CAT Preparation 2025: Study Plan for the Last 18 Days

Only a few more days left for the CAT 2025 entrance exam. At this point, your CAT 2025 Preparation Strategy must be in the final stage. Thus, you must know what mistakes you should avoid in the last 18 days to fuel your preparation. Throughout this month, all the CAT aspirants should be engaged in quick revision, daily practice, mock tests and analysis. Primarily, all these components will decide your score and percentile for the CAT exam, which will take place on the 30th November 2025. 

Hereby, every aspirant must have a list of do’s and don’ts for the last leg of the CAT exam preparation. Prior information about these prominent factors will make it easier for you to score above 99.99%ile in the CAT exam. In simple terms, it will level up your preparation. Also, it will make you proficient enough to achieve an 85-90% accuracy in QA, DILR and VARC. Clearly, the fewer mistakes you make, the higher your overall CAT percentile will be in the actual exam. 

Henceforth, we have come up with this comprehensive blog, which outlines the major don’ts that you must remember in these 18 days before the CAT exam. Every piece of information is straightaway from the previous year’s CAT topper’s desk. It’s exclusively created by Aditya Gupta – CAT 2024 Topper:99.75%iler and his peers from IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, etc. Read this informative guide carefully and keep your preparation on track to get a 100% result. 

Join iQuanta’s diversified student community for free and prepare with other 4.1L+ peers. Get access to 24*7 doubt-solving, mentorship, free webinars, etc all at one single platform.

Complete CAT 2025 Preparation Strategy For the Last 18 Days

CAT has been witnessing extreme competition every year. Every candidate who strives to get admission into any of the 21 IIMs or other prestigious B-schools will have to score a high percentile which matches the cut-off of the specific B-school. You can also accomplish this goal by making the best use of this CAT 2025 Preparation Strategy. It’s the step-by-step preparation strategy for candidates who are appearing in the CAT 2025. From guiding you about what you should do to explaining to you in detail about the right preparation pathway, Aditya has done it all. 

Subsequently, he has also addressed that you don’t need to complete all the 25-30+ full-length mocks. You can do just 20-25 mocks with proper analysis. Previous year reports state that students who are determined to analyse the mocks tend to score high in the actual exam. A comprehensive analysis of mocks and sectionals will give clarity on the areas from every section that need more attention and improvement. Follow this remarkable strategy while registering for the CAT 2025 Crash course, where our experts will level up your revision and mock practice in this remaining timeline. Join the revolution to become a 99.99%iler in the CAT exam. 

You are Your Real Competition 

Understand that you are only competing with yourself. Never commit the mistake of comparing yourself with others. Just go through the motivational success stories, but don’t let them hamper you. Know that everything you see online is not real. The more you think about it, the more you will lose focus and face tension. Prepare at your own pace with a strategic approach. Henceforth, focus on beating your real self rather than competing with others. Allocate more time to the weak topics, aim to improve your mock scores with every mock and ensure that you complete the highly significant topics from Quantitative Aptitude, Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning, Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension, keeping yourself at ease. 

Stop Trying To Fix Everything 

During this period, students are often seen juggling multiple factors. It’s seen that multiple students who feel motivated throughout face panic attacks. At 3 AM, you might randomly come across these thoughts that you have not completed the whole syllabus, or some of your high-scoring topics are left. Make a checklist for the CAT 2026. Note down everything in a notebook. Prefer to jot them down in the pointers. Here’s the sample for your reference.

• Work on Modern Maths
• Complete Geometry section 
• Give 1 full-length mock test every day 
• Appear for a DILR sectional test.

Upon completing these tests, tick them. This way, you will have a record of your daily tasks and responsibilities. Prioritise making this list so that you can manage your schedule accordingly without any unnecessary burden.

Reappearing for Mocks Without Proper Analysis 

Let us take an example. You are appearing for the full-length mocks after completing the syllabus, but haven’t done a performance analysis even for one of them. A lot of aspirants flex about giving 25-30 mocks, but when it comes to analysis, there’s complete silence. If you follow this during your CAT 2025 Preparation Strategy, then your effort will be of no use. From now onwards, segregate a specific time to analyse every full-length mock test for CAT 2025. 

