CAT 2025 Topper Vihaan Verma: How 2.5 Months of Preparation Helped a Non-Engineer Score 99.99 Percentile

CAT 2025 Topper Interview: Contrary to the last years when there were more Engineers toppers than that of non engineers in CAT, this year non-engineers took the lead in the CAT 2025 toppers list. Vihaan Verma who has scored 99.99 percentile in CAT 2025, is one of those non engineers CAT 2025 toppers. If one looks at the comparative study of the CAT 2025 toppers list there are more non engineers (64.06%) amidst the CAT 2025 toppers who have scored more than 99.98 percentile in CAT 2025. Vihaan, who is pursuing B.A in Economics, was confident after the CAT 2025 response sheet was released and as per his expectation, his CAT 2025 result shows 99.99 percentile in VARC, 99.98 in DILR and 99.92 CAT 2025 percentile QA. With CAT 2025 toppers marks of 135.77 out of 204 (CAT 2025 99.99 percentile) Vihaan has a very high chance to get into his dream MBA institutions, any of the IIM BLACKIs. What made CAT 2025 topper Vihaan Verma’s success more glorious is that in the way of becoming CAT 2025 topper in his first attempt, he juggled his CAT 2025 preparation not only along with his graduation studies but at the same time distance course of BSc. in Data Science from IIT Madras.

Careers360: Congratulations on being one of the CAT 2025 toppers! What was your reaction? Were you expecting this?

Vihaan: I knew my exam had gone well when I walked out of the CAT 2025 center. I was quite elated when the response sheets were released because I hadn’t expected such a high raw score. After checking numerous percentile predictors however I did know that I would score near 99.99 percentile, so when scorecards were released it wasn’t a big shock that I am one of the CAT 2025 toppers

Careers360: Can you tell us a little about your educational and personal background?

Vihaan: I am pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Economics with a minor in Commerce, and a Bachelor of Science in Data Science from IIT Madras, which is a distance learning program.

Careers360: What got you interested in the management domain and this examination?

Vihaan: One of the reasons that I got interested in management and started preparing for CAT 2025 is that I want to build my own venture in the future.

Careers360: How long have you been preparing for the CAT 2025? Is this your first attempt?

Vihaan: I started serious CAT 2025 preparation around mid-September, and yes, it is my first CAT attempt.

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Careers360: What according to you were the toughest and easiest sections in this CAT journey?

Vihaan: CAT 2025 preparation wise the easiest for me was VARC because I have always had a reading habit, while QA was toughest for me because the CAT 2025 QA syllabus was quite vast and there were many varieties of questions. Cracku sectionals for DILR and QA helped me a lot in preparing those sections.

Careers360: Can you share a basic outline of your CAT 2025 preparation strategy?

Vihaan: For the CAT preparation I focused on the basics first, after completing the basics, I gave approximately 30 full CAT 2025 mocks and analysed them properly to see where I was going wrong. Towards the end I slowed down on the mocks and instead gave 3-4 sectionals a day.

Careers360: Were you into any job? If yes, then take us through how you managed both your studies and job and what are the difficulties you have faced while managing both.

Vihaan: No, I wasn’t working currently.

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Careers360: How did you approach your strong and weak areas during preparation?

Vihaan: In the journey of my CAT preparation 2025 VARC was my strong suit, so I just analysed it properly after sectionals or mocks, didn’t give any special attention to it. QA preparation was my weakest so I started from the complete basics, went unit by unit and later focused on giving more QA sectionals than others

Careers360: Did you take coaching? How helpful was your coaching institute for you? Is it possible to succeed through self-study?

Vihaan: Yes, I was enrolled in IMS. IMS has very good material. When I was completing the QA preparations from the basics, IMS masterclasses helped me a lot, and their QA marathons on YouTube were also quite helpful. Self-study is also possible but it depends on the person, in the end everyone has to push themselves to be consistent everyday.

Careers360: What are your hobbies? Did they play any part in your CAT preparations?

Vihaan: I enjoy playing golf and whenever I felt stressed or burnt out, I used to go to the golf range.

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Careers360: What were the relaxation and recreation methods you followed amidst CAT preparation?

Vihaan: It is important to take breaks when you feel burnt out or stressed due to CAT preparations. I used to go to the golf range, or watch Netflix

Careers360: What was your last-minute preparation strategy for CAT?

Vihaan: I stopped giving CAT mocks last week of the CAT exam 2025 , as per my last minute CAT preparation strategy instead I used to give 3-4 sectionals a day and analyse them.

Careers360: How was your exam day experience? Which slot did you appear in?

Vihaan: On the CAT exam day I was in slot 2, I reached the centre early and meditated at my allotted seat.

Careers360: What was your time management strategy for preparation and exam day?

Vihaan: I had a specific VARC strategy that when 15 minutes are left, if I haven’t done 15 questions then I am going too slow so I would know to either speed up or relax a little. Also I tried to finish VARC with 1-2 minutes to spare before DILR. For DILR I used to practice with a 13 minute timer for every set and tried to do it in under 13 minutes if I couldn’t, I saw the solution and checked if I was slow or if the set was too lengthy. For QA I set a timer for 3 minutes and it wasn’t until last week that I could solve questions mostly in that timeframe.

Careers360: What are the factors behind your success?

Vihaan: The reason behind my CAT 2025 success is consistency, and not giving up even after terrible mock scores.

Careers360: Have you started preparing for GD/PI/WAT?

Vihaan: Yes. I have started preparing for the IIM Admission 2026 GD/PI rounds and eagerly waiting for the IIM 2026 Personal Interview shortlist dates

Careers360: Which other MBA entrance exam have you appeared/appearing for?

Vihaan: No. Apart from CAT, I am not appearing for other MBA entrance exam.

Careers360: Which is your dream B-School? From which colleges are you expecting a call?

Vihaan: I’m hoping for calls from the top IIMs and other leading B-schools once the IIM 2026 Admission Dates are out.

Careers360: Were there any low phases of this CAT journey in these three years and how did you overcome that?

Vihaan: There were a lot of low points when I almost gave up because of low mock scores. I used to get very disheartened after bad scores, my parents and brother used to comfort me by saying only the final CAT score matters and the mocks don’t matter. My friends were also very supportive and used to study with me on google meet to help keep me focused.

Careers360: What is your message for next year's CAT takers?

Vihaan: Those appearing for the CAT 2026 should know that Mock scores don’t matter as much as you think, so don’t get disheartened by them. Analyse your mistakes and learn from them, they are after all just “mocks”.