Common Admission Test 2025 ( CAT )
MBA admission is a long journey. It is beyond scoring 99 percentile in entrance exam. Group discussion (GD), Personal Interview (PI) and Written Ability Test (WAT) are an integral part of the process. Personality assessment test is critical as it provides the institute to analyse the candidate’s management and leadership skills. The top B-Schools in India conduct WAT and PI as part of admission process. Earlier, Group Discussion was widely conducted by lately, institutes prefer WAT over it.
Whether you are targeting a Tier 1 college, a Tier 2 college or a Tier 3 college, you need to be well prepared for the WT-PI round. While WAT is the test of your written communication skill, PI is the test of your verbal communication.
Admission process of IIMs and top MBA colleges have begun for 2026 batch. Most of the B-Schools will conduct WAT-PI between February and April 2026, so aspirants must start preparing now. Shiksha brings to you 13 must-do things to crack GD-PI-WAT rounds of top MBA colleges in India.
1. Be Honest - It is okay to say ‘I don't know' in an MBA interview, instead of answering a question without any knowledge about the topic. Don't beat around the bush or try to invent an answer out of nothing. Be humble and state that you don't have much knowledge of the topic.
2. The interview is about you - Here’s the classic opening question in a PI,– ‘Tell me something about yourself’. Answer to this question usually leads to the next question. So, be careful about what all you say about yourself. Typically, one should talk very briefly about family, education, career goals, hobbies, and interests. Do not mention any interest or hobby that you're not actively pursuing or don't have complete/latest knowledge of. Briefly refer to education, life journey, and future plans.
3. Why MBA - Another common question is, ‘Why do you want to do an MBA?’ Answer such questions keeping in mind the holistic development you’ll get during MBA and acquisition of skills for life long success in personal and domestic space. Remember, post an MBA, one lands a job in corporate organisation where there are opportunities of rapid career growth along with high monetary returns. But at the same time, management as a career, is also a challenging profession.
4. Future goals - One more common interview question is – ‘Where do you see yourself five years from now?’ While answering this, focus on skills development, increased responsibility while highlighting your goals as achievements. You can also mention overall growth as in today's era overall growth is being valued as much as professional growth. But do not say I want to become VP or General Manager or something similar.
Also Read: Top 32 questions asked in Personal Interview (PI)
5. Stay Updated - For preparation of GD rounds, read extensively on current affairs so that you don't fall short of knowledge. Gather information on political, economic, development, social and Science & Tech issues of the recent times. Read current affairs and business magazines. Watch documentaries on important events and occurrences in India and abroad.
6. Choose the right time - Enter the group discussion at the right point i.e. when others are taking a small pause or have completed their point which you can counter or elaborate upon. Be loud and assertive but be polite in explaining your points.
7. Do not force your opinion on others- It is not necessary to arrive at a consensus during a GD. Candidates can have different opinions but what is important is concluding the discussion with convincing points put forth in a civil manner.
8. Don't dismiss others POV - Do not try to prove others wrong in a GD. Just remember it is not a debate but a group discussion and everyone has the right to their opinion.
9. 5 keys for GD - While participating in a GD, focus on the following:
10. Be a good competitor - Ensure participation by showing maturity and putting up relevant points. Build your arguments with facts, figures and situations. Keep a logical approach throughout the GD. It becomes easy to build on other's arguments and conclude.
Also Read: 200+ Trending GD Topics for MBA
11. Be Prepared for Surprises - WAT topics can be as abstract as ‘describe the colour blue and pink’ or more substantiative like 'hard work or smart work' to something more focused on current trends. So keep reading news, latest social trends and articles on India’s growth stories. Read philosophical books and articles. Do not forget to read editorial sections of newspapers daily. More importantly, think and make a opinion about whatever you read.
Also Read:
12. Practice Essay Writing - This essay writing round tests the candidate’s written ability, knowledge of the topic, understanding of the topic and clarity of thoughts. So, practice writing short essays with a proper - beginning, middle and end. Practice how to put your thoughts in a words in logical and lucid manner.
13. Refer to recommended study material - While preparing for the WAT or the essay round, refer to available textbooks and guides. But the daily practice is the key here.
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It is difficult but not impossible. If you give yourself a good enough time to improve English comprehension, grammar and vocabulary, you will be able to do it. Yes, a non- English medium student will require longer time for CAT preparation as they will have to start reading and improving English comprehension. So, may be they need to start English preparation for CAT in the second year of graduation, instead of final year (much earlier than English medium students). They may also need two attempts to crack CAT with high percentile. But that's not true for all. If you work hard and study smartly, you will be able to crack it.
The best way to prepare for DILR section is through practice. Before starting the preparation, aspirants should check previous years’ question papers. Since there is not much conceptual understanding required in this section, practice is important.
