For those who scored 99 percentile in CAT, how did you prepare?What was your daily study routine like?

I’ve seen a lot of toppers mention their percentile but not many share the exact routine or strategy they followed. If you scored 99+ in CAT, can you please share how your day looked during prep? How many hours did you study? What was your mock strategy? Did you follow a strict plan or go with the flow?
Would really help to hear some real routines from people who made it to that level
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Asked by Kritika Oberoi 14 days ago

2 Answers
T Ronak

T Ronak

Mechanical Engineer | Innovative Problem Solver | Dedicated Team Player

Scoring 99+ in CAT is less about the number of study hours and more about how structured and adaptive the prep is. I scored 99.3 in CAT 2022, and here’s what my routine looked like.

Weekdays were tight due to college, so I studied 2.5 to 3 hours daily. Mornings were for Quant ,  one hour of concept drilling followed by 30 minutes of mixed question practice. During breaks, I squeezed in one RC or VA drill,  usually 4–5 questions from past mocks. DILR was kept for evenings when I had uninterrupted time, mostly solving one full set under a timer and reviewing it right after.

Mocks started early,  mid-July. One mock every Sunday with full analysis on Monday. But the game-changer was maintaining a “mistake log.” I’d note down questions I got wrong with reasons ,  silly mistake, time misjudgment, or concept gap. That log became my revision goldmine in the last month.

The plan wasn’t fixed, but after every mock, I spent a day reviewing it in detail, noted what went wrong, and adjusted my next week’s prep based on those mistakes,  whether it was speed in Quant or set selection in DILR. That weekly reset helped keep things focused.


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Shruti T

Shruti T

MS in Computer Science Student at University of Oxford

 Scored 99.6 in CAT 2021, and the biggest shift came when I stopped obsessing over hours and started focusing on mental sharpness and test-day mindset. This was the routine that worked:

• Weekdays: 2 hours before work (7 to 9 am) , rotated Quant and DILR. Nights were for RCs and mock reviews. VA drills (like odd-one-out or para jumbles) happened during commute using mobile PDFs.
 • Sundays: Full-length mock at the exact CAT slot time (2 to 5 pm). The rest of the day was mock analysis , went deep into question selection patterns and time spent per section.
 • Every Thursday: Gave a sectional test of the weakest section from the last mock. This kept the weak spots in check.
 • Had one day every two weeks where I re-solved just the incorrect or skipped questions from 3 previous mocks. Helped a lot with retention and confidence.
 • Did 5–10 minute meditation before every mock. Helped stay calm, especially in DILR which was usually my make-or-break section.

No fancy planner. Just repeated the cycle of mock > review > adjust every single week till November.


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