Each analysis will give you a minimum of 2-3 concrete insights which you carry forward in your next mock. Every mock test will offer you a new and unique learning experience. Take at least 5-6 hours for a detailed mock analysis. Review every question from the QA, VARC and DILR sections. You will have to opt for a different strategy to assess your performance in the mocks. 

Here, iQuanta’s iCAT mocks will be very helpful for you. You will have access to the AI performance indicator. This tool will evaluate your weaker concepts and will assign you diversified questions from that topic for regular improvement. Apart from this, you can utilise the strategy-building tool to create a personalised strategy for the final stage of CAT 2025.

Collecting Last-Minute Resources

We understand that this phase will include extreme panic, anxiety, stress and tension. Aditya states that most students often hunt for resources in this phase, which is the biggest mistake. Let us be honest. This practice will make your CAT 2025 Preparation Strategy more complex. Rather than doing this, focus on preparing with the resources that you have referred to so far. Download CAT PYQs from 2018-2024 and solve iCAT mocks. It’s not the right time to gather materials for CAT preparation. You will get confused to a huge extent. Just adhere to one particular source and see your productivity rise with every passing day. 

Constantly Questioning About the CAT Percentile

Many aspirants have the habit of constantly having a discussion about their CAT percentile. They often share their profile to understand how much percentile is necessary to get admission into the IIMs for a 2-year residential MBA programme. This time is not for brushing up your profile. Your main goal should be to strengthen the basics to achieve the sectional cut-off and an overall high percentile. Once you clear the CAT exam, you will get ample time to work on your professional profile. 

The second phase of shortlisting the students, which is a compilation of GD-WAT-PI rounds, will take place between March to April. You are getting 3-4 months of the levy period for structuring your whole profile. Thus, aim to achieve a high percentile to get admission in the Tier 1/Tier 2 or Tier 3 MBA colleges in India. Furthermore, stop calculating your percentile and start improving your weaker concepts, sectional scores and overall percentile in the full-length mocks for the CAT 2025.

Note that the CAT Percentile is not linear. Understand this very clearly that asking about your CAT Percentile is a very vague question. No one can predict your overall percentile, and it varies every year. It’s totally dependent on the marks and the paper’s difficulty level. We will explain this to you with an example. Suppose a candidate scored 99%ile in the CAT 2023 at 76 marks. Now, someone who appeared in the CAT 2024 got 99%ile at 99 marks, which is an overall difference of 90 marks. Why so? Well, you already know the answer. The question paper of the CAT 2023 was much easier than the CAT 2024. It means the easier the paper, the higher the percentile. Your motto should be simple, that you have to score high to get admission into your dream B-school. 

Don’t Run Behind Low-Weightage Topics 

Over the years, it’s clear that the CAT exam is not about rote memorisation. It’s a national-level management exam that tests your intelligence and strategic thinking abilities. Your first preference should be to prioritise topics that cover the 80% area of the question paper. Most questions in the QA section will come from the high-yielding topics like Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry and Mensuration, etc. 

Quant topics like Number System, Modern Maths constitute a smaller number of questions. If you’re not good at these topics, just take an overview at the last minute rather than starting from scratch in the last 18 days of the CAT 2025 preparation. Some other low-weightage topics from the CAT syllabus 2025 are Cubes, Modern Maths, Binomials, Para Jumbles, Permutations & Combinations, and Odd One Out. If you look at the PYQs, there are no questions from the Cubes section in the CAT exam.  

Similarly, Binomials is a low-weightage topic. In the CAT 2024, there were no such questions from this topic. However, we’re not suggesting you skip it. You can give an hour or so to cover these topics, but don’t stretch it. Next, we have Para Jumbles and Odd One Out. You will come across TITA (Type-In-The-Answer) type questions from these topics with no negative marking. A minimum of 2 questions each will come from these VARC topics. 

Aspirants who don’t exhibit a profound understanding of them can leave them and focus on RC with an aim to get a high ROI. Stop chasing perfection and prioritise high-yielding topics like Arithmetic, Algebra, RCs, and LRDI. If you follow this strategy in the next 18 days, your theoretical knowledge will be enhanced at a top-notch level. Don’t run behind completing the leftover syllabus. Give your 100% effort for revision and practice. 

