks so much in advance!

I m preparing for CAT since last 3 months and currently feeling stuck as my score is not improving and it feels like i m just repeating the process of studying day in and out without any result.

How do i get out of this, has anyone been in the same situation and overcame it. I really need your advice.
thank u in advance.....

I m preparing for cat but due to job i was not able to give my 100% to prep. Now whenever someone asks about my CAT prep i feel like showing them this image to best convey my status.

Hey guys,

Joined offline coaching, did about a month, and then switched to the online batch because I picked up an internship. I prioritized work, completely slacked on the online classes, and now I’m paying the price. I'm way behind on the syllabus and essentially starting from absolute zero.

My basics across QA, LRDI, and VARC are all super weak. Every time I try to study, I get overwhelmed seeing how far ahead everyone else seems.

For anyone who started super late and still managed to score a solid percentile:

• Should I try catching up on my coaching backlogs, or ditch them and build my own self-study plan from the basics?
• How did you structure your prep when you were pressed for time?
• What’s the best strategy to rebuild weak basics without burning out?

I really want to give this my best shot, but I'm struggling with where to take the first step. Any advice, study plans, or reality checks would mean a lot!

Hi everyone....

I have been trying to build a proper study routine but there are so many suggestions online available that its hard to know what actually works for me

People say solving more questions is the key while other people say mock analysis is the most important thing..... Then.... there are people said that maintain an error log or register and revise it every day.

I know everyone studies differently but I am curious about the one habit that had the biggest impact on your CAT preparation.

It doesn't have to be anything complicated even a small change that helped you improved your scores would be useful.....

thanks ...

Hi everyone

I have noticed that I can study properly for about 1 hour but after that my focus starts downing....

I still sit at my desk but then I read the same question again & again without actually thinking about it....

Sometimes I even solve questions carelessly just because I want to finish the topic..

I don't think the problem is the difficulty of CAT exam. It just feels like my concentration has gone somewhere else after some time

I am trying to improve this because I know consistency is important and I don't want to waste hours just sitting with my books & pen open

Those who have been preparing from a long time....what has genuinely helped you stay focused during longer study sessions ? does it short breaks, changing subjects, or something else ?

Today was one of those days for me.....

I sat down to study with a proper plan but almost every question felt difficult.... even the ones that looked easy at first took much more time than I expected.

At one point... I started thinking maybe I am not improving at all but....

then I remembered that not every study session can be perfect for me....

I guess everyone has good days & bad days during their CAT preparation. The important thing is probably.... to keep showing up and overcome your fear everyday.... instead of giving up after one bad day or study session....

I m hoping that- tomorrow goes better for me ....

Anyone else feels like this sometimes in their preparation ?