Some of the most popular books on DILR section that you can refer are How to Prepare for Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning for CAT by Arun Sharma, Logical Reasoning and Data Interpretation for the CAT by Nishit Sinha, Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning for CAT by Pearson, to name a few.
CAT is a speed-based test of analytical aptitude, logical reasoning skills, data interpretation and English comprehension. Now, it may sound tough, but these are the skills which we are taught in school so there is nothing new to learn. What is required is to learn these subjects at advanced level. If you are an average student but have studied Science or Commerce in Class-12 and graduation, you will find a lot of familiar topics in Data Interpretation, Quantitative Aptitude and Logical Reasoning. All you will need is brush up the basics and practice the concepts on advanced-level problems.
However, since the competition is so high in CAT and less than 95 percentile can break your dream of joining a top college like IIM, the preparation for CAT requires a lot of focus, dedication, discipline and diligence. If you can do that, despite being an average student, you can crack the CAT exam.
Hope it was helpful!!!
While candidates belonging to Science and Engineering background do have an edge over Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR), it is not impossible for students from non-Science background to crack this section of an MBA entrance exam. They do need to prepare harder which includes going back to study fundamentals of Mathematics such as Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry and Mensuration.
With regular practice and understanding of the question types and topics, candidates, irrespective of the educational background, can crack this section. Aspirants must note that it is important to identify the weak areas and improve on them to get a stronghold on this section. For Logical Reasoning, a good amount of practice of sample questions will be enough.
Vipra Shrivastava is MA in English Literature from Delhi University with extensive experience in content writing of over 14 years. She has been handling content for Management, Accounting and Commerce streams for 8
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Anything you would want to ask experts?Answered 2 days ago
No, CAT scores are not important for enrollment into Masters of Business Administration course at Chitkara University. Because CAT is not the only scores which are considered by the university, it also accepts the scores of MAT/ XAT/ NMAT/ CMAT.
K
Contributor-Level 10
Answered 3 days ago
Minimum qualifying cut off for IIM Ahmedabad is 95 percentile whereas for IIM Bangalore and IIM Calcutta, it is 85. However final cut offs for these three top IIMs are between 99 to 100 percentile.
S
Contributor-Level 6
Answered 4 days ago
GIBS is pretty flexible when it comes to entrance exams. They accept almost all the common management tests — CAT, XAT, MAT, CMAT, ATMA, State CET, and even GMAT. In my batch itself, we had students who came through different exams, not just CAT.
Honestly, that's one thing I liked about GIBS — they d
M
Contributor-Level 7
Answered 5 days ago
Yes, you can join Adarsh Institute of Management and Information Technology without appearing for CAT. This is because, the institute also accepts other tests. The accepted exams include CAT/ XAT/ MAT/ CMAT/ KMAT/ PGCET/ GMAT. Hence, if you have appeared for any of these, you can still apply.
M
Contributor-Level 10
Answered 5 days ago
Yes, Myra School of Business does offer CAT scores based Scholarships upto INR 1.5 lakh. In recognition of outstanding performance in CAT, MSB awards special scholarships as follows:
h
Contributor-Level 10
Answered a week ago
LISAA School of Design, Bangalore BDes admission is done based on performance in the in-house entrance test. LISAA CAT is conducted at the LISAA centres. Candidates need to connect with the admission team to set up a time slot. Besides, it is important that the eligibility criteria is fulfilled.
M
Contributor-Level 9
Answered a week ago
Yes, you can absolutely get admission into the MBA programme without clearing CAT or MAT, because the university follows a flexible admission pathway that allows students to apply through its own entrance exam called CUCET. This exam acts as the primary route for MBA admissions, and it is designed t
s
Beginner-Level 3
Answered a week ago
No, CAT is not mandatory for School of Business and Management, Christ University MBA admissions. Students can alternatively submit scores of other national-level management exams. These include MAT/ XAT/ CMAT/ ATMA and GMAT/ GRE are also accepted.
S
Contributor-Level 10
Answered 2 weeks ago
You can download your CDAC C-CAT 2026 response sheet by logging in to the official C-DAC Candidate Portal using your form number and password.
R
Contributor-Level 9
Answered 2 weeks ago
Yes, JAGSoM accepts CAT scores as part of its multi-stage admission process. Candidates are shortlisted for selection rounds based on their entrance exam scores.
B
Contributor-Level 6
Yes, CAT syllabus is difficult to crack if you do not have enough time. There are three subjects in CAT- VARC, DILR and Quantitative Aptitude. Most of the candidates find RC passages tough to crack. In Quants, Arithmetic, Algebra and Geometry pose significant challenge during preparation. In DILR, Reasoning questions often turnout to be tricky and confusion.