Information checked in October 2026. This comparison is independent.
CAT 2026 is scheduled for 29 November 2026, in three slots across many test cities. Check iimcat.ac.in for official updates and admit cards. Many candidates are working professionals with 1–5 years of experience. Work experience can help at several IIMs and other B-schools, but time is short. Here is how to use the remaining weeks well.
Exam basics
Recent CAT papers have three timed sections: Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC), Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR), and Quantitative Ability (QA). The test runs about two hours in total, with a fixed time for each section. Confirm this year’s pattern in the official notification and on the mock interface.
Coaching vs test series vs self-study
| Approach | Suits | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Full online coaching (live and recorded) | Candidates weak in basics, especially quant, with 6+ months to prepare | Too late to start a full course in October; cost |
| Mock test series only | Candidates who know the basics. This is the most important purchase in the final months. | Choose a series that matches the CAT interface and difficulty, with good analytics |
| Self-study with free resources | Disciplined candidates with strong fundamentals | Lack of benchmarking. You still need some mocks. |
Final 8-week plan (October–November)
- Two full mocks a week under exam conditions, at your actual slot time on weekends.
- Analyse each mock for twice as long as you took it. Find which questions to skip, where you made silly errors, and which topics to fix.
- Daily: 2–3 RC passages, 2 DILR sets and 15–20 QA questions from your weak areas.
- Use official past CAT papers where available. Nothing reflects actual difficulty better.
- Take a few days of leave in the last two weeks for revision and rest.
Think beyond CAT
- Register for other exams as backups: XAT, SNAP, NMAT and others, depending on your target schools.
- If you have 5+ years of experience, consider 1-year executive programmes (PGPX, ISB PGP, and others) that use GMAT or GRE.
- Start preparing your profile for WAT, PI and essays early. Work experience stories matter.
Official source
- CAT official website: iimcat.ac.in
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