A look into the mirror
The answer to the re-take conundrum depends on three things
- your evaluation of your ability with respect to the CAT
- your evaluation of your mental state when contemplating another attempt
- your evaluation of your aspirations
Let us try to make this a bit objective by making it a Q & A situation
YOU versus CAT – ABILITY
The first question you need to ask is — is this the best shot you could have given? Was this a full-fledged, completely-immersed-into-CAT attempt? Do you believe you have exhausted the limits of your aptitude as far as CAT goes? Answer all these questions and then answer the question below.
Question #1
Do you believe that you have maxed out and cannot go any further in terms of percentile if you give another attempt — YES/NO?
YOU versus CAT – STAMINA
The next question is whether you have enough mental fuel to mount another campaign. Do not count the attempts that you made just like that. Is this your first, second or third serious attempt?
Question #2
Have your attempts so far taken so much out of you that you dread the thought of another attempt despite knowing that you can get better — YES/NO?
YOU versus COLLEGE
What do you think of the options in front of you right now? How do you view yourself vis-a-vis the options you have?
Question #3
Do you believe that all you need is a decent degree and a decent break and will make the most of the opportunities you get irrespective of the brand or do you believe that your aptitude, your profile and your ambition deserve a better college than the options you have in front of you right now — YES/NO?
If your answer to all the above questions is YES, then you should NOT RE-TAKE and get into a college this year.
If your answer is NO to all three then you should definitely re-take the CAT but also evaluate the GMAT depending on your profile and aspirations, which as mentioned will be taken up in the next post.
These are not easy questions to answer and I am sure there will be other personal considerations and pressures from different quarters that you need to factor in. But understand that this decision is purely about your career and hence the decision has to be taken keeping only that in mind.
Not everyone might be happy with your decision but satisfying all is satisfying none. As far as your career goes you are the only one who has to be satisfied.
So you really need to answer these questions for yourself and make a decision.
If you decide to re-take
The moment you decide to re-take, other questions start popping up
- Should I quit my job to re-take for the CAT?
- How do I go about my prep? What should be my mindset?
- Do I need to take classroom coaching? what materials should I use?
- How should I go about my prep section-wise?
I’ll be putting up posts on the same soon.
The CAT Writer 
when should I Ideally leave the job
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Hi Abhishek,
The whole pros, cons and timeline to quit your job can be found in this post: https://thecatwriter.com/2022/03/22/should-i-quit-my-job-to-prepare-for-cat-4/
Hope this helps,
All the best!
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If i completed my Graduation in 2024, and I want to take gap this year for CAT. What was the best answer should i give for my gap year??
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Did you work after your graduation? And what is your graduation degree?
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No I just completed my graduation B’Com in Aug 2024 and I Joined IMS in Jan 25 for my Cat preparation.
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Hi Chintu,
The best answer you can give is that after your commerce you were clear that an MBA was the best path for you. While you would liked to work, the jobs on hand were in no way aligned to your MBA goals (cite a few jobs) and so you decided to straight away pursue an MBA after finding out that b-schools have 30-40 percent freshers as well. Since you are from a non-math background you decided to target CAT 25.
Hope this helps,
All the best!
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Hi Arushi,
Once you convert these colleges, you should look at whether the firms that visit these campuses and the pay packages will offer you a good career start.
Ideally an MBA should increase your current earning potential by 2-2.5x depending on where are you right now. If these college do that job then joining will not be bad idea.
If you want to give it another shot then you should definitely take up a job. In that case it will not be a risk in my opinion. All you need to do is get an admission into the next rung of colleges.
Hope this helps,
All the best!
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how to remove the previous attempt worst percentile in CAT from mind for preparation of new attempt?
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Hi Om,
There is only one solution. Writing down the exact reasons for what went wrong section by section.
1. Was it just nerves and getting overwhelmed on test day.
2. In each section did you execute a selection strategy clearly or did you just pick and choose randomly?
3. Did you have a clear question type wise technique, suggested by a good trainer, in VA-RC or did you solve by gut feel.
4. Did you go in scared and/or underprepared in any section?
5. Did you prepare selectively, leaving some things out?
Once you know why something happened, you can work on it. So break down where the problem was: question selection, solving technique, conceptual clarity, mock practice, mental conditioning.
Hope this helps,
All the best!
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Hello sir !
My name is Shreyansh. My profile is 6/7/8.9. I graduated in 2023, BBA non engineer. I have OBC category. Also having a 7 months work experience. I have also done an internship in a NGO. Also having many certifications in extra-curricular and co-curricular activities.
Wanted to ask that i just gave cat by literally preparing for just 3-4 months and that was also not seriously. I got 50%ile in cat 2023. Then prepared again for cat 2024 and scored 61%ile even after giving 40 mocks. But the problem was i was inconsistent throughout my prepartion and also didn’t effectively analyze mock or i even don’t know how to analyze it.
So, this will be my 2nd serious attempt and learned that i have to be consistent. joined ims again but offline this time. So, ultimately my question is that what changes should i make this time to score a 99%ile in cat 2025. Also what calls can i get considering my profile.
THANKS !
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Hi Shreyansh!
The secrets to a good CAT score are two things:
1. Question Selection
Solving 50% of the paper correctly is good enough for a 99. The tough part is rejecting the right 50%. Each section has different selection strategies. They are outlined in the blog. We will also be doing sessions on the same.
2. Technique
Once you select the questions in the right way, the next thing is to answer questions accurately.
For VA and RC, you need a clear technique for each question type, where irrespective of the content you follow the same process. These are clearly outlined in the blog.
The same applies for DI-LR and VA-RC.
The whole blog is available in sequence in the book. This can help you give structure to your prep. https://thecatwriter.com/bell-the-cat-your-friend-philosopher-and-guide-for-cat-preparation/
I have also made videos for the book that you can you see here:
https://m.youtube.com/@BellTheCATExam
All the best!
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Thanks sir, will watch it.
Also can i get a call from top non iims like fms when scoring a 99%ile?
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Yes. Most definitely.
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i graduated in 2024 electronics engineering but want to switch my path so will the gap matter i am preparing to write cat 2025.Also ngo work(paid ) for 3 month will it count as work
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