CAT 2025: Last-month preparation tips, section-wise strategies to score 99+ percentile

With a month left for the Common Admission Test (CAT) 2025, scheduled for November 30, here are exam preparation tips and strategies, shared by toppers, to ace the MBA entrance exam and score the maximum percentile.

The Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Kozhikode will conduct CAT exam 2025 to determine the eligibility of students for admissions to the postgraduate programmes offered by the IIMs and other participating B-schools.

As per CAT 2025 exam pattern, the computer-based test will be held in three sessions. The duration of the CAT exam 2025 will be 120 minutes. CAT 2025 question paper will contain three sections – Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC), Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR), and Quantitative Aptitude (QA).

IIM Calcutta will issue the CAT 2024 admit card on November 5 on the official website, iimcat.ac.in. The exam will be held at test centres across 170 cities.

CAT 2025 preparation tips

IIM Kashipur shared section-wise tips on CAT exam in a series of videos wherein the students of its current MBA batch shared their preparation and test-taking strategies.

VARC

Anish Ghosh, who secured 99.73 percentile in the VARC section of CAT, emphasised that success in this section lies in curiosity, consistent reading habits, and disciplined everyday practice.

“The VARC section tests your comprehension skills. You need to read a lot to build that muscle. Since it takes time, you have to keep things interesting,” he said and asked to read things that interest you, be it any genre. He suggested having different sources of learning. “You can also watch movies and series. Try to keep the subtitles enabled so that you can follow along and learn some new words,” he added.

Also read CAT Syllabus 2025: What to expect in VARC, DILR, QA sections; must-know topics

Test taking strategy: He cautioned against starting with the questions first. “When you look at the questions, you end up searching for the answers in the passage. But in recent years, CAT has mostly inference-based questions, so finding direct answers will waste your time,” he explained.

“A better approach is to understand what the author is trying to say and get the central idea. Read the passage at your own pace. Once you understand the meaning, you will be able to answer most of the questions accurately,” he said.

DILR

Hersh Sharma, who secured an outstanding 98.58 percentile in the DILR section of CAT 2025, shares insights on preparation and test-taking strategies.

“I solved sets from the last 10 years’ CAT question papers, and through that process, I was able to attempt around 120–156 sets,” he said. “This helped me identify my strengths and weaknesses. I knew exactly which types of sets I needed to focus on during the exam.”

Also read IIM Ahmedabad raises CAT cut-off 2025, tightens selection criteria for MBA, PGP admissions 2026

Test taking strategy: He emphasised the importance of right set selection. “Don’t go for the set that you are not very familiar with,” he advised. Stressing on time management, he asked to have a mind clock for yourself – for example, if after 10 minutes you are not able to solve any question, it’s better to move. If you stick to a particular set, you will end up losing more.

To make DILR a scoring section, Sharma suggested setting goals. “Try to solve at least two to three sets. If you want to just clear the cut-off, solving about one to one-and-a-half sets with full accuracy is sufficient,” he said.

QA

Udaibhan Rathore, who secured 99+ percentile in the Quants section of CAT 2025, shared his approach to the exam preparation.

“When I first started my quant preparation, the first thing I did was divide it into four major areas — arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and modern maths,” he said. “Then I went through the previous years’ question papers and analysed the section on the basis of two parameters — weightage and difficulty. For example, arithmetic carries more weightage and is much easier than geometry. This helped me prioritise my efforts.”

Rathore relied on basic study material available in the market and topped it up with online resources. “I watched various conceptual videos which are available on YouTube to clear my concepts. I also maintained a formula notebook and skimmed through them every weekend and fortnight,” he explained.

Also read CAT 2025: IIM Calcutta MBA sees widening gender gap, dominance of science students, freshers

His revision process focused on confidence-building. “I went through each and every question I had solved earlier, along with those in the PYQs, it helped build my confidence,” he said. He also attempted various sectional and full-length mock tests. Initially, he focused on maintaining high accuracy in mock tests, and gradually increased the number of attempts.

Test taking strategy: He suggested dividing the 40-minute section into two parts. “In the first two minutes, analyse the questions and mark the easier ones. In the remaining 18 minutes, attempt those. Since every question fetches the same marks, make the right choice,” he said. Rathore recommended using the elimination method while choosing the answers – it saves a lot of time.