Get here the best hacks to beat the competition in CAT 2024. You will not need much hard work on the CAT exam day, if you do these things from right now. Read the best hacks for CAT 2024.
CAT 2024 exam is just over 40 days away. It is time to put yourself in fast gear for exam preparation. The CAT preparation strategy so far must have been covering the syllabus and solving practice questions. Now the time is to change the strategy and speed so that you stay ahead of your peers.
Like every year, the competition is going tough this year too. So, you have to be better prepared for the CAT 2024 than everyone else. And as you move into the final phase of CAT 2024 preparation you need to devise a fresh strategy. The CAT preparation strategy now should be based on focus areas and strengthening important topics. Here we tell you CAT hacks to beat the competition.
CAT 2024 Strategy: Beat the Competition with these Hacks
Revise topics: It is time to start the revision of important topics for CAT. You might have completed the CAT syllabus through and through by now. If any topic is left, make an assessment of how much time can you spare for it, from the time allotted for revision. You need to revise at least one topic each from the three sections of CAT every day.
Find out short cuts: Hacks for CAT Quantitative Aptitude and Data Interpretation are tricks and shortcuts for calculation. Join study forums, find mentors to learn short cuts and tricks for Mathematical calculations. If you learn them right now, you will have enough time to try them and assess result. If you do it later, you may fall short of time to find another option, if one doesn’t work.
Practice CAT Mock Tests: The best way to prepare for CAT is by attempting mock tests. As you all know, CAT is a speed-based test, you need to have good speed in reading, choosing and solving 66 questions in 2 hours. This is the time to start practicing CAT mock tests. Many of you must have already started practicing the CAT mock tests series, but those who haven’t must start now. Go for about 30-40 CAT mock tests until the last week of CAT 2024 exam. Gain speed and accuracy in choosing and solving the right questions.
Analyse Mock Test: Another thing that you MUST DO, is analyse each CAT mock performance to note the gaps to fill. The purpose of CAT mock test practice is improvement in speed and scores. If that’s not happening find out why. May be you need to stop attempting certain type of questions or maybe you need to go through some concepts once again.
Check below Shiksha free CAT mock test:
| CAT_Mock_Test-1 | CAT_Mock_Test-1_Solutions |
| CAT_Mock_Test-2 | CAT_Mock_Test-2_Solutions |
Focus on Important Topics: It is an understood fact that one can’t solve all the questions from all the topics. So the best hack is to focus on the CAT topics which dominate the question paper. Go through CAT question papers of previous years to see which are the topics from which maximum questions are asked. Over the year, arithmetic has dominated the Quantitative Aptitude section. Similarly, in VARC, there are very less or no Grammar based questions. You can ignore topics from which 1-2 questions are asked because one doesn’t have to attempt all the questions. Focus on topics and subjects that have the potential of getting you more scores.
Make a CAT Exam Day Plan: As we’ve mentioned above that one doesn’t have to solve all the question in CAT, questions that you will address in the exam should be pre-decided. Yes, analyse your strengths and weaknesses viz. the topic wise weightage, and then make a plan of which and how many questions will you target in every section. This exam hack works best as CAT has sectional time limit and negative marking both. So be clear beforehand, what and how to do.
Set a Target: The next hack that will keep you ahead of your competition is to set a target for yourself. The reason behind appearing for the CAT exam is getting into a good MBA college. Check out the CAT cut offs of your preferred colleges. Now, you know how much score you need for admission to that college. In the last leg of CAT preparation, focus on scoring as much in the mock test and also calculate the number of questions you need to solve accurately in the exam to get there. In the exam, if you have solved questions as much as you need, don’t be greedy and try other questions unless you’re 100 percent sure of solving it accurately. CAT has negative marking and one wrong attempt can affect your CAT score as well as percentile.
