Importance of Mock Tests for CAT 2025: Benefits, Strategies & Mistakes to Avoid

Importance of Mock Tests for CAT 2025: Benefits, Strategies & Mistakes to Avoid

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Komal MiglaniUpdated on 18 Sep 2025, 11:16 AM IST

The Common Admission Test, or the CAT exam, is attempted by lakhs of candidates in India. According to the latest reports, the acceptance rate of the CAT examination stands at 2% indicating the level of highly competitive nature of the CAT examination. The candidates must secure a good CAT score to ensure their acceptance to the best B schools in the country. While candidates often start their CAT preparation one year to six months before the CAT examination, all candidates need to prepare themselves for the CAT exam using the mock tests. CAT mock tests act as a critical tool that helps candidates to analyse their preparation level and find out the areas that they need to improve on. In this article of Careers360, the importance of attempting the CAT mock tests and the effective strategies that the candidates can use to improve their CAT preparation are discussed in detail.

This Story also Contains

  1. Why Mock Tests Matter in CAT 2025 Preparation?
  2. How to Analyse a CAT Mock Test Effectively
  3. When to Start Taking Mock Tests for CAT 2025?
  4. CAT 2025 Mock Test by Careers360
  5. Common Mistakes While Taking Mocks
  6. CAT Preparation Resources from Careers360
Importance of Mock Tests for CAT 2025: Benefits, Strategies & Mistakes to Avoid
Importance of Mock Tests for CAT 2025

Why Mock Tests Matter in CAT 2025 Preparation?

When it comes to the CAT preparation of the candidates, many of them often seem to disregard the importance of attempting the CAT mock tests. Some candidates are content with their CAT preparation and immediately move to solely doing the CAT revision without solving the CAT mock tests, CAT previous year question papers and such important CAT materials. This may severely affect the candidate on the CAT exam day, and due to this, the candidate may fall short of their desired CAT percentile. Hence, it is essential for the candidates to understand the importance of the CAT mock tests and why they should prioritise CAT mock tests during their CAT preparation.

Replicates Real Exam Environment

CAT mock tests will provide the closest resemblance to the real CAT exam environment for the candidates. This helps students get familiar with pressure and time-bound decision-making, which is essential during the CAT exam. Also, due to the immense competition level of the CAT examination, the candidates are often vulnerable to excessive stress, which may induce exam-day anxiety. Attending a lot of CAT mock tests will help the candidates to get used to the exam environment and reduce the CAT exam day pressure.

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Improves Time Management

CAT time management is one of the biggest challenges faced by candidates. According to the latest CAT exam pattern, the candidates must answer 68 questions within 120 minutes. Solving the complex DILR questions, lengthy reading comprehension questions and answering the lengthy quantitative aptitude questions all consume a lot of time. Hence, the candidates must enhance their time management skills to ensure that they can solve as many CAT questions as possible on the CAT exam day. By solving a lot of CAT mock tests, the candidates will get used to the strict time constraints of the exam and, over time, enhance their time management skills, which will help them improve their CAT scores.

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Identifies Strengths and Weaknesses

The CAT examination is attempted by candidates of varying proficiency levels and backgrounds. For example, the engineering candidates who attempt the CAT exam might be more comfortable with the CAT DIILR and CAT Quantitative Aptitude sections but might face slight issues with the CAT VARC questions. The best way for the candidates to understand their current preparation level is to attempt various CAT mock tests. The candidate must deeply analyse their mock test scores and note down the areas where they score the least. Then, a focused preparation under these topics will help the candidate to perform better in the upcoming mock tests. Eventually, this helps the candidates to enhance their CAT percentiles.

Enhances Accuracy and Speed

Both speed and accuracy are important characteristics that define the CAT performance of the candidates. Without either of these two attributes, the overall CAT score of the candidates may decrease drastically. CAT mock tests help the candidates to answer the CAT questions at a good pace with higher accuracy over time. This is necessary because answering a lot of questions with a below-par accuracy will invite a lot of CAT negative marking, which will eventually lead to poor CAT scores. So, by solving a lot of CAT mock tests, the candidates can successfully improve their accuracy and speed for the CAT examination.

Builds Stamina and Focus

CAT stamina is one of the most underrated characteristics when it comes to the CAT preparation of the candidates. The candidates should be mentally strong during the CAT examination because, without this, there are good chances of the candidates panicking and inviting a lot of unwanted stress. During the two hours of the CAT examination, the candidates need to stay focused and be at ease. This will help them to think logically and solve the questions with ease. This skill can only be built through practice acquired by solving a lot of CAT mock tests.

