After speaking to a bunch of aspirants, I noticed a pattern:
People with 7/6/7 profiles targeting IIM A
95 percentile expectation but aiming for BLACKI
No clarity on how profile impacts calls
Not judging — just curious:
👉 How are you deciding your target colleges?
Based on reality or just hope?
I think the MBA admission process quietly destroys people’s confidence more than CAT prep itself.
Not even joking.
You’ll see someone with:
95 percentile
and first question in comments becomes:
“acads?”
Then:
“GEM?”
Then:
“workex?”
Then suddenly that person who was happy 5 minutes ago starts feeling like their life got audited by Deloitte 💀
What’s weird is that almost everyone preparing for CAT is carrying some invisible insecurity:
- bad 12th marks
- gap year
- tier 3 college
- no PORs
- engineering background
- no internships
- weak communication
- average CGPA
and over time people stop asking:
“How do I improve?”
instead they start asking:
“am I already disqualified?”
That shift is dangerous.
Because MBA admissions in India are not binary like social media makes them sound.
But the ecosystem rewards oversimplified narratives:
> “99 or nothing”
> “BLACKI or failure”
> “GEMs are doomed”
> “profile ruined”
Reality is much more probabilistic and profile-dependent than people realize.
I know this because I went too deep into admission criteria rabbit holes and ended up building a system to simulate profile strength across colleges.
And honestly the biggest surprise wasn’t admissions data.
It was seeing how many students had completely wrong assumptions about their own chances.
Some people were overconfident.
Some had already mentally rejected themselves before even attempting CAT.
Both were inaccurate.
The weirdest part?
Most students spend hundreds of hours preparing for CAT…
without ever properly understanding how their own profile is being evaluated underneath.
That makes no sense when you think about it.
Would genuinely like to know:
what’s the one thing about your profile that secretly stresses you out the most during MBA prep?
Hi guys, as for now C hasn’t updated WL movement for category students so whoever gets to know it first please update it here.
Also i think the movement in gen is good. My WL no. Is 74 in SC so do i have any chances ? Tired of waiting atp.
Hi everyone
I am currently preparing for cat 2026 and I need some good study material and lectures for preparation, I am very weak in quants and average in both VARC and DILR and I am currently using arun sharma books for this year.
If someone has any lectures or recommendations please drop down below the links.
currently I am looking for good algebra material that teaches me from basic as algebra is my weakest spot
We can also create a study group for that add me up.
20k + 20k for both pgpm, pgpm hr if I am waitlisted on both ,Combines CS 77.10.. any possibility of converting either??
Which is the best CAT 2026 coaching?
22F, 9/9/8 engineering profile, preparing seriously for CAT 2026. Started prep quite late last year and was pretty inconsistent with revision/practice, so this time I'm focusing much more on discipline, consistency, and structured prep.
Starting structured prep from May onward and looking preferably for a serious accountability partner (or a very small focused group) to share targets, discuss mocks/questions occasionally, and help each other stay consistent throughout the long prep journey.
Not looking for constant chatting; more of a productive setup where both people genuinely push each other to practice, revise, and improve. Would be nice to connect with someone equally serious and long-term oriented about CAT prep.
If interested, feel free to comment briefly about your prep stage/background or DM directly if you prefer :)
A lot of MBA aspirants don’t actually need better colleges.
They need:
better communication
better emotional discipline
better decision-making
better career positioning
and less comparison addiction.
Some people with average colleges build exceptional careers because they execute consistently for 10 years.
Some people enter elite campuses and still remain lost.
MBA can accelerate trajectory.
It cannot automatically create one.
I received the EOI (advanced wait-list) for MBA Healthcare and got wait-listed for MBA AI & Business Analytics. If I pay the fee for EoI healthcare will I still be considered for AI?
hey guys
i’m currently in my final year of B.Pharm and trying to decide what to do next
i’m confused between going for M.Pharm or doing an MBA (pharma marketing)
from what i understand:
M.Pharm is more into research/technical side
MBA is more towards marketing/sales roles
but i’m not really sure which one has better long-term growth and opportunities
also heard that MBA after B.Pharm usually starts with sales roles — is that true?
would really appreciate if someone from pharma background or who has taken either path can share their experience
just don’t want to take a random decision and regret it later
I am confused between the Rodha and Takshzilla Quant course, which one is better for the Cat preparation? I have heard takshzilla does the charity and the basics are better but the videos are not the latest, not sure if it is fit for cat 2026? Can anyone help?