CAT Preparation Strategy: Section-Wise Complete Breakdown 

As the day passes by for the actual CAT exam, aspirants modify their CAT preparation plan. During the last 18 days, you have to be extremely cautious about what to avoid and how to revise the overall syllabus of the CAT exam. In simple words, you cannot pick any random topic and must follow a structured plan for Quantitative Aptitude, Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning, Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension. A section-wise preparation can redefine your CAT preparation, which will help you to score 99.99+%ile in every section. Follow the 18-day timetable mentioned below and boost your confidence before the Common Admission Test taking place on November 30, 2025. 

Quantitative Aptitude

• Do a quick and meaningful revision session of the sub-topics included in the Arithmetic, Algebra, Modern Maths and Geometry. 
• Analyse and solve the PYQs from the past 5-10 years of the CAT exam. This will stimulate your CAT preparation for the most important QA topics. 
• Revise the most important Quant formulas from the “CAT Quant Formula Book” provided by the iQuanta experts. This will help you recall major QA formulas. 
• Solve questions from different levels across the basic, medium and complex range. On average, solve 35-40 CAT-level questions daily. 
• You should attempt a minimum of 3-4 QA sectional mocks to assess your CAT preparation for the QA syllabus. 

Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning

• Learn to manage your time efficiently. At this point of CAT preparation, you must concentrate to reduce your time limit for solving a particular DILR set. 
• Secondly, build an aim to appear for 2-3 sectional mocks on an alternate basis. Before attempting the next sectional, analyse your past mistakes and avoid repeating them.
• Master to apply the right logic and solve questions easily on the tables, pie charts, bar graphs, etc. Implementation of correct logic will help you derive correct solutions. 
• Target to solve DILR sets in sectionals and mocks under 12-15 minutes while maintaining the pace of an 85-90% accuracy rate. 

Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension

• Every CAT aspirant must aim to read a minimum of 3 RCs daily. Dedicate a specific time for reading an RC and cover multiple genres. 
• Check your accuracy and speed in the VARC sectionals. Do analyse the progress and identify the concepts that require instant improvement. 
• Practice questions from the Para Jumble daily. Eliminate wrong options smartly and always stay confident in your CAT preparation strategy. 
• Read RCs daily to develop your speed for skimming, skipping and understanding the main tone, style of the author. 

18 Days Study Plan for CAT Preparation 

CAT Preparation Day	Most Important Quant Topics	Key VARC Topics	Crucial LRDI Topics	Full-Length Mocks and Sectionals
Day 1	Arithmetic Revision	Reading Comprehension Practice	Tables & Graphs	Full-Length Mock 1
Day 2	Shortcuts of Algebra Topic	Para Jumbles	Puzzles	Sectional Test
Day 3	Geometry	RC Passage + Grammar	Data Sets	—
Day 4	Numbers	Vocabulary	Caselets	Full-Length Mock 2
Day 5	Short or Detailed Revision	RC Practice	Mixed Sets of Data Interpretation	—
Day 6	Mixed Revision	Critical Reasoning	Logical Arrangements	Full Length Mocks 3–5
Day 7	Cover High-Weightage QA Topics	RC Summary Questions	Practice Advanced Sets	Sectional Mocks
Day 8-11	Important Formulas + Speed Practice	Reading Warm-up Session	Data Interpretation Without Pen	Full Length Mocks 6–7
Day 12-15	Light Revision Session	Read Articles	Reasoning Puzzles	—
Day 16-18	QA Formula Sheet Quick Review	Reading Comprehension Flow Practice	Easy Data Interpretation Set	—

How To Solve Mocks in the Last 18 Days of CAT Preparation?

In the final countdown of the CAT preparation, you must definitely increase your number limit for attempting mocks and sectional tests. Don’t commit the mistake of focusing entirely on the revision and ignoring the sectionals/mocks. Create a personalised mock attempt schedule or follow the one above. Attempt at least 8-10 new mocks to get the effective results for the CAT exam preparation. Know where you lack, review skipped questions, check your frequent mistakes, and understand why you repeat the same mistake. Depending on your schedule, analyse the mocks and sectionals on the same day. Note down errors in the log book and prevent repeating the same mistake in the next mocks/sectionals and the original CAT question paper.