Refines Exam Strategy

Each candidate needs to have their own CAT preparation strategy for the examination. While they can take inspiration from the CAT toppers for this, they must devise a unique strategy for themselves, which will help them to perform well on the CAT exam day. Practising a lot of CAT mock tests and CAT sample papers helps the candidates to identify any shortcomings in their strategy, such as not prioritising the important CAT topics, designing an improbable CAT preparation timetable, etc. Understanding these issues related to the CAT examination is an important part of the candidate’s CAT journey. By refining the candidate’s exam strategy, they will be able to score better in the CAT examination with the help of the CAT mock tests.

How to Analyse a CAT Mock Test Effectively

One of the most common CAT mistakes that the candidates make while preparing with the CAT mock tests is that they only solve the CAT mock test questions but do not analyse them strictly for better understanding. This defeats the purpose of attempting the mock tests and reduces the optimisation of it. Now, let us discuss a few CAT preparation tips which help candidates analyse the CAT mock tests, which will help them perform better on the CAT exam day.

  • Focus on accuracy, not just percentile. Accuracy matters a lot when it comes to the CAT exam results. Solving a lot of questions without a good rate of accuracy is never helpful. While attending the CAT mock tests, the candidates should initially focus on the accuracy level or the number of questions that they answer correctly. Later on, the candidates can focus on percentiles, which is also an essential factor.

  • Identify time-consuming questions. There will be difficult and lengthy questions present in the CAT question papers. While attempting the CAT mock tests, the candidates should also focus on finding the questions which consume the most time and note them down. They are advised to go through the problems later and find the various methods which will help them to solve the questions quickly. By this, the candidates will be able to answer a lot of questions within the CAT time limits.

  • Maintain an error log. This is critical for the CAT aspirants. The candidates should note down the questions which they attempt incorrectly separately in a notebook. During the revision, the candidate should go through the questions again and solve them. This will help them to get accustomed to answering the questions which they made mistakes while solving.

  • Set improvement targets for the next mock. After attempting one mock test and properly analysing their performance and scores, the candidates should set a target for the upcoming mock tests. They are strongly advised to keep a target solely based on their performance in the current mock test. This will help the candidates to stay motivated and focused for the upcoming mock tests.

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When to Start Taking Mock Tests for CAT 2025?

According to the experts, the ideal timeframe for practising the CAT mock tests is said to be 6 months before the CAT examination. This does not indicate the full-length mock tests but the sectional mock tests that the candidates should appear for after completing each topic of the CAT syllabus. Candidates are advised to gradually increase the frequency of taking the CAT mock tests over time, from time to time, so that by the end of their CAT preparation, they would have solved a minimum of 20 CAT mock tests, including both the sectional and full-length mock tests.

CAT 2025 Mock Test by Careers360

For the candidates who have completed the CAT syllabus, they can attempt the comprehensive CAT mock test designed by Careers360. This CAT mock test comes with a lot of features, such as complete insight into the CAT mock test performance of the candidate, such as time taken to answer each question, accuracy level of the candidates, sectional-performance of the candidates and also a complete answer key designed by the experts of the subject. The candidates are requested to use the link provided in the table below to access the CAT 2025 mock test by Careers360.

Title

Download Link

CAT Mock Test 2025

Attempt Now

Common Mistakes While Taking Mocks

Going through some of the common mistakes that the candidates make while attending the CAT mock tests will help the candidates understand them and not repeat the same mistakes while they attend the CAT mock tests. This will help them to enhance their performance in the CAT examination. A few of the factors that the candidates should take into consideration while taking the CAT mock tests are discussed below.

  • Focusing only on scores and not on learning. Attending the CAT mock tests with the sole purpose of scoring well is not very helpful. The candidate should also give equal importance to learning.

  • Skipping analysis. A lot of candidates skip the analysis of the CAT mock tests which is one of the reasons why they are not able to make the most out of their CAT mock test preparation. Analysis opens the insights of the candidates to various factors which the candidates should take care of. Merely attending the CAT mock tests is not enough. The candidates should also perform the analysis of the CAT mock tests.

  • Attempting too many too soon. When the candidates begin their CAT preparation using mock tests, they should ensure that after each CAT mock test, there is a gap. During this gap, the candidates should perform the analysis of the CAT mock tests and ensure that they do not miss out on any key insights.

