CAT 2026: MBA aspirants should test their knowledge with unfamiliar questions; tips on preparation, mock tests

The Indian Institute of Management Indore (IIM Indore) will conduct the Common Admission Test (CAT) 2026 on November 29 for admission to MBA and other management programmes at top b-schools across the country. Candidates appearing for the computer-based test CAT, should focus on mock-test consistency, accuracy and time management, Pawan Kumar, knowledge expert at TIME said.

CAT 2026 will be held in three sessions and for a total of 120 minutes. Candidates will get 40 minutes to answer questions in each section. Notably, they will not be allowed to switch between sections while answering questions in a particular section.

The MBA college entrance test paper will include Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC), Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR), and Quantitative Ability (QA).

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Classify mistakes after every CAT mock test

Candidates are advised to focus on the marks they gain and lose rather than attempting more questions. They should identify how many answers were incorrect because of conceptual gaps , misreading a question, making a calculation error or rushing.

As per the knowledge expert, after every mock test, candidates should classify their mistakes.

“The answer does not come from the number of chapters completed or mock tests attempted. It actually lies in how effectively you can apply what you know under pressure,” Kumar said.

He further stated that candidates must examine their last eight to ten mock tests to check whether their performance was reasonably consistent, were they approaching their target percentile, and whether they were repeatedly losing marks in a particular section.

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CAT 2026 preparation tips for VARC, DILR, QA sections

Candidates should test themselves with unfamiliar questions instead of relying only on previous practiced material.

For VARC, candidates should focus on identifying the central idea of passages and eliminating options using textual evidence. While, in DILR, they should assess their set-selection and reasoning skills, and Quantitative Ability (QA) preparation should focus on identifying and applying the relevant concepts.

Furthermore, the subject expert has advised candidates to spend time analysing the mock test rather than rushing to take another. Candidates should identify their major weaknesses, revise selectively, and practice those skills before the next mock test.

With inputs from TIME.