As the CAT prepartion season kicks in, MBA aspirants are busy making CAT strategies and plans that give them the best results. While preparing for CAT 2025 exam, aspirants must pay attention to certain daily habits which can impact their studies positively. Take a look at some lifestyle aspects which are crucial for CAT preparation 2025.
Preparation for CAT exam is rigorous and requires time. There is no doubt that with back-to-back coaching classes and hours and hours of revisions, self-study and mock tests, aspirants leave no stone unturned in CAT preparation. Aspirants have to devote a minimum of 8-10 hours daily to CAT preparation, which can sometimes make one feel like giving up. Let not pressure of CAT preparation wear you down. It is important to stay motivated and dedicated through the journey and in that physical well being is very important.
CAT aspirants tend to overlook certain important things that affect their performance in a significant manner. Your daily routine can play a huge supporting role in your CAT preparation 2025 and eventually in your exam performance. CAT 2025 will be a high difficulty level test so you need to prepare it well without risking your physical and mental health. As you start your CAT 2025 journey, here we have listed a few things you need to pay attention to during CAT exam preparation.
Simple Tips to Optimize CAT Preparation 2025
A Good Night’s Sleep
A good night’s sleep is essential for everybody. More so for CAT aspirants as they need to have deep focus, sharp memory and alertness. Experts say, it is important to sleep for a minimum of eight hours in the night to be fully energized, alert and attentive in the daytime. To ensure there is no daytime fatigue, you must fix a time to sleep. Sleep and wake up at the same time every day. This routine will fix your body clock and optimize the quality of your sleep. The better your sleep the better you will be able to concentrate on CAT preparation. There are confusing theorems and concepts in CAT syllabus that will require a lot of mind work. So, there’s no point in burning the midnight oil if you can’t recall in the morning what you studied at night.
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Healthy Diet
To be able to optimize your CAT 2025 exam preparation you have to be physically fit. Along with sleep, you need to watch your diet. Avoid fried and fatty food as they tend to induce lethargy. Add fresh fruits and vegetables to your diet for protein, vitamins and other important minerals. Dark leafy vegetables, fish, berries, walnuts and food rich in omega-3 fatty acids are good for the brain. Also, avoid eating out to prevent upset stomach or any sort of illness that may hamper your studies. You need to study daily for 6-8 hours. If you skip a day, you will have to work extra on CAT topics the next day.
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Recreational Activities
While there is no argument about the fact that you should dedicate your maximum time towards studies, we would like to emphasize that ‘all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.’ Too many hours of solving CAT DILR puzzles and wracking your brain over CAT Quant problems can slow you down. Take a break and engage in some recreational activity. Listen to music or watch your favourite TV show or take an hour off to play any outdoor game to rejuvenate yourself. Take some time off daily and do whatever energises you and refreshes your mind and then get back to studies with renewed vigour. It is also important for you to practice some kind of physical exercise to prevent laziness and lethargy. You can also opt for Yoga and meditation for a calm and uncluttered mind.
You can pick up puzzles, word games and mind games as leisure activity. This will serve dual purpose of CAT Logical Reasoning practice and recreation.
Besides these three main lifestyle activities, you also need to pay attention to other small details like your study environment, study table, lighting system in your study room and place and the time of studying.
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.
CAT syllabus is vast. It has numerous topics from Verbal Ability, Reading Comprehension, Quantitative Aptitude, Logical Reasoning and Data Interpretation. Covering the CAT syllabus also includes practicing a variety of sample questions on the topics included. Thus, it requires a lot of time. Candidates must given themselves atleast 3-4 months to cover CAT syllabus and keep in mind the following:
· Check the previous years' CAT papers to know topics which carry more weightage so that you can focus on those topics more.
· List down topicsin order of easy, moderate and tough and allot time to them accordingly.
· Make sure to study about 6-8 hours per day to complete the syllabus 2-3 months before the exam.
· After studying every topic, practice sample questions. Balance theory with practical.
