By Gaurav Tyagi, Career Xpert
In the 30 days before your CAT 2025 exam, you typically experience both excitement and anxiety. This is the period when all your hard work over the past months begins to come to fruition. You are not in the phase of learning new topics or concepts; instead, what you do in those final days is revising and reinforcing what you have already learned.
At this stage, the aim is not to consume more content, but it is to revise effectively. You will be preparing yourself with mocks, reviewing your mocks, deciding what to add to your memory bank and what you can let go of, also preparing yourself for the mental aspect of the exam on exam day. These last few weeks are where you turn preparation into performance, confidence into calm, and hard work into results. The CAT does not merely assess aptitude; it is also a measure of will and an assessment of your ability to cope with pressure, time management and makimg robust decisions under pressure. How you spend these 30 days matters. It can make a great deal of difference to your final percentile.
CAT 2025: Your Goals for the Last Month
In the last month, your goal should be to consolidate what you already know, hone for accuracy, and improve your time management. This is not the time to get into new topics that you haven’t covered. You should rather, revise your strong areas and work to convert them into guaranteed marks. The toppers make the same point, the difference between the 95th and 99th percentiles is not knowledge; it is execution. Therefore, every day during this phase should have a clear goal of revising effectively, practicing purposefully, and being consistent.
To know more: CAT Syllabus 2025 | CAT 2025 Exam Pattern
How to Break up The Last 30 Days
One simple way to structure your final month is to break it up into three phases—Concept Reinforcement, Mock Testing, and Strategy Refinement.
• Days 1–10: Concept Reinforcement :
Go back through your notes, review important formulas, and take topic-wise exams. If you have had challenges with certain areas, like algebra or your accuracy with RC, focus on those areas.
• Days 11–20: Mock Tests & Analytics :
Start taking one mock every two to three days. You should always analyze your performance beyond your score. Spend time analyzing wrong answers, noting weak topics, and reviewing different approaches.
• Days 21–30: Strategy Refinement :
Try to take mocks at the same time of day as the actual exam. Your goal is to have a productive plan for a mock and get a life simulation. You will only review short notes and critical question types and take a mock exam. This phase is about polishing, building confidence, and finalizing the competition day strategy.
Also check: Top MBA Institutes in India Based on Global Financial Times (FT) Rankings
A Realistic Daily Schedule/Plan for CAT 2025
A planned day is important to maintain balance across sections. You do not need to study 10 hours a day; if you are efficient, you will be productive in six to eight hours per day.
Start your day with quantitative aptitude when your mind is fresh. Midday is best for Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR) as it needs focus and patience. Evenings can be reserved for Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC), followed by mock analysis or light reading. Before sleeping, revise a formula sheet or error notebook.
For example, you might study Quant (8-10 AM), DILR (11-1 PM), and VARC (6-8 PM). You should also take short breaks between study intervals and not get burned out. It is the intensity that you apply to your study sessions that matters, not the amount of time you have spent studying.
Strategy for VARC (Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension)
The focus of the VARC section is reading and comprehension first, and then vocabulary. In your last month, read two to three articles daily, from a different source each day, on topics such as science, politics, literature, and philosophy. After reading an article, see if you can summarize the author’s argument and tone. This specific type of reading will help you with your inference-making ability as well.
Your aim should be the quality of your responses, rather than quickness. RC carries more weight than Verbal Ability, so practice setting a time in exam-like conditions on the RC sets, and do the best you can to complete the entire set. For verbal ability, you can practice parajumbles, sumverbal ability,one-out daily. When answering questions, do not guess, but rather practice eliminating, especially the answers that are too extreme or do not refer back to each other. Additionally, you can go back to old mocks and observe the types of RC questions you tend to misinterpret or miss altogether.
Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR)
While DILR will always be somewhat unpredictable in nature, practicing regularly gives us some control and lets us know what patterns to recognize. Each day, I would recommend attempting to solve two to three DILR sets. Solving one or two of them must be from topic sets where there is a lot of data (like graphs and charts). One must also try to solve a type of question based on arrangement, while another type must be that of something that requires you to think logically to solve.
For more details, also read: CAT Preparation
Quantitative Aptitude (QA) Strategy
Quant is about speed and accuracy. During the review month, I suggest spending about 60% of your time on reviewing and timed practice. It is helpful to make a one-page list of all the formulas you use on each topic type and to try to go over some of them every day. If you are working on new material, try to work on familiar material in arithmetic, algebra, and geometry, if possible.