CAT Preparation Resources from Careers360

The CAT aspirants can download the different CAT resources for preparation designed by subject matter experts of Careers360 using the links given below.

eBook Title

Download Links

3000+ Most Important Words - Vocabulary Builder

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500+ Most Important Idioms and Phrases

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300+ Most Important Phrasal Verbs

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Permutation & Combination - Video Lectures and Practice Questions

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Mastering DILR Questions with Expert Solutions

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CAT 2025 Exam's High Scoring Chapters and Topics

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Mastering CAT Exam: VARC, DILR, and Quant MCQs & Weightages

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CAT 2025 Mastery: Chapter-wise MCQs for Success for VARC, DILR, Quant

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CAT 2025 Quantitative Aptitude Questions with Answers

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CAT DILR Questions with Solution, Download LRDI Questions for CAT

Download Now

CAT 2025 Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC) Study Material

Download Now

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q: What are the common mistakes candidates make with mock tests?
A:

Many aspirants focus only on high scores, skip post-test analysis, or take too many mocks too quickly without reflection. These habits can limit growth, so it’s vital to balance mock frequency with learning and strategy refinement.

Q: How should a candidate analyse their mock test performance?
A:

Effective mock analysis involves more than just looking at scores—it means reviewing accuracy, identifying time-consuming questions, maintaining an error log, and setting specific improvement goals for each test. This process ensures steady and targeted progress.

Q: What’s the right time to start taking CAT mock tests?
A:

It’s recommended to begin sectional mock tests about six months before the exam, once individual topics are covered, and gradually progress to full-length mocks. Completing at least 20 well-analysed mocks before CAT day is ideal.

Q: How do mock tests help with section-wise preparation like VARC, DILR, and Quant?
A:

Regular mock practice enables candidates to identify their strong and weak sections—such as struggling with VARC for engineers or Quant for non-math backgrounds—and allows for focused revision. This improves accuracy and strategy across all three CAT sections.

Q: Why are mock tests essential for CAT 2025 preparation?
A:

Mock tests are crucial because they simulate the actual CAT exam environment, helping candidates manage pressure, time, and performance under realistic conditions. They also offer deep insights into one's readiness and highlight areas that require further improvement.

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Questions related to CAT

On Question asked by student community

Have a question related to CAT ?

With a 70 percent in CAT Examination, you can go for various B-Schools or private collages. The S. K. Patel Institute of Management in Gandhinagar is an option for those who score 70-80 percent in their CAT examination or The Gujarat Institute of Management (GIM) in Goa with a cutoff of 60-80 percentage. These are the collages you can look for in Gujarat or nearby.

Collage in other regions: BA Colleges Accepting 70-80 Percentile in CAT 2025

Thank You.

Hello dear candidate,

NO. your application for CAT will not rejected for wrong gender small mistake in the OBC NCL certificate. You will be considered as an OBC candidate.

you just need to get your OBC certificate corrected and need to inform the CAT helpdesk about this error.


Hello,

Here are some top MBA colleges in India with fees under Rs. 2 lakh and their exam/cutoff details:

  • SIMSREE, Mumbai – Fee around Rs. 1.3–1.4 lakh for 2 years. Accepts CAT, CMAT, MAH-CET, MAT, ATMA. Cutoff is very high, usually 99+ percentile in CAT/CMAT.

  • PUMBA (Dept. of Management Sciences, Savitribai Phule Pune University) – Fee around Rs. 1.2–1.3 lakh. Accepts CAT, CMAT, MAH-CET, ATMA. Cutoff approx. 75+ percentile in CAT, 90–95+ percentile in CMAT, high scores in MAH-CET.

  • TISS, Mumbai (MA HRM & other management-related programmes) – Fee around Rs. 1.7–1.9 lakh. Accepts CAT for some courses. Qualifying cutoff is around 60–70 percentile, but final selection cutoffs are higher.

These are the main government institutes where the full MBA/PG programme fee is within Rs. 2 lakh. Cutoffs vary slightly each year and by category, but SIMSREE and PUMBA generally need high scores, while TISS has its own process along with CAT shortlisting.

Hope it helps !

Hey! With a NEET score of 344 in the ST category, it is highly unlikely to get admission in any government BDS college in Delhi through the All India Quota. The cutoff for government BDS seats in Delhi usually falls around 400–450 for ST category, so your score is below that range.

You can consider private dental colleges, state quota seats in other states, or reattempt NEET next year to improve your chances.

Hello dear candidate,

YES, with NEET score 344in the ST category you have high chances of getting admission in a BDS College in J&K through JKBOPEE counselling.

check the seat availability and next participate in JKBOPEE Counselling with all the necessary documents.

Thank you.