How to Prepare for CAT 2025 in 3 Months - Tips by Toppers and Expert
Common Admission Test 2025 ( CAT )
Admit Card - 5 Nov '25 - 30 Nov '25
CAT 2025 preparation is to be done in phases. The final phase starts three months before the exam. Aspirants must know what and how to prepare for CAT exam in three months! Get 90-day CAT plan here. By Deekshant Sehrawat
Three months before CAT exam is perhaps the most decisive phase of your preparation. It is the time when you will need to not only speed up your preparation but ensure that your accuracy level continues to increase. All the hard work of previous months will be put to use in the last three months of CAT 2025 preparation. The most important thing to keep in mind is that just like any game, sport or race, the result gets decided in the final stages and a lot can change during the last quarter of CAT preparation 2025. When three months are left for the exam, you should start assessing your CAT exam preparation level to make the strategy until the exam day, i.e what should be the focus area and point of action?
CAT 2025 exam date is November 30, 2025 so by September have a focussed study plan viz. you topics coverage, practice tests and revision. Whether you are ahead or behind in your exam preparation, making the best use of the last three months will finally decide how you perform in the CAT 2025 exam.
- CAT 2025 Preparation in 3 Month: Key Highlights
- How to Prepare for CAT 2025 in Three Months?
- CAT Preparation in 3 Months: CAT Mock Tests
- How Many Hours to Study for CAT Preparation 2025?
- CAT Preparation in 3 Months- Practice Sessions
- CAT Mock Test By Shiksha
CAT 2025 Preparation in 3 Month: Key Highlights
CAT exam preparation is possible in three months. If you start from now, you will be well prepared by the exam day. However, you will need to put in extra effort, because time is less and CAT syllabus is vast. Here are some key tips to prepare for CAT in 3 months:
Know the CAT exam pattern and syllabus
Focus on the following topics of CAT sections:
- DILR: Tables, Charts, Coding-Decoding, Syllogism, etc.
- VARC: Reading comprehension, Para-jumbles, Para completion, Odd Sentence.
- QA: Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry, Number Systems, Percentages, Time & Work, etc.
Create a Timetable- Three-month plan
Three months will get over in the blink of an eye, if you do not have a definite plan. Make a weekly plan, which should include CAT syllabus coverage, practice session and revision.
- Aim to cover main topics of CAT syllabus in first month.
- Dedicate second month to practice and application.
- The last one month should be dedicated to achieving accuracy and speed, i.e. CAT mock test practice and analysis.
CAT Mock Tests & Practice
Take CAT mock tests every two days to familiarize yourself with the actual exam atmosphere and online practice. Analyze your performance in each mock test to know the gaps.
Develop Time Management Skill
CAT has sectional time limit, so it is critical to have complete control on time. Practice answering questions in a time bound manner. CAT mock tests will be of great help in this.
Give Extra Time to Weak Areas
Topics that are not your strength will need extra focus. Keep aside extra time to devote on such topics. There is no set pattern of sectional composition in CAT and you would not want to appear for the exam ill prepared.
Stay Consistent
Three months is less time for CAT. What can help you crack it in such a short time is consistency and discipline. Have a dedicated routine of 6-7 hours of study daily. Even on days when you don’t feel like studying, push yourself to practice some DILR or vocabulary puzzles.
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How to Prepare for CAT 2025 in Three Months?
With this perspective firmly planted in your mind, you should try and make a consistent daily/weekly effort across various CAT sections as per the following indicative plan. While it is not necessary that the same plan that will work equally well for every individual, it is important to prepare a plan with the basics in mind. Your CAT 2025 preparation plan should adapt to your individual needs. The following is just a roadmap, with an inbuilt flexibility at each step to allow you to adapt it to your own specific needs. Know here how to prepare for CAT exam in three months.
Also Read: CAT books and study material
With an average of three hours of effort per day, apart from your college classes/job/CAT coaching classes, etc. you will have have around 350 hours of CAT preparation in the last three months. How you invest these 350 hours will have a decisive impact on your chances of success.
CAT Preparation in 3 Months: CAT Mock Tests
Out of these 350 hours, roughly 100 hours should be spent in practicing CAT mock tests. While 15 mocks (1 per week) will mean only 45 hours, at least an equal amount of time has to be invested in analyzing these full-length mock tests and then working upon the areas that need improvement.
This leaves you with around 250 hours out of which you will invest a certain amount of time on every section of CAT (QA, VARC, DILR) of CAT 2025. The first thing to do would be to divide this time in such a manner that you allot maximum time to the sections you are weak at and minimum time on sections which are your strength. Why? Simply because it will ensure a better return on invested time. Putting in more where the scope of improvement is more is analogous to investing more in a stock that is likely to appreciate more. The fundamentals of investment remain fairly similar to that in any other asset class.
Download:
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How Many Hours to Study for CAT Preparation 2025?