Study Desk
Make sure your study table and chair are at the right height, which supports your posture as wrong posture can lead to discomfort which can affect your concentration. You also need to ensure that your seating arrangement is not causing back pain to you. Don’t study for CAT exam continuously for long hours. Take small breaks of 5-10 minutes in between. This way you will be able to give rest to your eyes and brain too.
Also Read:
- CAT total marks and number of questions
- CAT quantitative aptitude syllabus
- Logical reasoning topics for CAT
Lighting System
Tiredness of eyes is common to all of us. Long hours of study during CAT 2025 preparation can severely affect your eyes. That is why your study area should be well lit. It should be neither too bright nor dim. Try to study in natural light as much as possible. It provides a soothing effect which is absent in artificial lights. Keep the screen light of your laptop/desktop at comformtable limit.
To prepare for Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension, stick to the traditional path of concepts first and practice later. Study English grammar and Verbal Ability first to understand the concept. Then practice a number of sample questions of different kinds to gain confidence, speed and accuracy. For RC passages, develop the habit of reading from early stages. Read books from all walks of life.
Practicing sample Reading Comprehension passages and questions in a crucial part of VARC preparation. This will help you understand the types of questions and RC passages asked in various entrance exams.
As an aspirant, you will be appearing for more than one entrance exam, thus you need to have the practice of different types of RC passages.
CAT Quantitative Aptitude has the potential of 100 percentile if you prepare well. The Quantitative Aptitude topics of CAT are advance level Mathematic topics from Class 9 and 10. So, for any candidate, the foundation is already there, they only need to work on it further.
The important topics of CAT Quantitative Aptitude include Geometry, Ratios and Proportion, Inequalities, Trigonometry, In-equations, Quadratic and Linear Equations, Work and Time, Algebra, Surds and Indices, Percentages, Mensuration, Time-Speed-Distance, Logarithms, Partnership (Accounts), Number System, Square Root and Cube Root, Profit & Loss, Geometric Progression, Probability, Mean-Mode-Median, Binomial theorem, Simple interest and compound interest.
Maximum questions are asked from Arithmetic and Geometry so keep the main focus on these two topic. Understand and memorise the formulas and theorems well, and practice enough questions to be thorough with their application.
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.
Time and Place of Study
Since studying is going to be your main occupation for the next few months, you need to create the right environment for it. The one which is free from noise and disturbances. Set up your study area away from your living room where family members watch TV, listen to music or converse with each other. Don’t study in a room which invites noise from outside.
You also need to set a time table for CAT preparation 2025. Experts say, early morning is the best time to study new concepts and solving problems as the mind is fresh after sleep. Post-dinner study time is good for revision and studying relatively lighter topics.
Stay Away from Phone
Last but not the least, stay away from your smartphone, IPad and other gadgets that have the potential to distract you.
Implement these few things in your preparation plan and see the result. All the best for CAT 2025!
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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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Student Forum
Anything you would want to ask experts?Answered 11 hours 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
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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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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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CAT registrations generally start from the month of Aug. Candidates wanting to get into IBMR MBA course can apply with a valid CAT score. The application window closes by Sep. Both the applications for CAT exam and IBMR Kolkata MBA course are separate.
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FMS Delhi CAT Cutoff 2025 has been released for admission to the MBA/PGDM programme. The CAT Cutoff list is not available to the public but only to those who appeared for the exam. According to the cutoff trends over the last three years, the cutoff was around 90 percentile for the General category
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The CAT 2025 examination results have been officially published. Candidates who took this test may now access their respective IIMCAT scorecards by visiting the IIMCAT web portal and entering their registration ID and password. Each candidate's scorecard contains information concerning his/her secti
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Certain top-tier MBA colleges accept CAT results from the previous year, and instead of looking at each section's cut off, these schools place more weight on the overall percentile. This includes schools such as SPJIMR Mumbai, which uses a profile based selection process; Great Lakes Institute of Ma
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Contributor-Level 10
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.