Issue 01 · 2026
The Karma Yogi Journal. Field notes for the long grind.
- Essays
- 41
- Exam tracks
- 3
- Topics
- 34
The Lead
The essay we keep coming back to.
The Archive
Everything else worth reading, ordered by date.
Page 3 / 4 · 40 entries
I'm Preparing for CAT Without Coaching. Here's What I Built to Replace It
I haven't enrolled in a single coaching institute for CAT. What I did instead was write a month-by-month plan, buy standalone mock series, and build my own tracker when nothing on the market did what I needed. 340 logged sessions later, here is what actually replaced coaching and what didn't.
CAT Selection Process Explained: WAT, GD, and Personal Interview
I haven't sat a WAT-GD-PI round myself - my CAT is in November, so any interview process is still months off if it happens at all. What follows is what the process actually involves and how I'm planning to prepare for it, not a memoir of a round I haven't lived yet.
Why Studying With Friends Beats Studying Alone for CAT Prep
My own average session mood is 3.60 out of 5 - not high, mostly just 'showed up anyway.' That's exactly the kind of day solo willpower fails and a friend who can see your log doesn't care that you weren't excited about it.
How to Analyze a CAT Mock Test: A Framework Worked Through a Real 96-40-94 Stretch
On 29 July I scored 96. On 30 July, 40. On 1 August, 94. Same person, four days, three mocks. Here is the actual analysis framework, worked through that stretch and one sectional test, rather than asserted in the abstract.
CAT Preparation for Non-Engineers: What My Own Engineering Degree Didn't Actually Buy Me
I have an engineering degree from BITS Pilani, so I can't speak firsthand to the non-engineer experience. What I can tell you is which section that degree actually helped with, and which one it did nothing for at all - my own DILR score moved two marks in three months of deliberate practice.
CAT In-Exam Time Management: What a 96-to-40 Crash Actually Taught Me
On 29 July I scored 96. On 30 July, same knowledge, same person, I scored 40 - with 2 marks in DILR. The gap was not ability. It was 40 seconds spent staying on a set I should have abandoned. Here is what that mock taught me about time management.
CAT Reading Comprehension: The Question Type That Cost Me 20 Percentile Points in One Mock
On 28 June my VARC score was 5, at the 15th percentile. The question that broke it: a passage about Descartes, an answer option that said "Descartes and other philosophers," and I picked it. Here is the inference-vs-overreach line that question sits on, and the other five RC question types CAT actually tests.
How I Prepare for CAT While Working Full-Time as a Product Manager
My weekly goal is 1,260 minutes - 21 hours - and my average session is 59 minutes, not the 2-hour blocks I imagined when I set the goal. Here is what working full-time actually does to a study schedule, in my own logged numbers.
CAT Cutoffs for Top IIMs: What Percentile Do You Actually Need
A strong overall percentile can still get you filtered out by one weak section. My own VARC scores swung from the 12th percentile to the 92nd across five mocks I logged this quarter - here is why that swing is exactly what sectional cutoffs are designed to catch.
Best CAT Preparation Books for 2026: What I Actually Finished, and What I Didn't
I own six CAT prep books. I logged real hours against three of them and the other three sat closed after week two. Here is which ones earned their shelf space, checked against my own subject-tagged session log.
Colophon
Written between mocks. Edited between sits.
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