If you feel this time frame is too less, you will need to put in more hours daily. So, four-hours daily for instance, would mean your total investment will move up to roughly 450 hours, and subtracting the 100 hours for CAT mock tests and their analyses, it would leave you with 350 hours for practice at the section/topic-wise levels. In such a case you could look at investing somewhere between 100 to 140 hours for each section of CAT exam, depending upon how strong/weak you are in them currently.
However, to ensure balance, even your strongest section should not get less than 70 hours (roughly 30 per cent) out of the 250 hours we talked about. The weakest one should not get more than 100 hours (roughly 40 per cent). This ensures that your investment is sufficiently diversified and hence, relatively balanced and safe.
Within each section of the CAT exam, more time should go into a studying and practicing topics that you are weak in and less into topics that you are already strong in. Why? Simply because you should be practicing all questions starting from the simplest ones to tougher ones in a topic that you are weak in; whereas a topic in which you are relatively stronger, you need to practice only tougher questions. For any given level of ability and preparation, how well you adapt the CAT preparation plan and invest your time according to your own specific needs will get you far better CAT 2025 result.
Moreover, you cannot be less prepared in any of the topics, because you don't know the definite topic wise weightage of CAT 2025. It may happen that there are more questions from the topic you thought was unimportant. For example, Arithmetic dominates CAT but that doesn't mean questions will not be asked from Number System. In CAT 2024, there was no parajumble question at all.
CAT Preparation in 3 Months- Practice Sessions
Last three months of CAT exam preparation should be all about capitalizing on what you learnt in the earlier months. In other words, it is time to practice sample papers and mock tests. During the last three months of CAT preparation 2025, make sure you solve at least 25-30 full length mock tests. This will not only prepare you for the actual exam but will also instill confidence in you. Shiksha has compiled some CAT questions for candidates to practice. Check them below.
CAT is a speed based test which is designed to assess a candidate's 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 advance 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.
Candidates will know their allotted CAT exam centre only from the admit card. There is no way to know the test centre before the release of the CAT admit card. The examination authority allots a test centre to aspirants in the city of their first preference as mentioned in the city. So, candidates can atleast be assured that they will get a test centre in the city they had chosen as first preference in the CAT application form. However, the venue will be mentioned only on the candidate’s admit card. So as soon as the CAT admit card is released, candidates must check the test city and test centre details. In order to avoid any confusion, they must visit the centre at least once before the exam day.
CAT Mock Test By Shiksha
Check out these free CAT mock tests by Shiksha. Take these mock tests to see how well you have gained control on CAT questions and topics.
| CAT_Mock_Test_1 | CAT_Mock_Test_1_Solutions |
| CAT_Mock_Test_2 | CAT_Mock_Test_2_Solutions |
Read more CAT preparation articles:
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- CAT Preparation 2025: Best strategy to crack CAT
- CAT Preparation plan for verbal ability
- CAT Preparation plan for data interpretation & logical reasoning
- CAT 2025: Simple tips to optimize exam preparation
In the last one month before the CAT exam, candidates must start focusing on the most important topics. These may include strong and weak areas. Practice sample questions from these topics and do not start any new topic. Here's what to do in the last month of CAT preparation:
· Attempt CAT mock tests regularly and anaylse your performance. Spend time on filling the gaps.
· Practice time management through time bound practice sessions and mock tests
· Attend online study groups for problem solving and doubt clearing sessions.
· Keep revising key concepts and formulas of CAT. Have a daily session of 2 hours for revision only.
· Solve previous years' question papers to understand the trends of past years and work on topics that appear most frequently.
· Attempt official IIM CAT mock test to know the expected CAT 2025 exam pattern
· Focus on your health. It is very important to stay healthy in this phase so that your study time is not affected. Sleep well and take breaks from study to indulge in a hobby or a recreational activity to relax.
Yes, it is possible to prepare for CAT exam with mock tests only if you have appeared for the exam previously and have complete control on the topics included in the CAT syllabus. But if you are a first timer, you need to first complete the syllabus, understand each and every topic and then practice CAT mock tests to crack the exam.
To improve English, CAT candidates must start with grammar. They should use Wren and Martin book to understand and practice basic grammar rules. Apart from that, they must consult Word Power Made Easy for vocabulary. Reading Comprehension is an important aspect of CAT, so one should start reading English books, novels and magazines much in advance to develop comprehension. There are some recommended books for improving English comprehension, aspirants must read those.
| Free VARC Questions with Answers for Practice | Free DILR Questions with Answers for Practice | Free Quantitative Aptitude Questions with Answers for Practice |
About the Author
Deekshant Sehrawat is a man of many facets. An IIT Delhi, IIM Calcutta alumnus Deekshant, is the founder of a popular MBA coaching institute. Deekshant is also a lyricist and has co-written a number of songs with Dr. Palash Sen, lead singer of Hindi rock band Euphoria.
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Student Forum
Anything you would want to ask experts?Answered a week ago
With a 300 SC category rank in CAT, your chances for NIT Trichy MBA are relatively high. Based on 2025 data, NIT Trichy generally shortlists SC candidates with CAT percentiles around 60-65. To achieve a 300 rank under SC category, you would need about a 65-70 percentile, or a score of roughly 60-65
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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.