Work on a mixed-topic set daily, for instance, 10 arithmetic, 10 algebra, and 10 geometry problems. This will largely help develop your flexibility. Also, review any questions you got wrong in your mocks and go back to the questions until you feel comfortable. In addition to reviewing mocks, you should also practice your mental math techniques to help save valuable time during the test. If Quant is your lowest-scoring section, always start the day with Quant—it is always best to go at the hardest exam question when you are most concentrated in the day.
Importance of Mock Tests
Mock tests are the backbone of CAT preparation in the final month. Try to solve about 8–10 full-length mocks before the exam. However, remember ,what you do after a mock is more important than the mock itself.
It is crucial to spend a minimum of three hours analyzing each mock—review each question you got wrong or chose not to answer and reflect on “why.” Did the lack of clarity of concept contribute to the wrong answer, or was it panic or the pressure of time? In addition to analyzing questions you answered incorrectly, also analyze your time spent in each section of the test. Did you run out of time in a section like DILR? In the last week, you should have a tempo set and a good understanding of your approach for each section. Make sure to keep an error log of repeated errors! You will begin to put together patterns of where you miss marks.
Also check: Where Does India Stand in QS Global MBA and Master’s Rankings 2026?
Avoiding Common Pitfalls
A lot of students panic in the last month and make avoidable mistakes. For instance, starting new topics is an error you should avoid—this only creates confusion. Instead, you should put extra effort into the topics that you already understand. Another mistake is taking mocks and never analyzing them; that is a wasted learning opportunity.
Overworking is also a common habit amongst students. It’s important to realize that fatigue affects concentration and focus more than you realize. Rest, nutrition, and sleep are key. Lastly, try not to compare your mock scores to others. You should be focused purely on your progress curve and be more concerned with your own improvement than with an arbitrary rank.
Quick Revision Tools and Tricks
The last month should also be about quick, efficient revision. Use flashcards or short notes for formulas and concepts. Keep a section-wise summary sheet—for example, tone words and RC question types for VARC, common puzzle patterns for DILR, and formula lists for Quant. Revise them every two to three days.
Maintain an error notebook—a record of common mistakes or tricky questions. Revisiting these notes regularly helps avoid repeating errors. As the exam approaches, focus on light review rather than heavy practice.
Also check: Time Management Hacks Every CAT 2025 Aspirant Should Know
Developing Mental Resilience and Exam Stamina
The CAT is not just an academic assessment but a mental one as well. Practicing under test conditions will aid you with focus and stamina. For instance, try taking your mocks/assessments at the same time intervals as your actual exam. You will need to concentrate without distractions for two hours. You will also want to utilize some stress-reducing techniques during the two hours, such as if you think you knocked one section out of the park and did not do great on the second section, do not allow the stress of the second section to change the way you approach the third section.
Visualizing performance is another strategy to utilize. Practice visualizing the performance you want to have on exams as you sit in the exam hall, being calm and confident while the clock is ticking. Positive conditioning has a great impact on performance and how the body performs under stress.
Read more: The Role of Emotional Resilience in CAT Preparation: Why Grit Matters More Than Intelligence
Countdown to Exam Week
In the week before the exam, minimize the volume of information. Practice and focus on last-minute review and rest. Attempt only two to three mocks or practice exams, and if possible, leverage the mocks to retain your rhythm. Review your formula sheets, your notes, and your error log. Also, think about the schedule for today: What section will you do first? How many questions do you want to try and plan on doing? How are you going to pace yourself?
Also, go over individual logistical details before exam day. Make sure you have your admit ticket, ID, and the timeframe and location of your exam beforehand. In the last moments/the night before, hydrate, eat, and sleep to lessen potential panic for exam day.
The final month before CAT is about being strategic, not frantic. If you have planned effectively, now is a time to review and not to recreate. To recap, to analyze, and to balance. When you practice with purpose, rest with purpose, and trust the preparation you put in place.
Also read: MBA Entrance Exams Still Open for Applications: Don’t Miss Out
Once you enter the exam room, do not focus on difficulty, cut-offs, or failure. Focus on execution — how well you will execute on what you have practiced. When you remain calm and thoughtful and use your time wisely, the CAT won’t feel like a mountain to climb; you will feel like you are learning.