Practice CAT 2025 Mocks: 2x Your CAT 2025 Preparation Strategy  

Mocks and sectional tests are the most crucial part of the CAT 2025 Preparation Strategy. Regular practice and detailed analysis of the mocks will improve your performance. It will also lead to good scores, which will boost your confidence. iQuanta offers the best mocks to gauge your preparation for the actual CAT exam. Here are some core features of the mocks, which will stimulate your preparation in the last 18 days for a successful result.

CAT exam preparation completely depends on solving maximum questions across sections with accuracy and speed. Mocks and sectional tests across VARC (Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension), DILR (Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning) and QA (Quantitative Ability) covers the reflection of actual exam. So, candidates will analyze themselves among competition with the help of mocks and sections.

CAT Mock Test Series 2025

• Receive 45 sectionals and 35 (20 proctored and 15 unproctored) full-length mocks.
• Get video solutions with every sectional test and mock.
• Receive an AI performance report. It will also track your errors. 
• Use the “Strategy Builder” to build a 18-day strategy for CAT preparation.
• Access “Error Tracker” with relevant measures for improvement. 
• Set your target to prepare for the specific B-school via the “Goal Tracker” feature.

Revision Tool For CAT Preparation

Revision Tool is iQuanta’s unique feature, which will definitely help the CAT 2025 aspirants crack this entrance exam with a high percentile. Read below to know about the components of the Revision Tool designed by the top industry experts. Get this useful resource now and achieve your desired percentile in 2025 to get admission into top B-schools in India. You will definitely see good results after purchasing this tool for the CAT preparation.

What Does iQuanta’s Revision Tool Include?

Key Specifications	Basic Information
Smart Revision	Quick flashcards on every topic.
PYQs (Single Platform)	Access PYQs from every model.
Personalised Study Library	Create your own notes for last-minute revision.
Free Conceptual Videos	Watch videos at one-single platform.
Monitor Your Performance	Check your performance daily.
Daily Quizzes and Assignments	Practice different quizzes on QA, DILR and VARC
Sectional and Full-Length Mocks	Attempt mocks as per the CAT exam level
Topic-Wise One-Shot Videos	Single video on one topic
Marathons	Different Questions from CAT Level Marathons
Doubt-Solving Community	Join 4.1 lakh aspirants for doubt-clarification

Get CAT 2025 Revision Tool for Just Rs.9

Important Points to Remember During CAT Preparation

There are some important points that candidates need to remember during CAT preparation. Take a note of these important points mentioned below:

1. Candidates should understand the exam pattern along with the CAT exam syllabus before starting preparation for Common Admission Test.
2. Create a proper study plan to tackle VARC (Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension), DILR (Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning) and QA (Quantitative Ability).
3. Time management is the crucial part for any competitive examination to be attained by aspirants.
4. Adequate revisions across concepts which you have covered earlier to avoid missing important facts from topics.
5. Questions across LRDI and Quant section should be taken care regularly and maintain consistency.
6. Post completing CAT syllabus across VARC, DILR and QA, candidate should maintain their grip along with the time management while attempting mock test and sectional tests across VARC, DILR & QA.

Join iQuanta’s diversified student community for free and prepare with other 4.1L+ peers. Get access to 24*7 doubt-solving, mentorship, free webinars, etc all at one single platform.

Final Words: CAT Preparation

This is the most crucial phase for the CAT 2025 aspirants. Even the candidates with the most optimistic mindset face extreme pressure, come across doubts and encounter challenges during this stage of the CAT 2025 preparation strategy. If you don’t prepare with a positive mindset during this phase, then it might cost you valuable marks in the original exam. Henceforth, implement these tips and walk towards a structured CAT preparation roadmap in these 18 days. One of the most important tip is that one should not jump from one topic to another.

It’s also mandatory to take frequent breaks so that you don’t face burnout due to over practice. Our ultimate goal behind sharing this 18-day preparation strategy for the CAT 2025 is to make the students understand how one should stay calm and focused during this timeline. In short, we want every CAT aspirant to balance their preparation for the  Quant, VARC, and LRDI while effectively analysing the full-length mock tests and PYQs. Trust Us! With this plan, you will experience a significant change in your confidence, time management and accuracy. 

Frequently Asked Questions: CAT Preparation