What Next if You Have Not Done Well in CAT 2025 Exam?

CAT 2025 was held today. About 2.95 lakh candidates appeared for it. Some are happy and some are not. However, this is no time to worry about what happened. It is time to plan the next move. 

CAT 2025 over, what's next

CAT 2025 is over. The questions paper was difficult and many of you may be wondering if whether I have done well enough. If you are having a doubt, don’t worry. CAT is not the end. It is just the beginning. Here’s what you can do if you’ve not done well in CAT 2025 exam.

First of all, take some time off it. Don’t stress too much over what is over. Focus on what’s next. Most of you must have registered for SNAP, XAT and CMAT too. So prepare better for those exams. Experience of CAT 2025 will rather help you in preparing for these exams better.

Latest: CAT 2025 live updates: exam analysis, expected cut offs, answer key, question paper

Focus on other MBA Entrance Exams

SNAP 2025 will be held on December 6, 14 and 20. XAT 2026 will be held on January 4, 2026. CMAT 2026 exam date has not be announced yet, so you have ample time to prepare. If you’ve missed registering for these, register for MAT by December 15, 2025.

Shortlist Colleges According to Your Estimated Score

CAT cut off for IIM may be high but not all MBA colleges in India ask for high scores from candidates. There are nearly 1600 B-schools in India that accept CAT score for MBA/PGDM admission as per Shiksha. You can check out which colleges fall in the range of your estimated score. Many Tier 1 colleges have CAT cut off of 80 to 90 percentile. While Tier 2 colleges accept candidates in the range of 70-80 percentile, Tier 3 colleges accept candidates with CAT cut off in the range of 60-70 percentile. You can use Shiksha’s CAT college predictor to check which institute is within your reach.

Prepare for CAT Exam Again

There is no cap on number of attempts in CAT. So, what if you didn’t fair well this time. Take CAT 2025 as practice match and prepare for CAT 2026. You will surely perform superbly, next time. Stay focused.