I do IT job in Pune, 9-to-6. Gave CAT twice — 67, then 71. Spent ₹45K on TIME coaching I could barely attend, downloaded 11GB of Telegram PDFs, made 4 timetables, followed none. Classic working professional CAT trap.
Found Bodhee Prep AI-based CAT coaching. Their 45-min diagnostic test humbled me fast. Thought my Quant was solid turns out I was only good at specific problem types and had been fooling myself for two years.
3 months in: 1.5 hrs of focused study daily, doubts cleared at 11:30PM, percentile jumped from 71 to 88. My friend joined the same week his plan looked completely different from mine. That's when it clicked.
Motivation on rough office days? Still my problem to solve. But at least I know what to study and why.
cat aspirants
Calling out to serious cat aspirants in Delhi aiming for top 5s!
TLDR: Want to organise an offline study group where we plan and sync study schedules, track targets, maintain accountability and study together on certain days of the week in a public library
I’m a CAT aspirant, studying full time with ~8hrs everyday dedicated to cat prep.i have been preparing for last two months and things have been going smoothly, but I’ve hit that roadblock all students hit at some point, a dip in motivation and accountability. I have been self preparing for now, but I got an idea of joining an offline coaching center, to help with having a routine, motivation by surrounding yourself with similar people, and accountability through having a schedule and mentorship.
After speaking with some centres, I very soon realised just how shitty the entire education sector is, it’s become a money making machine and nothing more. Nothing costs less that 50k, and there’s barely any focus on one on one mentoring, or anytime being personally invested in your growth. So i narrow d down my problems into these two parts, and realised tha an offline study group could solve all aspects of it:
Together, we could have Daly targets, take weekly mocks on same days, have a doubt solving forming and in general, look up to each other during the prep journey.
I wanted to know if this is something people would be interested in, if you are facing these problems too and if this solutions sounds like something you’d want to take part in? Trying to gauge interest so that I can organise something. Thanks for taking the time to respond.
PS- if you want to know about my profile, I’m a 9/9/9, did my UG in applied economics, worked as a consultant in a big 4 for 2 years, quit my job 2 months ago to prep full time.
Study partner:serious prep ,next 2 months
Hey,
Iam a GEF 9/9/9 tier 3 UG going to start my last year of engineering in 2-2.5 months and wants to prepare 6-8 hrs per day for next 2 months
I am planning on concentrating 80% of my time on VARC and DILR, 20% on QA( QA rn is my weak section but I want to lock in my strengths first)
Iam done with topics and concepts and only want to practice and solve problems.
I have CL mocks and IMS
Would ideally prefer another female fresher candidate candidate who is already also done basic concepts (and maybe has one of CL/IMS so we can compare scores)and is definitely WILLING to put in 6-8 hrs(which will be tracked on ypt app) for problems and new dilr sets and RCs and VA ( for 80% of time .
Please put your profile in comments or DM me personally if interested and please make sure you are definitely willing to commit and are done with basics
I am looking for a maximum of 2 people
Edit: good vibes and being active with WhatsApp/telegram about updates is really appreciated
Edit: didn't know what to put this as so put it under strategy flair
Hi everyone,
I started my CAT preparation last week and would really appreciate some guidance on whether I’m heading in the right direction.
I have a strong maths background, so I began with quant using Rodha's playlist. For practice, I’m using Sarvesh Verma and currently in the first phase, aiming to solve around 25 questions per topic in addition to the questions covered in the videos. My approach is to attempt the questions first and then review the solutions.
So far, I’ve completed about 10–11 videos in the past week. Going forward, this is my plan for Quant.
For VARC, I plan to solve two RCs daily. I’m currently using Nishit K. Sinha’s book, along with RC99 and the free RCs released by i-Quanta. I would appreciate recommendations for good YouTube playlists for VARC, especially for both RC and VA, that cover concepts as well as provide practice.
For LRDI, I’m still a bit unsure but plan to start with Rodha’s playlist in the next 2–3 days. For practice, I’m considering picking up a standard book, so suggestions for that would be helpful as well. Also, if there are any good YouTube playlists for LRDI preparation and practice, please let me know.
Profile: GEM with a 9/9/7 academic background. I currently have 1 year of work experience, which will be around 2 years by the time of CAT.
Thanks in advance for your help! Any other general tips would also be appreciated.