How to Prepare for CAT 2025 Exam Without Quitting Your Job
Common Admission Test 2025 ( CAT )
It is a well known fact that Common Admission Test or CAT is the toughest MBA entrance exam in India. Typically, it takes about seven to nine months to prepare for the CAT. During that period, an aspirant is required to dedicate 6-8 hours to study on daily basis. Which means one cannot engage in anything else. So, what should a working professional do? If a person with 9-5 job wishes to appear for CAT, what should they do?
They cannot devote 8 hours to studies daily. So the question for them is how to prepare for CAT? Preparing for CAT requires time - quality time. Working professionals may not be able to devote 8 hours daily. But even if they are able to devote four to six hours with complete focus then, they can crack CAT exam.
CAT 2025 will be held on November 30, 2025. In this article, we have shared a few tips and tricks for CAT preparation for working professionals.
First of all, CAT aspirants need to analyse where they stand viz. their knowledge and practice of CAT 2025 syllabus. For example, finance professionals or engineers may not have to worry about Quantitative Aptitude as much as English. But a Humanities student may face challenge in handling Quants and Data Interpretation. Thus, the starting point should be identifying one's strengths and weaknesses. The second step should be to assess how much time they can devote to studies every day. Let's look at other aspects of CAT exam preparation strategy for working professionals.
Also Read:
- CAT Preparation 2025: When to Start?
- CAT Preparation 2025: Set a Daily Routine
- CAT Preparation 2025: Importance of CAT Mock Tests
- CAT Preparation 2025: Using Social Media to Study
- CAT Preparation 2025: Use Your Advantage
CAT Preparation 2025: When to Start?
Experts say, you don't need more than four to five hours daily for about five months to prepare for CAT exam. So you don't need to quit your job; just alter your daily routine. With office work, meetings, travelling time, it may seem difficult to spare four to five hours daily for studies, but it isn't impossible. In fact for other MBA entrance exams like MAT, XAT, CMAT or SNAP too, four to five hours of study every day is good enough as these exams are quite similar to each other in terms of pattern as well as syllabus. However, you must realise that each individual's capabilities are different from others. Thus, make a plan accordingly.
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CAT Preparation 2025: Set a Daily Routine
No doubt, balancing CAT preparation with a nine to five job is a tightrope walk, but a little bit of planning and minor changes in daily routine can do the trick like in the case of Ravi Prinshu.
Rahul Sinha, who scored 99.49 percentile in CAT 2025, started preparing in February to balance studies with a full-time job. "I started preparing for CAT 2024 early, around February, as I knew balancing studies alongside a full-time job would be challenging and require extra time. Initially, I had a few breaks scattered throughout my preparation until August. However, after August, I didn’t take any more breaks, ensuring consistent effort in the final stretch."
Making a daily routine and following it to T is the key. For a working professional, the most important thing is discipline. It is imperative to follow the daily routine and not waste a single minute.
Prepare a schedule for one month and follow it diligently. Once you get used to that routine, extend it for another two months and so on. Initially it will be taxing, but once you get used to it, you will find it easy.
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CAT Preparation 2025: Importance of CAT Mock Tests
All the CAT toppers recommend practising CAT mock tests. The more mock tests you attempt, closer you get to your target. The greatest benefit of attempting mocks is that with each solved mock test you get to know your mistakes and progress. With each mock test, your speed increases and you discovers new shortcuts to solve the questions. Since, the CAT exam is all about speed and accuracy, mock tests are the best platform to develop them.
Mock test booklets are provided by all coaching institutes. You can also get them on internet. Try to solve as many CAT mock tests and sample papers as you can. We are not giving a definite number here because every aspirant is different and so are their capabilities but 30-40 CAT mock tests should put you in a good position.
| CAT_Mock_Test_1 | CAT_Mock_Test_1_Solutions |
| CAT_Mock_Test_2 | CAT_Mock_Test_2_Solutions |
CAT Preparation 2025: Using Social Media to Study
- There are various groups on the internet that help each other in preparing for entrance exams. Social media platforms like Quora, Facebook, Reddit etc. are popular platforms where you can find student communities.
