How I Went From 92%ile in CAT'23 to 99.6%ile in CAT'24 | What Changed?

Main Ideas / Concepts / Lessons

• Goal & context

  • The speaker (Aditya) is a second-year IIM Bangalore student.
  • He shares his experience from CAT ’23 (92 percentile) to CAT ’24 (99.6 percentile).
  • He previously joined a panel discussion on “journey to CAT and life at IIM,” but ran out of time—so he explains his story via YouTube.

• Why CAT failure happens

  • CAT is difficult not only because of the question level, but because of the competitive environment:
    • Even “easy” questions become crucial because others won’t miss them.
  • CAT preparation is highly subjective:
    • There’s no single correct strategy.
    • You must figure out what works for you based on your learning pace and your strengths/weaknesses.

• Key change from CAT ’23 to CAT ’24

  • In CAT ’23, he scored 0 in DILR and his Quant also went poorly, despite ~4–5 months of preparation (syllabus coverage, mocks, mock analysis, etc.).
  • He concluded that his first approach was missing something in terms of execution.
  • In the second attempt, he fixed it—mainly by changing how he prepared and how he used mocks.

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Methodology / Actionable Guidance (Detailed)

1) Set the right baseline about CAT

• Assume CAT is challenging because of competition, not because it’s the same kind of “difficulty” as school exams.
• Treat missed questions as potentially decisive, because other test-takers likely answer them.

2) Start early (but with the right mindset)

• Don’t assume CAT needs only 3–4 months.
• Use extra time to:
  • identify strengths and weaknesses
  • improve learning quality and readiness
• If you’re preparing for later cycles (he mentions CAT ’26), start as early as possible.

3) Understand the syllabus—not just “complete” it

He distinguishes between:

• Completing syllabus: checking boxes / finishing content
• Understanding syllabus: truly knowing how concepts translate into questions

How he approached “understanding” in CAT ’23 (resources):

• VARC
  • No strict fixed syllabus.
  • Practice used material from:
    • previous year mocks
    • previous CAT exams
    • sectionals / mock exams
  • This exposed him to the range of possible question types.
• DILR
  • Used YouTube playlists dedicated to DILR question types.
• Quant
  • Used Rodha’s playlist (free CAT syllabus coverage).
  • He intentionally skipped an advanced segment because it felt too hard and not essential for his goal.

What he changed in CAT ’24 (core lesson):

• Stop obsessing over completing the syllabus.
• Reason: the syllabus “never feels finished” because learning happens through application, not theory loops.
• True understanding comes from practice, where formulas/concepts appear in varied ways.

4) Prioritize mocks and mock analysis (the “favorite part”)

• Core principle:
  • Instead of obsessing over syllabus completion, obsess over taking more mocks and analyzing them.

What was different between attempts:

• CAT ’23: more theory focus; mocks weren’t analyzed deeply; then he kept returning to theory.
• CAT ’24: a “brute force approach” (not claimed to be universally necessary, but it worked for him).

His mock-taking strategy (brute force approach):

• He took three mock test series while working full-time:
  • TIME
  • Career Launcher
  • IMS SimCat
• Scheduling:
  • Mock 1: Friday night
  • Mock 2: Saturday morning
  • Mock 3: Sunday morning
• Weekend use:
  • The weekend was largely dedicated to taking mocks.
• Week use:
  • Other days (alongside the job) were spent on analyzing mocks.

Volume and outcome:

• He reports doing 40–45 mocks, possibly 50+.
• This helped him:
  • recognize topics and predict question types
  • see a question and quickly apply the right approach
• He describes this level of readiness as necessary to “crack” or “smash” the exam.

The loop he recommends during practice:

1. Give a mock
2. Analyze it
3. Identify missing theory concepts / weaknesses
4. Review notes / “theoretical notebooks”
5. Practice weak question types
6. Return to another mock and check improvement

He emphasizes that toward the end, learning happens through mocks.

5) Use daily targets (mini-tests)

Coaching institutes recommend:

• 3 mini-tests per day
  • one each from Quant, VARC, DILR

Benefits:

• Keeps you connected to topics even on low-energy days
• Maintains a minimum consistent effort
• Builds confidence

6) Accept uncontrollable factors: luck on exam day

• He frames CAT as a filtering exam, not purely an intelligence-based one.
• Exam outcomes can vary even with the same preparation.

Practical advice to handle uncertainty:

• Prepare for the “worst case”:
  • attempt/prepare every topic
  • don’t rely on myths like:
    • skipping specific topics
    • trying to score 99% in Quant by attempting only ~10 questions

Reason against the “10-question” myth:

• To attempt only 10 questions correctly, you’d need strong confidence you’ll pick the exact right ones—so realistically you must prepare for many more questions.

7) Be kind to yourself and protect well-being

• Don’t be overly harsh if your results don’t match expectations.
• Focus on health and mental well-being.

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Speakers / Sources Featured (Identified)

• Aditya — speaker; IIM Bangalore student; author of the video narrative
• IIM Bangalore — mentioned as the institution hosting a referenced panel and student community
• TIME — mock test series brand
• Career Launcher — mock test series brand
• IMS SimCat — mock test series brand
• Rodha — YouTube channel referenced for Quant syllabus playlists