u/Smart-Border-7632

So I thought of sharing my CAT preparation strategy here because I feel my journey might be useful for people who are somewhere around my level academically.

My profile is 8/7/5, and I scored 97.6 percentile in CAT, with 99 percentile in DILR and 98.6 percentile in QA.

I know 97.6 might not be something worth flexing about when people here are sharing strategies to score 99.9+ and get into the top IIMs. But for someone with an average academic profile like mine, getting 97+ in an exam like CAT genuinely felt wonderful. So I thought of sharing what worked for me, especially since there are many people preparing with a similar profile.

My first attempt was honestly just a random attempt. I had bought Arun Sharma books, solved some questions from them, and prepared for maybe one or two weeks before CAT. My aim was to take another year to prepare more seriously and appear next year. Hence, I ended up scoring around 30 percentile that year.

Then came my second attempt.

This was probably the most serious preparation I had ever done for any exam. I joined TIME coaching, took almost all the AIMCATs, SAMCATs and sectional tests, solved the textbook questions, handouts, analysed my mistakes, watched videos on preparation and did pretty much everything that was supposed to do during CAT preparation.

Preparation-wise, I honestly feel I had done very well.

But the problem was that I didn't have a proper exam strategy. And I realised that only after finishing the actual exam.

I ended up scoring 85 percentile.

I was extremely disappointed because I had put in so much effort, but the result didn't reflect it. Looking back now, I think my preparation wasn't necessarily the problem. I just didn't know how to use that preparation inside the 2-hour exam.

So for my third attempt, I changed my approach completely.

I didn't feel like taking coaching again. I already had enough material. This time, I mainly prepared through mocks + TIME material + textbooks/handouts + PYQs.

I used IMS mocks for my main mock practice, and I also had access to AIMCATs through a friend who was studying at TIME. So I used both for practice and analysis.

But the biggest change wasn't the resources.

It was the strategy.

VARC

VARC was by far my weakest section.

I put a lot of effort into improving it, but honestly, I always had this problem where I would narrow down the options to two and then get confused between the two best answers.

So instead of trying to suddenly become amazing at VARC, I changed my objective.

I just wanted to clear the sectional cutoff.

My strategy was to attempt only questions where I was very confident about the answer. If I felt doubtful between two options, I generally left it.

I also focused on TITA questions because there was no negative marking.

Basically, I stopped trying to maximize my VARC score.

My mindset was: "I don't need to win VARC. I just need to not lose the exam because of VARC."

This was very different from my second attempt, where I was trying to attempt more and improve my score by taking risks.

DILR

DILR was probably the section I was most comfortable with.

When I started preparing, I found DILR comparatively easier to understand and connect with. So this time I decided to really capitalize on that.

For DILR, I mostly depended on Arun Sharma + TIME textbooks/handouts + PYQs.

One thing I did a LOT was solving Level 1 questions.

Even when I felt that I could solve harder questions, I still kept solving a lot of Level 1 problems. I feel this helped me build the basic logic and thought process required to approach a DILR set.

Another thing that helped me a lot was that whenever I found a set difficult to understand, I would sometimes rewrite the information in my own words or draw it in a way that made sense to me.

Instead of trying to directly understand the way the question was written, I tried to convert it into something that I could understand. This helped me quite a lot during the actual exam because I became better at interpreting the information given in a set.

PYQs were also a major part of my preparation.

I had missed them to a large extent during my previous preparation, and I realised later how important they were. But probably the biggest change in my DILR strategy was learning to leave a set.

In my second attempt, I had this mentality of: "This set looks easy. I should be able to solve this."

And then I would keep spending time on it because I had already invested some time and wanted to complete it. That was a huge mistake.

So during my mock practice for the third attempt, I consciously trained myself to not get attached to a set.

If I wasn't making progress, I would leave it. Even if I had already spent some time on it. Even if it looked easy. Even if I felt like "I should be able to solve this." If it wasn't happening, leave.

This was probably one of the biggest game changers for me.

QA

QA wasn't extremely easy for me, but it wasn't extremely difficult either.

Here again, I decided not to spend too much time trying to turn every weak area into a strong area. Instead, I identified the areas that I was already relatively comfortable with: Arithmetic, Algebra and Modern Maths.

And I went deep into those. I solved a LOT of questions from these three areas, including questions across different difficulty levels.

My aim was basically: If a question comes from these areas, I should be able to identify the concept and solve it confidently.

I didn't want to be in a situation where I had studied the full syllabus but wasn't particularly strong in any of them.

I wanted to be very strong in the areas I had chosen.

And honestly, I felt that if you are really good at identifying and solving the easier questions from these areas, there are enough questions to score very well.

Again, PYQs helped a lot.

And the same strategy of not getting stuck applied here too.

If I looked at a question and felt that I wasn't getting anywhere with it, I would skip it. No ego. No "I have studied this topic, so I have to solve this question."

Just move on.

The biggest change between my second and third attempts

I think this was the biggest lesson I learned from my CAT journey.

During my second attempt, I thought: "If I prepare more, I will score more."

So I prepared a LOT. But during my third attempt, my mindset became: "I don't necessarily need more preparation. I need to become better at making decisions during the exam."

I had already experienced what happens when you get stuck on a question or a DILR set. So I trained myself to skip. I had already experienced how risky attempts in VARC could hurt me. So I trained myself to be selective. I knew my strengths in QA. So instead of trying to master everything, I focused on maximizing those strengths.

And I did the same with DILR. Basically, I stopped trying to become good at everything and started playing according to my strengths.

After this preparation, I was honestly quite confident going into CAT. In fact, I didn't apply for any other entrance exams or B-schools because I was genuinely confident that I would be able to crack CAT this time. And thankfully, it worked out.

~30 percentile → 85 percentile → 97.6 percentile!

I am not saying this is the perfect strategy or that everyone should follow exactly what I did. Everyone's strong areas, and preparation style are different, and obviously different people need different strategies.

But if you're someone with an average academic profile who feels that you need to compensate through CAT, I just wanted to share my experience.

My biggest takeaway would be:

CAT preparation isn't always about studying more. Sometimes it's about understanding yourself better - knowing where you can score, knowing where you don't need to chase marks, and most importantly, knowing when to move on.

And yeah, practice PYQs and don't get emotionally attached to a question/set. 

Those two lessons probably helped me more than anything else in my third attempt!

Anyway, that's pretty much what worked for me. All the very best to everyone preparing for CAT this year - hope you guys get the score and college you're aiming for!

TL;DR: Had an 8/7/5 profile and took CAT 3 times. First attempt: ~30 percentile with almost no preparation. Second attempt: 85 percentile despite serious preparation, mainly because I didn't have a proper exam strategy. Third attempt: changed my approach → 97.6 percentile (99 DILR, 98.6 QA).

The biggest change wasn't studying more, but playing to my strengths, being selective with attempts, and learning when to leave a question/set instead of getting stuck.

VARC: Just focused on clearing the cutoff.

DILR: Built strong fundamentals + lots of Level 1 practice + PYQs + learned to leave sets quickly.

QA: Went all-in on my strong areas — Arithmetic, Algebra & Modern Maths — instead of trying to master everything.

Basically, don't just prepare for CAT. Prepare for how you're actually going to attempt CAT.