- Connect with other CAT aspirants, ask questions, share insights and expand your knowledge base. In such forums, you will also find many experts who help students in preparing for such career defining exams.
- Interacting with people going through the same grind as you are, is important to keep the motivation level high.
- Downloading study apps is also a good idea. You can log on to these apps and study on smartphone while travelling.
Also Read:
- CAT Preparation Plan For VARC
- CAT Preparation: Your Love For Reading Can Get You Desired Result
- CAT Preparation Plan for DILR
- How to Crack Logical Reasoning for CAT
- Time Management in CAT QA and DI
- CAT Preparation Plan For Quantitative Aptitude
- Master the Secret of Acing QA in CAT Exam
Check out the video below to know more about CAT preparation for working professionals:
CAT Preparation 2025: Use Your Advantage
Working professionals have an advantage over fresh graduates, that is of work experience. All the IIMs and top B-schools give significant weightage to work experience while screening students for admission. For example, IIM Bangalore gives eight marks for work experience so you can well imagine its value where people miss admission even by .01 mark. Typically, work experience of three to five years is considered desirable by management institutes. Also, working professionals are better communicators. They can hold their own in GD and PI, whereas freshers may not be able to. So if you are a working professional planning to take CAT 2025, don't quit your job, instead, make the best of it.
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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.
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.
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 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.
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 Yesterday
No, CAT scores are not important for admission to the MBA course at the School of Business, Sushant University. As per the info. taken from the website of the university, it conducts its own entrance exam for enrollment into the MBA course.
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RGIPT allows admission without CAT/XAT/GMAT/CMAT/MAT/CUET-PG score under two circumstances. First, you should be a company-sponsored candidate. Second, if you belong to part time registration category. You will still have to fulfil the remaining eligibility criteria.
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Answered 2 days ago
Candidates with a valid score of CAT/ GMAT/ GRE score are exempted from the written test. These candidates still need to complete the form by paying the application fees. However, these aspirants may get called for the IIM Trichy - Chennai campus PGPBM interview round.
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Answered 2 days ago
CAT is one of the accepting exams for admission to PGDM at IPE Hyderabad. Candidates with a good score in CAT can also get a scholarship. However, CAT is not mandatory. Aspirants with a score in MAT, XAT, ATMA, GMAT or CMAT exams can also get admission in the PGDM course.
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Answered 4 days ago
No, candidates who wish to apply for the Global MBA course at Lexicon MILE are required to clear the LAT conducted by Lexicon MILE. The CAT exam score at Lexicon MILE is only used for deciding the PGDM admissions along with several other entrance exams.
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Contributor-Level 10
Answered 4 days ago
CAT is one of the accepting exams for MBA admission at Karunya School of Management. However, it is not compulsory. Aspirants can also apply through XAT, MAT or KMAT scores. Candidates must also complete graduation to apply for MBA at KSM Coimbatore.
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Guide-Level 15
Answered 4 days ago
CAT is one of the accepting exams for admission to MBA programme at Amity University Bengaluru. However, it is not compulsory. Aspirants can also get admission in MBA via MAT, GRE or CMAT scores. Candidates with scores in these entrance exams can also get scholarship provided they meet the criteria.
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Guide-Level 15
Answered 4 days ago
No, CAT exam is not mandatory for VIT-AP MBA admissions. Candidates who are interested in the MBA course offered by the institute can also apply through the scores in the XAT and MAT as well.
VIT-AP also accepts the scores obtained in the VITBEE for the MBA admissions. However, candidates with a high
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Answered 5 days ago
No, CAT scores are not compulsory for enrollement into MBA course at IIS Jaipur. As per the info. available on the website of the institute, the institute give prefrences to those students who have secured scored in the management entrance exams, such as CAT/ XAT/ CUET PG/ MAT. Thus, CAT scores can
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Yes, Manipur Institute of Management Studies, Manipur University does accept CAT scores for admission to its MBA course. Students can also submit scores of other national-level exams, such as MAT/ XAT/ CMAT/ GMAT/ ATMA etc.
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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.