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When I decided to prepare for CAT 2024, I wasn’t starting from scratch. Unlike many aspirants who dive into quant formulas or grammar rules, I was already neck-deep in academics, teaching, and side-projects. Being in my final year at IIT Delhi, and having taught JEE and Olympiad students since my very first year, I had a strong background in mathematics and problem-solving.
In fact, the challenge for me was never whether I could handle the syllabus. It was always about whether I could manage time, balance all three sections, and stay consistent amidst the chaos of IIT courses, teaching jobs, projects, and music club commitments.
Looking back, my preparation was less of a “one-year crash course” and more of a journey of adapting what I already knew to a completely different exam format. The quant section (QA) felt like familiar territory - a more relaxed version of what I’d been teaching JEE kids for years. But DILR and VARC? That’s where the actual battle was.
In this article, I’ll share my complete CAT journey - how I started, what resources I used, how I structured my time, the mistakes I made, and what I learned. I’ll also talk about how I balanced CAT prep with my existing commitments, because honestly, that was the hardest part of it all.
My decision to take CAT 2024 wasn’t random. For years, I’d been fascinated by teaching and had worked with multiple edtechs, taught JEE, Olympiads, SAT, and AP, and even considered starting my own venture someday. An MBA felt like a possible extension of this interest - either as a backup plan or as a way to sharpen my leadership and business skills.
So, unlike a JEE kid who needs to build quant skills from zero, I walked into CAT prep with:
Strong Quant skills (teaching JEE math daily had already kept me sharp).
Decent logical thinking ability (from Olympiad-style problem solving).
A weakness in reading comprehension and speed (because my reading habit was patchy).
That initial self-awareness helped me a lot. I knew QA would be my strength; DILR could become manageable with practice; but VARC would demand the most effort.
The next step was to build a framework for preparation that worked for my schedule. I couldn’t study 8 hours a day like a full-time aspirant - because between my project, teaching part-time at multiple ventures, and music club practices, my daily prep time was about 2–3 focused hours.
My structure looked like this:
QA (Quantitative Aptitude): ~40% of my time. Not because I needed to learn new concepts, but because I wanted to maximize accuracy and attempt rate. I revised arithmetic, algebra, and geometry basics, and then moved straight into sectional mocks.
DILR (Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning): ~30%. I solved 1–2 sets daily from past CAT papers and mock test material. For me, the key was exposure to different puzzle types.
VARC (Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension): ~30%. This was the toughest - I forced myself to read long articles every day from Aeon, The Hindu, or The Guardian, then practiced RCs under time limits.
I also signed up for a mock test series. At first, my percentiles were inconsistent - sometimes in the 95s, sometimes crossing 99. But every single mock gave me insights into my strengths and weaknesses.
I cannot emphasize this enough: mocks were my actual teachers. I didn’t treat them as pass/fail, I treated them as feedback loops.
After every mock, I would spend 2–3 hours analyzing mistakes:
Which QA questions were “sitters” that I missed due to speed or overconfidence?
Which DILR sets were solvable but I panicked and skipped?
In VARC, was I losing marks due to wrong inference or poor time allocation?
I created an Excel tracker where I logged my accuracy in each section. Over time, this helped me see patterns - e.g., I was consistently misinterpreting tone/inference questions in RC, or mismanaging time in DI-heavy sets.
My percentile graph slowly started stabilizing in the high 80s and 90s.
This was my comfort zone. My years of teaching JEE maths gave me a solid advantage - I didn’t need to relearn topics like arithmetic or algebra. What I did instead was focus on:
Speed: mental calculations, eliminating options quickly.
Selection: identifying sitters in the paper instead of wasting time on tough ones.
Shortcuts: using my teaching experience to recall multiple solving paths and pick the fastest one.
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QA became my strongest section, and I knew going into CAT that it could “boost” my score.
This was initially my weak spot. Early mocks were brutal - I could barely solve 1 set in 40 minutes. But I learned that CAT DILR is less about formulas and more about pattern recognition.
So my approach was:
Solve 2 sets daily under time pressure.
Practice old CAT sets repeatedly until I could “see the logic” faster.
Focus on set selection - skip the toughest ones immediately.