Keep Room for Last Minute Changes: The greatest hack to crack the CAT exam is having a Plan-B. You should be prepared for the exam day in a certain way but always have a plan that is flexible. You need to be prepared for any unforeseen situation like change in pattern or weightage. To explain it, do not stick to preparing only 1-2 dominant topics. Have a decent practice of other topics as well so that if faced with unfavourable questions, you can still find some way to score well in CAT 2024.
Read More:
- CAT 2024 preparation: Mistakes You Can't Afford to Make
- CAT VARC questions with answers for practice PDF
- CAT Quantitative Aptitude questions and answers for practice with PDF
- CAT DILR questions and answer for practice PDF
- Verbal Ability (VA) solved questions
- Quantitative Aptitude (QA) solved questions
- Data Interpretation (DI) solved questions
- Data Interpretation (DI) solved questions - Part 2
- Logical Reasoning (LR) solved questions
- Logical Reasoning (LR) solved questions - Part 2

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Student Forum
Answered 10 hours ago
The registrations for the exam generally start from the month of August and continue till September. The admit cards are released by November. Exam is conducted usually by last week of November. Students can download their results by December.
B
Contributor-Level 10
Answered 2 days ago
Yes, COEP, Pune does accept CAT score to admit candidates for MBA admissions. During CAP rounds, if candidates have a valid score in CAT, they will be chosen based on those scores only. Thus, such candidates are not required to reappear for MAH-CET.
S
Contributor-Level 10
Answered 2 days ago
No, to gain admission to the MBA course at this university, candidates have to either attempt the CAT or other accepted exams (MAT, SUAT, etc.) and then appear in the Group Discussion (GD) and Personal Interview (PI) rounds.
Students are shortlisted for the GD and PI rounds based on their performa
N
Contributor-Level 10
Answered 5 days ago
IIT Madras CAT cutoff 2025 is generally not released to the public and is instead only visible to students with login credentials.
Based on the previous year's estimated CAT cutoff for the General AI category, the overall CAT percentile was 85.11.
Note: The cutoff data provided is not official. It i
N
Contributor-Level 10
Answered 5 days ago
No, you cannot get direct admission to the MBA course based on the CAT score. A valid CAT score only gets you eligible to apply for the management course.
To secure your spot for the course, you have to first attain the accepted CAT cutoff and get shortlisted for the multi-stage selection process, wh
N
Contributor-Level 10
Answered 6 days ago
No, CAT is not a mandatory entrance exam for MBA admissions at Pratibha Institute of Business Management. Candidates who want to apply for MBA courses cal also appear for MH -CET, XAT, MAT, GMAT and CMAT. However, appearing in any one of these exams is a mandatory requirement for MBA at Pratibha Ins
S
Contributor-Level 10
Answered a week ago
To get admission at IIT Kanpur for the MBA/PGDM course, candidates have to secure a CAT percentile of at least 90 if they belong to the General AI category.
Candidates who clear the exam cutoff are then eligible to take part in the Group Discussion (GD) and Personal Interview (PI). Students who pass
N
Contributor-Level 10
Answered a week ago
IIT Kanpur provides the MBA course based on the student's performance in the CAT exam. In 2025, the overall CAT percentile was 90 for the General AI category candidates. For more information, refer to the table below. The cutoff provided below is for the General AI category.
| Section | IIT Kanpur MBA cutoff 2025 |
|---|---|
| Overall | 90 |
| Quants | 50 |
| VA-RC | 50 |
| DI-LR | 50 |
Note: The cutoff provid
N
Contributor-Level 10
Answered a week ago
No, to get admission at IIT Roorkee for the MBA/PGDM course, students have to first attempt the CAT entrance examination and attain a valid percentile. Those students who clear the cutoff are then eligible to move to the second round of admission, which involves PI (Personal Interview).
Students who
N
Contributor-Level 10
Answered a week ago
Aspirants must have more than 70 percentile in CAT for admission in MBA programme of Department of Management Studies, NALSAR University. Such aspirants do not have to appear for NMET (PG) conducted by DoMS for admission.
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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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