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Journalism of Courage
— Karan Mehta
The countdown to the Common Admission Test (CAT) 2025 has begun, and with just two months left, aspirants across the country are feeling the pressure. This is the most crucial phase of preparation – what you do now can significantly impact your final percentile. While it is too late to start everything from scratch, it is perfect time to consolidate your strengths, fix recurring mistakes, and fine-tune your exam strategy by attempting mocks. There is no need to cover all of your bases, you need to pick your battles.
Let’s look at how you can approach each section — VARC, DILR, and QA – in these final two months.
Reading comprehension (RC) remains the heart of VARC, and with limited time left, the focus should shift from building reading habits to practicing exam-like passages under times conditions.
Daily RC Practice: Aim for 2-3 RC passages every day (timed). Focus not just on solving them but in analyzing why you got certain questions wrong. Look for paterns-do you miss inference questions? Do tone-based questions confuse you? Address those specific gaps.
VA section in short bursts: Para-jumbles, odd-one-out, and summary questions require logical consistency. Spend 15-20 minutes daily practicing these. It’s about exposure rather than theory now. Try to solve one VA question in 30secs to 1 minute.
Do not give up on reading: Dedicate 15-30 mins daily for reading. Pick variety of genres to read and expand your understanding to have familiarity with themes of RC passages that may come in exam.
Final two-month tip: Maintain a log of recurring mistakes in RC and VA. Reviewing it before mocks will reduce silly errors.
DILR has been the most unpredictable section in recent CAT papers, and aspirants often find themselves stuck on one set, losing valuable time. The next two months should be about developing speed in identifying solvable sets and improving accuracy within chosen sets.
Timed set practice: Solve at least 1-2 DILR sets daily under a strict timer. Solving PYQs can be a good strategy for this section. Pick PYQs from CAT 2020 to CAT 2024.
Simulate exam conditions: In mocks, practice the “selection first” approach. Spend the first 2-3 minutes scanning all sets, shortlist the ones that look manageable and familiar, and attempt those first. Remember, you will get the “right feeling” to select a set only when you have solved at least 100 sets before exam and practiced the art in Mocks.
Post-Mock Analysis: Figure out for all the sets that you attempted, did you opt for the correct and fastest approach? Did you waste too much time on calculations? Did you pick incorrect constraint first in the LR set?
Final two-month tip: Practice daily with a mix of easy and tough sets. The ability to quickly differentiate between the two will be your biggest advantage in the actual CAT.
This is the section where many aspirants who started in their preparation in last few months are stuck. Syllabus completion or practice? Can we leave certain topics without costing much? Speed or accuracy? How many hours to this section given 5x syllabus as compared to the other two sections? These are some very common queries that students ask. Below are the answers to these questions:
Revision along with practice: Think smart. What are some of the slots in your schedule where-in you are not doing any college/work specific tasks? Lunch breaks, commuting or waiting between classes can be used for revising key concepts and formulas on a regular basis. After-hours sessions should be reserved for practice. (15-20 questions daily)
Topic-wise revision tests: Allocate specific days to take sectional tests (e.g., Arithmetic-heavy one day, Algebra-heavy the next). If you are targeting a good percentile in this section, all three areas—Algebra, Arithmetic, and Geometry— are important.
Mock Strategy: You can try to attempt QA in two rounds. First, pick off the sitters – Questions that can be solved in under a minute. Then the next round for moderate-tough-lengthy questions. Avoid getting stuck on one question for long (3-4 minutes)
Final two-month tip: If you are struggling with time management amongst three sections, go for 2:1:1 ratio (2 parts for QA, 1 each for DILR & VARC)
This isn’t enough. With just two months left, CAT 2025 preparation is not all about smart revision, selective practice, and consistent mock analysis, one important aspect is your overall well-being. Focus on diet, fitness, sleep schedule and get into the rhythm. This is the time to polish, not to panic. If you stay disciplined over the next two months, you will walk into the exam hall with confidence and control.
(The author is the CXO and co-founder of Supergrads by Topranker)
