How I scored 99.89%ile in CAT; Ananya Mishra shares tips & tricks
Common Admission Test 2026 ( CAT )
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6 Nov '26 - 29 Nov '26
Ananya Mishra
With CAT 2017 likely to be conducted in the month of November/December, it is high time that MBA aspirants start preparing for the exam with utmost dedication. However, only sitting for hours and preparing for the CAT exam does not assure a good percentile. The candidate must ensure that he/she is following the right preparation strategy. Without this, all efforts might go waste. Shiksha spoke to Ananya Mishra, CAT 2016, 99.89%iler about how one should prepare for the exam, and here is what she told us:
Q. Does coaching play an important role in CAT 2017 preparation or is self-study sufficient?
Self- study is a must for the CAT preparation. In addition to that, one might opt for coaching if he/she feels the need of an extra support.
Q. When is the right time to start preparing for CAT 2017?
This is something which depends entirely on the student. For instance, I started seriously preparing roughly 6 months prior to the examination.
Q. What should be the routine study strategy of CAT 2017 aspirants?
Regular practice is something which helps a lot. I would suggest aspirants to practice problems from all three sections regularly. Excessive focus on one often leads to negligence of the other sections which does more harm than good.
Q. Which books/study material should CAT 2017 aspirants use?
There is no such restriction on books. Any book which has content similar to what appears in the examination is good enough. However, aspirants must go through past question papers to get a good overview of the question pattern and difficulty level that is expected.
Q. What should be the sectional preparation strategy?
The key is to identify the section that is bringing down the performance of the student. That section will require special attention. Apart from that, each section will have different topics and the candidate will have to find out which of them needs more practice and allot time accordingly.
Q. When appearing for CAT 2017, how should the aspirants decide which questions to attempt from different sections: Quantitative Ability & DI, Verbal Ability & LR?
This is a highly subjective matter. It depends on the skill of the student. It is for the student to decide which questions fall in his/her comfort zone and which do not.
Q. Time management plays an important role. Any tips for CAT 2017 aspirants on time management?
I would suggest aspirants to monitor the time they are taking for solving the problems and successively try to reduce that.
Q. How can an aspirant judge his/her weak areas, and how should one work towards improving the same?
From my personal experience, appearing for CAT mock tests and analysing the results help a lot in finding out the topics which need improvement.
Q. Should candidates also appear for other management exams? If yes, which exams?
Q. Share some do’s and don’ts that CAT 2017 aspirants might find useful.
Do practice as much as you can. Don’t over exert yourselves. Stay confident.
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Student Forum
Anything you would want to ask experts?Answered 2 days ago
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In case of mistakes in the fields mentioned on the CAT admit card, candidates must contact the official CAT helpdesk via email or phone to get it rectified before the exam date.
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Candidates need to log in using their CAT User ID and Password to download CAT admit card. These login credentials are generated at the time of registration.
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No, the Common Admission Test (CAT) admit card cannot be obtained offline. Candidates have to download CAT 2026 admit card from the official website.
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Yes. Candidates must preserve their admit card safely. It is a mandatory document required for identity verification during the Writing Ability Test (WAT), Personal Interview (PI) rounds, and final admission stages at the institutes.
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