By November, I was consistently solving 2–3 sets per mock.
This was my toughest battle. Unlike math, I didn’t have a natural advantage here. Initially, I would read passages too fast, misinterpret details, and lose accuracy.
What helped me was:
Building a daily reading habit with diverse topics (philosophy, economics, literature).
Practicing RCs with strict time limits to improve focus.
Learning to trust first instincts on para-jumbles/summary instead of overthinking.
By the end, I wasn’t perfect in VARC, but I reached a level where I could manage a safe attempt rate with decent accuracy.
Overconfidence in QA: Since I was strong here, I neglected revision for months. Silly mistakes in mocks reminded me that even strong areas need sharpening.
Procrastinating DILR: For a long time, I avoided it because it was frustrating. The only way I improved was by forcing myself into a daily habit.
Mock Score Anxiety: Early on, I let bad scores affect me. Later, I realized mocks are practice grounds, not verdicts.
The last month before CAT was about fine-tuning:
2–3 mocks per week instead of daily.
More focus on analyzing errors than solving new material.
Revising formula sheets and frequently repeated DILR puzzle types.
Light daily reading to keep VARC momentum.
I also worked on exam temperament - staying calm, managing the clock, and moving on quickly from stuck questions.
On exam day, I stuck to my strategy:
VARC first: attempted passages carefully, didn’t panic if one looked tough.
DILR next: spent the first 5 minutes scanning sets, picked 2 doable ones.
QA last: played to my strength, targeted accuracy along with volume.
Walking out, I didn’t feel like I had “crushed it,” but I knew I had played to my strengths and managed weaknesses.
Leverage your background. If you’re strong in math, make QA your scoring area. If you’re a reader, use that to your advantage in VARC. Don’t try to prepare like everyone else.
Mocks are gold. Don’t chase high percentiles in the beginning; chase improvement in accuracy and decision-making.
Section balance matters. CAT is not cleared by excelling in one section alone - you need decent performance across all three.
Consistency > intensity. It’s better to study 2–3 hours daily for months than to cram sporadically.
Stay calm. CAT is as much about temperament as it is about preparation.
For me, CAT 2024 was not just an exam but an extension of everything I’d been doing for years - teaching math, solving problems, balancing academics and passions. My journey wasn’t about turning weaknesses into strengths overnight. It was about playing to my strengths in QA, making DILR manageable, and bringing VARC up to a safe level.
If there’s one message I’d give to future aspirants, it’s this: CAT isn’t about being perfect, it’s about being prepared enough to maximize your score on that one day.
On Question asked by student community
Hello,
Here are some top colleges accepting XAT and CAT exams :
Top colleges accepting CAT:
IIMs (All Indian Institutes of Management)
FMS Delhi
SPJIMR Mumbai
MDI Gurgaon
IIT Bombay (SJMSOM)
IIT Delhi (DMS)
IIFT
IMT Ghaziabad
JBIMS Mumbai
Top colleges accepting XAT:
XLRI Jamshedpur
XIMB Bhubaneswar
IMT Ghaziabad
Great
Hi there,
A female candidate with a CAT percentile of 67.97 and low sectional scores should target private and tier-2/3 B-schools that accept overall CAT scores in the 60–70 percentile range and have flexible sectional criteria.
Some suitable options include AIMS Institute Bangalore, Doon Business School Dehradun, Christ Institute of
Hi there,
Yes, you are eligible for XISS Ranchi with a CAT percentile of 67.60.
According to recent admission trends, the CAT cutoff for the PGDM in Human Resource Management for the general category has been around 60 percentile. For other programs such as Marketing, Finance, and Rural Management, the
Hi there,
Careers360 offers a wide range of eBooks and study materials to assist with CAT preparation. You can access past CAT question papers with solutions to understand the exam pattern and difficulty level. Additionally, there are quantitative aptitude handbooks, cheat sheets, and section-specific practice sets for arithmetic, algebra, and
Hi there,
The minimum eligibility criteria for a general candidate to receive a call from IIM Sambalpur are as follows:
VARC: 65%ile
QUANTS: 65%ile
LRDI: 65%ile
Overall: 90%tile
Keep practising and aim to improve your score. You can also focus on other management exams where you may secure a strong
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